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1 – 10 of over 4000Yana Du, Li Zhang and Yanhong Chen
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of creative process engagement on employees’ in-role performance, and does so by considering the support that employees received…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of creative process engagement on employees’ in-role performance, and does so by considering the support that employees received from and given to their supervisors.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from 540 questionnaires collected in China, this paper conducts a hierarchical regression analysis to test the proposed model.
Findings
Creative process engagement positively affects employees’ in-role performance. However, the moderating effect of receiving support on the above relationship is not significant. Instead, it is the interaction of receiving support from and giving it to supervisors that moderates the relationship between creative process engagement and in-role performance.
Research limitations/implications
The study has some contributions to the conservation of resource (COR) theory. The authors find that acquiring new resources such as receiving support from supervisors is not always effective. The acquisition process of resources should be considered with the investment process of resources. According to the COR theory, people invest resources to gain resources and protect themselves from losing resources or to recover from resource loss (Halbesleben et al., 2014). The findings of the study show that employees investing resources is not just for gaining resources. Sometimes, they invest resources such as giving support to supervisors to remain a relatively balanced relationship.
Practical implications
Companies can encourage employees to place more attention on creative process engagement to improve in-role performance. In addition, when offering support to employees, managers should consider whether the employees are able to give it back in response to the received support, and distribute their support to employees accordingly.
Originality/value
This paper explored employee’s engagement at creative process in a more novel way and clarified the relative effect of creative process engagement on in-role performance. Also, this paper was the first to pay attention to the bidirectional nature of supervisor support.
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Lijing Zhao, Phillip M. Jolly and Shuming Zhao
This study aims to investigate the influence of illegitimate tasks on frontline hospitality employees’ in-role and extra-role performance via the mediating role of thriving at…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of illegitimate tasks on frontline hospitality employees’ in-role and extra-role performance via the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role of work centrality.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 264 supervisor–subordinate pairs from three hotels in Jiangsu, China and analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Illegitimate tasks negatively affected hospitality employees’ in-role and extra-role performance by inhibiting thriving at work. In addition, work centrality strengthened the impact of illegitimate tasks on thriving at work and their indirect effect on in-role and extra-role performance via reduced thriving at work.
Practical implications
First, managers should avoid assignment of unnecessary tasks. However, many tasks that could be viewed as illegitimate must still be performed; the results demonstrate that managers must be mindful of how such tasks are assigned and to whom, and should take steps to minimize and/or manage potential negative reactions to illegitimate tasks.
Originality/value
This study enriches the illegitimate tasks literature by examining its influence on the frontline hospitality employees’ in-role and extra-role performance and highlights a novel mediating mechanism linking illegitimate tasks and employee performance using conservation of resource theory. In addition, this reveals the novel moderating effect of work centrality.
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Narges Kia, Beni Halvorsen and Timothy Bartram
Against the backdrop of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Services Industry in Australia, this study on ethical leadership is timely…
Abstract
Purpose
Against the backdrop of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Finance Services Industry in Australia, this study on ethical leadership is timely. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating effects of organisational identification, customer orientated behaviour, service climate and ethical climate on the relationship between ethical leadership and employee in-role performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses were tested using a two-wave survey study of 233 bank employees in Australia.
Findings
Evidence from the study indicated that organisational identification, service climate and ethical climate mediate the relationship between ethical leadership and employee in-role performance. Surprisingly, the proposed mediation effect of customer orientation was not supported. However, ethical leadership was positively associated with customer orientated behaviour among employees.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations of the study include collecting data at two time points, thereby rendering the study cross-sectional. Employee in-role performance was a self-rated measure.
Practical implications
This study showed that ethical leadership is critical to improving employee perceptions and experience of an organisation’s service climate, ethical climate, organisational identification, customer orientated behaviour and employee in-role performance. The authors raise a number of HRM implications for the development and enablement of ethical leaders in the banking context.
Originality/value
The findings presented in this paper highlight that ethical leadership is critical to improving employee perceptions and experience of an organisation’s service climate, ethical climate, organisational identification, customer orientated behaviour and employee in-role performance.
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Sut I. Wong Humborstad, Christina G.L. Nerstad and Anders Dysvik
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible curvilinear relationship between empowering leadership and individual in-role and extra-role work performance and the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possible curvilinear relationship between empowering leadership and individual in-role and extra-role work performance and the potential moderating role of individual goal orientations.
Design/methodology/approach
Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted based on data from 655 certified accountants. Leaders' empowering behavior was measured using Ahearne et al.'s scale. Mastery and performance goal orientations were measured using items from VandeWalle. In-role work performance was measured via a ten-item scale developed and used by Kuvaas and Dysvik. Organizational citizenship behavior was measured using items validated by Van Dyne and LePine.
Findings
Too little empowerment might have a negative or limited impact – or none at all – on individual in-role and extra-role work performance. In addition, individual mastery orientation positively moderates these curvilinear relationships.
Research limitations/implications
Empowering leadership-employee performance relationships are not necessarily linear. The present study provides an alternative explanation to the somewhat inconsistent findings in the current literature.
Practical implications
Due to the curvilinear nature of empowering leadership, leaders should not just casually adopt this leadership style but ensure that they implement it at high levels with clear clarification of the goals and work roles.
Originality/value
Even though empowering leadership is important to individual performance, scant research has explored whether and when empowering leadership could be detrimental. This study provides an additional view to empowerment research by examining the potential curvilinear influence of empowering leadership.
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Seung Hyun Han, Eunjung Oh, Sung Pil Kang, Sumi Lee and Shin Hee Park
The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between informal learning and employees’ in-role performance and whether the mechanism through informal learning mediates the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between informal learning and employees’ in-role performance and whether the mechanism through informal learning mediates the relationships between self-efficacy, job characteristics, trust and in-role performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on data (n = 294) obtained from the firms with the Work–Learning Dual System in South Korea, a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted.
Findings
The findings indicated that trust and job characteristics affected informal learning and informal learning mediates the relationships of trust and job characteristics with job performance.
Originality/value
The significant contributions of this study to the extant literature on informal learning are as follows: first, the present study investigates a mechanism and a mediating role of informal learning using SEM, while most previous studies in literature have employed qualitative research in informal learning. Second, this study explores the mediating role of informal learning between personal/job-related determinants of informal learning and in-role performance, which has not yet been examined in existing literature. Finally, this study provides practical implications regarding how organizations can facilitate more informal learning among employees to enhance their performance.
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Yongxing Guo, Haiying Kang, Bo Shao and Beni Halvorsen
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of organizational politics on the relationships between work engagement, in-role performance and organization…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of organizational politics on the relationships between work engagement, in-role performance and organization citizenship behavior – organization (OCBO).
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretical hypotheses were tested using a sample of 107 supervisor-subordinate dyads in China. Outcome variables, such as in-role performance and OCBO, were rated by supervisors.
Findings
Contrary to the established literature on positive work engagement-work outcomes relationships, the findings supported the prediction that work engagement was negatively related to supervisor-rated in-role performance and OCBO when the organizational is perceived as highly political.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size for this study is relatively small. In addition, the authors measured organizational politics from employees’ perspectives, which might not reflect reality objectively. Furthermore, the data were collected at a single time point, so causal relationships could not be validated.
Practical implications
When employees perceive the work environment as political, organizations need to be aware of non-work factors that may influence supervisors’ evaluation of employee performance to ensure they do not demotivate and discourage highly engaged employees.
Originality/value
Considerable research has shown that work engagement is positively related to in-role performance and OCBO. The present study, however, challenges and extends previous research by suggesting that work engagement can lead to low supervisor evaluation of in-role performance and OCBO when the organization is perceived to be political.
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Ugur Yavas, Emin Babakus and Nicholas J. Ashill
This study aims to develop and test a comprehensive model that begins with management commitment/concern and progresses through intermediate links of service climate and in‐role…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop and test a comprehensive model that begins with management commitment/concern and progresses through intermediate links of service climate and in‐role frontline employee (FLE) performance to customer satisfaction and eventually to sales performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Branches of a major retail bank in New Zealand serve as the study setting. Data pertaining to management commitment/concern and service climate were collected using an intranet survey distributed to the branch employees, and customer satisfaction data were gathered via mail questionnaires from the branch customers. Objective measures of in‐role FLE performance and sales performance were provided by the bank from corporate records.
Findings
Results showed that management commitment/concern was significantly related to service climate; service climate to in‐role FLE performance; in‐role FLE performance to customer satisfaction; and customer satisfaction to branch sales.
Research limitations/implications
Testing viability of the model in other service sectors would be fruitful.
Practical implications
Since service climate has a direct positive influence on FLEs' in‐role performance, branch management should focus on creating a positive service climate by taking the necessary actions to improve training, rewards and technological support.
Originality/value
The study uses an objective in‐role performance measure in measuring branch employees' performance.
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Violetta Khoreva and Heidi Wechtler
The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations between the skill-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing dimensions of human resource (HR) practices and in-role and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the associations between the skill-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing dimensions of human resource (HR) practices and in-role and innovative job performance. Furthermore, it considers the mediating effects of psychological, physical and social employee well-being on these associations.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze multi-source survey data from a sample of 300 employees and 34 immediate supervisors in a professional service company in Finland.
Findings
The results indicate that whereas physical and social employee well-being partially mediate the association between skill- and opportunity-enhancing HR practices and in-role job performance, psychological employee well-being partially mediates the association between motivation-enhancing HR practices and innovative job performance.
Research limitations/implications
Given its cross-sectional nature, the authors cannot completely exclude the possibility of common method bias influencing the study results. The authors thus call for longitudinal research to examine the nature of causality within the associations analyzed in the study.
Originality/value
This study does not support the notion of trade-offs between HR practices, employee well-being and employee performance. Instead, it illustrates that even though different dimensions of HR practices enhance different dimensions of employee well-being, which, in turn, increase different types of employee performance, the different dimensions of HR practices work in the same direction and do not generate any unintended consequences in terms of reduced employee physical well-being.
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Yuntao Bai, Peter Harms, Guohong (Helen) Han and Wenwen Cheng
This study aims to introduce a new cognitive style, dialectical thinking, to demonstrate how it can influence a leader’s impact on team conflict and employee performance…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to introduce a new cognitive style, dialectical thinking, to demonstrate how it can influence a leader’s impact on team conflict and employee performance. Specifically, this study intends to answer the research questions “whether and how leader’s dialectical thinking would influence employee performance” with conflict management perspective in the Chinese context.
Design/methodology/approach
Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test the theoretical model with 222 employees in 43 teams from Chinese high-tech manufacturing firms.
Findings
The authors found that the leader’s dialectical thinking had positive relationships with employee creativity and in-role performance and that the relationships were mediated by the leader’s conflict management approach and team conflict in sequence.
Practical implications
Selecting, recruiting or promoting of leaders with a dialectical thinking style or providing training to enhance leaders’ dialectical thinking is important for facilitating team conflict management and employee performance.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical paper to introduce dialectical thinking into the leadership, conflict and employee performance literatures.
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This study aims to examine perceptions of politics among public sector employees as a possible mediator between the supervisor's leadership style and formal and informal aspects…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine perceptions of politics among public sector employees as a possible mediator between the supervisor's leadership style and formal and informal aspects of employees' performance (Organizational Citizenship Behavior – OCB).
Design/methodology/approach
The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was distributed to employees of a public security organization in Israel (N=201), asking them to evaluate their supervisor's style of leadership. Employees were also asked to report their perceptions of organizational politics using the scale developed by Kacmar and Ferris. In addition, supervisors provided objective evaluations of the levels of their employees' in‐role performance and OCB. The intra‐structure of the leadership variable was examined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with structural equation modeling. Two alternative models were examined: first, a model of mediation and second, a direct model with no mediation.
Findings
The research resulted in mixed findings that only partially support the mediating effect of organizational politics on the relationship between leadership, in‐role performance and OCB. A direct relationship between leadership and performance (in‐role and OCB) was also found.
Research limitations/implications
The differences between the models do not allow clear answers as to the mediating or direct effect of organizational politics in the relationship between leadership and performance. The implications on causality are also limited.
Practical implications
Managers should recognize the advantages and disadvantages of different leadership styles as these may affect organizational politics and eventually, formal performance and organizational citizenship behaviors.
Originality/value
The findings of this paper contribute to the understanding of the relationships between leadership, performance, and politics in the workplace and in the public sector in particular.
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