The nonlinear effects of conscientiousness on overall job performance and performance dimensions in the Chinese context

The relationship between conscientiousness and job performance has been found to be nonlinear in the West, which challenges conceptually and empirically the traditional assumption of the single linear relationship. In this research, we examined the nonlinear effects of conscientiousness on both overall job performance and performance dimensions (i.e., task performance, adaptive performance and contextual performance) in the Chinese context. The results of our two studies supported some evidence for the nonlinear effect of conscientiousness on overall job performance. In addition, it was found that conscientiousness has different (linear or nonlinear) effects on performance dimensions. These findings suggest that the nonlinear effects of conscientiousness on job performance deserve further investigation, and a distinction should be made with regard to job performance in personnel evaluation. Results are discussed in terms of the significance of considering the nonlinear relationship between conscientiousness and performance criteria.     

The interactive effects of conscientiousness and agreeableness on job performance

The authors hypothesized that the relationship between conscientiousness and job performance would be stronger for persons high in agreeableness than for those low in agreeableness. Results of hierarchical moderated regression analyses for 7 independent samples of employees across diverse occupations provided support for the hypothesis in 5 of the samples. In samples supporting the hypothesis, among the highly conscientious workers, those low in agreeableness were found to receive lower ratings of job performance than workers high in agreeableness. One explanation for lack of an interaction between conscientiousness and agreeableness in the other 2 samples is that those jobs were not characterized by frequent, cooperative interactions with others. Overall, the results show that highly conscientious workers who lack interpersonal sensitivity may be ineffective, particularly in jobs requiring cooperative interchange with others.     

Can mindfulness overcome the effects of workplace ostracism on job performance?

ABSTRACT

With a basis in the transactional theory of stress and coping, this study investigates the relationship between employees’ exposure to workplace ostracism and their job performance, while also considering the mediating role of acquiescence silence and the moderating role of mindfulness. Multisource, three-wave data from employees and their peers in Pakistani organizations reveal that ostracism in the workplace hinders job performance because employees passively withhold relevant ideas about their work due to feelings of acquiescence. The mediating role of acquiescence silence is mitigated if employees can draw from their mindfulness trait. This study accordingly identifies a key mechanism – the passive withholding of pertinent ideas, based on submission – by which workplace ostracism hampers job performance, and it reveals how this process might be contained by encouraging employees’ receptive attention and awareness focused on present experiences.     

Political skill as neutralizer of felt accountability—job tension effects on job performance ratings: A longitudinal investigation

This study examined the effects of felt accountability, political skill, and job tension on job performance ratings. Specifically, we hypothesized that felt accountability would lead to higher (lower) job performance ratings when coupled with high (low) levels of political skill, and that these relationships would be mediated by job tension. Data were gathered at multiple times over a one-year period (i.e., baseline performance, attitudinal variables one month later, supervisor reports of subordinate performance six months and one year after baseline performance was measured). Strong support was shown for the total effects model, whereby political skill moderated felt accountability—job performance ratings, felt accountability—job tension, and job tension—job performance ratings relationships. However, more focused analyses demonstrated that political skill most strongly moderated the job tension—job performance ratings linkage. Implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are provided.     

Personality and job performance: test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives

Research shows consistent relations between personality and job performance. In this study the authors develop and test a model of job performance that examines the mediating effects of cognitive-motivational work orientations on the relationships between personality traits and performance in a sales job (N = 164). Covariance structural analyses revealed proximal motivational variables to be influential mechanisms through which distal personality traits affect job performance. Specifically, striving for status and accomplishment mediate the effects of Extraversion and Conscientiousness on ratings of sales performance. Although Agreeableness was related to striving for communion, neither Agreeableness nor communion striving was related to success in this sales job. The importance of the proposed motivational orientations model is discussed.     

Technical standards and performance standards in the pursuit of quality

The concept of standards lacks clarity because it is applied both to concrete specifications and to the assessment of quality. Confusion is reduced by introducing the notion of interchange expectancy. distinguishing transfer, coupling, and market success as components. Transfer expectancy depends upon the products to be transported or exchanged, but when there is a need to estimate transfer expectancy, a combination of technical standards and performance standards must be applied. Though performance standards are intended to produce quality, the quality of the instrumentation to measure performance standards is often neglected. The development of high-quality performance standards first requires the delineation of the relevant dimensions of performance quality. The process of giving precision to performance standards may lead to the emergence of more acceptable technical standards. To illustrate some of these points, data is presented from the CONDUIT system for quality evaluation of computer-based curriculum materials. The performance quality of these products includes the dimension of transfer expectancy, as well as educational and scientific merit. Increased specification and impact of technical standards may provide greater incentives to authors and hence lead to the invention of products which have higher educational and scientific quality.     

Assessing the impact of organizational communication on job satisfaction and job performance

The present paper analyses the impact of organizational communication on job satisfaction and job performance. Data were collected from 380 employees working at different managerial levels in various organizations in India by using Organizational Communication Scale (Roberts & O’Reilly, 1974), Job Satisfaction Survey scale (Spector, 1985), and Job Performance scale (Rodwell, Kienzle & Shadur, 1998). It was found that organizational communication had a significant effect on job satisfaction and job performance of the employees. The analysis further indicated that the employees at different levels perceived job satisfaction differently. Thus, it can be inferred that in Indian organizations, job satisfaction and performance are very much dependent on the communication behavior of the organization.     

The moderating effects of employee tenure on the relation between organizational commitment and job performance: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis investigated the correlation between attitudinal commitment and job performance for 3,630 employees obtained from 27 independent studies across various levels of employee tenure. Controlling for employee age and other nuisance variables, the authors found that tenure had a very strong nonlinear moderating effect on the commitment-performance correlation, with correlations tending to decrease exponentially with increasing tenure. These findings do not appear to be the result of differences across studies in terms of the type of performance measure (supervisory vs. self), type of tenure (job vs. organizational), or commitment measure (Organizational Commitment Questionnaire [L. W. Porter, R. M. Steers, R. T. Mowday, & P. V. Boulian, 19741 vs. other). The implications and future research directions of these results are discussed.     

The effects of age,sex and tenure on the job performance of rubber tappers

Data on job performance were collected for 1,053 male (N = 461) and female (N = 592) rubber tappers from nine different estates in Malaysia, and analysed for age, sex and tenure differences. Job performance data were based on output measures derived from production records over a 12‐month period. Since the type of terrain varied considerably across plantations, terrain was classified as either ‘hilly’ or ‘undulating’ and the effects of terrain type on performance were also examined. The relationship between age and total output took the form of an inverted U. Partial correlation analyses indicated that tenure, rather than age, was the main determinant of job performance. More experienced rubber tappers were found to perform better than less experienced rubber tappers. Women had significantly higher output levels than did men. Tappers working on estates with predominantly hilly terrains produced significantly higher levels of output than did tappers working on estates with predominantly undulating terrains. Neither sex nor tenure interacted significantly with terrain. These results are discussed in relation to previous research concerned with group differences in job performance.     

Translating self-efficacy in job performance over time: The role of job crafting

This investigation intends to uncover the mechanisms linking self-efficacy to job performance by analyzing the mediating role of job crafting. A two-wave study on 465 white-collar workers was conducted, matching participants’ self-report data (i.e., self-efficacy and job crafting) with supervisory performance ratings. The structural equation model showed a positive reciprocal relationship between self-efficacy and crafting behaviors. In turn, job crafting predicted performance positively over time. More importantly, results confirmed the mediating role of crafting actions, which may represent the behavioral process underlying the positive effect of self-efficacy on individual outcomes. Practical implications for organizations, such as encouraging bottom-up job design or designing job-crafting interventions, and future research directions are also offered.     

Moderating effects of employee expectancies on the relationship between leadership consideration and job performance of engineers

Ninety-four engineers were asked to describe their supervisors' leadership style, to indicate their expectancies whether performing effectively in their jobs would lead to job rewards and the valence of these rewards. It was hypothesized that employees' expectancies and a considerative leadership style interact to influence the performance levels of these engineers. Results indicated that leader consideration and employee expectancies operate in joint fashions to effect job performance.     

The influence of future time perspective on work engagement and job performance: the role of job crafting

This two-wave study aimed to examine future time perspective (FTP) as an antecedent of job crafting, and in turn job crafting as a mediator in associations between FTP and work outcomes. Based on the lifespan socio-emotional selectivity theory, we expected that open-ended and limited FTP would evoke different forms of job crafting, which in turn would be associated with changes in work engagement and job performance. In line with our expectations, we found that employees whose open-ended FTP increased over a 1-year time period also crafted more job resources and challenging job demands such that their job provided them with more opportunities for knowledge acquisition, which in turn resulted in increased levels of work engagement and job performance. However, contrary to our expectations, employees whose limited FTP increased over the 1-year time period did not proactively reduce their hindering job demands. Hence, although crafting fewer hindering job demands was directly related to decreased levels of work outcomes as expected, we found no indirect effect of changes in limited FTP on changes in work engagement and performance via changes in this job crafting behaviour. These findings have important implications for the literature on job crafting and FTP.     

A model for the effects of job insecurity on performance,turnover intention,and absenteeism

This study investigates the effects of job insecurity on four organizationally important outcomes: in‐role behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, turnover intention, and absenteeism. A model is tested in which job insecurity is simultaneously a hindrance and a challenge stressor. In particular, job insecurity is proposed to have a predominantly harmful effect on performance, turnover intention, and absenteeism, and it is argued that these effects are mediated by (reduced) work attitudes. In addition, job insecurity is also assumed to affect these behaviours in the opposite way (i.e. a suppressor effect) because job insecurity might motivate employees to make themselves more valuable to the organization by working harder and being less absent. The model is tested with a sample of 136 German non‐managerial employees. Data from supervisors (i.e. in‐role behaviour and organizational citizenship behaviour), the company's personnel files (i.e. absenteeism), and self‐reports (i.e. job insecurity, work attitudes, turnover intention, in‐role behaviour, and organizational citizenship behaviour) were used. Structural equation modelling showed that a model that included both negative and positive effects fitted the data best. The negative effect was stronger than the positive effect. The results show that the effects of job insecurity are more complex than previously assumed. In addition, the results also extend previous research into hindrance and challenge stressors because they show that stressors should not be categorized as either hindrance or challenge. Instead, it might be more appropriate to conceptualize hindrance and challenge as two dimensions.     

When ethics create misfit: Combined effects of despotic leadership and Islamic work ethic on job performance,job satisfaction,and psychological well-being

This study applies social exchange and person–environment fit theories to predict that despotic leaders tend to hinder employee job performance, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being, whereas employees' own Islamic work ethic (IWE) enhances these outcomes. Also, IWE moderates the relationship of despotic leadership with the three outcomes, such that it heightens the negative impacts, because employees with a strong IWE find despotic leadership particularly troubling. A multi-source, two-wave, time-lagged study design, with a sample (303 paired responses) of employees working in various organisations, largely supports these predictions. Despotic leadership and IWE relate significantly to job performance, job satisfaction and psychological well-being in the predicted directions, except that there is no significant relationship between IWE and job satisfaction. A test of moderation shows that the negative relationships of despotic leadership with job outcomes are stronger when IWE is high. These findings have pertinent implications for theory, as well as for organisational practice.     

Psychosocial job strain and productivity in human service workers: A test of the demand-control-support model

The aim of the study was to test the main and interactive effects of the key dimensions of the demand-control-support model in predicting levels of strain (specifically emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and job dissatisfaction) and feelings of productivity and competency (personal accomplishment) in a multi-occupational sample of human service workers (N = 813). Controlling for demographics, negative affectivity (NA), and quadratic terms, structural equation analyses showed some support for the additive iso-strain hypothesis: jobs combining high demands, low control and low support produced the lowest levels of satisfaction in workers. High demands and low supports only were associated with high depersonalization, and high emotional exhaustion. Support was also found for the additive active learning hypotheses: jobs combining high demands and high control produced the highest levels of personal accomplishment. The study supports job redesign interventions for improving worker well-being and productivity.     

Emotional intelligence, teamwork effectiveness, and job performance: the moderating role of job context

We advance understanding of the role of ability-based emotional intelligence (EI) and its subdimensions in the workplace by examining the mechanisms and context-based boundary conditions of the EI-performance relationship. Using a trait activation framework, we theorize that employees with higher overall EI and emotional perception ability exhibit higher teamwork effectiveness (and subsequent job performance) when working in job contexts characterized by high managerial work demands because such contexts contain salient emotion-based cues that activate employees' emotional capabilities. A sample of 212 professionals from various organizations and industries indicated support for the salutary effect of EI, above and beyond the influence of personality, cognitive ability, emotional labor job demands, job complexity, and demographic control variables. Theoretical and practical implications of the potential value of EI for workplace outcomes under contexts involving managerial complexity are discussed.