3rd International Symposium on Attribution Theory

On 16 -17 March 2018, the 3^rd International Symposium on Attribution Theory was held at the School of Business and Industry of Florida A&M University. The purposes of this conference is to provide an in-depth forum for the discussion and dissemination of both theory and research describing the role and function of attribution in organization context. This event especially aimed at developing a special issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior which would be developed from the best presentations and ideas of the conference.

In order to get invited for this event, researchers from all over the world could send in their paper on Attribution Theory and subsequently the best 11 papers were selected. After selection, the authors of these papers were invited to explain their papers by presenting them on the event in Florida. This presentation functioned as a starting point for discussion in which the researchers got feedback and questions on their presented papers. Feedback provided during this conference served as an input for improving the papers which could result in publication in the special issue of the Journal of Organizational Behavior.  

PhD student Fabian Nullmeier was one of these 11 participants presenting the paper written by him and doctoral student Chloe Yang on the application of attributional theory to determine the effectiveness of pay for performance as a compensation strategy. In this paper, they have combined a case study and an experimental approach to explore how attributional processes can identify organizational contexts in which pay for performance works effectively. Besides being offered the possibility to present their paper, they also had the pleasure to take a picture with a well-known developer of the attribution theory and keynote speaker of the event, Prof. Dr. Bernard Weiner.