Access Type

Open Access Dissertation

Date of Award

January 2014

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Marcus W. Dickson

Abstract

It is common in employee attitude surveys to collect open ended comments from employees, yet this data remains largely under-utilized. In the present study, it is hypothesized that employee pronoun use is related to job attitudes and turnover intentions, such that the use of "we" type pronouns is higher among more satisfied employees; and that the use of "non-we" type pronouns is higher among less satisfied employees. Results largely did not support hypotheses - although "non-we" use was negative related to job attitudes, "we" use was also negative related. It is believed that the reason for the lack of findings lies in the nuanced use of pronouns when communicating to a third party vs. organizational leadership.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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