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Article: Taking a Positive Approach to Organizational Downsizing
- Article from:
- Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences
- Article date:
- June 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Jun 2008. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Abstract
We drew from the literature on positive organizational behaviour (Luthans & Youssef, 2007) to test a process model relating generalized optimism (Carver & Scheier, 1999) to the cognitions, affect, and behaviour of 237 Canadian federal government managers during and following a major organizational downsizing. Our data supported a model in which generalized optimism measured 18 months prior to the downsizing (T1) associated positively with managers' cognitions, attitudes, job performance, and self-reported coping effectiveness measured 12 months postdownsizing (T3). Analyses suggested that some of these associations were partially mediated by a positive thinking coping ...