ABSTRACT
In the last few years, traditional between-person studies in organizational research have been increasingly complemented by an emerging stream of research that seeks to examine and explain within-person variations 1 in variables of interest (Ilies, Schwind, & Heller, 2007). This line of research, focusing on experienced states, episodic conceptualizations of work, and dynamic and fluctuating factors, investigates research questions that cannot be adequately addressed with between-individual approaches (Alliger & Williams, 1993; Sheldon, Ryan, & Reis, 1996). Because between-individual designs consider variations across time as transient error, they either ignore temporal variations, or consign these within-individual relationships to measurement error. In order to best understand a phenomenon, however, both between- and within-individual conceptualizations and measurements are needed, because each approach leaves considerable variance “on the table” (unexplained by the design). Moreover, a phenomenon can have different manifestations within people compared with between people; see Figure 10.1 for a rather extreme case of cross-level divergence. Thus, within-person designs can provide unique and invaluable insights that stand to make a valuable contribution to the literature. Graphical representation of effect reversal at the between-versus within-individual level. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203585146/1a643ae1-2bd2-4bfe-bf26-908201353d5e/content/fig10_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
