Supervisor Humor and Employee Outcomes: The Role of Social Distance and Affective Trust in Supervisor

Purpose

To examine how social distance and affective trust in supervisor affect the relationships between supervisor humor and the psychological well-being and job performance of subordinates.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A survey was conducted among 322 matched supervisor–subordinate dyads in 14 South Korean organizations. Multi-level analyses were performed to test the research hypotheses, including the moderating effects.

Findings

Self-enhancing humor of supervisors was positively associated with the psychological well-being and job performance of subordinates. Affiliative humor was positively associated with psychological well-being, whereas aggressive humor was negatively associated with psychological well-being. In addition, supervisor humor was indirectly related to the psychological well-being of subordinates via social distance. Moreover, affective trust in supervisor significantly moderated the relationship between supervisor humor and social distance, such that the relationship between affiliative humor and social distance was stronger when affective trust in supervisor was high rather than low.

Implications

These findings are important in developing and refining humor theory on the responses of employees to various types of supervisor humor. Moreover, they provide practical implications for organizations. For example, organizations should note that supervisor humor may not always produce good results, and thus should encourage managers to use constructive humor. Similarly, supervisors should build a high-trust relationship with their subordinates to increase the effectiveness of their constructive humor.

Originality/Value

This study is one of the few studies that has examined the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effects of supervisor humor on employee outcomes.

     

Unpackaging Manager Mistrust in Allowing Telework: Comparing and Integrating Theoretical Perspectives

Purpose

We developed and tested an integrative model centering on the significance of trust as a basis for managers’ decisions about allowing versus prohibiting their employees to telework. We examined the importance of trust in relation to several other factors managers may consider in making telework decisions including coordination and communication, equity, and a desire to accommodate employees.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Study 1 was a policy capturing investigation of 71 respondents intended to document the relative importance and interactions among trust and these other theoretically based factors. Study 2 was a test of the full theoretical model based on the responses of 85 managers who reported on these considerations for the 191 employees about whom they make telework decisions.

Findings

Results from the two studies were largely consistent. Managers’ assessments of employees’ conscientiousness and trustworthiness were paramount in predicting telework allowance, with the other theoretically based considerations generally failing to attenuate the importance of those personal assessments.

Implications

Organizations wishing to increase the use of telework (e.g., by implementing manager telework training) must directly address managers’ mistrust as a factor underlying this resistance. Job-related and technological changes may not dampen the effects of mistrust.

Originality

To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive and theoretically grounded assessment of the various considerations factoring into managers’ telework decisions.

     

How Far Can Support Go? Supported Supervisors’ Performance and Subordinate Dedication

Purpose

The present study builds on prior research involving organizational support theory and the trickle-down effects of supervisors’ perceived organizational support (POS). We examine benefits of supervisor POS for the supervisors themselves (enhanced affective commitment and in-role performance), and a behavioral mechanism through which supervisors’ POS may lead to subordinate dedication, a multifaceted conceptualization of performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Using three sources of data (from 139 human resource professionals, their 47 supervisors, and the 22 bosses of their supervisors) we assessed the hypothesized relationships using multilevel path modeling.

Findings

Supervisors’ POS related positively to supervisors’ affective commitment to their organization, resulting in better supervisor in-role performance two months later. Also, having better performing supervisors resulted in more dedication by employees in the form of extra-role performance, as rated by their supervisor 2 months later, and extra hours worked.

Implications

It appears providing organizational support to supervisors may result in beneficial outcomes for the supervisors and the organization in terms of supervisors’ enhanced emotional attachment to the company, and better performance in their job, with consequences for subordinate dedication in terms of extra hours worked and extra-role performance.

Originality/Value

These findings contribute to organizational support theory by showing initial evidence that supervisor in-role performance can serve as an explanatory mechanism through which supervisors’ POS trickles down to aid subordinates.

     

The Impact of Decision Timing on the Effectiveness of Leaders’ Apologies to Repair Followers’ Trust in the Aftermath of Leader Failure

Purpose

The aim of the present research was to investigate how a negative decision outcome generated by a leader in a hasty, timely, or delayed manner impacts upon the need for, and the effectiveness of apologies to restore followers’ trust.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected using five studies in which the effects of timing of an incorrect decision on the trust repair process were investigated.

Findings

In the aftermath of a leader’s failure, followers experienced a delayed incorrect decision as a more severe transgression than a hasty or a timely incorrect decision. This effect was mediated by procedural fairness concerns (Study 1). The present findings also revealed an interesting paradox. Specifically, in the delayed condition followers expressed the highest need for an apology (Studies 2 and 3), but at the same time expected an apology to be less effective for enhancing trustworthiness than in the timely and the hasty condition (Study 3). Moreover, we also showed that the actual provision of an apology was effective for restoring both trustworthiness (Study 4) and trust (Studies 4 and 5) in the timely and the hasty condition, but ineffective in the delayed condition.

Implications

The present research shows that when the outcome of a decision is uncertain, it is better to make a decision (too) soon rather than (too) late.

Originality/Value

Despite the ubiquity of timing errors in daily life, our studies are the first to focus on the role of timeliness of decisions in the trust repair process.

     

Humor in Teams: Multilevel Relationships Between Humor Climate,Inclusion, Trust,and Citizenship Behaviors

Purpose

This study examines the cross-level influence of positive and offensive leader humor climates on employee inclusion and citizenship behaviors, and the moderating effect of trust in such relationships.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We collected data from a sample of 225 respondents nested within 23 teams from a Canadian financial organization. A multilevel confirmatory analysis was used to provide evidence that variables of this study are distinct and a HLM analysis to test the hypotheses.

Findings

We find that employees’ perception of inclusion is influenced much more by an offensive humor climate than by a positive one. The results also suggest that the perception of inclusion plays a significant intermediary role in the influence of humor climates on citizenship behavior. Finally, trust in leaders acts as an important contingent condition in the effectiveness of a humor climate.

Implications

Use of humor does not always pay. Offensive humor by supervisor is a risky strategy that may undermine the beneficial effects of positive humor climate, increase employee exclusion and weaker individual performance.

Originality/Value

Our study shows the utility of using micro- and macro-approaches, and more specifically, the relevance of adopting an integrative multilevel view of the effect of a humor environment in predicting individual inclusion and citizenship behaviors.

     

Linking Workplace Aggression to Employee Well-Being and Work: The Moderating Role of Family-Supportive Supervisor Behaviors (FSSB)

Purpose

The present study examined the moderating effects of family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) on the relationship between two types of workplace aggression (i.e., patient-initiated physical aggression and coworker-initiated psychological aggression) and employee well-being and work outcomes.

Methodology

Data were obtained from a field sample of 417 healthcare workers in two psychiatric hospitals. Hypotheses were tested using moderated multiple regression analyses.

Findings

Psychiatric care providers’ perceptions of FSSB moderated the relationship between patient-initiated physical aggression and physical symptoms, exhaustion and cynicism. In addition, FSSB moderated the relationship between coworker-initiated psychological aggression and physical symptoms and turnover intentions.

Implications

Based on our findings, family-supportive supervision is a plausible boundary condition for the relationship between workplace aggression and well-being and work outcomes. This study suggests that, in addition to directly addressing aggression prevention and reduction, family-supportive supervision is a trainable resource that healthcare organizations should facilitate to improve employee work and well-being in settings with high workplace aggression.

Originality

This is the first study to examine the role of FSSB in influencing the relationship between two forms of workplace aggression: patient-initiated physical and coworker-initiated psychological aggression and employee outcomes.

     

Good Soldier or Good Actor? Supervisor Accuracy in Distinguishing Between Selfless and Self-Serving OCB Motives

Purpose

In line with findings that organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) may be driven by selfless and self-serving motives, we sought to determine supervisor effectiveness in distinguishing good soldiers from good actors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Employing a sample of 197 supervisor-subordinate dyads, we collected self- and supervisor-reports of employees’ citizenship motives. Dominance analysis was used to determine supervisory accuracy in identifying and distinguishing among subordinates’ motives.

Findings

We found that the relationships between self- and supervisor-reports of corresponding motives were strongest, supporting our hypotheses that supervisors are able to accurately identify their subordinates’ OCB motives and that they are not fooled by good actors.

Implications

Our results address concerns raised in previous research that inaccuracy in supervisor attributions of motives might lead to unfair reward or punishment of their subordinates. In demonstrating their accuracy in identifying their subordinates’ motives, an important implication of our work is that supervisors’ preferences for selfless motives may relate to actual differences in their employees’ contribution to the organization.

Originality/Value

Our study contributes to existing research to more conclusively address the question of supervisors’ bias in their preference for selfless motives. Our results also underscore the importance of accounting for employee motives in research exploring the outcomes of OCBs.

     

Leader Arrogance and Subordinate Outcomes: the Role of Feedback Processes

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between leader arrogance on subordinate outcomes of feedback seeking, morale, and burnout through its relationships with subordinate feedback environment perceptions. Additionally, perceived organizational support and subordinate feedback orientation are examined as moderators that influence the degree to which leader arrogance exerts its effects on these outcomes.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Survey data were obtained from 302 participants on Amazon’s Mechanical Turk website and analyzed using Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS in SPSS.

Findings

Subordinates with more arrogant supervisors reported less favorable feedback environment perceptions, and subsequently, lower levels of feedback seeking, morale, and higher levels of burnout. Perceived organizational support and feedback orientation were identified as significant moderators in these relationships. Subordinates were less vulnerable to the negative outcomes of leader arrogance when they experienced higher levels of perceived organizational support. Finally, subordinates with favorable feedback orientations exhibited lower levels of feedback seeking in the face of the unfavorable feedback environments associated with arrogant leaders.

Implications

Given these findings, leader arrogance should be of great concern to organizations, as subordinates exposed to arrogant leaders are likely to experience adverse outcomes. Supplementing perceptions of organizational support may help alleviate some of these effects. Additionally, subordinates with favorable feedback orientations may be particularly vulnerable to the effects of leader arrogance on outcomes of feedback seeking and morale.

Originality/Value

This study is the first to demonstrate the interpersonal implications of leader arrogance for subordinates, as well as explore mediators that play a role in these relationships.

     

Perceptions of Nepotism Beneficiaries: The Hidden Price of Using a Family Connection to Obtain a Job

Purpose

This study tested competing predictions about the impact of nepotistic hiring on perceptions of nepotism beneficiaries, focusing specifically on the performance attributions made about nepotism hires. Of particular interest is how the qualifications of the family member compared to other applicants impacts perceptions of the nepotism hire.

Methodology

Two experimental studies, using scenarios that simulated the hiring process, were conducted. Participants reviewed materials describing the hiring process for a manager and then completed a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of the person hired.

Findings

Results showed that successful performance of nepotism beneficiaries was attributed more to political skills and relationships with upper management and less to ability and effort than was the case for non-beneficiaries and that they were perceived as less competent and as having fewer characteristics of successful managers. These negative perceptions occurred regardless of the family member’s qualifications.

Implications

This study contributes to our understanding of nepotistic hiring practices. More negative performance attributions and perceptions of competence for nepotism beneficiaries may hinder their effectiveness on the job. Knowledge gained from this study may help businesses who want to hire family members of current employees to manage this process more effectively.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to examine the consequences of nepotistic hiring for nepotism beneficiaries and the first study to examine how nepotistic hiring effects the performance attributions made about nepotism beneficiaries. It is also the only study to empirically examine how the qualifications of the nepotism beneficiary influence others’ reactions to them.

     

Applicant Personality and Procedural Justice Perceptions of Group Selection Interviews

Purpose

We investigated how job applicants’ personalities influence perceptions of the structural and social procedural justice of group selection interviews (i.e., a group of several applicants being evaluated simultaneously). We especially addressed trait interactions between neuroticism and extraversion (the affective plane) and extraversion and agreeableness (the interpersonal plane).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data on personality (pre-interview) and justice perceptions (post-interview) were collected in a field study among job applicants (N = 97) attending group selection interviews for positions as teachers in a Norwegian high school.

Findings

Interaction effects in hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceptions of social and structural justice increased with levels of extraversion among high scorers on neuroticism. Among emotionally stable applicants, however, being introverted or extraverted did not matter to justice perceptions. Extraversion did not impact on the perception of social justice for applicants low in agreeableness. Agreeable applicants, however, experienced the group interview as more socially fair when they were also extraverted.

Implications

The impact of applicant personality on justice perceptions may be underestimated if traits interactions are not considered. Procedural fairness ratings for the group selection interview were high, contrary to the negative reactions predicted by other researchers. There was no indication that applicants with desirable traits (i.e., traits predictive of job performance) reacted negatively to this selection tool.

Originality/Value

Despite the widespread use of interviews in selection, previous studies of applicant personality and fairness reactions have not included interviews. The study demonstrates the importance of previously ignored trait interactions in understanding applicant reactions.

     

Friends and Family: The Role of Relationships in Community and Workplace Attachment

Purpose

Most work–life research focuses on the spillover of the nuclear family to the workplace, offering little insight into how other family relationships and friendships can spill over to affect employees’ organizational attachment. Past research has also overlooked the role of relationship quality and the mechanisms underlying these life-to-work spillover effects. Addressing these shortcomings, we integrate the systemic model of community attachment with job embeddedness theory to develop a model of community relational embeddedness and then use this model to examine how nonwork relationships connect people to their workplaces.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We used survey data from a national sample of 2025 accounting professionals and tested mediation hypotheses using structural equation modeling.

Findings

Employees’ relationships with friends and family predicted their attachment to their communities, which in turn predicted their workplace turnover intentions. Supporting our theoretical model, bonds with friends and family predicted moving intentions, and community fit and sacrifice mediated these effects. Community fit and sacrifice also predicted work turnover intentions indirectly through moving intentions. Tests also revealed that, surprisingly, friendships had a stronger impact on community attachment than family.

Implications

Employees are connected to their organizations through an array of close community relationships that extend beyond the nuclear family (i.e., spouse, children). Organizations can enhance employees’ workplace attachment by recognizing the role of friends and offering work–life programs that use a broad conceptualization of family (e.g., adult siblings, parents).

Originality/Value

Our study illustrates the importance of community relationships to workplace attachment, and the need to incorporate relational quality, nonnuclear family, and friendships in future research.

     

The Performance Appraisal Milieu: A Multilevel Analysis of Context Effects in Performance Ratings

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to take an inductive approach in examining the extent to which organizational contexts represent significant sources of variance in supervisor performance ratings, and to explore various factors that may explain contextual rating variability.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Using archival field performance rating data from a large state law enforcement organization, we used a multilevel modeling approach to partition the variance in ratings due to ratees, raters, as well as rating contexts.

Findings

Results suggest that much of what may often be interpreted as idiosyncratic rater variance, may actually reflect systematic rating variability across contexts. In addition, performance-related and non-performance factors including contextual rating tendencies accounted for significant rating variability.

Implications

Supervisor ratings represent the most common approach for measuring job performance, and understanding the nature and sources of rating variability is important for research and practice. Given the many uses of performance rating data, our findings suggest that continuing to identify contextual sources of variability is particularly important for addressing criterion problems, and improving ratings as a form of performance measurement.

Originality/Value

Numerous performance appraisal models suggest the importance of context; however, previous research had not partitioned the variance in supervisor ratings due to omnibus context effects in organizational settings. The use of a multilevel modeling approach allowed the examination of contextual influences, while controlling for ratee and rater characteristics.

     

Can Being Gay Provide a Boost in the Hiring Process? Maybe If the Boss is Female

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether men and women differentially prefer hiring gay and lesbian job applicants relative to equally qualified heterosexual job applicants.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from two samples of non-student participants. Each participant evaluated the perceived hirability of an ostensibly real job applicant by reviewing the applicant’s resume. In reality, all participants were randomly assigned to evaluate the same fictitious resume that differed only in the gender and sexual orientation of the applicant.

Findings

We find that men perceived gay and lesbian job applicants as less hirable, while women perceived gay and lesbian job applicants as more hirable than heterosexual job applicants. Additionally, we show perceptions of hirability are mediated by perceptions of gay and lesbian job applicants’ competence.

Implications

These results show that bias against gays and lesbians is much more nuanced than previous work suggests. One implication is that placing more women in selection roles within organizations could be a catalyst for the inclusion of gay and lesbian employees. Additionally, these results could influence when and how gays and lesbians disclose their gay identities at work.

Originality/Value

These studies are the first to identify a positive bias in favor of gay and lesbian job applicants. As attitudes toward gays and lesbians become more positive, results like these are important to document as they signal a shift in intergroup relations. These results will also help managers and organizations design selection processes to minimize bias toward applicants.

     

Incivility in Meetings: Predictors and Outcomes

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of uncivil meeting behaviors (UMBs) by exploring their frequency, potential predictors, and perceived impact on meeting outcomes. Five forms of UMBs were identified and examined. Key situational variables (meeting characteristics) and individual differences (Big Five factors and the Dark Triad of personality) were explored as potential predictors of UMBs.

Methodology

We collected data from two independent samples of meeting participants (N _s  = 345, 170) via two online surveys. We used confirmatory factor analysis, correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions, and relative weight analyses to analyze the data.

Findings

The findings demonstrated that attendees’ perceptions of UMBs were linked to lower ratings of meeting satisfaction and effectiveness. In particular, the ratings were most affected by the observation of attendees who did not participate actively and who showed inappropriate interpersonal behavior. Results further suggest situational variables (meeting purpose and meeting norms) and individual differences (narcissism, psychopathy, and agreeableness) as potential predictors of UMBs.

Implications

By showing the consequences of UMBs on meeting outcomes and by providing insights into potential causes of engagement in UMBs, this study offers valuable input for running and leading work meetings.

Originality/Value

No previous study has empirically examined how different forms of UMBs affect meeting outcomes. Additionally, the paper introduces situational and personality variables that may act as potential predictors of UMBs.

     

Idiosyncratic Deals and High Performers’ Organizational Commitment

Purpose

We argue that idiosyncratic deals (or i-deals), as objective conditions in employment arrangements that employees negotiate with their employer to meet particular individual needs, attenuate the indirect negative effect of a psychological contract breach on affective commitment via trust.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted via a questionnaire sent to high performers working at the director level of a large Canadian company. These employees were in a privileged position to bargain i-deals for themselves (n = 136).

Findings

We used models of mediated moderation to test the research hypotheses. Findings indicate that trust fully mediates the relationship between psychological contract breach and affective commitment of high performers. This relationship is moderated by i-deals, such that the relationship is weaker when i-deals are high.

Implications

This study provides a deeper understanding of the theoretical mechanisms explaining how i-deals compensate for breaches in the employment relationship. We show that i-deals do not prevent the loss of trust following a breach, but compensate for it in maintaining the bond between high performers and their organization.

Originality/value

This study explores the role of i-deals for a population traditionally well treated by organizations because of their status of stars: high-performing directors. In contrast with previous research that conceptualizes i-deals as building trust, this study shows that i-deals may act as substitutes for trust, in maintaining a bond with the organization in a context of trust loss.

     

The Associations between Ethical Organizational Culture,Burnout, and Engagement: A Multilevel Study

Purpose

Ethical culture is a specific form of organizational culture (including values and systems that can promote ethical behavior), and as such a socially constructed phenomenon. However, no previous studies have investigated the degree to which employees’ perceptions of their organization’s ethical culture are shared within work units (departments), which was the first aim of this study. In addition, we studied the associations between ethical culture and occupational well-being (i.e., burnout and work engagement) at both the individual and work-unit levels.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The questionnaire data were gathered from 2,146 respondents with various occupations in 245 different work units in one public sector organization. Ethical organizational culture was measured with the corporate ethical virtues scale, including eight sub-dimensions.

Findings

Multilevel structural equation modeling showed that 12–27 % of the total variance regarding the dimensions of ethical culture was explained by departmental homogeneity (shared experiences). At both the within and between levels, higher perceptions of ethical culture associated with lower burnout and higher work engagement.

Implications

The results suggest that organizations should support ethical practices at the work-unit level, to enhance work engagement, and should also pay special attention to work units with a low ethical culture because these work environments can expose employees to burnout.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to find evidence of an association between shared experiences of ethical culture and collective feelings of both burnout and work engagement.

     

A Multilevel Examination of the Relationship Between Leader–Member Exchange and Work–Family Outcomes

Purpose

Recent work–family literature has identified leadership as an area for practical research inquiry. The purpose of the present study was to conduct a multilevel analysis that applies leader–member exchange (LMX) and conservation of resources theories as frameworks for optimizing subordinates’ work–family experiences.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Effects of the interaction between individual-level and workgroup-level LMX on work–family outcomes were examined using web-based survey data from 765 information technology workers in 79 workgroups.

Findings

High LMX was linked to reduced work interference with family, perceptions of managerial support, perceived career consequences, and organizational time demands. However, the benefits of high LMX were attenuated in the presence of low workgroup LMX for all outcomes except managerial support.

Implications

Findings suggest that an individual’s work–family experiences are influenced by both self and others’ supervisory relationships and provide further support for the efficacy of multilevel examinations of LMX. Results support LMX theory as a framework for enhancing work–family outcomes. Through individual and group-level LMX, supervisors may foster perceptions that shape work–family micro-climates within the same organization.

Originality/Value

This study focuses on a practical avenue for intervention (i.e., leadership) using a theoretically grounded approach. It uncovers a possible mechanism—high individual and group LMX—through which work–family outcomes can be improved. Additionally, this study answers calls in the work–family literature for research with implications for intervention and employs multilevel modeling.

     

The Usefulness of Tenacity in Spurring Problem-Focused Voice: The Moderating Roles of Workplace Adversity

Purpose

Drawing from conservation of resources theory and affective events theory, this article examines the hitherto unexplored relationship between employees’ tenacity levels and problem-focused voice behavior, as well as how this relationship may be augmented when employees encounter adversity in relationships with peers or in the organizational climate in general.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The study draws on quantitative data collected through a survey administered to employees and their supervisors in a large manufacturing organization.

Findings

Tenacity increases the likelihood of speaking up about problem areas, and this relationship is strongest when peer relationships are characterized by low levels of goal congruence and trust (relational adversity) or when the organization does not support change (organizational adversity). The augmenting effect of organizational adversity on the usefulness of tenacity is particularly salient when it combines with high relational adversity, which underscores the critical role of tenacity for spurring problem-focused voice behavior when employees negatively appraise different facets of their work environment simultaneously.

Implications

The results inform organizations that the allocation of personal energy to reporting organizational problems is perceived as particularly useful by employees when they encounter significant adversity in their work environments.

Originality/Value

This study extends research on voice behavior by providing a better understanding of the likelihood that employees speak up about problem areas, according to their levels of tenacity, and explicating when this influence of tenacity tends to be more prominent.

     

Fostering Change-Oriented Behaviors: A Broaden-and-Build Model

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a broaden-and-build model relating LMX to employees’ change-oriented behaviors (creative performance and taking charge) through the mediators of positive affect and psychological capital.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Time-lagged, two-source data were collected from 248 participants and 40 direct leaders, which composed a heterogeneous sample of professional jobs from a three-wave data collection strategy. Mplus was employed to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

We found that LMX predicts employees’ change-oriented behaviors through two sequential paths: (a) the positive affect mediates the relationship between LMX and employee psychological capital, and (b) psychological capital mediates the relationship between positive affect and employees’ creative performance and taking charge. Our results provide a logical explanation of the ‘broadening’ and ‘building’ mechanisms through which LMX enhances employees’ change-oriented behaviors.

Implications

This study specifically suggests affective and psychological mechanisms by promoting the broadening and building phases that facilitate the transformation of individual perceptions of LMX, positive affect, and psychological capital in explaining employees’ creative performance and taking charge.

Originality/Value

This study develops a broaden-and-build model of change-oriented behaviors and contributes to research on proactive behaviors in the context of leader-member relationships.