The authors investigated links between the Big Five, proactive personality, and motivation to learn. Web-based survey data were collected at 2 points in time from 183 employees of a financial services firm. Results showed that proactive personality was, only in part, a composite of Big Five facets, which accounted for 26% of its variance. Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that proactive personality, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness predicted motivation to learn. In addition, motivation to learn was positively related to objectively assessed development activity. Proactive personality, extraversion, and openness had significant indirect links to development activity. Hierarchical regression results suggested that proactive personality had significant incremental validity in the prediction of motivation to learn over all relevant Big Five facets.Keywords: proactive personality, motivation to learn, five factor model of personality, development activityOngoing changes in the nature of employment relationships and improvements in the use of technology for training have led to two emerging trends in today's work organizations, both of which point to an increasing emphasis on individual responsibility for learning and development. First, changes in the nature of the psychological contract along with increasing emphasis on protean careers, boundaryless careers, and career self-management characterize individual employees as free agents who must be proactive in seeking out and participating in training and development opportunities in order to maintain internal and external market-

SummaryThere has been a considerable debate about the individual and organizational benefits of competition. Adopting a person-environment fit perspective, this research examined the influence of competition as an interaction between trait competitiveness and competitive climate. Using a sample of information technology workers, competitive climate was considered as both an individual level variable and a workgroup variable. Results show that the effect of competitive climate depended on trait competitiveness and the level at which climate was assessed for four of the outcomes assessed: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job dedication, and supervisor-rated task performance. In general, the effect of competitive climate was more negative for individuals lower in trait competitiveness.Competitive psychological climate was associated with greater stress regardless of the level of trait competitiveness but was not directly related to self-rated task performance. Findings suggest that managers should be cautious in encouraging competitive climate.

SummaryThis research tested a multilevel model examining the influence of work-family culture and supportive workplace relationships on work interference with family. Web-based survey data were provided by 792 information technology employees from 10 organizations. Random coefficient modeling was used to test a path model examining the relationships between work-family culture, leader-member exchange (LMX), coworker support, and work interference with family. The direct effects of LMX and coworker support on work interference with family were significant. The indirect effect of work-family culture on work interference with family was also significant. Results demonstrate the value of work-family culture in understanding supportive supervisory and coworker relationships and work interference with family and highlight the need to employ multilevel models to understand these relationships.

Recent research suggests that competitive work environments may influence individual’s attitudes, behaviors, stress, and performance. Unfortunately, adequate measures of competitive environments are lacking. This article traces the development of a new multidimensional competitive work environment scale. An initial 59-item pool covering five dimensions of a competitive environment was generated and scrutinized. Then, using two independent data samples, the authors psychometrically analyzed, organized, and reduced the items using a combination of exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and item response theory. The final scale consists of 20 items across five distinct dimensions: competition for tangible rewards, nontangible rewards, recognition, status, and competition influenced by coworkers. Results indicate that the final multidimensional scale maintains strong psychometric properties and provides preliminary evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Objective Despite the success of empirically supported treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep impairment frequently remains refractory following treatment for PTSD. This single-site, randomized controlled trial examined the effectiveness of sleep-directed hypnosis as a complement to an empirically supported psychotherapy for PTSD (cognitive processing therapy; CPT). Method Participants completed either 3 weeks of hypnosis (n = 52) or a symptom monitoring control condition (n = 56) before beginning standard CPT. Multilevel modeling was used to investigate differential patterns of change to determine whether hypnosis resulted in improvements in sleep, PTSD, and depression. An intervening variable approach was then used to determine whether improvements in sleep achieved during hypnosis augmented change in PTSD and depression during CPT. Results After the initial phase of treatment (hypnosis or symptom monitoring), the hypnosis condition showed significantly greater improvement than the control condition in sleep and depression, but not PTSD. After CPT, both conditions demonstrated significant improvement in sleep and PTSD; however, the hypnosis condition demonstrated greater improvement in depressive symptoms. As sleep improved, there were corresponding improvements in PTSD and depression, with a stronger relationship between sleep and PTSD. Conclusion Hypnosis was effective in improving sleep impairment, but those improvements did not augment gains in PTSD recovery during the trauma-focused intervention. Public Health Significance: This study suggests that hypnosis may be a viable treatment option in a stepped-care approach for treating sleep impairment in individuals suffering from PTSD.