Bridging the gap between green behavioral intentions and employee green behavior: The role of green psychological climate

How do employees' perceptions and interpretations of organizational policies, practices, and procedures affect the enactment of their behavioral intentions? In a daily diary study, we examined the between‐persons relationship of corporate environmental strategy and pro‐environmental or “green” psychological climate; and whether green psychological climate moderates the within‐person relationship of employees' daily green behavioral intentions and their green behavior on the following day. To test our hypotheses, we collected survey data from 74 employees across 10 workdays. Results showed that corporate environmental strategy is positively related to green psychological climate that, in turn, moderates the relationship between green behavioral intentions and next‐day employee green behavior. Specifically, we found the relationship to be positive only when employees perceive a positive green psychological climate. We discuss implications of our findings for future research on employee green behavior and for organizations interested in encouraging employee green behavior. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meta‐analytic tests of relationships between organizational justice and citizenship behavior: testing agent‐system and shared‐variance models

Research on the unique effects of different types of perceived fairness on citizenship behavior that benefits individuals (organizational citizenship behavior (OCB‐I) and organizations (OCB‐O) has produced mixed results. We assert that how OCB‐O and OCB‐I are conceptualized affects the patterns of results, and we hypothesize that, when OCB is conceptualized appropriately, an agent‐system model is supported (interactional and procedural justice are the strongest unique predictors of OCB‐I and OCB‐O, respectively). We also hypothesize that shared variance among the justice types explains additional variance in OCB. Analyses of semi‐ partial correlations conducted on meta‐analytic coefficients supported our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

It is also in our nature: Genetic influences on work characteristics and in explaining their relationships with well‐being

Work design research typically views employee work characteristics as being primarily determined by the work environment and has thus paid less attention to the possibility that the person may also influence employee work characteristics and in turn accounts for the work characteristics–well‐being relationships through selection. Challenging this conventional view, we investigated the role of a fundamental individual difference variable—people's genetic makeup—in affecting work characteristics (i.e., job demands, job control, social support at work, and job complexity) and in explaining why work characteristics relate to subjective and physical well‐being. Our findings based on a national US twin sample show sizable genetic influences on job demands, job control, and job complexity, but not on social support at work. Such genetic influences were partly attributed to genetic factors associated with core self‐evaluations. Both genetic and environmental influences accounted for the relationships between work characteristics and well‐being, but to varying degrees. The results underscore the importance of the person, in addition to the work environment, in influencing employee work characteristics and explaining the underlying nature of the relationships between employee work characteristics and their well‐being. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“If you treat me right,I reciprocate”: examining the role of exchange in organizational survey response

Survey nonresponse can pose a major threat to the generalizability of organizational survey findings. This paper examines whether organizational members' evaluations of their organizational experiences affect survey response to organizationally sponsored surveys. In particular, we hypothesized that perceived organizational support, social exchange, procedural justice and an individual's inclination to feel exploited in social relationships predicted organizational members' compliance with organizations' requests for survey completion. A longitudinal field experiment conducted in collaboration with the Office of Institutional Research at a large university (sample: n = 622 university students) supported the hypotheses. Organizational members who consciously decided to not participate in organizational surveys perceived their organization as less procedurally just and less supportive. They also reported negative perceptions of their social exchange relationship with their organization, and were more inclined to feel exploited in relationships. Hence, an exchange‐oriented theoretical framework grounded in organizational citizenship behavior theory seems appropriate for the study of survey nonresponse. Implications for survey practice include that survey‐based findings are unlikely to generalize to specific groups of nonrespondents, and that techniques commonly used to increase response rates may not be effective in reaching these groups of nonrespondents. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Software,shareware and freeware: multiplex commitment to an electronic social exchange system

We observe the behavior of 37 authors of shared (i.e., non‐commercial) software for the Apple Newton in terms of multiplex commitment (committed to multiple related targets) and the helping behaviors directed at these multiple related targets. The behavior of these shared software authors show a pattern of commitment to related targets consistent with our expectations of multiplex commitment and relationships to two helping behaviors (the number of shared software programs produced, and the degree of sacrifice expected with that shared software). The related targets of commitment were the users of the software, other shared software authors, and the newsgroup that served as the electronic social exchange system, but not the FTP site that enabled the exchange or the Listserv that served as an additional electronic social exchange system. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The sound of cooperation: Musical influences on cooperative behavior

Music as an environmental aspect of professional workplaces has been closely studied with respect to consumer behavior while sparse attention has been given to its relevance for employee behavior. In this article, we focus on the influence of music upon cooperative behavior within decision‐making groups. Based on results from two extended 20‐round public goods experiments, we find that happy music significantly and positively influences cooperative behavior. We also find a significant positive association between mood and cooperative behavior. Consequently, while our studies provide partial support for the relevance of affect in relation to cooperation within groups, we also show an independently important function of happy music that fits with a theory of synchronous and rhythmic activity as a social lubricant. More generally, our findings indicate that music and perhaps other atmospheric variables that are designed to prime consumer behavior might have comparably important effects for employees and consequently warrant closer investigation. Copyright © 2016 The Authors Journal of Organizational Behavior Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Relationships between psychological contract breach and employee well‐being and career‐related behavior: The role of occupational future time perspective

Relationships between psychological contract breach and employee well‐being and career‐related behavior cannot sufficiently be explained by social exchange and reciprocity theories, yet the alternative mechanisms underlying these associations are currently not well understood. Based on the psychological contract perspective on careers, the goal of this study was to examine indirect effects of psychological contract breach on emotional engagement, emotional exhaustion, and career‐related behavior through two dimensions of occupational future time perspective (i.e., focus on opportunities and focus on limitations). Data came from 405 employees in Australia, who responded to three surveys across 12 months. Results showed that psychological contract breach had indirect effects on emotional engagement and exhaustion through focus on opportunities and focus on limitations, respectively, and on career‐related behavior through focus on opportunities. Another mechanism, psychological contract violation, was only related to employees' organizational deviance. These findings highlight the important role of occupational future time perspective dimensions as employees' evaluations of future career‐related opportunities and limitations. These evaluations may change in response to psychological contract breach and, in turn, might impact on employee well‐being and career‐related behavior.     

Empirical analysis of shared leadership promotion and team creativity: An adaptive leadership perspective

Promoting shared leadership in teams and enhancing team creativity is aided by complementarity between leader and team member characteristics. We integrate insights from social learning theory and dominance complementarity perspective with the team leadership and creativity literature to explore the facilitating role of formal participative leadership for enhancing team creativity indirectly by promoting shared leadership. The relationships among formal participative leadership, shared leadership, and team creativity are bounded by team voice behavior and team creative efficacy. To test our theoretical model, we collected multisource and multiwave survey data from 382 members of 73 teams. Results revealed a significant positive relationship of participative leadership with shared leadership in teams, which in turn was positively associated with team creativity. Team voice behavior and team creative efficacy moderated these relationships, respectively, by strengthening the positive relationships. We discuss the theoretical contributions, practical implications, and future directions of our findings.     

Personal need for structure as a boundary condition for humor in leadership

Recent research has established a positive relationship between humor in leadership and organizational behavior variables. However, neither the mechanisms nor the boundary conditions of the positive effects of humor in leadership are completely understood. In this study, we contribute to these questions by investigating the relationship between humor in leadership and follower commitment and burnout in more detail. We propose that these relationships unfold via a relational process and specified this relational process in terms of leader–member exchange. Moreover, we assume that these relationships depend on followers' personal need for structure. We tested the hypothesized moderated‐mediation model in a two‐wave survey study with 142 employees. Our results support the proposed model. We found the predicted indirect effect of humor on commitment and disengagement to be stronger for followers low in need for structure. However, we did not find the proposed effects for emotional exhaustion. We discuss implications for leadership theory, humor theory, and for leadership training and practice. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Workplace ostracism and deviant and helping behaviors: The moderating role of 360 degree feedback

Drawing on sociometer theory, we argue that when 360 degree feedback is used in a work setting, being ostracized by coworkers has a stronger negative influence on employees' state self‐esteem, which promotes interpersonal deviance and demotivates helping directed toward coworkers, as compared to settings in which 360 feedback is not used. We tested our hypotheses using data collected from North American employees (Study 1) and a two‐wave survey of employees in China (Study 2). Results from both studies support the hypothesized interaction between workplace ostracism and 360 degree feedback on interpersonal deviance and helping behavior. Results from Study 2 further show that lower state self‐esteem accounts for the stronger negative association of ostracism with helping behavior among employees who are exposed to 360 degree feedback. Ostracism is not related to subsequent state self‐esteem or behavior when 360 degree feedback is absent. We discuss the implications for theory and research concerning employee exclusion. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Shared aggression concerns and organizational outcomes: The moderating role of resource constraints

Most research on workplace aggression focuses on the antecedents and consequences of aggression for individual workers. The current study examines how shared workplace aggression concerns relate to internal and external organizational outcomes. Drawing on the work stress, social identity, and social contagion literatures, we propose relationships between unit‐level aggression concerns and unit‐level measures of performance and employee attitudes in a public school sample (2989 employees; 163 schools). We also propose that these relationships differ depending on the resource context of the school. Consistent with our expectations, schools in which teachers had strong shared concerns about aggression also had poorer shared job attitudes and poorer student outcomes, as indicated by average standardized test scores at the school. The impact of shared concerns about aggression on school‐level standardized test scores was stronger for resource‐rich schools than for schools with fewer resources. The current study contributes to organizational research as it establishes that workplace aggression concerns have adverse consequences for the whole organization, not only for the individuals experiencing the events. Our findings demonstrate that employees' shared concerns about aggression have an impact on organizational outcomes and suggest a prevention‐focused approach to workplace aggression. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Big‐B versus Big‐O: what is organizational about organizational behavior?*

This paper is an empirically grounded essay about the current state of organizational behavior (OB) research and productive future directions. We report the results of a survey of OB scholars about the current importance of various research topics and their importance in an ideal world. We compare the survey responses with an archival analysis of papers published in leading OB journals over a 10‐year period. We suggest that many of the topics that our respondents perceive to be ‘under researched’ can be summarized with one particular definition of OB that emphasizes organizing behavior. Considering all three definitions together, we highlight the limitations of the traditional (Big‐B and Contextualized‐B) definitions and discuss the benefits of a more organizational (Big‐O) approach. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individualism–collectivism and team member performance: Another look

This study revisits the commonplace research conclusion that greater team member collectivism, as opposed to individualism, is associated with higher levels of individual‐level performance in teams. Whereas this conclusion is based on the assumption that work in teams consists exclusively of tasks that are shared, typical teamwork also includes tasks that are individualized. Results of a laboratory study of 206 participants performing a mix of individualized and shared tasks in four‐person teams indicate that heterogeneous combinations of individualism and collectivism are associated with higher levels of team member performance, measured as quantity of output, when loose structural interdependence enables individual differences in individualism–collectivism to exert meaningful effects. These results support the modified conclusion that a combination of individualism and collectivism is associated with higher levels of member performance in teams under typical work conditions; that is, conditions in which the tasks of individual members are both individualized and shared. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A cross‐level model of shared leadership,meaning, and individual creativity

Research on leadership and creativity is dominated by the study of leadership from people in formal leadership positions. The very nature of creativity requires self‐direction, however. This points to shared leadership, a process in which members dynamically share the leadership role, as a particularly relevant influence to consider. Drawing on psychological empowerment theory, we develop the shared leadership perspective on individual creativity. We argue that shared leadership has a cross‐level influence on individual creativity that is mediated by the experience of meaning of work and moderated by individual differences in power distance value: for individuals lower on power distance, shared leadership has a positive linear relationship with individual creativity; for individuals higher on power distance, shared leadership has a curvilinear relationship with individual creativity that is decreasingly positive. Using a sample of 623 members from 95 teams in 34 Chinese organizations, we find support for this multilevel model. Findings offer theoretical implications for shared leadership and creativity research and provide managerial implications.     

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.     

How does the social context fuel the proactive fire? A multilevel review and theoretical synthesis

The role of social context (e.g., leadership, team climate, and organizational support) in shaping employee proactive behavior has received considerable attention and has been investigated across multiple forms of proactive behavior. However, the research has not been well integrated. In this review, we adopt a multilevel approach to synthesize what is known about how social context factors influence employees' proactive behavior, as well as what mechanisms underpin these effects. Our analyses show that leader‐, team‐, and organization‐related social context factors mainly influence employee proactivity through shaping “reason to,” “can do,” and “energized to” states (i.e., proactive motivational states) via individual‐, team‐, and cross‐level processes. That has been most frequently investigated is the effect of the discretionary social context, particularly leadership, on proactive behavior. We also review the interaction effects between social context factors and other factors on employee proactive behavior and found inconsistent support for the motivational‐fit perspective that stimuli with the same directions enhance each other's effect. We offer a research agenda to advance theoretical insights on this important topic.     

Perceived prosocial impact,perceived situational constraints,and proactive work behavior: Looking at two distinct affective pathways

This paper examines the role of affect as a linking mechanism between experiences at work (perceived prosocial impact and situational constraints) and two distinct components of proactive work behavior (issue identification and implementation). Based on a dual‐tuning perspective, we argue that both positive affect and negative affect can be beneficial for proactive work behavior. Multi‐level path analysis using daily‐survey data from 153 employees showed that perceived prosocial impact predicted positive affect and that situational constraints as a typical hindrance stressor predicted negative affect. Negative affect, in turn, predicted issue identification, and positive affect predicted implementation. Overall, our study suggests that both positive and negative affects can be valuable in the organizational context by contributing to distinct components of proactive behavior. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Work status and organizational citizenship behavior: a field study of restaurant employees

This survey‐based field study of 257 service employees developed and tested a model of differences in the organizational citizenship behavior of full‐time and part‐time employees based on social exchange theory. Questionnaire data from matched pairs of employees and their supervisors demonstrated that part‐time employees exhibited less helping organizational citizenship behavior than full‐time employees, but there was no difference in their voice behavior. We also predicted that both preferred work status (an individual factor) and organizational culture (a contextual factor) would moderate the relationships between work status and citizenship. For helping, results demonstrated that preferred status mattered more to part‐time workers than to full‐time. For voice, preferred work status was equally important to part‐time and full‐time workers, such that voice was high only when actual status matched preferred status. Contrary to our expectations, work status made more of a difference in both helping and voice in less bureaucratic organizations. We discuss the implications of work status for social exchange relationships, differences in the social exchange costs and benefits of helping compared to voice, and ramifications of our findings for future research. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Protecting the planet and its people: how do interventions to promote environmental sustainability and occupational safety and health overlap?

Problem: The challenges of both occupational safety and health and environmental sustainability require large-scale behavior change for meaningful improvements to occur. Environmental sustainability, or the ‘green movement’ has received far more attention recently, and certain strategies and recommendations from interventions designed for promoting pro-environmental behaviors may inform efforts to intervene on critical behaviors for improving occupational safety and health. Method: A survey of the literature regarding behavioral interventions for both environmental sustainability and occupational safety and health was conducted. Several theoretical approaches are reviewed, and successful approaches from each domain are identified, as well as parallel challenges and points for crossover. Recommendations are provided for adapting environmental sustainability intervention approaches for occupational safety and health applications. Impact on Industry: Safety and health leaders may achieve sustainable improvements in worker safety and health by harnessing the momentum of the green movement and adapting successful intervention approaches from the environmental sustainability domain.     

Political behaviors as moderators of the perceptions of organizational politics—work outcomes relationships

This study investigates the complexities involved in the relationships between perceptions of politics and work outcomes by examining the effects of political behavior on that relationship. More specifically, we suggest that political behavior may serve as a form of control or as a mechanism for coping with highly political organizational environments perceived by individuals to be aversive. As such, we propose moderating roles of self‐promotion and ingratiation on the relationships between perceptions of politics and the work outcomes of satisfaction with job in general, satisfaction with supervision, and intent to leave. It was hypothesized that increased exercise of self‐promotion and ingratiation behaviors would mitigate the negative effects of perceptions of organizational politics on those specific outcomes. Hypotheses were supported for the proposed relationships between self‐promotion and two of the work outcomes: satisfaction with supervision and intent to leave. Significant effects were also found for ingratiation; however, they were opposite to those proposed for the perceptions of organizational politics–intent to leave relationship. Implications of results and areas for future research are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.