Interactive effects of personality and perceptions of the work situation on workplace deviance

Previous research on workplace deviance has examined the relationship of either personality or employees' situational perceptions with deviant behavior. In this study, the authors focused on the joint relationship of personality and perceptions of the work situation with deviant behavior. Using 4 samples of employees and multiple operationalizations of the core constructs, the authors found support for the hypothesis that positive perceptions of the work situation are negatively related to workplace deviance. In addition, consistent with hypotheses, the personality traits of conscientiousness, emotional stability, and agreeableness moderated this relationship. Specifically, the relationship between perceptions of the developmental environment and organizational deviance was stronger for employees low in conscientiousness or emotional stability, and the relationship between perceived organizational support and interpersonal deviance was stronger for employees low in agreeableness.     

Others' anger makes people work harder not smarter: the effect of observing anger and sarcasm on creative and analytic thinking

The authors examine whether and how observing anger influences thinking processes and problem-solving ability. In 3 studies, the authors show that participants who listened to an angry customer were more successful in solving analytic problems, but less successful in solving creative problems compared with participants who listened to an emotionally neutral customer. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors further show that observing anger communicated through sarcasm enhances complex thinking and solving of creative problems. Prevention orientation is argued to be the latent variable that mediated the effect of observing anger on complex thinking. The present findings help reconcile inconsistent findings in previous research, promote theory about the effects of observing anger and sarcasm, and contribute to understanding the effects of anger in the workplace.     

Organizational cynicism: bases and consequences

Organizational cynicism is the belief that an organization lacks integrity, which, when coupled with a powerful negative emotional reaction, leads to disparaging and critical behavior. In this article, the author attempts to theoretically clarify the process by which five forms of cynicism develop in the workplace and to empirically relate them to affective outcomes. Societal, employee, and organizational change cynicisms may be attributed to psychological contract violations; work cynicism may be related to burnout; and person-role conflict and personality cynicism may be related to innate hostility. Empirically, personality cynicism emerged as the strongest predictor of organizational cynicism, adversely affecting all of the criteria. Other forms of cynicism had more selective effects. Organizational change cynicism induced job dissatisfaction and alienation, and employee cynicism affected organizational commitment. Societal cynicism actually increased both job satisfaction and commitment. Both personality and work cynicisms were related to organizational citizenship indirectly, through alienation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Mastery approach and performance approach: the differential prediction of organizational citizenship behavior and workplace deviance,beyond HEXACO personality

Goal orientation has become one of the most studied motivational constructs in the psychology literature. However, in organizational contexts, the research focus to date has largely centered on the relationship between goal orientation and task performance—neglecting the valuable contribution of non-task work behaviors, such as workplace deviance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) to organization functioning. In this paper, we addressed this gap in the literature by investigating the differential prediction of performance approach and mastery approach goal orientation on workplace deviance and OCB, beyond personality correlates. We hypothesize that performance approach orientation is positively associated with workplace deviance and mastery approach orientation is positively associated with OCB. A sample of employed participants (n = 114) provided self-reports of goal orientation, workplace deviance, OCB and personality. Additionally, participants nominated a well-acquainted peer to provide peer-reports of their personalities. When controlling for personality, performance approach orientation positively predicted workplace deviance whereas mastery approach orientation positively predicted organizational citizenship behavior. This study is the first to our knowledge to explore the relationships between goal orientation and non-task work behaviors and to show that goal orientation adds to the understanding of workplace deviance and OCB, beyond personality. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

恶意报复还是认同驱动?新员工的角色社会化程度对其职场排斥行为的作用机制

以往关于职场排斥形成机制的研究, 主要是基于冲突-报复的视角, 验证了人际冲突对职场排斥具有稳定的预测作用, 而这个解释逻辑很可能对新员工并不适用。本文基于角色认同理论, 考察新员工的角色社会化程度对其职场排斥行为的作用机制。通过对多阶段收集的249对新员工上下级匹配问卷分析发现, 在控制了经典的冲突报复机制之后, 角色认同机制能够解释新员工的职场排斥行为。具体来说, 结果显示：(1)新员工的角色社会化程度负向影响其职场排斥行为; (2)工作疏离感在新员工的角色社会化程度与职场排斥行为之间起中介作用; (3)发展性反馈在新员工的角色社会化程度与工作疏离感的关系中起调节作用; 进一步, (4)发展性反馈调节了工作疏离感对角色社会化程度-职场排斥行为关系的中介作用。本研究结果不仅从理论上拓展了职场排斥行为的研究视角, 为以后的进一步研究提供新的理论框架, 而且从角色认同的视角为组织管理新员工的职场排斥行为提供新思路。     

Work organization, economic inequality, and depression among nursing assistants: a multilevel modeling approach

To investigate the relationships among the nursing home work environment, emotional strain, and depression in Nursing Assistants in Ohio and West Virginia, this cross-sectional study was conducted with 395 Nurse Assistants in 49 nursing homes in Ohio and West Virginia. Organizational attributes were measured independently at the individual and organizational levels. Multilevel modeling techniques were used to analyze the data. Our methods examined nursing home organizational structure (ownership type, managerial style), and work organization (emotional strain) was examined in relation to the prevalence of depression among nursing assistants. Our findings suggest workplace emotional strain and age are associated with increased odds of depression. Implications of our work include that work in nursing homes for the environment it fosters has a strong effect on emotional strain and depression among Nursing Assistants.     

Honesty-Humility and Perceptions of Organizational Politics in Predicting Workplace Outcomes

Purpose

The present study sought to examine whether a personality dimension named Honesty-Humility influences the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and workplace outcomes, both attitudinal and behavioral.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected online and cross-nationally from 268 full-time employees from various organizations and occupational backgrounds.

Findings

Results indicate that the adverse effect of POP in the workplace is exacerbated for employees who are lower (rather than higher) in Honesty-Humility. Specifically, when perceiving their workplace as political, low Honesty-Humility individuals were more likely to engage in counterproductive work behavior and impression management behavior and to experience greater job stress and decreased job satisfaction.

Implications

Examining the role of individual differences in POP helps to advance our understanding of the mechanisms that employees use to interpret and react within a perceived politically charged workplace. This study provides further evidence of the deleterious effects of POP in the workplace, especially among low Honesty-Humility individuals. Practical implications of this research focus on reducing the likelihood of hiring low Honesty-Humility individuals as well as on reducing the opportunity for undesirable behaviors among currently employed individuals.

Originality/Value

There is a paucity of research exploring the possibility that individuals may react differently from one another to POP within their workplace and, in turn, experience varying outcomes. The present study helps to fill this gap in the literature by providing novel insights as to the role of personality in predicting perceptions of, and reactions to, organizational politics.     

The Impact of Commuter Stress on Workplace Aggression

Immediately following their regular commute to work, participants completed questionnaires regarding state driver stress and anger during that commute. Then, immediately following completion of that work day, they completed a state version of the Workplace Aggression Scale. As state driver stress increased, the frequency of both expressed hostility and obstructionism increased (independently) during that work day, but only among male employees. In contrast, overt aggression during that work day was greatest among males who were higher in physical aggressiveness as a general trait characteristic. The present study highlights the interactive nature of traffic and workplace environments, in that negative experiences in the traffic environment may spill over for some individuals to influence nondriving events.     

不合规任务与工作拖延行为的关系：自我损耗和主动性人格的作用

工作拖延行为是当今职场人士面临的普遍困扰之一。基于资源保存理论,本研究从不合规任务视角探究工作拖延行为的成因。对196位员工的两时点调查数据进行层次回归分析,结果表明：不合规任务正向预测员工工作拖延行为,自我损耗在不合规任务与工作拖延行为之间起着中介作用,主动性人格负向调节不合规任务与自我损耗的正向关系以及自我损耗的中介效应。以上结果对预防或降低工作拖延行为具有启发意义。     

Employee personality, justice perceptions, and the prediction of workplace deviance

We examined the relative and incremental prediction of workplace deviance (i.e., intentional acts that harm the organization or its employees) offered by personality and organizational justice perceptions in a sample of 464 employees working in a large retail organization. We found that personality - including a sixth factor called Honesty-Humility, and its facet of trait Fairness - accounted for incremental variance in deviance criteria beyond justice perceptions. We found little support for the reverse. From a practical standpoint, these findings suggest that organizations may benefit from personality-related interventions (e.g., screening job applicants for relevant traits) more so than from justice-related interventions (e.g., organizational changes involving policies and procedures) in order to reduce workplace deviance. From a research perspective, our findings highlight the advantages of considering traits beyond the Big Five (e.g., Honesty-Humility) for maximizing the prediction and understanding of deviant behaviors at work.     

The Contributions of Personality to Organizational Behavior and Psychology: Findings,Criticisms, and Future Research Directions

Skepticism regarding the importance of personality traits as predictors of organizational behavior criteria has given way to an appreciation of the broad array of work outcomes predicted by personality. This article considers the effects of the five‐factor model (‘Big Five’) personality traits on the following work outcomes: (1) job performance; (2) work motivation; (3) job attitudes; (4) leadership; (5) power, politics, and influence; (6) stress, adaptability, and coping; (7) team effectiveness; (8) counterproductive/deviant workplace behaviors; (9) workplace accidents; and (10) conflict and negotiation. Two contemporary criticisms of personality research in organizational behavior – that the validities are small and that faking undermines the usefulness of personality inventories in employment contexts – are then evaluated. Finally, a brief agenda for future research is provided which highlights needed areas of advancement.     

Work performance norms and organizational efficacy as cross-level effects on the relationship between individual perceptions of self-efficacy,overcommitment, and work-related stress

In the past 10 years, there has been increasing interest in applying multilevel analysis to explain how psychosocial work conditions may influence organizational behaviour. In the present study, we investigated how the individual level variables of self-efficacy and overcommitment may relate to job stress within an analytic context controlling for the main effects of dimensions of the psychosocial work environment, as well as the employees' collective perceptions of work performance norms and organizational efficacy beliefs. The final sample consisted of 924 employees from the food and beverage industry in Norway. Hierarchical linear analysis shows that overcommitment and self-efficacy together have significant main effects on stress. As expected, the results show that overcommitment is positively related to experiences of stress and self efficacy is negatively related to work-related stress. Norms governing performance, magnitude of production, attendance, and work pressure in the workplace are directly and positively related to job stress experiences at the individual level. Contrary to our expectations we did not find a significant interaction effect of work performance norms, nor did we find main or interactional cross-level effects of organizational efficacy on stress.     

Predicting workplace victim status from personality

This study examined the extent that workplace victim status can be predicted from personality traits. The sample comprised 60 victims and a control group of 60 non-bullied work colleagues, matched on a number of organizational and personal criteria, from two large organizations (one public, one private) in Eire. Both groups completed a semi-structured interview and the ICES Personality Inventory (Bartram, 1994, 1998). Significant differences emerged between victims and nonvictims on all major ICES scales. Victims tended to be less independent and extroverted, less stable, and more conscientious than non-victims. From the development of a weighted composite personality profile, results illustrated that ICES personality traits strongly predicted victim status. The findings suggest that, using a five-factor framework, personality traits may give an indication of those in an organization most likely to be bullied and an indication as to why these individuals become victims.     

Why people harm the organization and its members: Relationships among personality,organizational commitment,and workplace deviance

Based on the five-factor model of personality traits and social exchange theory, this study examines the relationships of personality traits, organizational commitment, and two target-based factors of workplace deviance (organizational deviance and interpersonal deviance), using a sample of 113 South Korean employees. By the use of path-analysis, we first found that Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability were meaningfully related to organizational commitment. In addition, both the effect of Conscientiousness on organizational deviance and the effect of Agreeableness on interpersonal deviance were partially mediated by organizational commitment. In sum, results clearly show that the personality traits of Conscientiousness (impersonal) and Agreeableness (interpersonal) function differently in predicting workplace deviance.     

Exploring the role of individual differences in the prediction of workplace aggression

This study investigates the relationship between individual differences and the incidence of workplace aggression in a sample of employees from a transportation company and a public school system. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that measures of trait anger, attribution style, negative affectivity, attitudes toward revenge, self-control, and previous exposure to aggressive cultures accounted for 62% of the variance in the participants' self-reported incidence of workplace aggression. Further research on workplace aggression is advocated, focusing on the role of individual differences and their interactions with organizational and group-level variables.     

No Herd for Black Sheep: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Predictors and Outcomes of Workplace Ostracism

Ostracism is a ubiquitous and inevitable part of human personal and professional lives. Despite its prevalence, organizational scholars have yet to provide a comprehensive review of the empirical literature on workplace ostracism. In this study, I use belongingness theory, conservation of resources theory, and need-threat/need fortification theory to conduct a meta-analysis of the relationships between the predictors and outcomes of workplace ostracism. My results suggest that experiences of workplace incivility and victim personality traits have a significant influence on the perceptions of workplace ostracism. I also found that self-esteem partially mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism and work outcomes. In addition, workplace ostracism was related negatively to numerous health and work outcomes. Furthermore, national culture (collectivistic vs. individualistic cultures) of study samples moderated some of the proposed relationships. Finally, results from relative weight analyses revealed a unique contribution of workplace ostracism in the prediction of job satisfaction, although abusive supervision and interpersonal deviance were important predictors of OCBs and deviant work behaviors. I conclude with a discussion of these findings.     

Explaining workplace delinquency: The role of Honesty–Humility,ethical culture,and employee surveillance

In this research the effects of personality and organizational characteristics on workplace delinquency were investigated. In a sample of 455 respondents from a wide variety of organizations, two personality traits, HEXACO Honesty–Humility and Conscientiousness, and two organizational characteristics, ethical culture and employee surveillance, explained a significant amount of variance in workplace delinquency. No interaction effects between personality and organizational practices in the explanation of workplace delinquency were found. Results are discussed in light of the role of personality and Routine Activity Theory in predicting unethical behaviors, delinquency, and/or occupational crime in organizations.     

The Moderating Role of Gender in Relationships of Stressors and Personality with Counterproductive Work Behavior

Purpose

Gender differences in counterproductive work behavior (CWB: behavior that harms organizations or people) have been understudied. We explored gender mean differences, and the moderating effect of gender on the relationship of personality (agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, trait anger, and hostile attribution bias) and stressors (interpersonal conflict and organizational constraints) with three forms of CWB (directed toward organizations, directed toward persons, and relational aggression which are acts that damage relationships with other employees).

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted of 915 employed individuals recruited from university classes. All worked at least 20 h per week (mean 26.3 h), and held a variety of jobs in many industries.

Findings

Men reported more CWB with correlations ranging from 0.12 to 0.18. Gender was found to moderate the relationship of job stressors and personality with CWB. The tendency for males to report engaging in more CWB was greater at high as opposed to low levels of interpersonal conflict, organizational constraints, trait anger and HAB and at low as opposed to high levels of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.

Implications

These results suggest that gender differences in overall CWB are rather small, with men engaging in more than women only when they have certain personality characteristics or perceive high levels of job stressors. In other words men may be more reactive than women.

Originality/value

This study shows that gender serves a moderator role, and is the first to adapt the construct of relational aggression to the workplace.     

Does Dispositional Aggression Feed the Narcissistic Response? The Role of Narcissism and Aggression in the Prediction of Job Attitudes and Counterproductive Work Behaviors

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to extend the personality and work-related outcomes literature by examining: (1) the effects of narcissism on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors and (2) the moderating effects of dispositional aggression on the narcissism–counterproductive work behaviors relationship.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Multi-wave data were collected from 381 workers employed in a variety of work settings within the United States.

Findings

Narcissism had consistent main effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors after controlling for the personality characteristics agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and aggression. Aggression moderated the relationship between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviors, such that the positive relationship between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviors was stronger when dispositional aggression was high.

Implications

This study provides greater clarity regarding the role of narcissism within job attitudes and behaviors, shows that dispositional aggression strengthens or amplifies the narcissistic response for counterproductive work behaviors, and provides a platform to further explore narcissism and aggression within the workplace.

Originality/Value

This study found that narcissism consistently predicted unique variance in work-related criteria after the effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and aggression were controlled. It also found evidence that aggression moderates the effects of narcissism on counterproductive work behaviors. This study is the first to directly examine these effects.     

秒回?信息通讯技术时代的职场通讯压力

职场通讯压力是指员工想要快速回复基于信息通讯技术(information and communication technology, ICT)的工作消息而体验到的紧迫性, 现有研究对其成因及影响路径的探讨较为零散且缺乏系统性认识。基于工作要求-资源模型并结合努力-恢复模型, 讨论作为工作要求的ICT使用以及作为个人要求/资源的个体因素对职场通讯压力的前因作用; 探讨职场通讯压力因阻碍恢复活动而对员工身心健康以及工作和家庭领域产生的消极影响, 以期增进对职场通讯压力的全面了解, 丰富现有研究对ICT使用后果的认识, 并为未来研究的展开以及员工职业心理健康干预实践提供参考。