The social identity and social networks of ethnic minority groups in organizations: a crucial test of distinctiveness theory

Distinctiveness theory posits that patterns of social identity and friendship are based on numeric rarity within specific contexts. In ethnically diverse organizations, the theory predicts that members of the smaller ethnic group (relative to members of the larger ethnic group) will: (a) tend to identify and form friendships within their own ethnic group, and (b) lack access to well‐connected individuals in the network of friendship relations. Prior tests have supported these predictions, but they have been unable to rule out the possibility that it was chronic differences in social status and numeric representation in society at large (rather than numeric distinctiveness within specific contexts) that explained the observed patterns of social identity and friendship. In this field‐based study, we examined an organization whose social composition effectively controlled for these confounds. We found that members of the smaller ethnic group tended to identify and form friendships within group, as predicted by distinctiveness theory. However, in contrast to previous work, we found that members of the smaller ethnic group were equally well connected to the center of the friendship network as were the members of the larger ethnic group. Copyright © 2007 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.     

Does job insecurity threaten who you are? Introducing a social identity perspective to explain well‐being and performance consequences of job insecurity

This paper introduces a social identity perspective to job insecurity research. Worrying about becoming jobless, we argue, is detrimental because it implies an anticipated membership of a negatively evaluated group—the group of unemployed people. Job insecurity hence threatens a person's social identity as an employed person. This in turn will affect well‐being and job performance. A three‐wave survey study amongst 377 British employees supports this perspective. Persons who felt higher levels of job insecurity were more likely to report a weaker social identity as an employed person. This effect was found to be stable over time and also held against a test of reverse causality. Furthermore, social identity as an employed person influenced well‐being and in‐role job performance and mediated the effect of job insecurity on these two variables over time. Different to the expectations, social identity as an employed person and organisational proactivity were not connected. The findings deliver interesting evidence for the role of social identity as an employed person in the relationships between job insecurity and its consequences. Theoretically, this perspective illustrates the individual and group‐related nature of job insecurity and offers a novel way of connecting work situations with individual well‐being, behaviour and attitudes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gender,extra‐firm mobility,and compensation attainment in the United States and Hong Kong

Using data from 739 U.S. managers and professionals and 593 Hong Kong Chinese managers and professionals we examined the moderating effects of gender on the relationship between changing employers and compensation attainment. While there were no gender‐based compensation differences early in the careers of these individuals (in 1991), large pay differences favoring men were observed in 1999 only among those who had followed an external labor market strategy. These results demonstrate that this phenomenon is not isolated to labor markets of the United States and strengthen the view that much of the observed pay differential favoring men has its origins in extra‐firm mobility, not intra‐firm gender discrimination. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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

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

Human capital diversity in the creation of social capital for team creativity

We highlight the social aspects of team creativity by proposing that team creativity is influenced by two types of team social capital: bridging and bonding social capital. Going beyond the structural perspective, we posit that team‐level human capital diversity is one of the potential antecedents of social capital for team creativity. We suggest that network structures are formed by teammates' interactions, which are largely the result of differences in their individual characteristics. The results of an empirical study using 36 teams of MBA students showed that the interaction of team‐bridging social capital with team‐bonding social capital was positively and significantly related to team creativity. Knowledge variety and knowledge disparity had a joint effect on team‐bridging social capital, and knowledge separation was negatively related to team‐bonding social capital. Moreover, team social capital mediated the effects of knowledge diversity on team creativity. Our study has several important implications for team creativity, social networks, and diversity research. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the relationship between intragroup conflict and social capital in teams: A longitudinal investigation in Taiwan

In response to the prevalent deployment of teams in organizations, there is a need to jointly consider conflict and social capital within the teams to offer novel ways to understand group process. This study proposes that the association between intragroup conflict and group social capital may be dynamic and reciprocal. Specifically, this study investigates longitudinally how intragroup conflict influences group social capital within cross‐functional teams and recognizes whether the teams with high group social capital can further produce intragroup conflict. The two‐year longitudinal study sampled 527 individuals in 90 teams across two time periods. This study finds that when teams are formed (Time 1), task conflict relates positively to structural social capital, and relationship conflict relates negatively to cognitive social capital. There is an inverted U‐type relationship between task conflict at Time 1 and social capital at Time 2. Established teams (Time 2) with higher levels of social capital experience higher levels of task conflict and lower levels of relationship conflict than teams with lower levels of social capital. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teams as boundaries: How intra‐team and inter‐team brokerage influence network changes in knowledge‐seeking networks

What role does an ego's brokerage location—within a team (intra‐team) or outside the team (inter‐team)—play in the evolution of an instrumental knowledge‐seeking network in terms of both proximal (i.e., within the team) and distal (i.e., outside the team) tie formation and tie decay? We address this question by drawing on literature about social networks, brokerage, and teams. We use temporally separated data from 302 students embedded in 97 teams to test our hypotheses about the impacts of intra‐team and inter‐team brokerage on proximal and distal network evolution, specifically on four network changes in knowledge‐seeking networks: proximal tie formation, proximal tie decay, distal tie formation, and distal tie decay. We find that these four changes depend on individual network brokerage location even after controlling for personality and task characteristics. Specifically, inter‐team brokers change their networks both within and outside their teams, whereas intra‐team brokers curtail their network changes. We argue that these opposite effects occur because inter‐team brokers have greater autonomy than intra‐team brokers. This study adds to the ongoing dialog about network evolution in social network literature and to the conversations about brokerage and its location in the context of team‐based work.     

Cognitive and affective identification: Exploring the links between different forms of social identification and personality with work attitudes and behavior

Individuals often identify with groups in order to either reduce perceived uncertainty or to feel better about who they are as individuals. This suggests that cognitive and affective identification are two distinctive forms of social identification in organizational settings. Because neurotic individuals are highly motivated to reduce perceived uncertainty, they will tend to identify cognitively with groups. Extraverted individuals, on the other hand, are highly motivated to enhance how they feel about themselves and thus identify affectively with groups. Across three studies, we develop measures of cognitive and affective identification and then show that neuroticism is positively related to cognitive identification, whereas extraversion is positively related to affective identification. We also find that affective identification provides incremental predictive validity over and above cognitive identification in the prediction of organizational commitment, organizational involvement, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Buyer–supplier alliances in the automobile industry: how exit‐voice strategies influence interpersonal relationships

Although automobile manufacturers emphasize that they are building more cooperative, long‐term relationships with their suppliers, we hypothesized and found that buyers are actually pursuing a dual strategy approach, in which they use threats on out‐group suppliers while providing help to in‐group members. Our hypotheses were based on the exit, voice, and loyalty typology, and on research from leader–member exchange theory. We also found that the macro‐level strategy set the context for the micro‐level interactions between buyers and suppliers. The degree to which the buyers and suppliers interacted in a friendly, informal manner depended more on the in‐ or out‐group status of the supplier firm than on the interaction style preferences of the suppliers. These findings are consistent with Mischel's ( 1977 ) theory that individual differences predict behavior under weak environmental conditions but not under strong environments. Compared to buyers, suppliers were more likely to prefer a friendly, informal interaction style. These findings were predicted based on the research on emotional display rules and emotional labor. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Can dissimilarity lead to positive outcomes? The influence of open versus closed minds

Social identity theory and self‐categorization theory have usually been interpreted to suggest that demographic dissimilarity will negatively influence employee outcomes. However, inconsistent with this interpretation, positive and neutral relationships between demographic dissimilarity and employee outcomes have also been documented in some instances for women and minority employees. It is argued here that the influence of demographic dissimilarity on the attitudes of women and minority employees is moderated by their level of dogmatism, which influences whether they view sex‐ and race‐based status hierarchies in organizations as legitimate. Data from a survey shows that the influence of demographic dissimilarity on the organization‐based self‐esteem of employees, their level of trust in their peers and their attraction towards their peers is positive for individuals with higher level of dogmatism and negative for individuals with lower level of dogmatism. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐efficacy changes in groups: effects of diversity,leadership, and group climate

Self‐efficacy belief is a significant predictor of behavioral choices in terms of goal setting, the amount of effort devoted to a particular task, and actual performance. This study conceives of formation and change of self‐efficacy as a social and context‐dependent process. We hypothesized that different group factors (discretionary and ambient group stimuli) influence changes in members' self‐efficacy through differing routes (individual‐level and cross‐level processes). We tested our hypotheses using data from individuals in 169 training groups who attended a 5‐day workshop designed to increase participants' job‐search skills and efficacy. Specifically, we examined the degree of change in participants' job‐search efficacy before and after the workshop. The results showed that (a) membership diversity in education was positively related to increases in job‐search efficacy, (b) supportive leadership contributed to job‐search efficacy at the individual level of analysis with no cross‐level effects, and (c) open group climate contributed to job‐search efficacy through both individual‐level and cross‐level processes. Limitations and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

With a little help from my colleagues: A social embeddedness approach to perceived organizational support

We examined the role of social embeddedness in creating positive perceptions of organizational support among managerial and staff employees (n = 72) of a large manufacturing firm. We operationalized social embeddedness as the size, density, and quality of employees' networks of multiplex, reciprocated exchange relationships with colleagues. After controlling for support from supervisors and upper management, we found all three aspects of social embeddedness to be associated with perceived organizational support (POS). This research suggests that in addition to the top‐down influence of the organizational hierarchy, POS results from the organizational community within which employees are embedded through their social network in the workplace. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents and outcomes of contingent workers' attitudes toward their temporary help services firm: A unit level longitudinal investigation

This study explored the unit‐level antecedents and outcomes of contingent workers' attitudes toward their temporary help services (THS) firm. It was proposed that (a) client‐orientation levels of the THS firm's full‐time staff would influence the level of support received by contingent workers, (b) staff supportiveness would be reciprocated by these workers in the form of favorable firm‐directed attitudes, and (c) contingent workers' attitudes toward the THS firm would influence two unit‐level outcomes—client reported service failure, and voluntary turnover rates of THS staff. Support was found for all the hypothesized relationships in a longitudinal study utilizing survey data gathered from 1324 full‐time employees, 570 contingent workers, and 1951 clients; and archival data on staff turnover from 46 strategic business units (SBUs) of a THS firm. These results are discussed within the context of employee–organization relationship (EOR), contingent workforce, and service management literatures. Copyright © 2010 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.     

Promoting felt responsibility for constructive change and proactive behavior: exploring aspects of an elaborated model of work design

Although new theoretical models that are suggestive of how work design might be used to foster proactive motivation and proactive performance have been proposed, these models need further elaboration and testing if they are to be useful tools for contemporary organizations. Accordingly, we examine the extent to which feelings of responsibility for constructive change is a proactive psychological mechanism that explains how work design characteristics influence constructive change‐oriented behavior and proactive performance. Specifically, we examine job autonomy, position in the organizational hierarchy, access to resources, access to strategy‐related information, and role ambiguity as antecedents to felt responsibility for constructive change (FRCC). We also examine the extent to which feelings of responsibility for constructive change are positively related to voice behavior (i.e., constructive, change‐oriented communication) and continuous improvement (i.e., proactive role performance). Results indicate hierarchical position and access to resources are positively related to FRCC. Results also indicate proactive personality moderates the relationship between access to resources and FRCC and the relationship between access to strategy‐related information and FRCC. Plots of the interactions reveal that these relationships are enhanced for individuals with proactive personalities. The results also indicate that FRCC is positively related to voice behavior and continuous improvement. Perhaps more importantly, the results suggest that FRCC explains the psychological process by which structural and socio‐structural forces influence proactive behavior. The results are discussed as they pertain to updated work design theory and theories of high involvement work systems, job characteristics, and leadership prototypes. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Innovation is not enough: climates for initiative and psychological safety,process innovations,and firm performance

This paper contributes to the discussion on contingencies of process innovations by focusing on and introducing organizational‐level constructs of climate for initiative and psychological safety. We argue that process innovations, defined as deliberate and new organizational attempts to change production and service processes, need to be accompanied by climates that complement the adoption and implementation of such innovations. Our study of 47 mid‐sized German companies examines the relation between process innovations, climates for initiative and psychological safety, and firm performance. Results show that climates for initiative and psychological safety were positively related to two measures of firm performance—longitudinal change in return on assets (holding prior return on assets constant) and firm goal achievement—and moderated the relation between process innovations and firm performance. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Customer‐related social stressors and service providers' affective reactions

Previous research has shown that customer‐related social stressors (CSS) have negative effects on service providers' long‐term well‐being. Little is known, however, about short‐term and mid‐term affective stress reactions and reciprocal effects between service providers' affect and CSS. The aim of this study was to expand extant research (i) by analyzing service providers' short‐term (across a day) and mid‐term (across 2 weeks) affective reactions to perceived CSS; (ii) by analyzing intraindividual as well as interindividual effects; and (iii) by investigating reciprocal effects of affective reactions and CSS that may eventually lead to psychosocial cycles. Our study employed a diary design with three measurement occasions per day over five consecutive days and a two‐week panel design using a sample of employees from public service organizations (N = 106). Results showed that CSS elicit changes in service providers' short‐term and mid‐term negative affects. We also found support for reversed effects of service providers' affective reactions on experienced CSS indicating psychosocial cycles between customers and service providers. To prevent escalation, we discuss potential resources. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of organizational democracy on employees' socio‐moral climate and prosocial behavioral orientations

This study investigates the effects of workers' perceived participation in democratic decision‐making on their prosocial behavioral orientations, democratic values, commitment to the firm, and perceptions of socio‐moral climate. The sample consists of 325 German‐speaking employees from 22 companies in Austria, North Italy, and Southern Germany that vary in their level of organizational democracy (social partnership enterprises, workers' co‐operatives, democratic reform enterprises, and employee‐owned self‐governed firms). The findings suggest that the extent employees participate in democratic forms of organizational decision‐making is positively related to the firm's socio‐moral climate as well as to their own organizational commitment and prosocial and community‐related behavioral orientations. The results also indicate that socio‐moral climate is positively related to employees' organizational commitment. The effect of participation in decision‐making on organizational commitment is partially mediated by socio‐moral climate. Implications for promoting societal and organizational civic virtues among individuals are described. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Participation in the design of performance management systems: a quasi‐experimental field study

In the literature on the relationship between participation in decision making and performance, a tell‐and‐sell strategy is considered a viable alternative to participation. In contrast, we argue that in organizational settings, when a sensitive and important issue is at stake, participation of a form to be characterized as formal, long term, direct, and with a high degree of participant influence is more effective than a tell‐and‐sell strategy. Using a quasi‐experimental design with a participation, a tell‐and‐sell, and a control condition, a ProMES performance management system was implemented in the field service department of a Dutch supplier of photocopiers. Outcome feedback to individual technicians resulted in an average performance increase in the participation condition that was significantly higher than the increase found in the tell‐and‐sell condition. Satisfaction with the program, and the perceived usefulness of the feedback, were significantly higher in the participation condition. In both experimental conditions, the performance increase was significant compared to the control condition. An explanation for these findings is discussed, as are implications for theory and practice. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.