Task type as a moderator of positive/negative feedback effects on motivation and performance: A regulatory focus perspective

Applying Higgins' regulatory focus theory, we hypothesized that the effect of positive/negative feedback on motivation and performance is moderated by task type, which is argued to be an antecedent to situational regulatory focus (promotion or prevention). Thus, first we demonstrated that some tasks (e.g., tasks requiring creativity) are perceived as promotion tasks, whereas others (e.g., those requiring vigilance and attention to detail) are perceived as prevention tasks. Second, as expected, our tests in two studies of the moderation hypothesis showed that positive feedback increased self‐reported motivation (meta‐analysis across samples: N = 315, d = 0.43) and actual performance (N = 55, d = 0.67) among people working on promotion tasks, relative to negative feedback. Positive feedback, however, decreased motivation (N = 318, d = ?0.33) and performance (N = 55, d = ?0.37) among individuals working on prevention tasks, relative to negative feedback. These findings suggest that (a) performance of different tasks can affect regulatory focus and (b) variability in positive/negative feedback effects can be partially explained by regulatory focus and task type. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Daily shifts in regulatory focus: The influence of work events and implications for employee well‐being

Although theory suggests that regulatory focus fluctuates within person and such fluctuations impact employee well‐being, there is little empirical investigation of such propositions. These are important research questions to address because work events may elicit within‐person fluctuations in regulatory focus, which can then affect well‐being. The primary purpose of this study is to examine specific predictors of daily regulatory focus at work and the foci's impact on employee well‐being at work and home as indicated by mood and psychosomatic complaints, respectively. We present and test an overarching theoretical framework that integrates conservation of resources theory, the cognitive‐affective processing system framework, and regulatory focus theory to delineate why and when work events affect regulatory focus and how the foci affect well‐being. Consistent with our expectations, we found that positive work events positively predicted daily promotion focus, but this effect was weaker when employees had high‐quality relationships with leaders. Furthermore, daily regulatory focus was associated with employee well‐being (mood and psychosomatic complaints) such that (i) promotion focus improved well‐being; (ii) prevention focus reduced well‐being; and (iii) the effects of promotion focus on well‐being were strongest when prevention focus was low. We discuss theoretical and practical implications and offer directions for future research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leadership behaviors and follower performance: Deductive and inductive examination of theoretical rationales and underlying mechanisms

There are competing theoretical rationales and mechanisms used to explain the relation between leadership behaviors (e.g., consideration, initiating structure, contingent rewards, and transformational leadership) and follower performance (e.g., task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors). We conducted two studies to critically examine and clarify the leadership behaviors–follower performance relation by pitting the various theoretical rationales and mechanisms against each other. We first engaged in deductive (Study 1) and then inductive (Study 2) theorizing and relied upon 35 meta‐analyses involving 3327 primary‐level studies and 930 349 observations as input for meta‐analytic structural equation modeling. Results of our dual deductive–inductive approach revealed an unexpected yet surprisingly consistent explanation for why leadership behaviors affect follower performance. Specifically, leader–member exchange is a mediating mechanism that was empirically determined to be involved in the largest indirect relations between the four major leadership behaviors and follower performance. This result represents a departure from current conceptualizations and points to a common underlying mechanism that parsimoniously explains how leadership behaviors relate to follower performance. Also, results lead to a shift in terms of recommendations for what leaders should focus on to bring about improved follower performance. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rivals or allies: How performance‐prove goal orientation influences knowledge hiding

Previous research suggests that performance‐prove goal orientation is positively related to knowledge hiding. However, we argue that this effect depends on the focus of performance feedback (i.e., individual‐ and group‐focused feedback), which shapes the nature of the competitive expression of performance‐prove goal orientation (i.e., intragroup and intergroup oriented). We conducted three studies to test our theoretical model. The results of Study 1 with time‐lagged data from 128 part‐time MBA students showed that performance‐prove goal orientation was positively related to knowledge hiding when performance feedback focused more (vs. less) on individual performance but was negatively related to knowledge hiding when performance feedback focused more (vs. less) on group performance. Study 2 replicated these moderation findings in an experimental study of 210 undergraduate students. Study 3 again replicated the moderation effects using multisource data from 317 employees and their supervisors. It also included creativity as an outcome of knowledge hiding and illustrated the distal consequence of the moderation effects of individual‐ and group‐focused performance feedback. We then discussed the implications for the theory and practice of performance‐prove goal orientation and knowledge hiding.     

Emotional appeal in recruitment advertising and applicant attraction: Unpacking national cultural differences

We investigated the impact of the type of emotional appeal (ego‐focused vs. other‐focused) used in recruiting advertisements on applicant attraction to firms through two experimental studies across three countries (the United States, China, and Singapore). In Study 1, we made a traditional cultural comparison between the United States and China, whose dominant cultural values are characterized by individualism and collectivism, respectively. We found applicants in the United States were more strongly attracted to firms whose recruiting advertisements were based on an ego‐focused emotional appeal, while applicants in China were more attracted to firms that used ads with an other‐focused emotional appeal. Study 2 was conducted in bicultural Singapore. We primed bicultural applicants to be either the individualistic or collectivistic aspect of their cultural heritage. Applicants with individualist priming were attracted to recruiting advertisements with an ego‐focused emotional appeal, whereas applicants with collectivist priming were attracted to advertisements with an other‐focused emotional appeal. In addition, both studies revealed that a job applicant's regulatory focus (promotion vs. prevention) mediated the influence of national culture on the relationship between type of emotional appeal and applicant attraction to firms. Practical implications and suggestions for future research also are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contextualizing leaders' interpretations of proactive followership

Although proactive followership behavior is often viewed as instrumental to group success, leaders do not always respond favorably to the actions of overly eager followers. Guided by a constructivist perspective, we investigated how interpretations of followership differ across the settings in which acts of leadership and followership emerge. In thematically analyzing data from semi‐structured interviews with leaders of high‐performing teams, we depict how the construal of follower behaviors relates to various contextual factors underscoring leader–follower interactions. Prototypical characteristics were described in relation to ideal followership (i.e., active independent thought, ability to process self‐related information accurately, collective orientation, and relational transparency). However, proactive followership behaviors were subject to the situational and relational demands that were salient during leader–follower interactions. Notably, the presence of third‐party observers, the demands of the task, stage in the decision‐making process, suitability of the targeted issue, and relational dynamics influenced which follower behaviors were viewed as appropriate from the leader's perspective. These findings provide insight into when leaders are more likely to endorse proactive followership, suggesting that proactive followership requires an awareness of how to calibrate one's actions in accordance with prevailing circumstances. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can pride be a vice and virtue at work? Associations between authentic and hubristic pride and leadership behaviors

Pride, a discrete emotion that drives the pursuits of achievement and status, is crucial to consider in leadership contexts. Across three studies, we explored how leaders' experiences of authentic and hubristic pride were associated with their leadership behaviors. In Study 1, a field study of leader–follower dyads, leader trait authentic pride was associated with the use of more effective (i.e., consideration and initiating structure) and fewer ineffective (i.e., abusive supervision) leadership behaviors, and hubristic pride was associated with more abusive behaviors. In Study 2, a daily diary study, on days when leaders experienced more authentic pride than usual, they used more effective leadership behaviors than usual, whereas on days when leaders experienced more hubristic pride than typical, they were more likely to engage in abusive supervision than typical. In Study 3, a scenario‐based experiment, leaders who experienced more authentic pride in response to our experimental manipulation were more likely to intend to use effective leadership behaviors. In contrast, those who experienced more hubristic pride were less likely to use these behaviors and more likely to intend to be abusive. Overall, this work highlights the importance of pride for leadership processes and the utility of examining discrete and self‐conscious emotions within organizations.     

Effects of dyadic duration on the relationship between leader behavior perceptions and follower outcomes

This research focused on the role of dyadic duration, the amount of time a subordinate has worked for the same supervisor, in leadership dynamics. Specifically, a field study of engineering personnel examined dyadic duration as a moderator of the relationships between supervisory leadership behavior and subordinates' attitudes and behavior. Moderated regression analysis revealed that the length of time a subordinate had served under the same supervisor influenced the relationship between supportive and directive leader behaviors and follower performance. Implications of these findings were discussed, focusing on the exchange process between individual leaders and followers.     

Examining the interpersonal process and consequence of leader–member exchange comparison: The role of procedural justice climate

Individuals are always sensitive to their relative standing in interpersonal comparison processes of leader–member exchanges (LMXs) in teams. Little research, however, has investigated whether coworkers with a higher LMX influence the emotional and behavioral reactions of individuals with a lower LMX in different dyads. Drawing on social comparison theory and the symbolic model of procedural justice (PJ) climate, we conducted 2 independent studies—an experimental study focusing on the self‐perceived upward LMX comparison (i.e., an individual perceives that a coworker's LMX is higher than the LMX that he or she has with the supervisor; N = 203; Study 1: American working adults) and a field survey study focusing on the other‐perceived downward LMX comparison (i.e., a coworker perceives that his or her own LMX is higher than the LMX that the individual has with the supervisor; N = 177; Study 2: Chinese software engineers). Results from these studies consistently revealed that a coworker's higher LMX elicits an individual's hostile emotions when the PJ climate is low but that this relationship is buffered when the PJ climate is high. Results of both studies also showed that the coworker's higher LMX arouses the individual to direct harmful behavior toward that coworker (via the individual's feelings of hostility) when the PJ climate is low but not when it is high.     

Self‐protective reactions to peer abusive supervision: The moderating role of prevention focus and the mediating role of performance instrumentality

Across 3 studies, we apply a self‐protection perspective of observed mistreatment to examine a moderated mediation model on “when” and “why” third parties are motivated by peer abusive supervision. We hypothesize that prevention‐focused third parties will increase their performance effort as a response to peer abusive supervision, and this effect is mediated by performance instrumentality. In a field study of working adults (Study 1) and an experimental study that manipulated peer abusive supervision (Study 2), we found that peer abusive supervision interacted with third parties' prevention focus to predict their performance effort such that peer abuse was positively related to third parties' performance effort only for those high on prevention focus. Results were replicated in a second field study of working adults (Study 3). Further, we found support for the mediating effect of performance instrumentality. The theoretical and practical implications of our results are discussed.     

Regulatory focus as a mediator in goal orientation and performance relationships

Chosen goals influence the outcomes a person achieves as well as the behaviors performed to achieve those outcomes. In this study, we propose that three forms of goal orientation: learning, performance‐prove, and performance‐avoid, (VandeWalle, 1997 ) relate to performance, with learning and performance‐prove relating to performance through regulatory foci of prevention and promotion, respectively. Regulatory focus, a type of self‐regulation, entails the implementation of specific strategies in pursuit of goals and thus gives us insight to how a person pursues a chosen goal. In a combination of laboratory and field studies, we examine the role of regulatory focus as a mediator between goal orientation and task performance. We find evidence that regulatory focus strategies differentially mediate the goal orientation/task performance relationship. Theoretical ramifications for these relationships, as well as practical implications, are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influencing diversity beliefs through a personal testimonial,promotion-focused approach

Although researchers have highlighted the importance of diversity beliefs (i.e., team members' perceived value of diversity) for the elaboration of information in teams, little attention has been paid to whether and how diversity beliefs can be shaped. Drawing on theory and research on team diversity beliefs, we propose that diversity beliefs are more effectively influenced by interventions using a promotion (compared with a prevention) focus toward diversity and personal testimonial (compared with factual) knowledge. Results from an experiment conducted with 175 teams revealed that both a promotion focus and personal testimonial knowledge independently contributed to more positive diversity beliefs and consequently increased team elaboration of task-relevant information as well as integration of different perspectives. Our results reveal key factors that can influence diversity beliefs and underscore the pivotal role of diversity beliefs in improving the extent to which team members elaborate information and integrate diverse perspectives.     

The role of other orientation in reactions to social and economic leader–member exchange relationships

In this study, we investigate, through two study samples, whether relationships between social leader–member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader–member exchange (ELMX) relationships and outcomes differ depending on the followers' level of other orientation or the extent to which they are concerned for the welfare of others. We propose that followers with higher other orientation would respond less negatively to higher levels of ELMX and more positively to higher levels of SLMX because they are less likely to engage in behaviors based on rational and self‐interested calculations. In Study 1 (N = 200), we found that higher other orientation mitigated ELMX's negative relations with affective commitment and turnover intention. In Study 2 (N = 4,518), we both replicated the findings from Study 1 and also found that higher other orientation mitigated ELMX's negative relations with work effort. We also uncovered a weaker positive relationship between SLMX and organizational citizenship behavior for followers with higher other orientation.     

Positive affectivity neutralizes transformational leadership's influence on creative performance and organizational citizenship behaviors

This study uses an interactionist approach to examine the moderating effect of follower trait positive affectivity (trait PA) on the relation between transformational leadership and both follower creative performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). On the basis of responses from 212 employees and their direct supervisors from the research and development department of a company in Mainland China, results support the hypothesized moderation effect. Specifically, the positive influence of transformational leadership on creative performance was significantly reduced for followers who were higher on trait PA (ΔR² = .02, p < .05). The same pattern, in which followers' trait PA appeared to substitute for the influence of transformational leadership, generalized to the outcome of follower OCB as well (ΔR² = .04, p < .01). We discussed theoretical and practical implications of these findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interpreting workplace identities: the role of office décor

Using qualitative methods, I examine how employees in corporate office environments interpreted a variety of relatively permanent office décor (e.g., furniture, photos, personal mementos) as indicators of their colleagues' workplace identities (i.e., central and enduring categorizations regarding employees' status and distinctiveness in the workplace). Similar to the encoding of behavioral cues of identity, findings suggest that interpretation of physical identity markers begins with either (1) a top‐down process of social categorization, in which specific rules are applied to encoding a few, focal, and visually salient pieces of office decor as evidence of management prototypes, or (2) a bottom‐up process of social categorization, in which a variety of physical artifacts are examined and compared to specific managerial exemplars to develop a complex representation of workplace identity. Findings also suggest that some of the unique attributes of physical identity markers (i.e., their potential to be viewed independently from their displayer, and their relative permanence) may be associated with the focus of each profiling process (i.e., on interpreting status vs. distinctiveness, and consistency vs. change). Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of managerial and employee attributions for corporate social responsibility initiatives

Although corporate social responsibility (CSR) can affect employees, we know little about how it affects them. Employees' interpretation of CSR is important because of the paradoxical nature of CSR. When firms operate in ways that seem counter to their nature (i.e., pursuit of social good rather than profit), the causal attributions of affected employees are crucial to understanding their work‐related behavior, as is the role of contextual factors such as leadership processes in shaping these attributions. Drawing from attribution and social learning theories, we develop a multilevel social influence theory of how CSR affects employees. We integrate managers as second observers in the baseline actor (i.e., firm)—observer (i.e., employee) dyad, whereas most attribution theory research has focused on single actor–observer dyads. Multisource field data collected from 427 employees and 45 managers were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. Managers' genuine (self‐serving) CSR attributions are positively related to employees' genuine (self‐serving) CSR attributions; and the strength of the relationship between managers' and employees' genuine CSR attributions depends on managers' organizational tenure. Employees' genuine CSR attributions also are positively related to employee advocacy, whereas—interestingly—employees' self‐serving CSR attributions do not appear to harm employee advocacy. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Context matters: Combined influence of participation and intellectual stimulation on the promotion focus–employee creativity relationship

In this paper, we examined the interactive effects of two contexts—participation and intellectual stimulation, and promotion focus on creativity. On the basis of a multi‐organization sample of 213 employees, we tested and found that although promotion focus was positively related to creativity, the relationship between promotion focus and creativity was most positive when both participation and leader intellectual stimulation were high. We discuss the way contexts in combination influence employee creativity for promotion‐oriented individuals, through increasing decision latitude as well as stimulating and promoting creativity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“Embedded” at hire? Predicting the voluntary and involuntary turnover of new employees

Embeddedness theory has been invoked to describe factors that constrain employee turnover, such as fit with the environment, interpersonal links, and potentially sacrificed benefits. In contrast with previous assumptions that embeddedness requires considerable time to develop on the job, we extend theory by demonstrating how biographical characteristics (i.e., biodata), assessed at or before the point of hire, are related to individual's propensity to be embedded, while also showing how such characteristics predict one's future turnover likelihood. Beyond voluntary turnover, we also build embeddedness‐based theoretical explanations for involuntary turnover (i.e., terminations). To test these ideas, we conducted two studies at and before employees' point of hire, respectively: Study 1 examined how assessed biodata items of new employees relate to established embeddedness measures, whereas Study 2 linked the same biodata items assessed during the application process to employees' future involuntary, avoidable voluntary, and unavoidable voluntary turnover. Study 1 results revealed various biodata items predicted embeddedness in two distinct samples. In Study 2, results showed that biodata predicted turnover forms in unique ways. Our study highlights the utility of point‐of‐hire embeddedness propensity as a means to explain organizational exit, thereby demonstrating how organizations can use embeddedness tenets for employee recruitment and selection purposes.     

Why seeking feedback from diverse sources may not be sufficient for stimulating creativity: The role of performance dynamism and creative time pressure

We explore how the impact of seeking feedback from different sources (i.e., feedback source variety) on employee creativity is shaped by perceptions of the work environment. Specifically, we argue that two contextual factors, namely, performance dynamism (Study 1) and creative time pressure (Study 2), moderate the relationship between feedback source variety and creativity such that under conditions of high performance dynamism and low creative time pressure, individuals benefit from diverse feedback information. In Study 1 (N = 1,031), the results showed that under conditions of high performance dynamism, the relationship between feedback source variety and self‐reported creativity was nonlinear, with employee creativity exponentially increasing as a function of feedback source variety. Similarly, in Study 2 (N = 181), we found that under conditions of low creative time pressure, the relationship between feedback source variety and employee creativity was nonlinear, with supervisor‐rated creative performance exponentially increasing at higher levels of feedback source variety. Such results highlight that the relationship between feedback source variety and creative performance is affected by the perceptions of the work environment in which feedback is sought.     

When the dark ones become darker: How promotion focus moderates the effects of the dark triad on supervisor performance ratings

The current study adds to a growing body of research on dark personality traits by investigating the moderating role of promotion focus on the relationships among dark triad traits and facets of job performance. Specifically, we investigated the effects of the dark triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) on supervisor ratings of performance, and the moderating effect promotion focus has on those effects. Using field data, we surveyed 549 employees from a manufacturing company in the USA and obtained supervisor ratings of task performance and helping behavior for each employee. We found support for multiple hypotheses, which suggests that managers rated narcissistic and psychopathic employees as having poorer task performance and psychopathic employees as engaging in fewer helping behaviors than employees low in those traits. Furthermore, promotion focus strengthened these negative relationships. We did not find these effects for Machiavellianism. Implications of these findings for future dark personality research as well as the practical implications for managers and organizations are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.