Of discovery and dread: The importance of work challenges for international business travelers' thriving and global role turnover intentions

As frequent travel across international borders has become common for an ever-increasing number of workers, it is essential to understand what helps these international business travelers (IBTs) thrive and embrace their global work responsibilities. This study's purpose is to examine the role of developmental opportunities (i.e., work role challenges) in helping IBTs see frequent travel as a predominantly beneficial experience. By integrating two theories of motivation—conservation of resources theory and the challenge-hindrance demands framework—I build a moderated mediation model of IBTs' intent to cease their global work responsibilities (i.e., global role turnover intentions). Using latent moderated structural equation modeling, I test the model on a sample of 204 IBTs collected at two time points. Results show that, through the psychological state of thriving at work, travel frequency has a negative indirect association with IBTs' global role turnover intentions when IBTs' work roles are challenging and a positive association when their work lacks challenge. This is primarily the case regarding the challenge of being responsible for others at work. The novelty of IBTs' work tasks is also a salient challenge but to a lesser extent. This study contributes to literatures on global work, work role design, and thriving.     

Stigma at work: The psychological costs and benefits of the pressure to work safely

Introduction: Workplace accidents and injuries can be quite costly to both individual employees and their organizations. While safety climate (i.e., perceptions of policies and procedures related to safety that should reflect an organization's value of safety) has been established as a predictor of safety behaviors, less research has considered the possible negative pressures that could result from an environment that emphasizes safety. Though organizations may intend to create a positive safety climate, concerns about being treated differently if an employee were to be involved in a safety incident may result in unintended, but detrimental safety and health outcomes. Method: This study investigated the stigma associated with being involved in a safety-related incident in relation to self-reported safety behaviors and psychological health outcomes. The data were acquired through a two-wave prospective design, surveying workers from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk; N = 528) who indicated they were exposed to at least one physical work stressor (e.g., heavy lifting; air quality; standing for extended periods) a few times each month or more. Results: When controlling for safety climate, safety stigma was related to decreased safety compliance and poorer psychological health. There was a marginally significant interaction between safety stigma and safety motivation in relation to safety compliance. Conclusions: These findings suggest that experiencing pressure to work safely, for fear of being evaluated negatively, may actually come at the cost of employees' safety compliance and psychological health. Practical applications: These results may be useful in assessing and intervening to improve an organization's safety climate. Organizations should closely examine the climate for safety to ensure that positive aspects of safety are not undermined by a stigmatizing pressure associated with safety in the work environment.     

The power of reflection for would-be leaders: Investigating individual work reflection and its impact on leadership in teams

This paper examines the key role that individual work reflection plays in facilitating individuals' leadership in teams. Consistent with the functional perspective on leadership, we argue that individual work reflection allows individuals to better understand their team's needs, and therefore enact higher levels of task-, relational-, and change-oriented leadership behaviors and be more effective leaders in their teams. We first conducted a series of measure development studies to validate a measure of individual work reflection comprising four dimensions of reflection at work: goals-, methods-, relationships-, and self-focused reflection. Then, across two independent studies assessing individuals in self-managing teams over time, we found support for our theoretical model linking individual work reflection to peer-rated leadership behaviors (Main Studies 1 and 2) and leadership effectiveness (Main Study 2). In further support of our theorizing, Main Study 2 also indicates that individual work reflection shapes leadership behaviors and effectiveness via understanding the team's needs, beyond a wide range of related constructs (e.g., feedback seeking, mindfulness, and rumination), as well as commonly studied predictors of leadership behaviors (i.e., the Big Five). Our theory and empirical findings help advance insights on the role of individual work reflection in improving leadership outcomes in organizations.     

Strengthening the employment relationship: The effects of work‐hours fit on key employee attitudes

Today's hourly workers are facing revised work schedules and shifting hours, which may have critical implications for employment relationships. This study considers the impact of work‐hours fit on key attitudes of hourly employees—perceived organizational support, job stress, work–family conflict, intent to turnover, and life satisfaction. We define work‐hours fit as the difference between an employee's desired number of hours and the actual hours worked, and we examine both the congruence of work‐hours fit and the degree of misfit. We also examine the moderating impact of the type of misfit, defined as working too many versus too few hours. Results indicate that, in our sample, hourly employees are typically not working the hours they prefer. As predicted, work‐hours fit impacts the attitudes we examined, and, when considering the type of misfit, congruence matters more for life satisfaction and intent to turnover. Results also indicate working too few hours impacts job stress and life satisfaction, whereas working too many effects work–family conflict. This paper demonstrates the importance of preferences, as a reflection of time/money resource trade‐offs, and offers ways for employers to improve work–family facilitation and strengthen their employment relationships. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the relationships among work characteristics and learning-related behavior: Does age matter?

This 3-wave longitudinal study examined (a) the causal direction of the relationships among psychosocial work characteristics (e.g., job demands, job control, and supervisor support) and indicators of learning-related behavior (e.g., motivation to learn and active problem solving), and (b) whether these relationships differed across age, by comparing the results for young (≤30), middle-aged (31–44) and older (≥45) workers. The results for the total sample revealed significant reciprocal causal relationships among job demands, job control, and learning-related behavior. Furthermore, significant age differences were found in the level of the work characteristics and learning-related behavior, as well as in the cross-lagged relationships among the variables. Compared to earlier—predominantly cross-sectional—results, the present study underlines the importance of taking a dynamic as well as a life-span view on the relationships between work and learning-related behavior. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Not all is fair in love and work: coworkers' preferences for and responses to managerial interventions regarding workplace romances

This article proposes a model of coworkers' preferences for and responses to managerial interventions regarding workplace romances (WRs). Specifically, the model examines the antecedents of coworkers' preferences for managerial intervention in WRs and the consequences of whether their preferred intervention is congruent with the actual managerial intervention. According to the model, coworkers' preferences for managerial intervention are influenced by their perceptions of the impact of the WR on the work environment, including perceptions of whether it represents a conflict of interest for the two participants and whether it disrupts the functioning of the work group. These perceptions are affected by factors pertaining to the romance itself, the coworkers themselves, and the organizational context in which the romance occurs. Next, consistent with the organizational justice literature, we propose that coworkers will evaluate the distributive and procedural justice of the managerial intervention according to (a) the congruence between the severity of their preferred managerial action and the severity of the actual managerial action and (b) the congruence between their beliefs about a just process for managerial decision making about WRs and the actual process. Finally, we propose that coworkers who perceive the managerial intervention process and outcomes as unjust will exhibit negative work‐related attitudes (e.g., decreased job satisfaction and organizational commitment) and behavior (e.g., decreased productivity and organizational citizenship behaviors). Implications of the model for future research and organizational practice are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occupational boundary play: Crafting a sense of identity legitimacy in an emerging occupation

In emerging occupations, individuals are given very little prepackaged identity “content”—for example, occupational values, legitimating ideologies, clear goals, tasks, and/or routines—to help them build their individual-level occupational identities. By contrast, individuals in well-established occupations (e.g., professions) are given ample identity content, and prior identity research has examined identity work processes almost exclusively in the context of such occupations. Consequently, prior theory assumes that identity work is mostly a matter of tailoring prepackaged identity content to fit one's individual-level preferences and objectives. Prior theory is therefore of limited use in emerging occupations, where the key identity problem is not one of tailoring identity content effectively but creating an identity in the first place—more specifically, an identity whose existence feels justified and valid. Thus, in this paper, we ask: how do individuals in emerging occupations construct an internal sense that “who they are” is necessary, desirable, and appropriate (i.e., legitimate) within the broader occupational landscape? On the basis of a grounded theory study of health coaches, we suggest that individuals in such circumstances can craft this sense of “identity legitimacy” via a sensemaking process we call occupational boundary play. This process consists of both “occupational boundary setting” and “occupational boundary blurring,” the former providing for individuals a sense of identity novelty and the latter providing a sense of identity familiarity. Taken together, this subjective experience of both novelty and familiarity provides for individuals the sense that “who they are” is legitimate within the broader occupational landscape.     

Multiple perspectives of congruence: relationships between value congruence and employee attitudes

The relative importance of multiple types of value congruence—person–environment (P‐E), person–person (P‐P), and perceptual fit—across two hierarchical levels (workgroup and manager) and across multiple dimensions of values was investigated in a sample of 951 employees from 113 bank branches. As expected, different types of value congruence and different value dimensions were differentially important for outcomes. Both P‐E fit (between an individual's personal values and the cultural values of the organization) and perceptual fit (between an individual's perception of the organization's values and the organization's values as perceived by others) were found to be related to satisfaction, commitment, and turnover intentions, while P‐P fit (between an individual's personal values and the personal values of others) was not. Further, P‐E congruence results were generally stronger for fit with the workgroup than fit with the manager and results were stronger for the rational goal dimension which focused on external customer service. In contrast, results for perceptual fit revealed that fit was generally more important for fit with the manager than fit with the workgroup and was generally more important for the open system dimension which focused on flexibility and innovation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of globalization on human work

This contribution addresses the phenomenon of globalization in its impact on the nature of work. Starting from an analysis and characterization of the general understanding of globalization, the contribution will attempt to identify those factors of globalization processes which appear to affect most strongly the work of different employment categories (e.g. management, production workers, intellectual workers). In a next step, the work and organizational psychological consequences of globalization in a two-pronged perspective will be analyzed: (1) The significant changes on work places (e.g. growth of mental work, expansion of service sector employment and corresponding shrinking of production work, work hour changes, unemployment, industrial relations). (2) The changing psychological demands on individuals in the work force (e.g. flexibility, coping with diversity, changing competence demands, changing the meaning of working). The concluding section considers the requisite political reorientation towards work in a globalizing world.     

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.     

The feedback environment: An exploratory study of cue use

This paper examines individuals' theories about cue use in organizations — theories about which of the many cues available in an organization's feedback environment they should use to guide their behavior. It also investigates how these theories vary with increasing organizational experience. The research assesses individual's implicit theories regarding cue use using both open- and closed-ended data collection methods. Results suggest that, regardless of experience, individuals place the most importance on cues from the company and their supervisors. Peer feedback and self-observations were seen as much less important. These results are interesting in light of previous studies showing that the self was the most available, and the organization the least available, source of feedback. With experience, managers appear to learn to emphasize negative over positive feedback, especially from superiors, and to emphasize their peers' actions over their words when a negative message is being conveyed.     

Long work hours: a social identity perspective on meta‐analysis data

The current study utilizes social identity theory to investigate employees' work hours. Specifically, we use meta‐analysis to examine the relationships between hours worked and indicators of organizational identity (e.g., organizational support and tenure), occupational identity (e.g., human capital investments and work centrality), and family identity (e.g., family responsibilities and family satisfaction). The meta‐analysis also allowed us to explore other important correlates of hours worked (e.g., situational demands, job performance, mental health, and physical health), moderating variables (e.g., age, gender, and job complexity), and curvilinear relationships of work hours to social identity indicators. Overall, we found that occupational factors and situational demands had the strongest relationships with hours worked, hours worked were negatively associated with measures of employee well‐being, gender had several significant moderating effects, and there were curvilinear relationships between hours worked and well‐being and work–family conflict variables. The article concludes with directions for future theoretical and empirical research. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationships between psychological climate perceptions and work outcomes: a meta‐analytic review

In this study, meta‐analytic procedures were used to examine the relationships between individual‐level (psychological) climate perceptions and work outcomes such as employee attitudes, psychological well‐being, motivation, and performance. Our review of the literature generated 121 independent samples in which climate perceptions were measured and analyzed at the individual level. These studies document considerable confusion regarding the constructs of psychological climate, organizational climate, and organizational culture and reveal a need for researchers to use terminology that is consistent with their level of measurement, theory, and analysis. Our meta‐analytic findings indicate that psychological climate, operationalized as individuals' perceptions of their work environment, does have significant relationships with individuals' work attitudes, motivation, and performance. Structural equation modeling analyses of the meta‐analytic correlation matrix indicated that the relationships of psychological climate with employee motivation and performance are fully mediated by employees' work attitudes. We also found that the James and James ( 1989 ) PC_g model could be extended to predict the impact of work environment perceptions on employee attitudes, motivation, and performance. Despite the number of published individual‐level climate studies that we found, there is a need for more research using standardized measures so as to enable analyses of the organizational and contextual factors that might moderate the effects of psychological climate perceptions. Finally, we argue for a molar theory of psychological climate that is rooted in the psychological processes by which individuals make meaning or their work experiences. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An examination of beliefs about older workers: Do stereotypes still exist?

This study examined individuals' beliefs about older workers. Of particular interest was the relationship between those beliefs and individuals' (a) interactions with older workers, (b) supervisory status, and (c) demographic variables. Findings indicated that although older workers hold more positive beliefs about older workers than younger workers hold, even younger workers tended to have generally positive beliefs. Chronological age was found to moderate two relationships. First, the number of younger workers' interactions with older workers significantly, positively affected younger workers' beliefs about older workers. Second, an examination of the interaction between supervisory status and age found that older supervisors hold more negative beliefs about older workers than younger supervisors.     

When work is wanted after hours: Testing weekly stress of information communication technology demands using boundary theory

Information communication technologies (ICTs; e.g., smartphones) enable employees to work anywhere and anytime, blurring work and family boundaries. Building on this trend, this study draws from work–family border/boundary theory to examine antecedents and consequences of employees' weekly experiences of ICT demands (i.e., being accessible and contacted for work after hours via ICTs). A sample of 546 elementary teachers completed a registration survey and a weekly diary for 5 weeks. Multilevel modeling results suggest that ICT demands as a form of work intrusion in the home can constitute a source of significant weekly strain (i.e., negative rumination, negative affect, and insomnia). As border crossers, teachers' adoption of a technological boundary tactic (i.e., keeping work email alerts turned off on mobile phones) was related to lower weekly ICT demands. As important border keepers at work, school principals' work–family support was related to teachers' lower weekly ICT demands, whereas parents' after-hours boundary expectations were related to teachers' higher weekly ICT demands. Moreover, teachers' boundary control was found as a mediating mechanism by which the two border keepers influenced teachers' ICT demands−negative rumination link. That is, teachers who received fewer boundary expectations and/or more work–family support had greater boundary control, which in turn buffered the ICT demands–negative rumination relationship.     

Overqualification and counterproductive work behaviors: Examining a moderated mediation model

The current study examined the effect of employees' perceived overqualification on counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). Building on person–job fit theory and prior research on such organizational phenomena, we conceptualized overqualification as a type of poor person–job fit. Drawing on the dual‐process model, we further suggested that in processing their person–job misfit, overqualified employees might cognitively appraise themselves as less worthy organizational members and experientially feel angry toward the employment situation. We also suggested that to the extent that overqualified people are sensitive to justice, they may react more or less strongly to being overqualified. We tested our predictions using time‐lagged data from a sample of 224 workers and their supervisors employed in a large manufacturing company in China. Consistent with our theoretical framework, we found that organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE) and anger toward employment situation mediated the positive relationships between perceived overqualification and both self‐rated and supervisor‐rated CWBs. In addition, justice sensitivity moderated the relationship between perceived overqualification and the mediators (i.e., OBSE and anger) and the indirect relationship between perceived overqualification and CWB. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings as well as future research directions are discussed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An assessment of attraction toward affirmative action organizations: investigating the role of individual differences

Our study investigated applicant characteristics in response to organizations incorporating an affirmative action policy (AAP) statement in recruitment material. Study participants (N = 217; White upper‐level management students) randomly received recruitment material containing one of three statements (e.g., affirmative action, equal employment opportunity (EEO), or no statement regarding affirmative action or EEO) and were asked to evaluate the attractiveness of the organization publicizing the designated policy. Results indicated that individuals responded negatively to AAPs in recruitment material because of prejudice attitudes, the perceived unfairness of such programs (which we relate to equity sensitivity), or in an attempt to protect their own self‐interest (which we relate to general self‐efficacy). Additionally, individuals' equity sensitivity and general self‐efficacy both moderated the relationship between racial prejudice and organizational attractiveness. Specifically, the negative relationships between participants' prejudice attitudes and the attractiveness of organizations publicizing an affirmative action policy were stronger for benevolents (persons tolerant of situations where they are under‐rewarded) and for persons low in self‐efficacy. Implications of our findings for organizational recruitment practices are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How perceptions of experience-based analysis influence explanations of work accidents

IntroductionThis article looks into how perceptions of experience-based analysis (EBA) influence causal explanations of accidents given by managers and workers in the chemical industry (n = 409) and in the nuclear industry (n = 222).MethodThe approach is based on the model of naive explanations of accidents (Kouabenan, 1999, 2006, 2009), which recommends taking into account explanations of accidents spontaneously given by individuals, including laypersons, not only to better understand why accidents occur but also to design and implement the most appropriate prevention measures. The study reported here describes the impact of perceptions about EBA (perceived effectiveness, personal commitment, and the feeling of being involved in EBA practices) on managers' and workers' explanations of accidents likely to occur at the workplace.ResultsThe results indicated that both managers and workers made more internal explanations than external ones when they perceived EBA positively. Moreover, the more the participants felt involved in EBA, were committed to it, and judged it effective, the more they explained accidents in terms of factors internal to the workers. Practical Applications: Recommendations are proposed for reducing defensive reactions, increasing personal commitment to EBA, and improving EBA effectiveness.     

Speaking without words: A meta-analysis of over 70 years of research on the power of nonverbal cues in job interviews

What candidates say in an interview is important—but so is how they say it. We draw on dual-process theory to explain why interviewers rely on individuals' dynamic and static nonverbal cues to evaluate performance with quick, implicit inferences (System 1 processing). Yet, it remains unclear which cues most influence interviewers' judgments and whether moderators affecting interviewers' reliance on System 1 thinking (e.g., interview structure, modality, duration, and interviewee gender) impact the relationship between nonverbal cues and interview ratings. We performed the first meta-analysis to address these questions, integrating findings across 63 studies (N = 4868). The nonverbal cues demonstrating the strongest association with interview performance were professional appearance (ρ = .62), eye contact (ρ = .45), and head movement (ρ = .43). Moderator analyses highlight the persistent power of nonverbal cues, as the results were largely unaffected by interview structure, modality, or duration. Experimental design did play a role, as did interviewees' gender, with stronger effects for certain nonverbal cues (e.g., facial expressions and professional appearance) for women than men, conveying interviewers' reliance on gender-based stereotypes when judging their performance. Overall, these results suggest nonverbal cues and characteristics are an important influence on job applicants' success in employment interviews.