Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
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Psychology - Organizational and Social Psychology

Welcome to the Homepage of the Chair of Psychology, especially Organizational and Social Psychology (Prof. Dr. Klaus Moser) at the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Please find below information on lectures and courses held at the chair, degree programmes and studying opportunities in Erlangen-Nuremberg, members of the research team, and research projects.

Studying Organizational and Social Psychology in Nuremberg

The Chair of Psychology, especially Organizational and Social Psychology (Prof. Dr. Klaus Moser) offers lectures and courses on a wide range of topics:

Lectures

Courses (examples)

Regular lectures and courses are held in German language (Note: During winter term 2008 two courses on the Master level will be held in English language). Online registrations for all courses on the graduate level will start on 1st of October 2008 after midnight. Note that you have to register on the website at Lehrveranstaltungen.

In order to improve one’s knowledge of German language and culture, a range of language courses at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is offered before and during the semester.

Degree Programmes

Psychology (the emphasis is on organizational psychology and consumer psychology) can be studied as a subject in one of the following degree programmes at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in the Department of Business, Economics, and Social Sciences (only in the 3rd and 4th year "Hauptstudium").

Starting in 2009/2010, several new master programs will be launched. We will contribute to three programs: Social Economics, Work and Personnel, Marketing.

In the winter term 2006/2007 (October 2006), new Bachelor programs (3 years = 180 ETCS) started, Wirtschaftswissenschaften, International Business Studies, and Sozialökonomik. Our research group offers courses in the following areas:

Double Diploma Programmes

The chair takes part in double diploma programmes with the following institutions:

Double Bachelor Programmes are in preparation.

Dissertation

If you are interested in a dissertation in Work and Organizational Psychology please send an exposé (5 pages) of your intended research project in German or English language together with your résumé to: moser@wiso.uni-erlangen.de. Note that a prerequisite is that you completed a relevant degree programme at a university with a master degree or an equivalent other degree (e.g. in psychology or business administration or social sciences). In addition, profound knowledge of both advanced statistics and organizational / social psychology is a must.

Research Team

Prof. Dr. Klaus Moser

Curriculum Vitae

1981: studies of psychology and philosophy of sciences at University of Mannheim, 1986: Diploma, 1989: Dissertation, 1994: Habilitation, 1986-1995: Research assistant at University of Hohenheim, 1995-1998: Full professor in work and organizational psychology at University of Giessen, since 1998: Full professor in organizational and social psychology at University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

Main areas of research

Personnel selection, performance appraisal, training and development, survey research, psychology of advertising

Research and teaching assistants / scholars

Sample of Publications

Psychology of Advertising (1990), Consistency of Personality (1991), Personnel Recruiting (1992, 1993), Personnel Selection in Research and Development (1995), Commitment in Organizations(1996), Sex-Appeal in Advertising (1997), Entrepreneurial Success (1999), Market and Advertising Psychology (2002), Economic Psychology (2007).

Further numerous contributions to technical journals and books

Summaries of current research projects

(collaborating research assistants in parentheses)

Assessment of social competencies

Recent research has shown that it is possible to achieve more than satisfying validity coefficients for employment interviews assessing social competencies (for apprentices, supervisory and professional jobs). Moreover, social competencies can also be assessed by means of specific questionnaires (self monitoring scales). According to our findings this is especially recommendable for applicants with little job experience.

(N. Galais)

A psychological approach to temporary work

The main motives to work as a “temp" are: Avoiding unemployment and finding a "permanent job". Therefore temporary work in Germany is seen as transitory and even inferior to permanent work. Nevertheless, there are indicators that temporary work indeed seems to have a high potential of reintegrating unemployed persons into "permanent employment". From the psychological point of view it is not yet clear which individual and organizational factors determine a successful integration into the conventional labor. Therefore, we investigate the role of personality and adaptation-strategies in the context of specific organizational determinants for the change into a "permanent job" and the well-being of temporary employees.

(N. Galais, D. Hecker)

Improving the transfer process of trainings

Training and development programs should change trainees` abilities, skills, and attitudes. Unfortunately, transfer of training to the job environment is often insufficient and intended changes respectively performance improvement cannot be attained. Recent research indicated different ways to optimize the transfer of training to the workplace. Our analyses and evaluations of training programs in a large non profit organization yielded evidence for the importance of working conditions, for example social support of supervisors and colleagues as well as decision latitude. Especially, moderator effects of the transfer of trainings due to working conditions were found, which means that an interaction between learning gains caused by training programs and conditions at the workplace determines the improvement of the transfer process of trainings.

(J. Zempel)

Employee developmental interviews

Employee developmental interviews are an important element of personnel development. They help to improve the dialogue between supervisors and employees and, in a sense of a constructive supervisor-employee relationship, offer the possibility of analyzing the past and develop the future cooperation. By means of goal setting techniques, the work process can be optimized, personal development of employees can be evaluated and interventions can be initiated. In employee developmental interviews past work results, work arrangements, difficulties and wishes are brought up for discussion and future goals, interventions for optimizing the operational sequence and the qualification of employees are developed. Successful employee developmental interviews promote mutual information exchange, and are furthermore an important leadership tool to motivate employees. Within the scope of a project in a public-sector enterprise, the implementation and the success of these interventions are evaluated in a longitudinal study.

(H.-G. Wolff)

Escalation of Commitment

Generally, being highly committed to a decision regarding a certain goal is considered to increase the probability of goal attainment by initiating purposive behavior. In certain situations, though, where persistence is no longer justifiable by rational means high commitment prevents individuals from reconsidering or abandoning their chosen course of action. In this case, commitment does have negative consequences: Commitment escalates. Individuals invest additional resources to a failing course of action though possible gains or the probability of goal attainment are too low to justify further investments. Our research group has been investigating the psychological and situational determinants that underlie the escalation of commitment as well as its theoretical implications. We have adopted a focus on the process characteristics of escalation which is characterized by the reoccurrence of the decision to persist or to withdraw from the present course of action. We also investigate the effects of feedback attributes and information processing on the process of escalation.

(R. Soucek, H.-G. Wolff)

Metaanalyses of psychological unemployment research

We reviewed three core issues of psychological research on unemployment: (1) Is there a relationship between employment status and mental health? (2) Are there any groups of people who suffer more than others (moderator effects)? (3) Is unemployment the cause for this psychological distress (question of causality)?Meta-analyses confirmed that unemployed people consistently have a poorer mental health than employed people. Effect sizes are between d = .09 (psychosomatic complaints) and d = -.59 (life satisfaction). Further analyses revealed that youth (in comparison to adults), those that are unemployed for more than one year (vs. less than one year), men (in comparison to women) and people with blue collar jobs (vs. white collar jobs) suffer more from being unemployed. Results of causal analyses based on longitudinal studies showed that employment status is not only correlated with mental health but unemployment causes poor mental health. In addition, selection effects can also be found: There is both a higher probability that people with poorer mental health will become unemployed and have problems to find a new job.

(K. Paul)

Sense of Coherence

Unemployment has detrimental effects on individuals’ well-being. Nevertheless the reactions to unemployment vary. Some individuals seem to cope with unemployment, whereas others suffer deeply from job-loss. The aim of this project is to investigate whether the different reactions to unemployment can be explained through a variation in sense of coherence (SOC), the central stress resistance resource of an individual.

In the context of an intervention program for unemployed people factors contributing to the re-entry to working life will be investigated with special consideration of the role of sense of coherence as a predictor of reemployment.

We will also contribute to the discussion about the changeability of sense of coherence. Our results show that change in SOC through rehabilitative intervention and through change in an individual’s employment situation is possible.

(Jaana Vastamäki)

Internet-based studies

The internet offers many possibilities to carry out online studies, e.g. questionnaires, experiments, interviews or group discussions. In our research we compare internet-based methods with traditional methods of data collection (e.g. telephone-, paper-pencil, face-to-face-surveys). We also work on technical solutions to facilitate the realization of internet-based studies. The internet can also be used in organizationsas a platform to conduct surveys. Another topic of our research are implications of employee surveys via the Intranet. Up to now, we have realized online-surveys in more than 40 countries, we have developed software tools, and we have published numerous articles and books in this field of research.

(A. Göritz, C. Verheyen)

Networking

To our knowledge, this "great way to get ahead" has received little attention from psychologists so far, although several popular "how to"-books and scientific essays by structural sociologists on social capital have been published. Our research is based on an individual perspective and is focused on theoretical considerations of the benefits of workrelated social ties as well as the development of measurement devices in order to test our theoretically derived hypotheses on the relation between networking and vocational success.

(H.-G. Wolff)

Rising flood of information at the workplace

In the year 2000 the majority of employees work with computers, which are tied up increasingly to a Intra- and/or Internet. In many cases an information flooding is released by these new techniques because traditional natural and temporal filters are lacking. In addition, both quantitatively and qualitatively new forms, possibilities and frequencies of communication develop. Workers feel frequently overtaxed by this new type and quantity of information and suffer from health impairments. Aim of the project is to develop technical and organisational aids helping employees to cope with the flood of information.

(R. Soucek)

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB)

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour can be described as an individual behaviour that is optional and is not rewarded directly or explicitly by the organization. What this means is for example that a person will help a co-worker in need (one of many "symptoms" of OCB) because he/she feels like doing so, without expecting to be compensated upon his/her gesture.

The overwhelming majority of studies on OCBs (Organizational Citizenship Behaviours) had an individual level approach on the OCB and work unit performance relationship. Though OCB is manifested at an individual level, the outcomes are always at a higher, mixed level that includes both the individual and the group. Some argue that a more complex organizational level is also implied but all this raises questions about the theoretical grounds, antecedent studies have based their efforts on.

We assume that OCBs have an important effect on how units perform both on quantitative and qualitative levels, doing it through an approach based on a group level awareness of OCB, something that has been done too seldom in research.

(G. Luca)

The meaning of job performance in service jobs

In comparison with other jobs, service jobs feature a number of special characteristics. For example:

It is a fact that these special job characteristics are causes why some people providing services feel stressed. Aim of the project is to scrutinize the specific situational stress antecedents people providing services suffer from and the traits and other resoureces people need or should have to be successful in service jobs.

(D. Alt)

Job experience and job performance

The purpose of the project is to develop an inventory to assess the core of work experience. It is therefore about the question which role the job history plays for the current potential performance. The relationship between job experience and job performance will be investigated, considering also variables such as age, intelligence and personality.

Our aim is to develop the characteristics of job experience, which are relevant for job performance. Understanding the meaning of job experience, methods to teach these experiences can be developed (e.g. personnel development, job design). We want to develop a method to analyse work experience in complex jobs, mainly that of managers.

(E. Geithner)

Contact

School of Business and Economics
Psychology - Organizational and Social Psychology
Lange Gasse 20
90403 Nuremberg
Germany
Phone: +49 (911) 5302-259
Fax: +49 (911) 5302-243
Email: psychologie@wiso.uni-erlangen.de
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Lehrstuhl für Wirtschafts- und Sozialpsychologie, Letzte Aktualisierung: 01.09.2008