Group commitment as a moderator of attributional and behavioural responses to power use

This study used 50 Natural Science and English Literature students who held differential behavioural expectations of ingroup and outgroup members to investigate evaluative, attributional and behavioural responses to power use in an experimental research paradigm. It was hypothesized that subordinates interpret frequent power use by a superior differently depending on whether it is consistent or inconsistent with previous expectations. Frequent power use results in decreased satisfaction and negative evaluations of the superior. Attributional ratings indicated that when an outgroup member engaged in frequent power use, this negatively evaluated behaviour was attributed to the superior's group membership, and resulted in decreased cooperation on the part of the subordinate. To the extent that frequent power use of an ingroup member was attributed to external circumstances, subordinates maintained a sense of commitment to the ingroup superior, which resulted in displays of cooperative behaviour. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Second‐Generation Leader Categorization Research: How Subordinates' Self‐ and Typical Leader Perceptions Moderate Leader Categorization Effects

Leader categorization theory proposes that the more leaders match their subordinates' cognitive image (prototype) of an ideal leader the easier it is for subordinates to “categorize” them as leaders and consequently follow their leadership. Based on self‐concept research, we extend this perspective and argue that the relationship assumed in leader categorization theory should be stronger when subordinates perceive themselves to represent the ideal leader prototype. Further, this moderating effect should be stronger when subordinates perceive the ideal leader prototype to not only be an abstract ideal category, but one that is generally also met in reality; i.e., when it is met by typical leaders. Findings of a cross‐sectional study with employees in Germany (N = 297) support both predictions.     

Facing an incompetent leader: The effects of a nonexpert leader on subordinates' perception and behaviour

We investigated the effects of a leader's task-incompetence on how subordinates perceive and interact with their leader. In Study 1, 80 participants in a subordinate role interacted via e-mail and in Study 2, 80 participants interacted face-to-face with either a competent or an incompetent leader on a problem-solving task. Participants' dominance behaviour, how much they resisted the leader's influence, their perception of the leader, and their task involvement were assessed. As predicted, subordinates perceived the leader's incompetence as a lack of power and compensated for it by taking on a more powerful position themselves (i.e., more dominance behaviour, more resistance to the leader's influencing attempts). In sum, having a task-incompetent leader affects not only the subordinates' perception of the leader but also how the subordinate interacts with the leader.     

Leadership predictors of innovation and task performance: Subordinates' self‐esteem and self‐presentation as moderators

This study examined self‐related subordinate variables as moderators of relationships between supervisors' leadership behaviours (transformational as well as active‐corrective transactional leadership) and subordinates' innovative behaviour and task performance. Based on behavioural plasticity and self‐monitoring theory, we hypothesized that these associations would be moderated by subordinates' organization‐based self‐esteem and by their propensity to modify self‐presentation, a major facet of the self‐monitoring construct. Field survey data (N=161) collected in research and development, marketing and human resources departments of several German companies revealed that transformational leadership positively predicted both criteria, whereas active‐corrective transactional leadership negatively predicted innovation. As hypothesized, transformational leadership related more strongly and positively to innovation for subordinates low in organization‐based self‐esteem. When subordinates were low in self‐presentation propensity, active‐corrective transactional leadership was negatively, and transformational leadership was positively associated with task performance.     

A Test of Subordinates' Achievement and Affiliation Needs as Moderators of Leader Path-Goal Relationships

The path-goal theory of leadership proposes that situational and subordinates' characteristics moderate the effectiveness of various leader behaviors. A great deal of research has been devoted to the examination of situational moderators. This study tested the moderating influences of subordinates' needs for achievement and affiliation on the relationships between instrumental and supportive leadership and subordinates' satisfaction. Using a sample of 298 Army and Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, need for achievement, but not need for affiliation, was found to moderate the influences of both leader behaviors on subordinate satisfaction. Individuals with high need for achievement were demonstrated to prefer instrumental leadership, whereas individuals' with low need for achievement preferred supportive leader behaviors. Implications of these results, and the need for future research concerning the moderating properties of subordinates' characteristics on path-goal relationships, are discussed.     

Testing a self‐determination theory‐based teaching style intervention in the exercise domain

Drawing from self‐determination theory (SDT), this study examined the effect of an autonomy supportive, well structured and interpersonally involving teaching style on exercise class participants' psychological need satisfaction, motivational regulations, exercise behaviour, behavioural intention and affect. Female exercise class participants enrolled in a 10‐week exercise program were exposed to an SDT‐based (i.e. SDTc; n = 25) or typical (i.e. control group; n = 31) teaching style. The control condition reported a significant decrease in autonomy support, amotivation and behavioural intention over time. In addition, they reported a significant increase in competence and introjected regulation. Compared to the control condition, the SDTc reported a significantly greater linear increase in structure and interpersonal involvement, relatedness and competence need satisfaction and positive affect. Attendance rates were significantly higher in the SDTc. SDT‐based social‐contextual characteristics and psychological needs predicted autonomous regulations; all these variables collectively predicted adaptive outcomes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children's coping with peer rejection: the role of depressive symptoms,social competence,and gender

The present study investigated children's anticipated emotional response and anticipated coping in response to peer rejection, as well as the qualifying effects of gender, depressive symptoms, and perceived social competence. Participants (N = 234), ranging in age between 10 and 13 years, were presented with two written vignettes depicting peer rejection. The most highly endorsed coping strategies were behavioural distraction, problem‐focused behaviour, and positive reappraisal. Results indicate that children higher in depressive symptoms reported a more negative anticipated mood impact. Moreover, children higher in depressive symptoms were less inclined to endorse behavioural and cognitive coping strategies typically associated with mood improvement (e.g., behavioural distraction, positive reappraisal). Independent of depression, children scoring higher on perceived social competence reported more active, problem‐oriented coping behaviour in response to the stressors. Types of coping were largely unaffected by gender, however girls reported higher levels of anticipated sadness than boys in response to the rejection vignettes. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CAMP: A community‐based approach to promoting safe sex behaviour in adolescence

The primary goal of this study was to describe the development and assessment of the Community Awareness Motivation Partnership (CAMP) Teen Theatre intervention. Based on the behavioural ecological model, CAMP addressed the role of contraceptive use in safe sex behaviour through a brief informative, entertaining, and culturally responsive dramatization programme. Adolescents (N = 1613) between the ages of 11 and 18 (M = 13.31, SD = 0.76) received the intervention, and 961 participants completed both pre‐ and post‐tests. The majority of participants were Latino (78.5%, n = 1039), many of whom were first generation immigrants. Results indicated that the intervention increased participants' reported intentions to delay sex and use contraceptives. The intervention produced short‐term changes in safe‐sex behavioural intentions and knowledge. Suggestions for producing long‐term changes were discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Endorsement of distributively fair and unfair leaders in interpersonal and intergroup situations

Differences in the strength of endorsement for distributively fair and unfair leaders in interpersonal and intergroup situations were measured. Fair leaders were expected to receive stronger endorsements than unfair leaders in interpersonal situations. This difference, however, was expected to attenuate, if not reverse in intergroup situations when the unfairness favoured the ingroup. An attenuation effect obtained in Experiment 1 (N=49) using ad hoc groups in a laboratory setting. Attenuation and reversal effects obtained, respectively, in Experiments 2 (N=314) and 3 (N=213) using preexisting groups (students and New Zealanders, respectively) in a scenario setting. Fairness ratings followed patterns similar to leadership endorsements in Experiments 2 and 3. Finally, Experiment 3 showed a reversal in participants' private attitudes toward an issue about which the leader expressed an opinion. These data extend previous research on leadership endorsement and are consistent with predictions derived from Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leader Member Exchange in Leaders’ Support for Voice: Good Relationships Matter in Situations of Power Threat

While previous research underscores the role of leaders in stimulating employee voice behaviour, comparatively little is known about what affects leaders’ support for such constructive but potentially threatening employee behaviours. We introduce leader member exchange quality (LMX) as a central predictor of leaders’ support for employees’ ideas for constructive change. Apart from a general benefit of high LMX for leaders’ idea support, we propose that high LMX is particularly critical to leaders’ idea support if the idea voiced by an employee constitutes a power threat to the leader. We investigate leaders’ attribution of prosocial and egoistic employee intentions as mediators of these effects. Hypotheses were tested in a quasi-experimental vignette study (N = 160), in which leaders evaluated a simulated employee idea, and a field study (N = 133), in which leaders evaluated an idea that had been voiced to them at work. Results show an indirect effect of LMX on leaders’ idea support via attributed prosocial intentions but not via attributed egoistic intentions, and a buffering effect of high LMX on the negative effect of power threat on leaders’ idea support. Results differed across studies with regard to the main effect of LMX on idea support.     

Searching for Prosociality in Qualitative Data: Comparing Manual,Closed-Vocabulary,and Open-Vocabulary Methods

Although most people present themselves as possessing prosocial traits, people differ in the extent to which they actually act prosocially in everyday life. Qualitative data that were not ostensibly collected to measure prosociality might contain information about prosocial dispositions that is not distorted by self-presentation concerns. This paper seeks to characterise charitable donors from qualitative data. We compared a manual approach of extracting predictors from participants' self-described personal strivings to two automated approaches: A summation of words predefined as prosocial and a support vector machine classifier. Although variables extracted by the support vector machine predicted donation behaviour well in the training sample (N = 984), virtually, no variables from any method significantly predicted donations in a holdout sample (N = 496). Raters' attempts to predict donations to charity based on reading participants' personal strivings were also unsuccessful. However, raters' predictions were associated with past charitable involvement. In sum, predictors derived from personal strivings did not robustly explain variation in charitable behaviour, but personal strivings may nevertheless contain some information about trait prosociality. The sparseness of personal strivings data, rather than the irrelevance of open-ended text or individual differences in goal pursuit, likely explains their limited value in predicting prosocial behaviour. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Exploring the nonlinear relationship between challenge stressors and employee voice: The effects of leader–member exchange and organisation-based self-esteem

This study demonstrates how challenge stressor, a job demand that can bring potential gains for employees, influences voice, a change-oriented behaviour challenging the status quo. Specifically, we develop and test an inverted U-shaped relationship that integrates social exchange theory and the framework of resource allocation. Using data collected from 204 employees in Eastern China, we find that the U-shaped relationship between challenge stressor and voice is only emerged at low levels of leader–member exchange. At high levels of leader–member exchange the relationship between challenge stressor and voice is U-shaped. Furthermore, the interactive effect of challenge stressor and leader–member exchange on voice behaviour is mediated by organisation-based self-esteem. The findings of this study have important implications for stress and voice literature.     

The effects of leader illegitimacy on leaders' and subordinates' responses to relinquishing power decisions

This research examined how leader illegitimacy affects leaders' and subordinates' responses to relinquishing power decisions. The processes underlying responses to leader illegitimacy and relinquishing power were also examined. Across four studies, participants were placed in leader roles (Studies 1a/1b) or subordinate roles (Studies 2a/2b) in an online competition. In Studies 1a/1b, participants assigned a leadership role learned, via a leadership skills test, that their leadership was illegitimate or legitimate. By contrast, in Studies 2a/2b, participants assigned a subordinate role were confronted with either an illegitimate leader who retained their power after performing poorly or a legitimate leader who received the leader role after a poor‐performing leader had relinquished their power. Results demonstrated that leaders who felt they did not belong in their leadership role relinquished more power when their leadership was illegitimate (vs. legitimate) and subordinates who felt less in control and greater anger supported illegitimate (vs. legitimate) leaders less.     

It's all good: Children's personality attributions after repeated success and failure in peer and computer interactions

The present study examined children's use of behavioural outcome information to make personality attributions in social and non‐social contexts. One hundred and twenty‐eight 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds were told about a story actor who engaged in primarily successful or primarily unsuccessful interactions with several different people (social context) or several different computers (non‐social context). Subsequently, children made behavioural predictions and trait attributions about the actor. Findings indicated that participants were more likely to use past information to make behavioural predictions and trait attributions when hearing about primarily successful than primarily unsuccessful interactions, although there were age‐related differences in trait attribution as a function of success and trait type. There was no support for differential use of information across contexts, as participants' predictions and attributions were similar regardless of hearing about interactions with computers or humans. Factors involved in the development of impression formation are discussed.     

Predicting employees' satisfaction and burnout from managers' attachment and caregiving orientations

In recent years, there have been initial attempts to apply attachment theory to account for leader–follower relationships and leaders' contribution to followers' performance. Drawing on this theoretical framework, we examined the relationships between managers' attachment orientations and subordinates' job satisfaction and burnout. Data were collected from 85 work groups from 71 organizations consisting of 483 subordinates and their 85 direct managers from a variety of job roles. Hierarchical linear modelling analyses indicated that managers' attachment insecurities predicted higher job burnout and lower job satisfaction among subordinates, and that ineffective caring orientation of the managers mediated these links. Findings further showed that subordinates' attachment insecurities were associated with burnout and job dissatisfaction. Implications for leadership research and for the design of organizational intervention as well as future research directions are discussed.     

Culturally intelligent supervisors: Inclusion,intercultural cooperation,and psychological safety

By integrating the cultural intelligence (CQ) and diversity/inclusion literature, we attempt to make a dual contribution to the literature by understanding how subordinates' perceptions of their supervisors' CQ may enhance their intercultural cooperation via their individual psychological climate for inclusion. We further examine the role of minority members' psychological safety as a result of perceived supervisor CQ and psychological climate for inclusion. To explore these processes, we conducted three studies. Based on social processing and social learning theories, we empirically tested the relationship between perceived supervisor CQ and subordinates' intercultural cooperation and initially determined the role of one of the three dimensions of psychological climate for inclusion (i.e. integration of differences) (Study 1: two-waves; N = 316). To address the data limitation and to expand the framework (i.e. adding in the other dimensions of psychological climate), we conducted Study 2 (two-waves; N = 173). We further extended the framework to include psychological safety and obtained two-waves of data from ethnic minority members in Study 3 (N = 155). Our results supported our predictions offering novel insights into why CQ matters for supervisors of culturally diverse work units and clarify the various mechanisms on how supervisors' CQ influences intercultural cooperation in those units.     

Bridging the Gap: How Supervisors’ Perceptions of Guanxi HRM Practices Influence Subordinates’ Work Engagement

This study aims to provide new insights into the relationship between supervisors' perceptions of guanxi human resource management (HRM) practices and their subordinates' work engagement. We used a three time‐lagged sample from 45 work groups and 205 employees in a state‐owned organisation (Study 1) and cross‐sectional data from 101 work groups and 413 employees in 101 different organisations (Study 2) to test our hypotheses. The results revealed that supervisors' perceptions of guanxi HRM practices were positively related to subordinates' perceptions of guanxi HRM practices, which, in turn, negatively affected subordinates' work engagement. This indirect effect was stronger when group power distance was low or when individual power distance orientation was low.     

Reciprocal Relationships between Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) and Job Satisfaction: A Cross‐Lagged Analysis

While previous research has mainly emphasised the importance of leader–member exchange (LMX) to job satisfaction, there is a lack of research on reciprocal relationships between job satisfaction and LMX. In this study, we not only suggest that good LMX increases job satisfaction, but that job satisfaction can also enhance high‐quality supervisor–employee relationships. A full cross‐lagged panel analysis was used to test reciprocal relationships between LMX and job satisfaction. Employees (N= 279) of a large information technology company filled out questionnaires at two times, with a time lag of 3 months. In line with our predictions, findings revealed a positive relationship between LMX and job satisfaction both at Time 1 and Time 2. Moreover, LMX at Time 1 predicted the increase of job satisfaction at Time 2, and job satisfaction at Time 1 predicted the increase of LMX at Time 2. The results demonstrate the need to consider reciprocal relationships between job satisfaction and LMX when explaining employees' workplace outcomes. Our findings are discussed in terms of positive psychology theory.     

The relationship between perceived interpersonal competence and self-disclosure in an online context: The moderating role of shyness

The purpose of this study is to examine the reported level of self-disclosure in online communication and understand the relationship between perceived interpersonal competence and self-disclosure in an online context, taking into account the moderating role of shyness. The study sample consists of university students (N = 585). Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses revealed that, controlling for participants' online media use, shyness moderated the relationship between online self-disclosure and perceived interpersonal competence. Moderation results showed that the relationship between online self-disclosure and perceived interpersonal competence was weaker for individuals with higher levels of shyness, and stronger for those with moderate or low scores on the shyness measure. The study's implications and contributions to the existing literature are discussed.