Individual Employees’ Responses to Group Incentives: The Moderating Role of Innovation

Purpose

This study examined the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in the relationship between group-incentive participation and organizational commitment. The study also investigated the moderating role of innovation in the relationship between group-incentive participation and POS and the relationship between group-incentive participation and organizational commitment.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The proposed hypotheses were tested by hierarchical linear modeling by means of survey data that were collected in South Korea in 2008.

Findings

The results showed that the relationship between group-incentive participation and organizational commitment was fully mediated by POS. Cross-level analyses revealed that group-incentive participation had stronger relationships with POS and organizational commitment in more innovative companies than in less innovative companies.

Implications

These findings contribute to the literature by identifying the characteristics of organizations in which group-incentive participation is more effective. In particular, innovative companies could benefit from adopting group-incentive practices because these practices are more strongly related to POS and organizational commitment in more innovative companies.

Originality/Value

Whereas previous studies on group incentives have mainly focused on the effects of group incentives at the organizational level, this study bridged the gap between macro- and microapproaches through multilevel analyses. This study is unique in that it examined the vertical fit between group incentives and organizational characteristics while focusing on individual employees’ perceptions and attitudes.     

A Comparison of a Subjective and Statistical Method for Establishing Score Comparability in an Organizational Culture Survey

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a subjective and a statistical method of detecting non-comparable items in 14 language-translated forms of a survey measuring organizational culture.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from a large multinational organization using a 60-item organizational culture survey. Each of 14 language-translated forms were administered to members of their respective language groups and compared to the original English (United States) form. Subjective reviews were conducted using fluent bilingual organizational members whom flagged items they did not believe were comparable. Statistical analyses using an item response theory (IRT) approach were used to detect problematic items from 14 samples with sizes ranging from 304 to 3,014. Detection patterns from these two approaches were compared.

Findings

The subjective approach identified far less items as problematic and did not agree with the statistical approach.

Implications

Our results suggest that the subjective approach as a pre-screening adaptation procedure has little added value over a careful translation/back-translation procedure.

Originality/Value

The use of language-adapted organizational surveys has become increasingly important to multinational organizations. In examining scores from such surveys the establishment of score comparability is essential. IRT analyses are often used to determine whether scores are comparable across language translations. It is also common for subjective reviews of item content to be utilized prior to statistical techniques to determine if the translated items are comparable to the original form. No research known to authors has compared modern statistical and subjective approaches to addressing these issues.     

Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Citizenship Behaviors: Conscientiousness and Self-monitoring as Moderators

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine the joint moderating effects of employees’ conscientiousness and self-monitoring on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from 139 subordinate–supervisor dyads through networks of business contacts and university alums of a university in the Midwest US.

Findings

We found a significant three-way interaction between perceived politics, conscientiousness, and self-monitoring in predicting citizenship behaviors. High self-monitoring alleviated the negative effects of politics perceptions on the OCB of highly conscientious employees. Conversely, perceived politics was negatively related to the OCB of employees who reported having either low self-monitoring and high conscientiousness or high self-monitoring and low conscientiousness.

Implications

Our results advance the theoretical understanding of the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and citizenship behaviors by integrating the occupational stress perspective with social exchange theory within the socio-analytic framework. Evidence suggests that employees with certain combinations of traits (e.g., low self-monitoring and high conscientiousness or high self-monitoring and low conscientiousness) were particularly susceptible to the negative effects of perceived politics. This knowledge may help practitioners identify training needs or motivational strategies to help alleviate the negative effects of perceived politics on employee citizenship behaviors.

Originality/Value

This study is one of the few that took a holistic person-oriented approach when examining the moderating effects of individual traits on the linkages between perceived politics and citizenship behaviors. In addition, we utilized supervisor ratings of citizenship behaviors to overcome concerns associated with common source bias.     

Employees’ Adaptability and Perceptions of Change-Related Uncertainty: Implications for Perceived Organizational Support,Job Satisfaction,and Performance

Purpose

The literature on organizational change has increasingly recognized that characteristics of change recipients influence their reactions to workplace change. Yet little is known about the influence of employees’ adaptability and change-related uncertainty on their interpretation of organizational actions. We examined these antecedents and the mediating role of perceived organizational support as explanations for employees’ job satisfaction and performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A survey was administered to material handling employees from two organizations. Employees completed measures of individual adaptability, uncertainty experienced regarding changes in the workplace, support received from the organization, and job satisfaction. Performance data were collected from the records of one organization.

Findings

Results from both samples support the role of perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relationship between employees’ adaptability and perceptions of change-related uncertainty and employees’ satisfaction and performance.

Implications

Change is a frequent occurrence in today’s workplace; thus, improving employee satisfaction and performance requires the consideration of change-related perceptions and individuals’ dispositions relevant to change. The present study offers insights regarding how organizations may help improve perceptions of organizational support by reducing perceived uncertainty as well as identifying employees who may need assistance to adapt to workplace changes.

Originality/Value

Despite practitioners’ expressed interest, there is scant research examining employees’ adaptability and change-related uncertainty. We provide the first evidence explaining how and why these variables impact important workplace outcomes and extend existing theory by identifying appraisals of the organization (and not the self) as a mechanism explaining stressor–strain relationships.     

Impact of Organizational Identification and Psychological Safety on Initial Perceptions of Coworker Trustworthiness

Purpose

Initial trustworthiness perceptions serve as anchored reference points for subsequent trust perceptions and associated behavioral choices in organizations. Examining the relationship between the employee and the organization is an underexplored influence on such perceptions. This study is an investigation of how perceived psychological safety (PS) in the work environment and level of organizational identification (OI) influence initial perceptions of others?? trustworthiness.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained through survey and scenario methods from a sample of high-potential managers (n?=?155) during participation in a leadership development training course.

Findings

Results demonstrate that both disposition to trust and PS have positive relationships with initial perceptions of others?? trustworthiness. There is also a significant negative moderating effect of OI on the relationship between psychology safety and perceived trustworthiness. PS has a strong positive significant relationship with initial perceptions of others?? trustworthiness when OI is low. This relationship is non-significant when OI is high.

Implications

This study provides evidence that the relationship between the employee and the organization can influence individual perceptions of initial trustworthiness in others.

Originality/Value

Aspects of the relationship between the trustor and the organization have not previously been considered as influences on initial trustworthiness perceptions. PS, often investigated as a direct influence on learning and performance, has not been previously examined as a socialized influence on trustworthiness perceptions.     

The Impact of Organizational Factors on Psychological Needs and Their Relations with Well-Being

Purpose

The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationships between perceived organizational support, perceptions of supervisor’s interpersonal style, psychological need satisfaction and need thwarting, and hedonic and eudaemonic well-being.

Design/Methodology/Approach

In Study 1 (n?=?468), we tested a model in which workers’ perceived organizational support and their perceptions of their supervisor autonomy support independently predicted satisfaction of the workers’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which in turn predicted aspects of hedonic and eudaemonic well-being. In Study 2 (n?=?650), workers’ perceptions of supervisor controlling behaviors and need thwarting were added to the hypothesized model tested in Study 1. Scales of work satisfaction and positive affect were used to assess hedonic well-being, and a scale of psychological well-being was used to assess eudaemonic well-being.

Findings

Perceived organizational support and supervisors’ interpersonal style related to basic need satisfaction (Studies 1 and 2) and need thwarting (Study 2). In turn, need satisfaction predicted higher levels of hedonic and eudaemonic well-being, while need thwarting was negatively associated with hedonic and eudaemonic well-being.

Implications

The present results underscore the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which organizations and managers related to workers’ hedonic and eudaemonic well-being.

Originality/Value

This is the first research to provide evidence for the mediating role of need satisfaction and need thwarting in the relationships between perceived organizational support, perceptions of supervisor’s interpersonal style, and hedonic and eudaemonic well-being. The present results were obtained in two samples of employees from various small to large companies.     

Work–Life Balance in the Police: The Development of a Self-Management Competency Framework

Purpose

Addressing a gap in the current work–life balance (WLB) literature regarding individual-focused approaches to inform interventions, we elicited behaviors used to self-manage WLB to draw up a competency-based WLB framework for relevant learnable knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs; Hoffmann, Eur J Ind Train 23:275–285, 1999) and mapping this against extant WLB frameworks.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Our participants were from a major UK police force, which faces particular challenges to the work–life interface through job demands and organizational cutbacks, covering a range of operational job roles, including uniformed officers and civilian staff. We took a mixed methods approach starting with semi-structured interviews to elicit 134 distinct behaviors (n = 20) and used a subsequent card sort task (n = 10) to group these into categories into 12 behavioral themes; and finally undertook an online survey (n = 356) for an initial validation.

Findings

Item and content analysis reduced the behaviors to 58, which we analyzed further. A framework of eight competencies fits the data best; covering a range of strategies, including Boundary Management, Managing Flexibility, and Managing Expectations.

Implications

The WLB self-management KSAs elicited consist of a range of solution-focused behaviors and strategies, which could inform future WLB-focused interventions, showing how individuals may negotiate borders effectively in a specific environment.

Originality/Value

A competence-based approach to WLB self-management is new, and may extend existing frameworks such as Border Theory, highlighting a proactive and solution-focused element of effective behaviors.     

Advancing Organizational Support Theory into the Twenty-First Century World of Work

Purpose

This review focuses and aids the development of organizational support theory, which explains relationships between employers and employees based on social exchange. Many studies have explored the theory??s central construct, perceived organizational support (POS), or the degree to which employees believe their work organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. Since the last review of POS literature in 2000, the occupational landscape has shifted, increasing nontraditional work relationships and the importance of managing an international workforce while considering influences on employee well-being. This review discusses how the recent POS research reflects these trends.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This review focused on how themes in the POS research since 2000 have enhanced organizational support theory as relevant to the twenty-first century world of work.

Findings

Four important theoretical themes have developed since 2000 that enhance organizational support theory: considerations of employee well-being, nontraditional workers, international and cross-cultural issues, and developments tied to the use of multilevel modeling.

Implications

Giving both researchers and practitioners a synthesized view of the current status of POS research, this review serves as a springboard for new developments. It also integrates the multitude of recent studies into organizational support theory, focusing theoretical progress.

Originality/Value

This is the first review and theoretical integration of the POS literature since 2002. It is a valuable resource for all interested in the field, with theoretical insights, useful tables, explanatory figures, and references.     

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.     

Job Design and the Employee Innovation Process: The Mediating Role of Learning Strategies

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to examine whether employee learning strategies is a mechanism through which job design affects the employee innovation process. In particular, we test whether work-based learning strategies mediate the relationship between job design characteristics (job control and problem demand) and key components of the innovation process (idea generation, idea promotion, and idea implementation).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from a survey of 327 employees in a UK manufacturing organization.

Findings

Structural equation modeling confirmed the mediating role of learning strategies in the relationship between job design and idea generation. The effects of job control on idea generation were mediated by work-based learning strategies and the effects of problem demand on idea generation were partially mediated by work-based learning strategies. Problem demand also had a direct relationship with idea generation and idea promotion. The findings provide support for the general idea that learning is a mechanism thorough which job design affects outcomes.

Implications

The results of the study show practitioners that creating jobs with high control or high problem demand can help to promote the employee innovation process; and that this is partly due to the role that such jobs play in stimulating the use of learning strategies at work.

Originality/Value

This article develops and tests a new theoretical model that explains how learning is a route through which job design influences employee innovation.     

Analysis of Self-Reported Motives for Task-Related Helping: Implications for an Integrated Theory of Helping

Purpose

In organizations where work is complex, dynamic and interdependent, maintaining an environment where employees offer help to one another is essential for organizational effectiveness. This research is aimed at understanding the antecedent motives underlying task-related interpersonal helping.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The research took an atypical approach by asking employees directly to explain in their own words why they would, or would not, help co-workers with work-related problems. Content analysis yielded five categories of motives for helping. The qualitative motive categories were able to explain variance in quantitative scales assessing respondents’ affect, attitudes, organizational perceptions, and demographics.

Findings

Employees who gave altruistic reasons for helping (i.e., helping was a personal value or a contribution to the team) reported performing more helping behaviors, expressed greater organizational commitment, and perceived more organizational justice than did employees who expected reciprocity for helping, or whose help was contingent.

Implications

No existing theory of helping explains the total collection of motives identified in this research. We encourage researchers to develop integrated theories capable of explaining the totality of motives for task-related helping. Our research identities several essential parameters of such integrated theories and provides guidance for carrying out the task of theory integration.

Originality/Value

This phenomenological research is the only empirical investigations into task-related helping based on respondents’ own reasons for helping. It also is one of the few to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative methodologies.     

Role Definition as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Safety Climate and Organizational Citizenship Behavior Among Hospital Nurses

Purpose

This field study investigated the moderating influence of role definitions on the association between safety climate and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

Design/Methodology

Data were obtained from 94 hospital nurse dyads. Focal nurses and their peers completed paper surveys. All predictor measures were self-reported; whereas the OCB ratings were provided by nurses’ peers.

Findings

Nurses’ perceptions of job requirements regarding OCB (i.e., OCB-specific role definitions) moderated the relationship between psychological safety climate and peer-rated OCB. The correlation between psychological safety climate and OCB was significant when nurses’ role definitions were narrow but non-existent when role definitions were broad.

Implications

This study links managerial commitment to safety to nurses’ pro-social behavior and identifies an important boundary condition.

Originality-Value

The link between safety climate and safety compliance has been firmly established. We investigated a less well-researched association between safety and OCB and proposed a theoretical foundation for this positive association.     

Constraints for Some,Opportunities for Others? Interactive and Indirect Effects of Machiavellianism and Organizational Constraints on Task Performance Ratings

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine how the indirect relationship between Machiavellianism and task performance ratings is qualified by organizational constraints (e.g., inadequate resources). Contrary to past research, we suggest that constraints can actually facilitate performance ratings among highly Machiavellian employees because they seek to attain high ratings through self-interested behaviors and social influence processes rather than legitimate task performance. Thus, constraints that inhibit legitimate performers should actually create more opportunities for highly Machiavellian employees.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from 110 subordinate–supervisor dyads that were recruited from Psychology courses at a small liberal arts college.

Findings

The results elaborate on past research focused on organizational constraints to reveal that the indirect relationship between Machiavellianism and task performance is positive and significant under conditions of high organizational constraints. This relationship is not significant and trends in a negative direction when constraints are low.

Implications

This study highlights the importance of considering how resource constraints impact different types of performers in organizations. When resources are abundant, legitimate performance is possible and Machiavellians are hampered in their ability to rely on careerist strategies to succeed. In contrast, high constraints create situations that enable Machiavellian behaviors to pay off.

Originality/Value

This study’s originality lies in its counterintuitive finding that organizational constraints might actually be beneficial for some employees who adopt Machiavellian, careerist strategies. This is the first study to demonstrate that constraints do not have consistent, negative effects on task performance and to elaborate on how constraints impact the performance of Machiavellian employees.     

Predictors of Occupational and Organizational Commitment in Information Technology: Exploring Gender Differences and Similarities

Purpose

Despite growing demand, the information technology (IT) field suffers from a labor shortage compounded by the underrepresentation of women in the IT field. This study examined predictors of occupational and organizational commitment outcomes among IT professionals and explored gender differences and similarities in the relative importance of predictors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

1,229 IT professionals provided web-based survey data, which were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling and relative weight analysis.

Findings

Satisfaction with growth opportunities, job security, job stress, and work–family culture generally were related to commitment outcomes as expected, accounting for the greatest variance in organizational commitment. Relative weights for men and women differed in the prediction of occupational commitment, where growth satisfaction and work–family culture were weighted more strongly by women and job stress was more strongly weighted by men. For organizational commitment, the relative weights among predictors were similar for men and women, except that men weighted job security more strongly than women.

Implications

Findings suggest that garnering commitment to the IT field requires a gender-specific approach, highlighting growth and work–family support for women and addressing job stress for men. Increasing organizational commitment for both men and women calls for an emphasis on opportunities for growth and development.

Originality/Value

This is the first study to simultaneously examine predictors for organizational and occupational commitment among IT professionals and to assess the relative importance of predictors discussed in the extant literature. Results inform efforts to increase retention in the IT field and provide guidance for improving the representation of women in IT.     

Nonresponse in Employee Attitude Surveys: A Group-Level Analysis

Purpose

Given the common practice of using employee attitude surveys as a group-level intervention, this study used a group-level approach to examine the relationship between group satisfaction and group nonresponse.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Samples from four large organizations enabled job satisfaction scores to be aggregated to the work group level and correlated with group-level response rates. Additional regression analysis was conducted to control for a number of confounding variables at the group level.

Findings

Aggregate job satisfaction showed significant associations with group-level response rates across each of the samples examined. Work groups with higher aggregate job satisfaction had significantly higher response rates. Regression analyses showed that, in addition to job satisfaction, work group size, heterogeneity in tenure, and heterogeneity in gender composition all had significant effects on response rates.

Implications

Social influence processes may operate at the group level to increase homogeneity of job-relevant attitudes and similarity in survey response behavior. Future research should be designed to investigate the effects of group-level variables on nonresponse.

Originality/Value

The current study adds to the literature by demonstrating that work group variables may play an important role in explaining nonresponse in employee attitude surveys. Because the processes underlying survey response are likely to be different at different levels of analysis, the investigation of nonresponse as a group-level phenomenon creates new opportunities for research and practice.     

The Role of Organizational Leaders in Sexual Orientation Equality at Organizational and Federal Levels

Purpose

This article expands the discourse of the impact of the passage of the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964 to sexual orientation minorities (SOM).

Design/Methodology/Approach

We first discuss the challenges faced by SOM in the workplace. We then present a model adapted from Edelman’s “Handbook of employment discrimination research (pp. 337–352). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer (2005)” theory of endogeneity of law to discuss the impact that such leaders and their supportive organizational SOM policies can have on the passage of nationwide SOM legislation. Finally, we discuss how organizational leaders’ beliefs and actions can play a major role in affecting organizational SOM policies.

Findings

We argue that the presence of organizational protective policies can facilitate the passage of federal SOM legislation by establishing and legitimizing social norms. We also highlight how beliefs about religion, morality, controllability, and occupational stereotypes contribute to prejudice and lack of support for SOM-protective organizational policies.

Implications

We discuss the importance that organizational SOM policies have on larger societal legislative issues, and outline how specific individual-level beliefs can impact organizational-level support for SOM.

Originality/Value

We take a novel approach by focusing on what organizational leaders can do to enact SOM policies that may further influence protective laws. We also draw upon neo-institutional theory to show specifically how organizations can affect legislation; a topic often ignored in organizational psychology.     

Cheating,Reactions, and Performance in Remotely Proctored Testing: An Exploratory Experimental Study

Purpose

We sought to provide empirical insight and develop theory for a new organizational phenomenon: remote proctoring for Internet-based tests. We examined whether this technology is effective at decreasing cheating and whether it has unintended effects on test-taker reactions, performance, or selection procedures.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants (582) were randomly assigned to a webcam proctored or honor code condition and completed two (one searchable, one non-searchable) cognitive ability tests online. Complete data were collected from 295 participants. We indirectly determined levels of cheating by examining the pattern of test-score differences across the two conditions. We directly measured dropout rates, test performance, and participants’ perceived tension and invasion of privacy.

Findings

The use of remote proctoring was associated with more negative test-taker reactions and decreased cheating. Remote proctoring did not directly affect test performance or interact with individual differences to predict test performance or test-taker reactions.

Implications

Technological advances in selection should be accompanied by empirical evidence. Although remote proctoring may be effective at decreasing cheating, it may also have unintended effects on test-taker reactions. By outlining an initial classification of remote proctoring technology, we contribute to the theoretical understanding of technology-enhanced assessment, while providing timely insight into the practice of Internet-based testing.

Originality/value

We provide timely insight into the development and evaluation of remotely proctored tests. The current study utilizes a unique randomized experimental design in order to indirectly determine levels of cheating across two conditions. Following the results of the current study, we outline an integrative model for future research on remotely proctored tests.     

Die Psychotherapeutenausbildung aus Sicht der Teilnehmer

Background

A survey was performed to assess the current situation in education and to identify critical issues 10 years after the inception of the German law regulating the education of psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists. The study reports the results of a nationwide survey of German psychological psychotherapists and child and adolescent psychotherapists currently in training. The aim of the survey was to evaluate the individual sections of training, desired alterations and structural and financial conditions.

Methods

All trainees were contacted via the training institutes and the umbrella organizations. A total of 3,223 trainees participated and answered questions mainly using an online questionnaire.

Results

Most respondents practiced their training part-time and in most cases the trainees thought that the training would last longer than initially expected. The practical training was rated most poorly, whereas practical education and individual supervision were rated as most useful. The survey revealed deficits concerning the evaluation of the quality of several components of the training.

Conclusions

From the perspective of the trainees there is a necessity to modify the financial conditions of the training. This result has been considered in the recommendations of a research expertise on psychotherapy training and should stimulate further research.     

The Moderating Effect of Machiavellianism on the Psychological Contract Breach–Organizational Identification/Disidentification Relationships

Purpose

We explore whether Machiavellianism—a personality trait which describes the extent to which individuals ignore values and ethical considerations when the ends justify the means—will influence their responses to their employing organizations’ failure to fulfil promised obligations (psychological contracts). Specifically, we draw on psychological contracts theory and the group value model to argue that Machiavellianism will moderate the relationships between psychological contract breach and (1) organizational identification; and (2) organizational disidentification.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We tested our hypotheses in a study of 262 employees from various organizations at two points in time.

Findings

We found that psychological contract breach was negatively related to organizational identification and positively related to organizational disidentification. Furthermore, employees with higher levels of Machiavellianism tended to disidentify with their organizations to a greater extent (at Time 2) in response to psychological contract breach (at Time 1) than did employees with low levels of Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism did not moderate the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification.

Implications

Our study contributes to extant research exploring the importance of Machiavellianism in the workplace. Specifically, we show that employees with high levels of Machiavellianism are more likely to disidentify in response to psychological contract breach but do not tend to identify to a lesser degree.

Originality/Value

This study builds on the extant research exploring individual differences in the psychological contract dynamics by considering Machiavellianism as a moderator of the breach–outcome relationship.     

Personal and Social Facets of Job Identity: A Person-Centered Approach

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine ego-identity (Erikson, Psychol Issues 1:1–171, 1959; Identity, youth and crisis, Norton, New York, 1968; Marcia, J Pers Soc Psychol 3:551–558, 1966) and social identity (Tajfel and Turner, In: Austin WG, Worchel S (Eds.) The social psychology of intergroup relations. Brooks/Cole, Monterey, pp 33–47 1979; Turner et al., Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Blackwell, Oxford, 1987) theories within the organizational literature. We adopted a person-centered approach to analyze whether employees classified in various identity statuses and identification profiles exhibited differences in job outcomes (i.e., burnout, job satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors). We also analyzed interconnections among identity statuses and identification profiles.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were 515 employees (85.4 % women) between 24 and 64 years old. They completed self-reported questionnaires assessing personal identity, social identity, and job outcomes.

Findings

Cluster analysis indicated that participants could be classified into four identity statuses (i.e., achievement, early closure, moratorium, and searching moratorium) and into four identification profiles (i.e., orthogonal combinations of high vs. low organizational and group identification, respectively). Employees classified in the various identity statuses and identification profiles reported meaningful differences on job outcomes. Further, findings highlighted significant associations between identity statuses and identification profiles, giving rise to various identity configurations associated with job outcomes.

Implications

This study highlights the importance of integrating different facets of job identity. These findings have relevant implications in terms of suggesting which dimensions of identity should be promoted in order to reduce workers’ burnout, and enhance their satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Originality/value

This study provides evidence for integrating ego-identity and social identity theories. In doing so, it bridges developmental psychology literature on personal identity with social and organizational psychology literature on social identity, setting the basis for a comprehensive line of research.