Intra‐individual variability in job complexity over time: Examining the effect of job complexity trajectory on employee job strain

Drawing on gestalt characteristics theory, we advance the literature on the effect of job complexity on employee well‐being by considering intra‐individual variability of job complexity over time. Specifically, we examine how the trend, or trajectory, of job complexity over time can explain unique variance of employee job strain. Across two longitudinal data sets, we consistently find that, with the average level of job complexity during a given period held constant, a positive job complexity trajectory (i.e., an increasing trend in complexity) is associated with higher employee job strain. Based on job‐demand‐control theory and the exposure‐reactivity model, we further establish that job autonomy and employee emotional stability jointly moderate the relationship between job complexity trajectory and employee job strain. Specifically, for employees with high emotional stability, job autonomy mitigates the job strain brought by positive job complexity trajectory, whereas for employees with low emotional stability, job autonomy does not help to reduce the adverse effect of the increasing trend. These findings not only contribute to extend the understanding of the job complexity – strain relationship, but also suggest a promising, dynamic avenue to study the effects of work characteristics on employee well‐being as well as other outcomes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An interpersonal perspective of perceived stress: Examining the prosocial coping response patterns of stressed managers

We adopt an interpersonal perspective and examine the adaptive effects of managers' perceived stress on their behavior towards subordinates. Drawing from the transactional model of stress (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), we advance a model that highlights the propensity for stressed managers to engage in prosocial coping behaviors towards their employees, which in turn are related to lower levels of turnover and higher levels of job performance. We tested our predictions in a sample of 281 employees and their 53 managers working in a clothing retailer in Turkey. Consistent with predictions, we found positive effects of managers' perceived stress on their prosocial coping behaviors and employee outcomes. Managers' perceived stress was positively related to sharing credit with employees for managers who held positive implicit prototypes about employees. Results also indicated that managers' perceived stress was positively related to sharing knowledge with their subordinates regardless of implicit follower prototypes. Both sharing credit and sharing knowledge, in turn, were related to turnover intentions and actual turnover, and sharing credit was related to job performance. This study extends past work by adopting an interpersonal perspective of stress and demonstrating that managerial stress can have positive effects on employee outcomes via prosocial coping behaviors.     

Emotional exhaustion and job performance: The moderating roles of distributive justice and positive affect

In a field study among 241 shop assistants and their 59 supervisors in fashion chain stores in Mainland China and Hong Kong, we found a negative relationship between emotional exhaustion and four indicators of job performance (overall performance, emotional display, OCB‐O, and OCB‐I) when employees perceived high levels of distributive justice in the exchange relationship with the organization, whereas emotional exhaustion was unrelated to any of these performance types when employees perceived low levels of distributive justice. In addition, this negative two‐way interaction effect of emotional exhaustion by distributive justice on job performance was buffered when employees were high on positive affect and intensified when they were low on positive affect. We used the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the attribution model of justice, and the broaden‐and‐build theory of positive emotions to clarify and discuss the moderating roles of distributive justice and positive affect in the relationship between emotional exhaustion and job performance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job engagement,perceived organizational support,high‐performance human resource practices,and cultural value orientations: A cross‐level investigation

Drawing on social exchange theory, we developed and tested a cross‐level model of organizational‐level predictors of job engagement. Specifically, we examined the impact of high‐performance human resource (HR) practices on employee engagement and work outcomes. Based on a sample of 605 employees, their immediate supervisors, and HR managers from 130 companies, our results indicated that high‐performance HR practices were directly related to job engagement as well as indirectly related through employees' perceived organizational support. In turn, job engagement was positively related to in‐role performance and negatively related to intent to quit. Culture was found to act as a critical contextual factor, as our results also revealed that the relationship between HR practices and perceived organizational support was stronger when collectivism was high and when power distance orientation was low. Overall, the findings shed new light on the processes and conditions through which employee work‐related outcomes are enhanced owing to high‐performance HR practices. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Who takes the lead? A multi‐source diary study on leadership,work engagement,and job performance

Transformational leadership is associated with a range of positive outcomes. Yet, according to substitutes for leadership theory, there may be circumstances under which it is difficult, if not impossible, for leaders to inspire and challenge their employees. Therefore, we hypothesize that transformational leadership behaviors as well as employee self‐leadership strategies contribute to employee work engagement and job performance. Furthermore, we hypothesize that transformational leadership behaviors are more effective when employees have a high need for leadership, whereas self‐leadership strategies are more effective when employees have a low need for leadership. A sample of 57 unique leader–employee dyads filled out a quantitative diary survey at the end of each week, for a period of five weeks. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling showed that employees were more engaged in their work and received higher performance ratings from their leader when leaders used more transformational leadership behaviors, and when employees used more self‐leadership strategies. Furthermore, we showed that transformational leadership behaviors were more effective when employees had a high (vs. low) need for leadership and that the opposite was true for employee self‐leadership. These findings contribute to our understanding of the role of employees in the transformational leadership process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A process model of employee engagement: The learning climate and its relationship with extra‐role performance behaviors

Employee engagement has recently been introduced as a concept advantageous to organizations. However, little is known about the value of employee engagement in explaining work performance behaviors compared with similar concepts. The learning climate, defined as the organization's beneficial activities in helping employees create, acquire, and transfer knowledge, has also been proposed as an antecedent of employee engagement. Using data from a sample of 625 employees and their supervisors in various occupations and organizations throughout Israel, we investigated employee engagement as a key mechanism for explaining the relationship between perceptions of the organization's learning climate and employees' proactivity, knowledge sharing, creativity, and adaptivity. We also tested whether employee engagement explained the relationship more thoroughly than similar concepts such as job satisfaction and job involvement. Multilevel regression analyses supported our hypotheses that employee engagement mediates the relationship between the perceived learning climate and these extra‐role behaviors. Moreover, engagement provides a more thorough explanation than job satisfaction or job involvement for these relationships. The implications for organizational theory, research, and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic effects of personal initiative on engagement and exhaustion: The role of mood,autonomy, and support

Researchers have neglected dynamic effects of proactive behavior on occupational well‐being. We investigated effects of change in personal initiative over 6 months on changes in emotional engagement and exhaustion over the following 6 months. On the basis of the control‐process theory on affect, we hypothesized that changes in positive and negative moods mediate these effects conditional upon employees' level of perceived organizational support. On the basis of action regulation theory, we assumed that change in job autonomy also acts as a mediator. Data came from 297 employees who responded to 3 surveys separated by 6‐month intervals. Results of latent change score modeling showed that change in personal initiative negatively predicted change in positive mood and, when perceived organizational support was low, positively predicted change in negative mood. In addition, change in personal initiative positively predicted change in job autonomy. Change in personal initiative had negative indirect effects on change in emotional engagement, and positive indirect effects on change in emotional exhaustion through changes in positive and negative moods (but not through change in job autonomy). A reverse causal model did not yield significant indirect effects. Overall, these findings suggest that an increase in proactive behavior can have detrimental effects on occupational well‐being.     

The development of psychological contract breach and violation: a longitudinal study

This study examines factors affecting employees' perceptions that their psychological contract has been breached by their organization, and factors affecting whether this perception will cause employees to experience feelings of contract violation. Data were obtained from 147 managers just prior to their beginning of new job (time 1) and 18 months later (time 2). It was found that perceived contract breach at time 2 was more likely when organizational performance and self‐reported employee performance were low, the employee had not experienced a formal socialization process, the employee had little interaction with organizational agents prior to hire, the employee had a history of psychological contract breach with former employers, and the employee had many employment alternatives at the time of hire. Furthermore, perceived breach was associated with more intense feelings of violation when employees both attributed the breach to purposeful reneging by the employer and felt unfairly treated in the process. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychological ownership and feelings of possession: three field studies predicting employee attitudes and organizational citizenship behavior

An increasing number of scholars and practitioners have emphasized the importance of ‘feelings of ownership’ for the organization (even when employees are not legal owners). In this exploratory study, we examine the relationships of psychological ownership with work attitudes and work behaviors. We start by developing hypotheses based on the psychology of possession and psychological ownership literatures. We then test these hypotheses with data from three field samples, using responses from over 800 employees, as well as manager and peer observations of employee behavior. Results demonstrate positive links between psychological ownership for the organization and employee attitudes (organizational commitment, job satisfaction, organization‐based self‐esteem), and work behavior (performance and organizational citizenship). More important, psychological ownership increased explained variance in organization‐based self‐esteem and organizational citizenship behavior (both peer and supervisor observations of citizenship), over and above the effects of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Contrary to prior theoretical work on psychological ownership, results, however, fail to show an incremental value of psychological ownership in predicting employee performance. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Understanding employee innovative behavior: Integrating the social network and leader–member exchange perspectives

By integrating social network theory and leader–member exchange (LMX) theory, we explore the effects of three types of social relationships on employee innovative behavior: weak ties outside the group, LMX, and strong ties within the group. The results from a sample in a high‐tech firm showed that LMX fully mediated the positive relationship between out‐group weak ties and innovative behavior. Furthermore, within‐group strong ties negatively moderated the second stage of this indirect relationship, such that LMX was positively and significantly related to innovative behavior only when the number of within‐group strong ties was low. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The bright side of emotional labor

Emotional labor (expressing emotions as part of one's job duties, as in “service with a smile”) can be beneficial for employees, organizations, and customers. Meta‐analytical summaries reveal that deep acting (summoning up the appropriate feelings one wants to display) generally has positive outcomes. Unlike surface acting (faking emotions), deep acting does not harm employee well‐being, and deep acting is positively related with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, and customer satisfaction. Emerging research also suggests that a third form of emotional labor, natural and genuine emotional labor, is a frequently used emotional labor strategy that has positive effects for both employees and customers. We examine how identity processes shape how employees experience emotional labor, and we maintain that when employees identify with their roles, emotional labor augments and affirms their identity. Person‐job fit is an important moderator that influences whether emotional labor enhances or hinders employee well‐being. Emotional labor may also have positive outcomes when organizations grant more autonomy and adopt positive display rules that call for the expression of positive emotions. Recent research also indicates that emotional labor strategies may improve leadership effectiveness. Research opportunities on the bright side of emotional labor are abundant. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow experiences at work: for high need achievers alone?

Applying Csikszentmihalyi's ( 1990 ) flow theory of optimal experience to the workplace, two studies examined the relationships of employees' perceived skill and challenge at work and need for achievement with their positive mood, intrinsic task interest, and extra‐role performance. Among achievement‐oriented employees only, high skill and challenge was associated with greater positive mood, task interest, and performance than other skill/challenge combinations. Additionally, positive mood mediated the interactive relationship of skill/challenge and need for achievement with performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Collectivism as a moderator of responses to organizational justice: implications for leader‐member exchange and ingratiation

Previous research indicates that employee justice perceptions are positively related to leader‐member exchange (LMX). We examined collectivism as a moderator of this relationship. We hypothesized that because maintaining harmonious relationships is important for collectivists, and because protecting their individual identities is not a priority, there is a weaker relationship between interactional and distributive justice perceptions and LMX for individuals high in collectivism. Instead of engaging in behaviors that would lower the quality of their LMX relationships, collectivists are more likely to use soft influence tactics, specifically ingratiation, as a response to perceived unfairness. Thus, we expected a stronger relationship between justice perceptions and ingratiation for those high in collectivism. In a sample of textile‐manufacturing employees in Istanbul, Turkey, we found that interactional justice had a weaker positive relationship with LMX for individuals high in collectivism. In addition, distributive justice had a nonsignificant relationship with LMX for those high in collectivism, whereas there was a positive relationship for those low in collectivism. Finally, for collectivists there was a negative relationship between interactional justice perceptions and frequency of ingratiation, suggesting that collectivists may use more subtle mechanisms when responding to interactional unfairness. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Balancing cognition and emotion: Innovation implementation as a function of cognitive appraisal and emotional reactions toward innovation

Focusing on the role of emotions in understanding employee behavior, the present study identifies employees' emotional reactions toward innovation as a mediating process that explains the effects of institutional environment on collective innovation use in work units. We further employed the appraisal theory of emotion and affective events theory (AET) to conceptualize the relationships between cognitions and emotions involving innovation. This expanded conceptual model was tested using multi‐source data from 1150 employees and managers of 81 branches of a Korean insurance company that were implementing a new practice called Life‐Long Learning. Two contextual factors (management involvement and training for innovation) significantly predicted employees' collective cognitive appraisal of the innovation (perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). Collective cognitive appraisal in turn predicted employees' positive and negative emotions toward the innovation, which completely mediated the effects of contextual factors and cognitive appraisal on implementation effectiveness (consistent and committed use of the innovation in the branch). This study highlights the critical role of emotions in the context of innovation implementation, and shows the need for greater attention to emotional processes in examining organizational innovations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived workplace racial discrimination and its correlates: A meta‐analysis

We combine the interactional model of cultural diversity (IMCD) and relative deprivation theory to examine employee outcomes of perceived workplace racial discrimination. Using 79 effect sizes from published and unpublished studies, we meta‐analyze the relationships between perceived racial discrimination and several important employee outcomes that have potential implications for organizational performance. In response to calls to examine the context surrounding discrimination, we test whether the severity of these outcomes depends on changes to employment law that reflect increasing societal concern for equality and on the characteristics of those sampled. Perceived racial discrimination was negatively related to job attitudes, physical health, psychological health, organizational citizenship behavior, and perceived diversity climate and positively related to coping behavior. The effect of perceived racial discrimination on job attitudes was stronger in studies published after the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was passed than before. Results provide some evidence that effect sizes were stronger the more women and minorities were in the samples, indicating that these groups are more likely to perceive discrimination and/or respond more strongly to perceived discrimination. Our findings extend the IMCD and relative deprivation theory to consider how contextual factors including changes to employment law influence employee outcomes of perceived workplace discrimination. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does daily proactivity affect well‐being? The moderating role of punitive supervision

Proactive behavior (self‐initiated and future‐oriented actions to bring about change) has largely positive consequences for organizationally oriented outcomes such as job performance. Yet the outcomes of proactivity from a well‐being perspective have not been clearly considered. Drawing on self‐determination theory and the stressor‐detachment model, we propose two distinct paths by which proactivity affects individuals' daily well‐being. The first path is an energy‐generating pathway in which daily proactive behavior enhances end‐of‐work‐day vitality via perceived competence. The second is a strain pathway in which daily proactive behavior generates anxiety at work, which undermines the process of detachment from work. We argue that these pathways are shaped by the extent to which supervisors are prone to blaming employees for their mistakes (punitive supervision). We tested this model using a sample of 94 employees who completed surveys three times a day for between 5 and 7 days. Our multilevel analyses provide support for the proposed dual‐pathway model and suggest differential well‐being outcomes of daily proactive work behavior. Overall, when an individual behaves proactively at work, they are more likely to experience higher levels of daily perceived competence and vitality. However, these positive effects can exist in parallel with daily negative effects on end‐of‐workday anxiety, and hence bedtime detachment, but only when the supervisor is perceived to be punitive about mistakes.     

Tired of innovations? Learned helplessness and fatigue in the context of continuous streams of innovation implementation

The business environment faced by contemporary organizations is highly uncertain and constantly changing. Thus, organizations have adopted and implemented a continuous stream of innovations to achieve sustainable growth and survival. Considering the demand for additional resources to implement innovations, the present study explores organizational conditions that may lead to innovation‐targeted burnout and fatigue among employees, which impede their active participation in a subsequent innovation. To this end, we propose a theoretical framework that elucidates the effects of previous innovations on the subsequent implementation behavior of employees. We identify two dimensions of the cognitive appraisal of previous innovations (i.e., intensity and failure) that shape employees' beliefs regarding innovations, such as innovation‐targeted helplessness, which ultimately results in innovation fatigue. Data collected from 84 managers and 397 employees of Chinese and Korean organizations prove the significant role of employee perceptions of previous innovations in shaping the innovation‐targeted helplessness and fatigue of employees, which ultimately affect employee behavior toward a subsequent innovation. The present conceptual and empirical analyses suggest that given continuous streams of innovation implementation, managers should carefully consider employee's perceptions of previous innovations (i.e., intensity and failure) for successful implementation of a subsequent innovation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of job demands and control on employee attendance and satisfaction

We examined the impact of stressful job demands on employee attitudes and attendance. Using Karasek's (1979) theory of job decision latitude as the conceptual foundation, we hypothesized that mental and physical work demands would interact with employee beliefs of personal control. Survey data from 90 male manufacturing employees regarding their control beliefs were combined with objective job analysis data concerning mental and physical demands and one year's worth of archival data regarding unexcused absences, sick days, and days tardy. There were significant interactions between control and objective psychological demands that indicated that these demands were associated with higher levels of tardiness and sick days only under conditions of low perceived control. In contrast, subjective workload ratings showed no relationship with tardiness and sick days, but, in interaction with control, predicted work satisfaction and voluntary absence. We discussed these results in terms of a stress process that affects health-related attendance independent of employee attitudes.     

The moderating effects of job control and selection,optimization, and compensation strategies on the age–work ability relationship

Work ability describes employees' capability to carry out their work with respect to physical and psychological job demands. This study investigated direct and interactive effects of age, job control, and the use of successful aging strategies called selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) in predicting work ability. We assessed SOC strategies and job control by using employee self‐reports, and we measured employees' work ability using supervisor ratings. Data collected from 173 health‐care employees showed that job control was positively associated with work ability. Additionally, we found a three‐way interaction effect of age, job control, and use of SOC strategies on work ability. Specifically, the negative relationship between age and work ability was weakest for employees with high job control and high use of SOC strategies. These results suggest that the use of successful aging strategies and enhanced control at work are conducive to maintaining the work ability of aging employees. We discuss theoretical and practical implications regarding the beneficial role of the use of SOC strategies utilized by older employees and enhanced contextual resources at work for aging employees. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigating the relationship between person–environment fit and safety behavior: A social cognition perspective

Introduction: This study explored the relationship between person–job fit and safety behavior, as well as the mediating role played by psychological safety, from the perspective of social cognitive theory and person–environment fit theory. Method: A total of 800 employees from petroleum enterprises were recruited, with cluster random sampling used to collect data in two stages. Results: The results showed that employees’ safety behavior is higher under the condition of “high person–job fit—high person–organization fit” than under that of “low person–job fit—low person–organization fit.” In other words, the more congruent the level of person–job fit and person–organization fit for a given employee, the higher their level of safety behavior. Practical Applications: Psychological safety plays a mediating role between the congruence of both person–job fit and person–organization fit and employees’ safety behavior.