Investigating Employees' Evaluations of Workplace Incidents and Their Influence on Communication: An Attribution Study

Abstract

Introductory research on attributions has focused on human traits. Attributions have also been related to social environmental factors and to communication behaviour. However, further exploratory research on the mediating cognitive processes involved in relating attributions to communication behaviour is required. This attribution study investigated employees' evaluations of workplace incidents and their influence on interactive dyadic communication. The study incorporated the critical incident technique in semi-structured interviews to address the research questions on employees' evaluations about workplace incidents; the influence of employees' evaluations on workplace interactions and attributions; and the influence of employees' attributions on workplace interactions and evaluations. Conversational data analyses were used in the examination of classifications of employees' self-reports on their work-related experiences. Informants constituted one member of the Academic, and one member of the Administrative staff categories of a tertiary-level higher educational institution in the twin-island of Trinidad & Tobago.