Employee self-enhancement motives and job performance behaviors: Investigating the moderating effects of employee role ambiguity and managerial perceptions of employee commitment.

This study examined the effects of employee self-enhancement motives on job performance behaviors (organizational citizenship behaviors and task performance) and the value of these behaviors to them. The authors propose that employees display job performance behaviors in part to enhance their self-image, especially when their role is not clearly defined. They further argue that the effects of these behaviors on managerial reward recommendation decisions should be stronger when managers believe the employees to be more committed. The results from a sample of 84 working students indicate that role ambiguity moderated the effects of self-enhancement motives on job performance behaviors and that managerial perceptions of an employee's commitment moderated the effects of those organizational citizenship behaviors that are aimed at other individuals on managers' reward allocation decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervisory guidance and behavioral integrity: Relationships with employee citizenship and deviant behavior.

The authors examined the effects of supervisory guidance (providing instruction to employees) and behavioral integrity (a pattern of word-deed alignment) on employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and deviant behavior. Results revealed a pattern of Supervisory Guidance x Behavioral Integrity interaction effects, such that relationships between guidance and outcome variables were dependent on the level of behavioral integrity exhibited by supervisors. The interactions suggest a positive relationship between supervisory guidance and OCBs when behavioral integrity is high but also a positive relationship between guidance and deviant behavior when behavioral integrity is low. These results were consistent across 2 independent field samples: 1 assessing individual employee perceptions of supervisory behavior and the other assessing aggregate perceptions of supervisory behavior among employees in bank branches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety in work vehicles: A multilevel study linking safety values and individual predictors to work-related driving crashes.

Although work-related driving is associated with high accident rates, limited research has investigated the factors influencing driving crashes in the work setting. This study explored multilevel influences on self-reported crashes in the workplace by surveying a sample of work-related drivers (n = 380), their workgroup supervisors (n = 88), and fleet managers (n = 47). At the driver level of analysis, safety motivation predicted self-reported crashes. In turn, drivers' perceptions of their fleet managers' safety values (but not drivers' perceptions of their supervisors' safety values), their own attitudes, and their own efficacy beliefs predicted motivation to drive safely. Furthermore, the influence of supervisors and fleet managers interacted such that drivers were more motivated to drive safely if they perceived both their supervisor and fleet manager to value safety. This study also explored the cross-level relationships between supervisors' and fleet managers' perceptions of organizational safety values and drivers' perceptions of managerial safety values and found a relationship between fleet managers' perceptions of organizational safety values and drivers' perceptions of fleet managers' safety values. These results illustrate that perceptions of workplace safety values are transmitted across levels of the organization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Jumping ship: Who benefits from an external labor market career strategy?

The authors evaluated a sample of 610 managers working in 20 Fortune 500 companies in a longitudinal study to test hypotheses about male and female managers' compensation associated with internal and external labor market strategies. Both managers' gender and their labor market experience were hypothesized to affect their total cash compensation. Data confirmed hypotheses, but analyses of differences between male and female managers showed that only the male managers benefited from an external labor market strategy. Female managers who used an external labor market strategy did not receive greater compensation than female managers who used an internal labor market strategy. The discussion focuses on why female managers do not receive the same benefit from an external labor market strategy as male managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are female managers quitters? The relationships of gender, promotions, and family leaves of absence to voluntary turnover.

This study examined the relationships of gender, promotions, and leaves of absence to voluntary turnover for 26,359 managers in a financial services organization. Using Cox regression analyses and controlling for human capital, the authors found that, contrary to their prediction, female managers' voluntary turnover rates were slightly lower than those of their male counterparts. Managers who had been promoted were less likely to resign than nonpromoted managers only if the promotion had occurred within the past 11 months, and promoted women were less likely to resign than promoted men. The authors also found that managers who had taken family leaves had higher voluntary turnover rates than managers who had not taken leaves, and among family leave takers, managers with graduate degrees were less likely to resign than managers with less education. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of employee mobility and employee performance on the allocation of rewards under conditions of constraint.

We advanced and tested a multiple-motive model of resource allocation. In this model we identified importance instrumental, social-emotional, and group maintenance goals, and asserted that rational managers will sometimes allocate reduced rewards to employees with constrained mobility. Consistent with predictions, managers allocated greater salary funds to more deserving employees: those with high competence and dedication. However, allocations also differed as a function of employee mobility. This effect was strongest among competent employees, whose membership was most desirable. Furthermore, the tendency to allocate lesser rewards to low-mobility employees was particularly pronounced under conditions of low reward availability and low labor availability. These effects were not mediated by changes in perceptions of the competence of low-mobility employees. These findings are discussed as a form of rational selective exploitation: The rational manager's need to attend to employee mobility, particularly under conditions of reward or labor constraint, may erode equity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human resources management and firm performance: The differential role of managerial affective and continuance commitment.

In this study, the authors developed a dual-concern (i.e., maintenance and performance) model of human resources (HR) management. The authors identified commonly examined HR practices that apply to the middle manager level and classified them into the maintenance- and performance-oriented HR subsystems. The authors found support for the 2-factor model on the basis of responses from 2,148 managers from 463 firms operating in China. Regression results indicate that the performance-oriented HR subsystems had a positive relationship with firm performance and that the relationship was mediated by middle managers' affective commitment to the firm. The maintenance-oriented HR subsystems had a positive relationship with middle managers' continuance commitment but not with their affective commitment and firm performance. This study contributes to the understanding of how HR practices relate to firm performance and offers an improved test of the argument that valuable and firm-specific HR provide a source of competitive advantage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Placing perceptions of politics in the context of the feedback environment, employee attitudes, and job performance.

The authors proposed a model suggesting that organizational environments supporting high levels of informal supervisor and coworker feedback are associated with lower employee perceptions of organizational politics. Furthermore, these lowered perceptions of politics were proposed to result in higher employee morale (as reflected in job satisfaction and affective commitment) and, through morale, to higher levels of task performance and organizational citizenship. The proposed mediational model was supported with empirical results from 150 subordinate-supervisor dyads sampled across a variety of organizations. Higher quality feedback environments were associated with lower perceptions of organizational politics, and morale mediated the relationships between organizational politics and various aspects of work performance. These findings suggest that when employees have greater access to information regarding behaviors that are acceptable and desired at work, perceptions of politics are reduced and work outcomes are enhanced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work attitudes and decisions as a function of manager age and employee age.

Research has shown the importance of employee age relative to coworker age in determining attitudes, performance, and career-related opportunities. The authors used chronological and subjective measures of employee and manager age to determine whether employee age relative to the manager has an impact on these same outcome variables. One hundred eighty-five managers and 290 employees completed surveys. The strongest and most consistent age effects were observed for interactions between employee and manager chronological age. Both the magnitude and pattern of the employee-manager age interactions varied by self- and manager-rated outcome measures of work attitudes, performance and promotability assessments, and developmental experiences. Results are discussed in light of the relational demography and career timetable literatures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managers' practices related to work–family balance predict employee cardiovascular risk and sleep duration in extended care settings.

An increasing proportion of U.S. workers have family caregiving responsibilities. The purpose of this study was to determine whether employees in extended care settings whose managers are supportive, open, and creative about work–family needs, such as flexibility with work schedules, have lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and longer sleep than their less supported counterparts. From semistructured interviews with managers, we constructed a work–family balance score of manager openness and creativity in dealing with employee work–family needs. Trained interviewers collected survey and physiologic outcome data from 393 employees whose managers had a work–family score. Employee outcomes are sleep duration (actigraphy) and CVD risk assessed by blood cholesterol, high glycosylated hemoglobin/diabetes, blood pressure/hypertension, body-mass index, and tobacco consumption. Employees whose managers were less supportive slept less (29 min/day) and were over twice as likely to have 2 or more CVD risk factors (ORs = 2.1 and 2.03 for low and middle manager work–family scores, respectively) than employees whose managers were most open and creative. Employees who provide direct patient care exhibited particularly elevated CVD risk associated with low manager work–family score. Managers' attitudes and practices may affect employee health, including sleep duration and CVD risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do promises matter? An exploration of the role of promises in psychological contract breach.

Promises are positioned centrally in the study of psychological contract breach and are argued to distinguish psychological contracts from related constructs, such as employee expectations. However, because the effects of promises and delivered inducements are confounded in most research, the role of promises in perceptions of, and reactions to, breach remains unclear. If promises are not an important determinant of employee perceptions, emotions, and behavioral intentions, this would suggest that the psychological contract breach construct might lack utility. To assess the unique role of promises, the authors manipulated promises and delivered inducements separately in hypothetical scenarios in Studies 1 (558 undergraduates) and 2 (441 employees), and they measured them separately (longitudinally) in Study 3 (383 employees). The authors’ results indicate that breach perceptions do not represent a discrepancy between what employees believe they were promised and were given. In fact, breach perceptions can exist in the absence of promises. Further, promises play a negligible role in predicting feelings of violation and behavioral intentions. Contrary to the extant literature, the authors’ findings suggest that promises may matter little; employees are concerned primarily with what the organization delivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Managers' attitudes toward how their pay is and should be determined.

Investigated, by questionnaire, the perceptions of 563 managers toward how their pay is determined and their attitudes toward how it should be determined. The results show that in general the managers' perceptions of how their pay was determined reflected the way in which it was determined. However, the way their pay was determined did not appear to influence strongly their attitudes toward how it should be determined, although there was general agreement that merit should be the most important determinant. However, attitudes toward what factors should be important in determining pay were shown to be related to the managers' perception of their relative standing on the various factors. There was a positive correlation between how well the managers felt they compared with other managers on each factor and how important they felt the factor should be. The data also showed that there was a tendency for lack of congruence between a manager's attitudes toward how his pay should be determined and how it is determined to be associated with high dissatisfaction with pay. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Store manager performance and satisfaction: Effects on store employee performance and satisfaction, store customer satisfaction, and store customer spending growth.

Based on emotional contagion theory and the value–profit chain literatures, the present study posits a number of hypotheses that show how managers in the small store, small number of employees retail context may affect store employees, customers, and potentially store performance. With data from 306 store managers, 1,615 store customer-contact employees, and 57,656 customers of a single retail chain, the authors examined relationships among store manager job satisfaction and job performance, store customer-contact employee job satisfaction and job performance, customer satisfaction with the retailer, and a customer-spending-based store performance metric (customer spending growth over a 2-year period). Via path analysis, several hypothesized direct and interaction relations among these constructs are supported. The results suggest implications for academic researchers and retail managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and service climate: Test of a model.

This article conceptually and empirically explores the relationships among manager personality, manager service quality orientation, and climate for customer service. Data were collected from 1,486 employees and 145 managers in grocery store departments (N = 145) to test the authors' theoretical model. Largely consistent with hypotheses, results revealed that core self-evaluations were positively related to managers' service quality orientation, even after dimensions of the Big Five model of personality were controlled, and that service quality orientation fully mediated the relationship between personality and global service climate. Implications for personality and organizational climate research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment and employee behavior: Comparison of affective commitment and continuance commitment with perceived organizational support.

The social exchange view of commitment (R. Eisenberger et al, 1986) suggests that employees' perceptions of the organization's commitment to them (perceived organizational support [POS]) creates feelings of obligation to the employer, which enhances employees' work behavior. The authors addressed the question of whether POS or the more traditional commitment concepts of affective commitment (AC) and continuance commitment (CC) were better predictors of employee behavior (organizational citizenship and impression management). Participants were 383 employees and their managers. Although results showed that both AC and POS were positively related to organizational citizenship and that CC was negatively related to organizational citizenship, POS was the best predictor. These findings support the social exchange view that POS creates feelings of obligation that contribute to citizenship behaviors. In addition, CC was unrelated, whereas AC and POS were positively correlated, with some impression management behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Event justice perceptions and employees' reactions: Perceptions of social entity justice as a moderator.

Building on 2 paradigms in organizational justice research and on fairness heuristic theory, the author argues that employees' perceptions about the fairness of social entities (their supervisor and their organization) moderate the relationship between their perceptions about the fairness of specific events and their reactions. A survey of 265 supervisor-employee pairs in 4 companies was conducted to test this argument. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that when employees perceived their organization to be generally fair, this perception moderated the relationship between the perceived justice of a particular event and their reactions to the organization (organizational commitment and organization-directed citizenship behavior). In addition, employees' perceptions of the fairness of their supervisor were found to moderate the relationship between the perceived justice of a particular event and their supervisor-directed responses (trust in managers and supervisor-directed citizenship behavior) and their organization-directed responses. The results suggest that employee attitudes and behavior can be better understood when both event justice perceptions and social entity justice perceptions are considered together. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conscientiousness, autonomy fit, and development: A longitudinal study.

The authors examined employee development and its relationship with Conscientiousness and person-environment fit (in terms of needs and supplies of autonomy). They hypothesized that Conscientiousness would be positively associated with development but only when employees felt that the autonomy supplied by the organization did not fit their needs. In other words, whereas Conscientiousness could supply the dispositional resources for development, misfit was needed to create the need for development. The results supported the authors' predictions. Conscientiousness was positively related to development but only when employees were misfits with respect to autonomy. Employee involvement in development activities was then linked to subsequent fit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ergonomic Office Design and Aging: A Quasi-Experimental Field Study of Employee Reactions to an Ergonomics Intervention Program.

A naturally occurring quasi-experimental longitudinal field study of 87 municipal employees using pretest and posttest measures investigated the effects of an office workstation ergonomics intervention program on employees' perceptions of their workstation characteristics, levels of persistent pain, eyestrain, and workstation satisfaction. The study examined whether reactions differed between younger and older employees. Results revealed that workstation improvements were associated with enhanced perceptions of the workstation's ergonomic qualities, less upper back pain, and greater workstation satisfaction. Among those experiencing an improvement, the perceptions of workstation ergonomic qualities increased more for younger than older employees, supporting the "impressionable years" framework in the psychological literature on aging. Implications for human resources managers are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A threat-appraisal perspective on employees' fears about antisocial workplace behavior.

This article uses a threat-appraisal model to examine the antecedents and consequences of antisocial behavior in an urban public school system. Teachers (compared with nonteachers) and middle and high school employees (compared with elementary school employees) reported higher levels of exposure to and fears about antisocial behavior. A path analysis demonstrated that threat appraisals partially mediate the relationship between antisocial behavior and job satisfaction and indirectly affect turnover intentions. These effects were consistent across high- and low-contact job types and across elementary, middle, and high school employees. The authors used the threat-appraisal model to describe the consequences of different interventions and found empirical evidence for employee voice and security measures as intervening variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overt Anger in Response to Victimization: Attributional Style and Organizational Norms as Moderators.

Prior theory and research suggests a positive relation between perceived victimization and overt anger. The authors proposed and tested a theoretical extension of this link by investigating possible moderating effects of individual and contextual variables. A sample of 158 employees of a municipality was used to test hypotheses that the relationship between perceived victimization and overt anger is moderated by hostile attributional style and perceptions of organizational norms. The results showed that the relation between perceptions of direct victimization and overt anger was stronger when the employee had a more rather than less hostile attributional style and when the employee perceived the organizational norms as more rather than less oppositional. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)