How does it feel and how does it look? The role of employee motivation in organizational learning type

Employees' work outcomes vary as a function of their focus on exploring new possibilities versus exploiting current opportunities. But what determines how employees divide their attention between these contrasting work behaviors? Drawing on studies on work motivation and employees' impression management concerns, we examine how intrinsic work motivation and self‐enhancement motivation relate to the exploration–exploitation balance and how environmental dynamism moderates these relationships. Based on the analyses of a sample of 638 employees in 34 organizations in Finland, we find that intrinsic work motivation is positively associated with employees' focus on exploration relative to exploitation. By contrast, self‐enhancement motivation negatively associates with exploration relative to exploitation, but this relationship is nonlinear, such that as self‐enhancement motivation increases, its positive association with exploitation diminishes. The findings also show that the hypothesized nonlinear relationship between self‐enhancement motivation and exploration is particularly pronounced in stable business environments. Our findings contribute to organizational learning research and provide a new theoretical perspective on pursuing exploration and exploitation in organizations.     

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.     

From expectation to experience: Graduates entering a large corporation

The paper reports a longitudinal study of new and recently recruited graduates to an oil company, to evaluate how initial expectations compared with experience, and how needs, interests and work activities changed over time post-entry. Results showed that new entrants had unrealistic expectations, especially of having more managerial job content than they were assigned initially, but this increased with subsequent experience to reach expected levels. Socialization effects were evident, especially by job function, but not by gender. The work orientations and job experiences of commercial and technical graduates developed on divergent paths over time, suggesting more positive personal growth over their early careers for the commercial graduates.     

Spillover and crossover of work resources: A test of the positive flow of resources through work–family enrichment

In their seminal model of work–family enrichment, Greenhaus and Powell (2006) theorized five categories of work resources to have an impact on work–family enrichment. Using a matched set of 351 dual‐career spouses, we explored how these unique work resources contribute to work–family enrichment and how they spill over to shape job incumbents' family outcomes and cross over to spouse outcomes. Results support indirect effects for the work resources of developmental experiences, supervisor support, schedule control, and self‐efficacy, but not salary, on marital satisfaction and family functioning through the job incumbent's work–family enrichment. In addition, we found support for the crossover of these indirect effects to the spouse through the spouse's positive crossover transmission, which facilitated the spouse's marital satisfaction and commitment to the job incumbent's organization. Our results suggest that multiple work resources have an impact on work–family enrichment and that the flow of positive work resources through work–family enrichment spills over to impact outcomes for the job incumbent and crosses over to the spouse.     

Mapping cognitions to better understand attitudinal and behavioral responses in appraisal research

Perceptions are important in determining performance appraisal system success. The growing body of research in this area has clearly documented the differences in perceptions between appraisers and appraisees. However, many of these findings are predominately based on aspects of the system in judging its overall effectiveness and rely heavily on self‐report questionnaire responses with weak methodological rigor. Not much is known about the deeper cognitive perceptions of appraisers and appraisees in better explaining their attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. This paper breaks away from conventional questionnaire‐generated perceptions and applies a unique clinical cognitive mapping methodology called the repertory grid technique to elicit the personal constructs of how real respondents perceive appraisal systems based on their real‐life experiences. The method allowed the investigation to go much deeper than past research into the core perceptions that influenced respondents' attitudes and subsequent behaviors. Though the findings showed some commonality in personal constructions of appraisal systems with those found in the literature, new constructs, core perceptual dimensions, and collective cognitive maps were elicited for the very first time, opening up new questions and issues for further research. Implications to theory and practice are also discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leader self‐awareness: An examination and implications of women's under‐prediction

Self‐awareness represents an important aspect of leadership. However, past research on leader self‐awareness has focused on one component of self‐awareness, self versus others' ratings, leaving the second component, the ability to anticipate the views of others, largely neglected. We examined this second component of self‐awareness by focusing on women leaders who have been found to under‐predict how others rate them. In two studies, we measured how women leaders anticipate the views of their bosses in regard to their leadership. In Study 1, 194 leaders rated their leadership, were rated by their bosses, and then predicted how their bosses rated their leadership. While we found that women under‐predict their boss ratings compared with men, we did not find that boss gender or feedback played a role in this under‐prediction. In Study 2, 76 female leaders identified (via open‐ended questions) possible reasons and consequences of under‐prediction for women in organizations. Results from Study 2 reveal the following: (1) the reasons for women's under‐prediction include a lack of self‐confidence, differences in feedback needs, learned gender roles, and self‐sexism; and (2) the perceived consequences of under‐prediction are negative for both women and the organization. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Thriving at work: Impact of psychological capital and supervisor support

Thriving at work is a positive psychological state characterized jointly by learning and vitality. Conventional wisdom and some initial research indicate that such thriving benefits both employees themselves and their organizations. This study specifically tests thriving at work by linking it to a theoretically important personal outcome variable (self‐development), refining its relationship with agentic work behaviors (task focus and heedful relating), and proposing and testing two new antecedent variables (psychological capital and supervisor support climate). Using structural equation modeling on a sample of 198 dyads (employees and their supervisors), strong support was found for the theory‐driven hypothesized relationships. The results contribute to a better understanding of positive organizational scholarship and behavior in general and specifically to the recently emerging positive construct of employees' thriving at work. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Examination of the combined effects of work values and early work experiences on organizational commitment

We tested the hypothesis that the influence of early work experiences on organization commitment would be moderated by the value employees place on these experiences. We measured work values in two samples of recent university graduates prior to organizational entry, and obtained measures of commensurate work experiences and three forms of commitment (affective, continuance, and normative: Allen and Meyer, 1990) on different occasions following entry. Regression analyses revealed that values and experiences did interact in the prediction of affective commitment and normative commitment, but that the nature of the interaction was different for different work value/experience combinations. The findings provide some challenge to the common sense assumption that positive work experiences will have the strongest effect on commitment among those who most value such experiences. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preconditions of three types of alienation in young managers and professionals

The study tested predictions derived from Korman (1977) and from Sarason (1977) about factors leading to alienation among occupationally-successful young adults. The sample consisted of 434 college graduates (median age = 29 years), 85 per cent of whom were employed full-time. Respondents completed self-report questionnaires including measures of family and college background; expectations at college graduation for positive outcomes in personal, interpersonal, and work areas; current fulfilment in each of these areas; and alienation (estrangement from self, other people, and occupation or profession). Results of subgroup analysis showed that respondents whose backgrounds included high socio-economic status and graduation from elite colleges were more likely than other subjects to experience alienation when encountering lack of fulfilment. However, moderator regressions failed to show similar moderator effects, indicating that family and college backgrounds may produce discontinuous and qualitatively different subgroup effects. One implication of this study is to suggest more care in selecting individuals for high-risk job assignments with low probability of success.     

The two faces of high self‐monitors: Chameleonic moderating effects of self‐monitoring on the relationships between personality traits and counterproductive work behaviors

This study examines whether and how self‐monitoring moderates the relationships between two personality traits (agreeableness and conscientiousness) and counterproductive work behavior directed toward the organization (CWB‐O) and toward other employees (CWB‐I). High self‐monitors strive to attain personal goals related to status and prestige enhancement by adjusting their behavior to what the situation requires or allows for. We propose that the status enhancement motive can take on two different yet related forms—impression management (interpersonal potency) and opportunism (win‐at‐all‐costs)—depending on relevant situational cues. We hypothesize that in public, interpersonal settings where their behavior is visible to others, high self‐monitors' desire to enhance their status by looking good to others suppresses the natural expression of low agreeableness via increased engagement in CWB‐I. Conversely, we hypothesize that in private, non‐interpersonal settings where their behavior is rarely visible to others, high self‐monitors' desire to enhance their status by doing whatever it takes to get what they want intensifies the natural expression of low conscientiousness via increased engagement in CWB‐O. On the basis of two independent samples of participants, results of moderated multiple regression analyses provided support for the hypotheses. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizational identification: Extending our understanding of social identities through social networks

Although organizational identification is founded on social identity and symbolic interactionist theories, current theories emphasize a social identity whereby organizational members categorize themselves and others based on roles and membership in an organization or work unit. In contrast symbolic interactionism, which resides in interpersonal relationships, is rarely theorized or empirically assessed in studies of organizational identification. We use survey data collected at an academic institution to explore how the strength and structure of an individual's social network both directly influences organizational identification as well as moderates the relation between social identity, or categorical, antecedents and organizational identification. Our results show that the size of an individual's network as well as the interaction between relationship strength and prestige better explain organizational identification than do antecedents based solely on categorization and social comparison processes. Thus networks of relationships, which have been a foundational but much neglected premise and process for organizational identification, are brought back into a theory of organizational identification. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The indirect relations of workplace incivility with emotional exhaustion and supportive behaviors via self‐blame: The moderating roles of observed incivility and trait emotional control

Drawing from the social cognitive theory of self‐regulation, we develop a model linking experienced incivility to emotional exhaustion and supportive behaviors via self‐blame, with observed incivility experienced by coworkers as a first‐stage moderator and trait emotional control as a second‐stage moderator. We contend that employees will experience self‐blame if they perceive themselves to be distinct targets of incivility (i.e., observed incivility experienced by others is low). Self‐blame can potentially trigger prosocial responses for improving the situation, but self‐blaming targets rarely respond in a prosocial manner because rational attempts to do so are thwarted by deleterious negative emotions accompanying self‐blame. We argue that trait emotional control provides resources for managing these negative emotions to unleash a bright side of self‐blame, such that the relation of self‐blame with prosocial responses (i.e., being supportive to coworkers) will be more positive and the relation of self‐blame with emotional exhaustion will be less positive for individuals with high (vs. low) trait emotional control. Multiwave data collected from a sample of 220 police officers largely support our hypotheses, indicating that the indirect relation of experienced incivility with supportive behaviors via self‐blame is strongest at lower levels of observed incivility and higher levels of emotional control.     

The missing link? Implications of internal,external, and relational attribution combinations for leader–member exchange,relationship work,self‐work,and conflict

Attributions are causal explanations made by individuals in response to important, novel, and/or unexpected events. Numerous attribution theories have examined how people use information to make attributions and how attributions impact an individual's subsequent emotions and outcomes. However, this research has only recently considered the implications of dyadic‐level attributions (i.e., relational attributions), particularly in the context of leader–follower relationships in organizations. Therefore, the purpose of this theoretical paper is threefold. First, we integrate research on attributional biases into the research on relational attributions. Second, we integrate and extend attribution theory to consider the implications of convergent and divergent internal, external‐person, external‐situational, and relational attributions for leader–member exchange (LMX) quality, relationship work, self‐work, and conflict. Third, we make the implicit ranking of attribution combinations and the resultant levels of relationship work explicit. In doing so, we contribute to attribution theory and research by proposing how attribution combinations produce positive and negative outcomes that are both intrapersonal and interpersonal. Further, we contribute to the LMX literature by explicating how leader–follower attribution combinations influence relationship quality.     

Generations as social categories: An exploratory cognitive study of generational identity and generational stereotypes in a multigenerational workforce

Even though the academic press recognizes generational diversity and its consequences, the related findings are fractured, and research is incomplete regarding methodology and theoretical background. In adopting a social identity perspective concerning groups and self‐conception, we argue that the social identity perspective is in line with generational identity theory. Employing a cognitive mapping method (repertory grid technique, mixed methods), the present study taps into three generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y) of Belgian managers' minds and demonstrates how they perceive their own and the two other generations. Our research reveals that perceptions of their own and other generations may direct social categorization and generational stereotypes of the in‐group and out‐group(s), that some of these stereotypes can be enacted, and that generational stereotypes do not necessarily coincide with age‐based stereotypes. Several metapatterns in the stereotypes are revealed as well. Hence, we contribute to the emerging field of research that calls for an identity‐based approach rather than a cohort‐based approach to generations and that validates the argument that generations as a workplace phenomenon must be considered a legitimate phenomenon. Insights into generations as social categories give a richer view of the interrelationships between generations in multigenerational situations at work.     

Inspired to perform: A multilevel investigation of antecedents and consequences of thriving at work

Emerging research evidence across multiple industries suggests that thriving at work is critically important for creating sustainable organizational performance. However, we possess little understanding of how factors across different organizational levels stimulate thriving at work. To address this gap, the current study proposes a multilevel model that simultaneously examines contextual and individual factors that facilitate thriving at work and how thriving relates to positive health and overall unit performance. Analysis of data collected from 275 employees, at multiple time periods, and their immediate supervisors, representing 94 work units, revealed that servant leadership and core self‐evaluations are 2 important contextual and individual factors that significantly relate to thriving at work. The results further indicated that thriving positively relates to positive health at the individual level, with this relationship partially mediated by affective commitment. Our results also showed that collective thriving at work positively relates to collective affective commitment, which in turn, positively relates to overall unit performance. Taken together, these findings suggest that work context and individual characteristics play significant roles in facilitating thriving at work and that thriving is an important means by which managers and their organizations can improve employees' positive health and unit performance.     

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.     

The role of dispositions,entry stressors,and behavioral plasticity theory in predicting newcomers' adjustment to work

This longitudinal field study examined the combined effects of dispositions, entry stressors, and behavioral plasticity theory in predicting newcomers' adjustment to work after four and 10 months of organizational entry. Recent graduates completed a questionnaire prior to entry that measured two dispositions (negative affectivity and general self‐efficacy), and a questionnaire four months after entry that measured four entry stressors (role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, and unmet expectations). Measures of work adjustment were taken after four and 10 months. Based on behavioral plasticity theory, it was expected that the effects of the entry stressors would be most negative for the adjustment of newcomers with low general self‐efficacy. Limited support was found for behavioral plasticity theory. Those interactions that were significant indicated that increasing levels of role conflict were associated with lower organizational commitment and identification for newcomers with low general self‐efficacy. The results also provided weak support for a dispositional theory of work adjustment. The dispositions only predicted three of seven adjustment variables at four and 10 months. However, the entry stressors significantly predicted all seven adjustment measures. The results are discussed in terms of the predominant role played by the organizational setting in predicting newcomers' adjustment to work. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Episodic envy and counterproductive work behaviors: Is more justice always good?

The authors examined how perceived event‐specific procedural and distributive justice about own and envied others' outcomes interacts with episodic envy to predict counterproductive work behaviors. Our results were consistent with the attribution model of justice, finding that episodic envy significantly predicted counterproductive work behaviors aimed at envied others in the workplace and that this relationship was more pronounced when perceptions of procedural, but not distributive, justice about own or envied others' outcomes were high rather than low. We tested a moderated‐mediation model in which self‐attributions for the outcome mediated the effect of episodic envy on counterproductive work behaviors and that the effect of envy was stronger when perceptions of own or others' procedural justice were high rather than low. This research contributes to the literature on envy processes in the workplace and is the first to use a specific emotion, envy, as a proxy for a negative outcome in a demonstration of the attribution model of justice. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The moderating effects of political skill on the perceived politics–outcome relationships

Previous research has established that perceptions of organizational politics are associated with negative organizational outcomes. However, this may not hold true for all individuals. We offer subordinate and supervisor political skill, the ability to understand interactions at work and to use that understanding to effectively influence others, as possible moderators. Specifically, this study investigates the impact of both employees' self‐rated political skill and their managers' political skill on job satisfaction, job performance, and manager‐rated commitment. We examined these relationships in an organizational sample of 106 matched dyadic pairs and found mixed support for the joint moderating effect of self and manager political skill on the politics perceptions‐outcome relationships. Strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.