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

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

The security to lead: a systematic review of leader and follower attachment styles and leader–member exchange

ABSTRACT

Attachment styles can predict the quality of organizational relationships, particularly in reference to leader–member exchange (LMX). However, there is much work to be done in articulating and summarizing these findings and in detecting gaps in the literature. This systematic review fills a critical niche by providing a review of the attachment/LMX relationship. Using the PRISMA framework, this review integrates research on attachment styles and LMX by evaluating associations between secure, anxious, and avoidant attachment styles with LMX for leaders and followers. Across 10 studies, we review the evidence for associations between leader and follower attachment and LMX. We seek to investigate if secure attachment is associated with high-quality LMX and if insecure attachment is associated with lower quality LMX. Our review in general provides mixed support for these propositions, although the association of avoidant attachment for followers with LMX received consistent support. Furthermore, our results highlight the need to consider potential moderating and mediating factors within the attachment/LMX relationship. Based on the patterns of these relationships and the methodological gaps in the literature, we discuss the managerial implications for attachment styles in work and organizational psychology and suggest several directions for future research on the attachment–LMX relationship.     

Towards a social-cognitive theory of multiple psychological contracts

ABSTRACT

Psychological contracts are typically conceptualized as an employee’s perceived terms of exchange with an employer. However, more and more researchers recognize that defining psychological contracts in such a unitary manner does not adequately reflect the complex nature of modern organizations and work. Most individuals likely maintain numerous work-related exchange relationships that are not necessarily confined within the boundaries of a single organization nor characterized by a traditional employment relationship. Contributing to this emerging body of research, we draw on social exchange and social cognition theories to begin developing a theory of multiple psychological contracts. Towards this end, we generate a series of propositions predicting that the relative likelihood of an individual holding a psychological contract with a particular individual, group, or organization as a counterparty is contingent upon degrees of perceived dependence, accountability and trust. We further predict the dynamic nature of the contents (relational, transactional, balanced or ideological) of these contracts and how it may evolve over time. As a whole, these propositions help explain how an individual’s attitudes and behaviours differ across psychological contracts and the exchange relationships they govern. This work provides an introductory foundation on which a more comprehensive body of future research can be built.     

Energy and spirit: Extraction,thermodynamics, and change

This article suggests new ways to think about energy and thermodynamics beyond an extractive, fossil-fuel model. The predominant economic model of the modern world has been driven by the extraction and exploitation of fossil fuels—first coal and then oil. These are powerful forces, although their development is more complicated than we might suspect. At the same time, they influence the new science of thermodynamics, which is tied to heat and heat engines that are fueled by carbon-based inputs extracted from the earth. By attending to the work of Nicolas Georgescu-Roegen, however, we can see how energy and thermodynamics can be linked to a different economic model that is not primarily extractive. And this opens up to new perspectives on energy and change, including one that views energy more explicitly in terms of spirit. We can think about energy as something that avoids the dichotomy of matter and spirit in a way such that it participates in both.     

Ethical leadership,person-organizational fit,and productive energy: a South African sectoral comparative study

ABSTRACT

Research suggests that ethical leadership (EL) affects employee behavior and organizational functioning. This study aimed to determine the relationship between EL and productive energy (PE), as mediated by person-organizational fit (POF). The study used assumptions of the social learning and social exchange theories that posit that leadership has a direct impact on employee behavior, mainly through role modeling and the reciprocal nature thereof. An empirical paradigm using a cross sectional quantitative design was used. The PE instrument (developed in the USA) was assessed for construct validity within the South African context (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis). The analysis included a comparison between the private and public sectors, emphasizing the importance of context as differentiator. Relatively high, statistically significant correlations were found between the variables for both sectors and the combined sample. The hierarchical regression analysis indicated that 18% of the variance in PE is explained by EL. This model was improved by the inclusion of POF (total variance of 32% explained). The conceptual model was confirmed with structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings of this study suggest that EL has a significantly positive effect on PE and POF, which mediates the relationship between EL and PE. Sectoral differences were reported.     

The international financial crisis and the north‐south dialogue

The author describes several origins of current international financial problems. Shortcomings of current solutions are analyzed, and solutions which the author thinks are more appropriate are presented.