It is all in good humor? Examining the impact of salesperson evaluations of leader humor on salesperson job satisfaction and job stress

Abstract

Salesperson job stress and job satisfaction have been identified as critical factors affecting job performance. Academic research suggests that sales managers can influence salesperson job stress and job satisfaction. Interestingly, a review of the sales literature finds very little research on the impact of sales leader humor usage on the stress and satisfaction of salespeople. Consequently, we explore how salespeople’s evaluation of their manager’s use of humor influences their individual levels of job stress and satisfaction. We investigate both the positive and negative roles of humor by analyzing the impact of salesperson evaluations of their managers’ use of affiliative and aggressive humor on their job stress and job satisfaction. Furthermore, we examine the mechanism by which these evaluations affect salesperson stress and satisfaction by identifying two critical mediating variables – social loneliness and willingness to cooperate. Using a sample of 299 professional salespeople, we empirically test this process model to find that affiliative humor usage by sales managers, as evaluated by salespeople, reduces social loneliness and stress for salespeople while also increasing followers’ acceptance of cooperation. Evaluations of aggressive humor, on the other hand, increase stress levels among salespeople. Both social loneliness and acceptance of cooperation, in turn, significantly affect job satisfaction.     

授权的测量及其与员工工作态度的关系

首先，对Spreitzer的授权量表在中国文化背景下的适用性进行了检验，3家企业395份调查问卷的探索性因素分析和内部一致性分析表明，授权量表具有较好的效度和信度；20家企业942份调查问卷的验证性因素分析和内部一致性分析进一步验证了授权量表的效度和信度，这表明Spreitzer的授权四维模型在中国得到了验证，其编制的授权量表在中国具有较强的适用性。然后，利用20家企业942份调查问卷的结果，采用结构方程模型技术对授权与员工满意度、组织承诺、离职意向与工作倦怠等员工工作态度变量之间的关系进行了交叉验证分析，结果表明，工作意义对员工满意度与组织承诺有正向的影响，对离职意向与工作倦怠有负向的影响；自主性对员工满意度与组织承诺有正向的影响；自我效能对组织承诺有正向的影响     

Cognitive adjustment as an indicator of psychological health at work: Development and validation of a measure

Based on organizational socialization literature (e.g., Bauer, Bodner, Erdogan, Truxillo, & Tucker, 2007; Kammeyer-Mueller & Wanberg, 2003; Saks, Uggerslev, & Fassina, 2007) and Conservation of Resources theory (COR theory; Hobfoll, 1989, 2001), this article aims to develop a conceptualization and a measurement of cognitive adjustment at work (CAW), as an indicator of psychological health in the workplace. Two studies, including three independent samples (N_A = 296, N_B = 350, N_C = 139), were conducted to test an operational proposal of CAW. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, as well as reliability and temporal invariance analyses, were performed to test the structure of both the construct and the instrument. In Study 2, nomological network analysis was conducted. Results suggest strong empirical support for the structure and validity of CAW, defined as a second-order factor, which includes task adjustment, work group adjustment and organizational adjustment.     

Effects of emotion regulation strategies on anxiety during job interviews in Chinese college students

Background and objectives: Few studies related to the impact of different emotion regulation strategies on anxiety have used externally and ecologically valid emotion-eliciting stimuli or Eastern populations. The present study compares the effects of reappraisal, suppression, and acceptance on anxiety induced by a simulated job interview in a Chinese sample. Methods: Eighty-two subjects were randomly assigned to one of four instructions: reappraisal, suppression, acceptance, or no-regulation strategies during a simulated job interview. Anxiety was assessed with an observer-based behavior rating scale during the interview and the State Anxiety Inventory before, during, and after the interview. Results: A repeated-measures MANOVA indicated a significantly greater reduction in anxiety in the reappraisal and acceptance groups compared to the control group during the interview (reappraisal: d = 1.42; acceptance: d = 1.30; each p < .001), but not during the recovery stage. The suppression and control group did not differ in any stage. Suppression led to a higher (p_max < .04) anxiety than reappraisal/acceptance in the anticipation (d = 0.65/0.68), interview (d = 0.87/0.79), and recovery stages (d = 0.94/1.03). No significant differences were found between reappraisal and acceptance. Conclusions: In Chinese students reappraisal and acceptance seem to be more effective anxiety regulation strategies than suppression.     

Acute stress disorder among civilians during a war and post-traumatic growth six years later: the impact of personal and social resources

Background and Objectives: Various studies suggest a link between stress response to a traumatic event and post-traumatic growth (PTG), but little is known about their long-term relationship. In this study, the relationship between acute stress disorder (ASD) among civilians during a war on the home front and PTG six years later was examined for the first time. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the role of personal and social resource loss and gain as moderating factors was investigated. Design and Methods: At Time 1 of the research (the Second Lebanon War in 2006), a structured questionnaire was administered to 370 civilians living within rocket range. At Time 2, 6 years later, 301 participants from Time 1 were again examined. The data analysis refers to the 301 respondents who participated at Time 2. Results: The findings indicate a significant relationship between ASD and PTG. Examination of the interaction revealed that resource gain (but not resource loss) moderates (strengthens) the relationship between the two. Conclusions: These findings are not consistent with the COR view that resource loss has a greater effect on stress responses than resource gain.     

Servant leadership and employee outcomes: the moderating role of subordinates’ motives

Drawing from implicit leadership theories we advance servant leadership theory by examining moderating mechanisms that explain under what conditions servant leader behaviours impact followers in organizations. Specifically, we focused on the moderating role of subordinates’ motivational orientations—prosocial values or impression management motives—in relationships between servant leadership behaviours and job satisfaction, as well as subordinate organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs). Using time-lagged data collected from 192 supervisor-subordinate dyads, we found that servant leadership was positively associated with employees’ job satisfaction, but not significantly related to their performance of OCBs. We also found evidence that subordinates’ motives moderate the relationships between servant leadership and outcomes. Specifically, employees high on impression management experienced lower levels of job satisfaction than their lower scoring counterparts. Our findings suggest that servant leadership may not be equally beneficial for all followers. We discuss implications for theory and practice.     

Psychological career resources identity and life orientation among young emerging adults in a Nigerian setting

This study explored whether young emerging adults’ psychological career resources identity predicted their orientation to life. The participants were a random sample of 400 predominantly full-time undergraduate students from four tertiary institutions in Nigeria (47% = female; age range 18 to 30 years). They completed psychological career resources and life orientation measures. The data were analysed by performing multiple regression analysis to explore whether psychological career resources accounted for the variance in life orientation. Overall, the results showed that those participants with well-differentiated career preferences and strong career drivers (sense of career calling, career goals and career intentionality) were likely to have a stronger sense of coherence. Developing a strong psychological career resources identity may potentially assist the young adult in developing a positive orientation to their life-career in developing country employment settings.     

Psychological capital as a team phenomenon: Mediating the relationship between learning climate and outcomes at the individual and team levels

Psychological capital is a positive psychological state that influences employees’ behaviors and attitudes. Research has only recently begun to examine the phenomenon as a shared psychological team state. The purpose of this research is to examine the mediating role of team psychological capital in the relationship between learning climate and outcomes at the individual and team levels. The findings, which were carried out among 82 school management teams, indicated a positive relationship between learning climate and the team’s psychological capital, and between the team’s psychological capital and the individual’s job satisfaction and the team’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). It was also found that team’s psychological capital mediates the relationship between the team’s learning climate and job satisfaction, and between learning mechanisms and the team’s OCB. The findings might encourage research into psychological capital as a team phenomenon and encourage decision-makers to develop ways of reinforcing psychological capital among teams.