The Latent Change Score Model: A More Flexible Approach to Modeling Time in Self-Regulated Learning

Purpose

This research advances understanding of empirical time modeling techniques in self-regulated learning research. We intuitively explain several such methods by situating their use in the extant literature. Further, we note key statistical and inferential assumptions of each method while making clear the inferential consequences of inattention to such assumptions.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Using a population model derived from a recent large-scale review of the training and work learning literature, we employ a Monte Carlo simulation fitting six variations of linear mixed models, seven variations of latent common factor models, and a single latent change score model to 1500 simulated datasets.

Findings

The latent change score model outperformed all six of the linear mixed models and all seven of the latent common factor models with respect to (1) estimation precision of the average learner improvement, (2) correctly rejecting a false null hypothesis about such average improvement, and (3) correctly failing to reject true null hypothesis about between-learner differences (i.e., random slopes) in average improvement.

Implications

The latent change score model is a more flexible method of modeling time in self-regulated learning research, particularly for learner processes consistent with twenty-first-century workplaces. Consequently, defaulting to linear mixed or latent common factor modeling methods may have adverse inferential consequences for better understanding self-regulated learning in twenty-first-century work.

Originality/Value

Ours is the first study to critically, rigorously, and empirically evaluate self-regulated learning modeling methods and to provide a more flexible alternative consistent with modern self-regulated learning knowledge.

     

Saving Face: Reactions to Cultural Norm Violations in Business Request Emails

Purpose

This research examines reactions to relationship building statements (termed facework; e.g., I hope all is well) and message structure (placement of reasoning either before or after the request itself) in business emails presented to U.S. and Chinese employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies manipulated the use of facework and message structure in samples of Chinese and American employees and measured reactions to the email. Study 1 sampled Chinese (n = 57) and U.S. (n = 56) employees within the same multinational firm. Study 2 employed multi-industry samples of Chinese (n = 99) and U.S. (n = 105) employees. Both studies also examined within-culture differences in self-construal as predictors of reactions to the messages.

Findings

Chinese employees reported greater desire to do business with the sender of an email that included facework and placed reasoning before the request, whereas U.S. employees were more irritated with this type of email (Study 1). However, when facework and message structure were manipulated independently (Study 2), Chinese employees preferred the messages with facework or reasoning before request only when the two strategies were not combined. Within-culture differences in independent and interdependent self-construal interacted with email condition in complex ways.

Implications

Results have implications for employees who use email to communicate cross-culturally and also point to within-culture differences in email preferences.

Originality/value

Despite the prevalent use of email for cross-cultural business communication, lack of understanding of cultural nuances may result in misunderstandings and breakdowns in communication. Results have implications for training employees who communicate cross-culturally.

     

Giving and Making Sense About Change: The Back and Forth Between Leaders and Employees

Purpose

Leader sensegiving—the attempt to affect employees’ sensemaking—is a crucial leadership activity during organizational change. Yet, it is unclear how employee sensemaking and leader sensegiving vary across different change phases: Although addressing employee needs is key for successful sensegiving, current literature remains vague about how leaders account for different employee needs over the course of a change process.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from an interview study with organizational members who underwent episodic change. To integrate both perspectives, interviews were conducted with leaders (n = 26) and employees (n = 29). Data were analyzed using template analysis.

Findings

Our analysis revealed and confirmed different sensemaking needs and respective sensegiving foci in each change phase. During exploration, leaders respond to employees’ need for reassurance with receptive sensegiving. During preparation, leaders show participative sensegiving to answer employees’ need for orientation. During implementation, leaders’ compensating sensegiving responds to employees’ need for balance. During evaluation, leaders’ evaluative sensegiving accounts for employees’ need for acknowledgment. Each sensegiving mode is associated with a specific set of discursive and symbolic strategies in each phase.

Implications

This study provides a systematic framework on how leaders can respond successfully to employee sensemaking needs in each change phase using different discursive and symbolic sensegiving strategies.

Originality/Value

The study enhances our understanding of development in sensemaking and sensegiving by outlining the specific interlocking between both processes within the different change phases. Furthermore, it outlines how the relevant sensegiving modes can be obtained through particular symbolic and discursive strategies.

     

The Relationship Between Employees’ Objective Internal and External Pay Standing and Their Job Performance: A Within-Person Analysis

Purpose

Researchers have paid little attention to the relationship between employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance. Moreover, few studies have considered that employees’ objective pay standing is dynamic; that is, it changes over time. In this study, we analyze the relationship between changes in employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We test the hypotheses using data for players in the National Basketball Association over a period of 12 seasons (n = 4830).

Findings

Decreases in employees’ objective internal and external pay standing are negatively related to their task performance. Furthermore, decreases in employees’ objective internal pay standing, but not in their external pay standing, are negatively related to their contextual performance.

Implications

Analyzing the relationship between changes in employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance adds to our understanding of the individual-level consequences of pay dispersion.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to analyze the relationship between employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance. Moreover, this is one of the first studies that considers that employees’ objective internal and external pay standing changes, for example, because the external and internal labor markets change. The study contributes to research on employee compensation and salary, and to research on pay disparities.

     

Turning up by Turning Over: The Change of Scenery Effect in Major League Baseball

Purpose

This study examined a “change of scenery” effect on performance in major league baseball (MLB). We also tested this effect for voluntary versus involuntary employee departures, as well as employees returning to a past employer.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This study uses publicly available MLB performance data from 2004 to 2015. The data comprise 712 team changes for players following two consecutive years with the same organization. Data were analyzed using MANCOVA to assess the impact of changing teams on player performance.

Findings

Results indicate players with declining performance benefited significantly from a change of scenery. Following a team change, these players experienced a significant increase in their performance that remained stable through a subsequent season. The effect was not different for players who changed teams via trade and free agency and was modest for those returning to a past organization. Analysis also showed that players leaving while their performance was improving suffered a subsequent performance drop-off in the new organization.

Implications

As the war for talent escalates and employees change jobs more frequently, extending our understanding of how performance can be influenced by work context may provide new insight into organization staffing policies.

Originality/Value

Results extend field theory by highlighting how past performance interacts with new work contexts to influence performance. This is one of the few studies evaluating the job change-performance relationship, and perhaps the first to account for the effects of performance trends prior to exit.

     

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.

     

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.

     

Trait Resilience Fosters Adaptive Coping When Control Opportunities are High: Implications for the Motivating Potential of Active Work

Purpose

We examine the interaction between trait resilience and control in predicting coping and performance. Drawing on a person–environment fit perspective, we hypothesized resilient individuals would cope and perform better in demanding work situations when control was high. In contrast, those low in resilience would cope and perform better when control was low. Recognizing the relationship between trait resilience and performance also could be indirect, adaptive coping was examined as a mediating mechanism through which high control enables resilient individuals to demonstrate better performance.

Methodology

In Study 1 (N = 78) and Study 2 (N = 94), participants completed a demanding inbox task in which trait resilience was measured and high and low control was manipulated. Study 3 involved surveying 368 employees on their trait resilience, control, and demand at work (at Time 1), and coping and performance 1 month later at Time 2.

Findings

For more resilient individuals, high control facilitated problem-focused coping (Study 1, 2, and 3), which was indirectly associated with higher subjective performance (Study 1), mastery (Study 2), adaptive, and proficient performance (Study 3). For more resilient individuals, high control also facilitated positive reappraisal (Study 2 and 3), which was indirectly associated with higher adaptive and proficient performance (Study 3).

Implications

Individuals higher in resilience benefit from high control because it enables adaptive coping.

Originality/value

This research makes two contributions: (1) an experimental investigation into the interaction of trait resilience and control, and (2) investigation of coping as the mechanism explaining better performance.

     

Too Close for Comfort? Investigating the Nature and Functioning of Work and Non-work Role Segmentation Preferences

Purpose

We examine the bi-directional nature of role segmentation preferences—preferences to protect the home domain from work intrusions, and to protect the work domain from home intrusions—and hypothesize that the dimensions independently prompt individuals to manage their boundaries in ways that complement their preferences.

Design and Methodological Approach

In a series of three studies, we investigate whether segmentation preferences vary on two dimensions, how they reflect enactive and proactive boundary management, and their association with domain-specific satisfaction and performance.

Findings

In Study 1 (field design, n = 314), we confirmed that segmentation preferences comprise two distinct dimensions, and individuals experience fewer intrusions into the domain they desired to protect. In Study 2 (experimental design, n = 1253), we found that participants who prefer to protect their home domain are less inclined to accept jobs in scenarios where their significant other is employed in the same organization, and participants who prefer to protect their work domain are less inclined to initiate a romantic relationship in scenarios that involve a coworker. In Study 3 (field design, n = 65), we found that individuals who prefer to protect their work or home domain report greater satisfaction with the preferred domain, and whereas the preference to protect the work domain is not associated with higher supervisor ratings of job performance, preference to protect the home domain is associated with higher significant-other ratings of non-work performance.

Implications

Understanding employees’ proclivities to blur boundaries can inform recruitment and selection of employees to anticipate organizational fit, diagnose sources of misfit, structure individualized policies to ameliorate employee strain, and decrease turnover costs.

Originality/Value

This synthesis provides a unique investigation of segmentation preference dimensions’ differential functioning and reinforces the validity of the role segmentation preferences concept.

     

Differential Effects of Task Performance,Organizational Citizenship Behavior,and Job Complexity on Voluntary Turnover

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance–turnover relationship by considering the effects of task performance and OCBs simultaneously while also examining the moderating effect job complexity has on the relationship between voluntary turnover and each type of performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained as part of a larger study to validate an employment test, in which actual turnover data and supervisory ratings of job performance were collected for employees in two hospitals (n = 782).

Findings

Task performance exhibited a curvilinear relationship with turnover, while OCB exhibited a negative linear relationship with turnover. Job complexity moderated both of these relationships. For task performance, turnover in high-complexity jobs was greater for low performers but lower for high performers relative to that of employees in low-complexity jobs. For OCB, the negative relationship with turnover was more pronounced in high-complexity jobs.

Implications

Both low- and high-task performers are more likely to turnover, while employees exhibiting high OCBs are less likely to turnover. These results imply that retention strategies are critical for top performers, but especially in high-complexity jobs. Organizations may be able to discourage voluntary turnover by creating conditions that stimulate OCB, particularly in highly complex jobs.

Originality/Value

Most prior performance–turnover relationship research used unidimensional measures of performance, whereas this study included two dimensions of performance and examined this relationship while controlling for one-performance dimension when predicting the other. Furthermore, this study is one of the first studies to suggest that job complexity moderates the performance–turnover relationship.

     

The Technology Effect: How Perceptions of Technology Drive Excessive Optimism

Purpose

We propose that constant exposure to advances in technology has resulted in an implicit association between technology and success that has conditioned decision makers to be overly optimistic about the potential for technology to drive successful outcomes. Three studies examine this phenomenon and explore the boundaries of this “technology effect.”

Design/Methodology/Approach

In Study 1, participants (N = 147) made simulated investment decisions where the information about technology was systematically varied. In Study 2 (N = 143), participants made decisions in a resource dilemma where technology was implicated in determining the amount of a resource available for harvest. Study 3 (N = 53 and N = 60) used two implicit association tests to examine the assumption that people associate technology with success.

Findings

Results supported our assumption about an implicit association between technology and success, as well as a “technology effect” bias in decision making. Signals of high performance trigger the effect, and the effect is more likely when the technology invoked is unfamiliar.

Implications

Excessive optimism that technology will result in success can have negative consequences. Individual investment decisions, organizational decisions to invest in R&D, and societal decisions to explore energy and climate change solutions might all be impacted by biased beliefs about the promise of technology.

Originality/Value

We are the first to systematically examine the optimistic bias in the technology effect, its scope, and boundaries. This research raises decision makers’ awareness and initiates research examining how the abstract notion of technology can influence perceptions of technological advances.

     

Cross-Cultural Differences in the Attitude Toward Applicants’ Faking in Job Interviews

Purpose

This study questions whether applicants with different cultural backgrounds are equally prone to fake in job interviews, and thus systematically examines cross-cultural differences regarding the attitude toward applicants’ faking (an important antecedent of faking and a gateway for cultural influences) on a large scale.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Using an online survey, employees’ (N = 3252) attitudes toward faking were collected in 31 countries. Cultural data were obtained from the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness project (GLOBE).

Findings

Attitude toward faking can be differentiated into two correlated forms (severe/mild faking). On the country level, attitudes toward faking correlate in the expected manner with four of GLOBE’s nine cultural dimensions: uncertainty avoidance, power distance, in-group collectivism, and gender egalitarianism. Furthermore, humane orientation correlates positively with attitude toward severe faking.

Implications

For international personnel selection research and practice, an awareness of whether and why there are cross-cultural differences in applicants’ faking behavior is of utmost importance. Our study urges practitioners to be conscious that applicants from different cultures may enter selection situations with different mindsets, and offers several practical implications for international personnel selection.

Originality/Value

Cross-cultural research has been expected to answer questions of whether applicants with different cultural backgrounds fake to the same extent during personnel selection. This study examines and explains cross-cultural differences in applicants’ faking in job interviews with a comprehensive sample and within a coherent theoretical framework.

     

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.

     

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.

     

Examining Ethicality Judgements of Theft Behavior: The Role of Moral Relativism

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether situational factors predict ethicality judgments of theft behavior, and whether the effect of situational factors is moderated by moral relativism.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained across two laboratory experiments using undergraduate business students attending a Canadian university (n = 372). Student participants viewed a videotaped vignette of an employee informed that he had been caught stealing sales commission. In the vignettes, we manipulated two situational factors: whether or not (a) the theft has monetary consequences for the organization, and (b) similar theft is commonplace within the organization.

Findings

In Experiment 1, both situational factors interacted with moral relativism in the prediction of ratings of unethical conduct. In Experiment 2, using a within-participant research design, we achieved an interaction between the organizational consequences manipulation and moral relativism, although we obtained a considerably stronger effect size for the interaction compared to the first experiment.

Implications

We discuss implications of our findings and suggest avenues for future research. In particular, we consider the possibility that managers may not share a common frame-of-reference when considering the ethicality of theft. This could affect whether and the extent to which theft behavior is reprimanded.

Originality/Value

Our study contributes to research on employee theft, and also adds incrementally to our understanding of how both situational factors and moral relativism jointly influence perceptions of theft behavior.

     

Distinguishing CEOs from Top Level Management: A Profile Analysis of Individual Differences,Career Paths and Demographics

Purpose

Identifying the characteristics of chief executive officers (CEOs) has been a longstanding goal in leadership and individual differences research. The purpose of this exploratory study was to consider which individual difference and career path variables differentiate CEOs from other senior managers.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Participants (N = 1152) were UK-based senior managers (n = 1040) and CEOs (n = 112) who completed a self-report measure of the Five Factor Model of personality (NEO-PI-R), a measure of cognitive ability (graduate and management aptitude test), and answered a number of additional questions on their career paths as part of development centres. Analyses comprised inter-individual mean difference tests, intra-individual external profile analysis and logistic regression.

Findings

Results indicated that personality facets of impulsiveness, vulnerability, activity and dutifulness showed the largest mean differences. No significant effects were found for the criterion profile pattern, but significant effects were found for profile level. Of the additional predictors, career path variables were the strongest predictors of CEO status.

Implications

The combination of significant effects across domains of individual differences and career path variables emphasizes the importance of a multivariate approach in the study of leadership, top management teams and career progression.

Originality/Value

The current study combines personality, cognitive ability, demographic and career path variables, and applies intra-individual methodologies to explore the characteristics of the very top level of organisational hierarchy.

     

Situating Ethical Behavior in the Nomological Network of Job Performance

Purpose

Our objective was to generate, define, and evaluate behavioral dimensions of ethical performance at work that are common across United States occupations.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This project involved three studies. Study 1 involved (a) qualitative review of published literature, professional codes of ethics, and critical incidents of (un)ethical performance and resulted in (b) behavioral dimensions and ethical performance rating scales. The second and third studies used a retranslation methodology to evaluate the ethical performance dimensions from Study 1. The behavioral dimensions were linked to the performance determinants (personal attributes) in Study 3.

Findings

Study 1 resulted in draft dimension definitions and rating scales for 10 ethical performance dimensions. In Studies 2 and 3, retranslation data provided strong support for 10 behavioral dimensions of ethical performance at work. Results from Study 3 shed light on possible relationships among the performance dimensions based on their underlying performance determinants.

Implications

Communicating an organization’s ethical standards to employees is important because some ethical breakdowns can be attributed to simply failing to recognize an ethical matter (in: DeCremer, Managerial ethics: Managing the psychology of morality, Routledge, New York, 2011). Definitions of ethical behavior in the workplace provide a tool for researchers, employers, and employees to communicate about ethical situations and a foundation for folding ethics into employee training and performance management.

Originality/Value

These studies provide a taxonomy of ethical performance at work that generalizes to a diverse array of occupations and industries, and dimensions and rating scales have value for performance management, training/curriculum development, job analysis, predictor development and/or validation, and additional research.

     

How Abusive Supervision Affects Workplace Deviance: A Moderated-Mediation Examination of Aggressiveness and Work-Related Negative Affect

Purpose

This research examines the linking mechanisms and conditional processes underlying the abusive supervision and workplace deviance relationship. Based primarily on Affective Events Theory, it was hypothesized that work-related negative affect would mediate the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace deviance, and that this indirect effect would be moderated by employee-based and organization-based aggressiveness.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Two independent studies were conducted, including diverse working samples and multi-wave data, to test these relationships through mediation and moderated-mediation bootstrapping procedures.

Findings

Both studies suggest that work-related negative affect mediates the abusive supervision and workplace deviance relationship. Mixed findings were found for the moderating effect of employee-based and organization-based aggressiveness. In Study 1 higher levels of employee-based aggressive beliefs and attitudes increased the magnitude of the indirect effect; however, in Study 2 when taking into account organization-based aggressive norms only the facet of social discounting bias increased this relationship. In Study 2 higher levels of organization-based aggressive norms also increased the magnitude of the indirect effect for supervisor-directed deviance.

Implications

Theoretical and practical implications of these findings suggest a movement toward an emotion-centered process-based theory of workplace deviance.

Originality/Value

A central question in organizational behavior research revolves around what drives employees to engage in various workplace behaviors. Replicating research that suggests abusive supervision is an important factor in this question, this research helps illuminate the processes underlying this perception-to-behavior link, as well as the boundary conditions of these processes.

     

Ability to Manage Resources in the Impression Management Process: The Mediating Effects of Resources on Job Performance

Purpose

Based on the conservation of resource (COR) theory, we hypothesize that one’s ability to manage resources will moderate the relationship between the use of positive impression management (IM) and other desired resources, such that those able to manage resources will have higher levels of social resources (reputation and leader–member exchange) when expending energy through the use of positive IM tactics. Additionally, we expect higher levels of these social resources will lead to higher performance ratings.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We conducted a two-study replication. In Study One (n = 213), data were collected at two time points. Dyadic data were collected in Study Two (n = 83) to demonstrate consistent relationships across two different study designs.

Findings

Our findings indicate that the ability to manage resources is associated with higher levels of social resources, such as reputation and high quality LMX, which are ultimately associated with positive workplace outcomes, specifically job performance.

Implications

The ability to manage one’s resources is a crucial individual capability that allows individuals to secure positive work outcomes. This research highlights the utility of resources management initiatives that organizations might want to provide to their workers, such as equipment, support personnel, and the autonomy to pace oneself during hectic endeavors.

Originality/Value

We investigate an individual difference in the COR process, which is lacking in the current literature (Hobfoll and Shirom 2000). Further, this research examines COR consequences beyond stress-related outcomes. Lastly, our research highlights the value of examining IM in light of COR theory.

     

From Motivation to Activation: Why Engaged Workers are Better Performers

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between work engagement and multiple dimensions of employee performance, as mediated by open-mindedness.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Survey data were obtained from 186 employees of a food processing plant and the findings were cross-validated in an independent convenience sample (N = 308).

Findings

SEM analyses revealed that the more engaged the employees were, the more they displayed extra-role and in-role performance. As expected, these associations were partially mediated by open-mindedness. Results were ambiguous for counterproductive performance showing a direct negative relation between engagement and counter productivity, and an indirect, positive relation through open-mindedness.

Implications

With its systematic look at the relation between engagement and multiple indicators of performance, the current study shows why it is important for both employers and employees to invest in engaged employees: there is a relationship with better performance which can partly be explained by the fact that engagement is associated with open-mindedness. This may help to inform organizations under what circumstances engagement leads to positive or negative forms of performance. Vice versa, a decrease in the multiple indicators of performance may signal organizations to look after their employees' mental health, i.e., engagement.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to include multiple dimensions of employee performance in relation to work engagement. Moreover, it is one of the first studies that focus on the underlying psychological process that might explain for this relationship.