PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Jennifer Lonergan
Industrial/Organizational
August 1998

Locus of Control as Moderator of the Relationship between Job Characteristics and Procrastination at Work

    While procrastination in organizations may reduce effectiveness, research is scarce.  The impact of perceived job characteristics (autonomy, task significance, feedback from the job and others) and locus of control on three types of procrastination (decisional, arousal, avoidant) were assessed with 143 employees of a healthcare organization.  Decisional procrastination was negatively related to all job characteristics except feedback from others and was positively related to locus of control.  A significant interaction between LOC x autonomy suggested that greater internality and high perceived autonomy is related to lower decision-making delay.  As indicated by self-reported high enrichment and low procrastination, social desirability may have impacted findings.  Focusing on specific jobs or tasks and other personality variables may better tap into procrastination at work.

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