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1 – 10 of over 20000Valter Afonso Vieira, Juliano Domingues da Silva and Colin Gabler
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to determine the impact of interpersonal identification on sales performance; second, to uncover whether or not that relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to determine the impact of interpersonal identification on sales performance; second, to uncover whether or not that relationship changes direction based on levels organizational prestige; and third, to test the antecedent of managerial support on salesperson interpersonal identification. Ultimately, the authors want to provide sales managers with tangible ways to nurture the self-concept of their sales force while optimizing sales performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors test the hypotheses using a data set of 196 B2C retail salespeople in the shoe industry. Respondents answered a printed questionnaire, which was analyzed using multiple linear regression and response surface analysis.
Findings
The authors find that managerial support does positively influence interpersonal identification among salespeople which, in turn, increases sales performance. However, the relationship is curvilinear, becoming negative when over-identification occurs. This inverted U-shaped relationship is moderated by organizational prestige such that the negative influence is overcome by employees who have pride and confidence in their organization.
Practical implications
Managers should balance the level of support that they provide their employees. While this mentorship generally leads to positive results, too much can lead to over-identification, and consequently reduce sales performance. However, this negative effect can be overcome if the salesperson perceives his organization as prestigious. Therefore, a mix of guidance and autonomy may foster the strongest self-concept among the sales team and generate the most positive outcomes. Further, managers should monitor their employees’ perceptions of the company, communicating its strong reputation internally to generate organizational prestige.
Originality/value
The authors extend social identity theory in a sales context to provide a better understanding of how self-concept can be altered – for better or worse – by the sales manager. The authors also show the importance of communicating your company’s social value to employees. While over-identification in the manager–employee dyad can create a “tipping point” where sales performance begins to decrease, organizational prestige may be able to overcome this effect, demonstrating the power of prestige. Together, the authors present the importance of contextual and external influences on individual sales performance.
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This paper aims to reveal learning potential in crossing disciplinary boundaries in facilitated workshops by exploring the research goal definition process of interdisciplinary…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to reveal learning potential in crossing disciplinary boundaries in facilitated workshops by exploring the research goal definition process of interdisciplinary research teams. It uses multilevel boundary crossing as a theoretical framework to illustrate the multilevel nature of team learning mechanisms in interdisciplinary research.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative case study approach. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews and collaborative workshops of interdisciplinary researchers. The data analysis is based on pre-existing theory and the process of analysis is both data and theory driven.
Findings
The results indicate that although defining interdisciplinary research goals is a complex and demanding task, collaborative and facilitated workshops may support boundary crossing on intrapersonal, interpersonal and institutional levels. The team members efforts in defining their shared research interest revealed dialogical learning mechanisms of identification, coordination, reflection and the first phases of transformation, particularly at the interpersonal level. However, the transformative actions seemed to require intentional team facilitation.
Originality/value
This case study enriches the existing literature and allows better understanding of how team facilitation can promote agenda setting, transformative learning mechanisms and the definition of joint research goals in interdisciplinary settings.
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Yan Liu, Bryan Fuller, Kim Hester, Rebecca J. Bennett and Marcia Simmering Dickerson
The purpose of this paper is to examine how authentic leadership influences employees’ workplace behavior through three intermediate mechanisms.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how authentic leadership influences employees’ workplace behavior through three intermediate mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
The cross-sectional surveys were conducted at a large health organization with over 500 employees. Multi-source data were drawn from 124 employees and 16 supervisors.
Findings
This study provides empirical evidence that authentic leadership is positively related to subordinates’ proactive behavior and negatively related to subordinates’ workplace deviance behavior through mediation effects of three psychological factors, including supervisor identification, psychological safety, and job engagement.
Research limitations/implications
Due to the selected survey approach, the data are correlational. The small sample size of the study may reduce the ability to find statistically significant results. The current study would have benefited from organizational data on individual performance and proactive behavior, such as archival annual performance appraisals.
Practical implications
To practitioners, this study provides evidence that authentic leadership is sufficient in creating a positive work climate within which the employees feel safe to contribute their effort on their jobs. Based on the current findings, the practitioners can be more confident to hire or to promote authentic persons to be leaders in the organization.
Originality/value
This study is among those few empirical studies which help to validate the authentic leadership theory and provide a clear understanding of the mechanisms by which authentic leadership influences outcomes.
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Qurat-ul-Ain Burhan, Muhammad Asif Khan and Muhammad Faisal Malik
The current research aims to investigate the role of ethical leadership in improving business processes and the impact of ethical leadership on employee engagement with mediating…
Abstract
Purpose
The current research aims to investigate the role of ethical leadership in improving business processes and the impact of ethical leadership on employee engagement with mediating role of relational identification and ethical climate. Although ethical leadership displays and promotes morality in their followers, current literature is silent about the inclusion of relational identification and ethical climate. The present study intends to develop and test a model with the chain of mediation in the relationship between ethical leadership and employee engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of237 responses were collected from the banking sector using quantitative research techniques, and data were gathered through a self-administrated questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used through SEM- MPLUS to generate the results and test hypotheses.
Findings
The results suggested a significant impact of ethical leadership on employee engagement through relational identification and ethical climate (moral obligations, moral convictions and elevation). By using the results, practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
Research limitations/implications
Besides all the proposed hypotheses that have been accepted, there are some limitations associated with this study. One limitation is usage of single source information, as the data were collected only from the banking sector employees. Moreover, only three variables are taken in the context of ethical climate (moral obligations, moral convictions and elevation). However, some other variables could also be included under the umbrella of ethical climate, e.g. moral virtue. Future researchers should also add different employee attitudes, such as job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment, other than employee engagement.
Originality/value
An abundance of research is conducted on ethical leadership; however, with the development of knowledge and new thoughts related to identification and ethical climate, there is a strong need to conduct the research by including other overlooked possible paths.
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Shang Chen, Qingfei Min and Xuefei Xu
As social commerce migrates to the mobile platform, mobile social commerce (ms–commerce), an emerging way of conducting social commerce in the mobile environment, is gaining…
Abstract
Purpose
As social commerce migrates to the mobile platform, mobile social commerce (ms–commerce), an emerging way of conducting social commerce in the mobile environment, is gaining popularity among mobile users. Although impulse buying in social commerce has been the focus of scholars in recent years, individuals' impulse-buying behavior in ms–commerce has not been highlighted and therefore is worth investigating. This study addressed that gap by differentiating and monitoring the impacts that three key targets of social identification in ms–commerce exerted on impulse buying. Furthermore, previous studies had highlighted the importance of culture in impulse buying in other contexts, so the authors examined how the effects of the key identification targets differed across cultures, as a result of cultural diversity among the ms–commerce users. Finally, the authors drew upon the lens of information technology (IT) affordances to explore how different combinations of ms–commerce affordances influenced each target of identification.
Design/methodology/approach
This research first applied a qualitative methodology by using semi-structured interviews with 27 ms–commerce users to extract the relevant subdimensions of IT affordances in ms–commerce. Then, the authors tested their hypotheses with survey data collected from the United States and China.
Findings
The results clearly illustrate that three key targets of social identification had varying impacts on impulse buying in different cultural dimensions. In addition, nearly all of the proposed IT affordances in ms–commerce aided users in building multiple identifications, to various degrees.
Originality/value
This study extends social commerce research by examining the important role that social identification plays in impulse buying in the mobile environment. Moreover, unlike previous studies that mainly had focused on ordinary buying in social commerce across cultures, this study investigated the relative importance of the targets of social identification on impulse buying in different espoused cultural dimensions. Importantly, the authors used a technology affordance lens to also uncover the context-specific stimulators of separate identification targets, thus going beyond the existing body of knowledge that focused on general beliefs.
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Artur Meerits, Kurmet Kivipõld and Isaac Nana Akuffo
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to test existing Authentic Leadership (AL) instruments simultaneously in the same environment, and based on these, to propose an extended…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to test existing Authentic Leadership (AL) instruments simultaneously in the same environment, and based on these, to propose an extended instrument for the assessment of AL intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies.
Design/methodology/approach
Three existing instruments of AL – Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) (Walumbwa et al., 2008), Authentic Leadership Inventory (ALI) (Neider and Schriesheim, 2011) and the Three Pillar Model (TPM) (Beddoes-Jones and Swailes, 2015) – were tested, and an extended instrument was proposed based on the results. Two different samples were used – a homogeneous sample (N = 1021) from the military and a heterogeneous sample (N = 547) from retail, catering, public services and logistics industries. Construct validity for the instruments was assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis, and the internal consistency of the factors was analysed using Cronbach’s alpha.
Findings
From existing instruments, two out of three indicate issues with internal factor consistency and model fit. The internal consistency of factors and model fit of the extended instrument developed here is satisfactory and suitable for assessing authentic leadership competencies in a single organisation or industry.
Originality/value
This paper sees AL as the behaviour of leaders affected by leadership competencies. Three existing AL instruments were tested alongside a proposed extended instrument to assess AL intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies in the same context.
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This paper aims to investigate the socio-psychological systems in organizations that structurally support workplace aggression.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the socio-psychological systems in organizations that structurally support workplace aggression.
Design/methodology/approach
Using both a structural and contextual model of intimate partner violence (IPV), the factors supporting workplace aggression were analyzed. The narratives were provided from the participants’ lived experiences of workplace aggression, producing clear indications of where formal and informal power reside.
Findings
The methods of power and control used by workplace perpetrators parallel those illustrated in IPV. The inaction of management and the lack of social support enabled informal power asymmetries and the organizational norm of silence. The findings have implications for how workplaces view and intervene in relationship-based violence.
Originality/value
Workplace aggression has been studied from a conflict management perspective, without exploring the components that enable and support organizational abuse. As a result, organizational responses to workplace aggression have failed to address the complex relationship-based components and consequences. The primary contribution of this study is the disruption of the conflict-based perspective of workplace aggression into a more appropriate framework of violence, power and control.
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Anne Hansen, Zinta Byrne and Christa Kiersch
The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational identification as an underlying mechanism for how perceptions of interpersonal leadership are related to employee…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational identification as an underlying mechanism for how perceptions of interpersonal leadership are related to employee engagement, and its relationship with commitment and job tension.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 451 full-time employees at an international firm completed a web-based survey.
Findings
Organizational identification mediated the relationship between perceived interpersonal leadership and engagement, which mediated the relationship between perceived interpersonal leadership and commitment. Engagement mediated the relationship between identification and job tension.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations include cross-sectional data. Strengths include a large field sample. Implication is that leaders who encourage employees’ identification with the organization may also encourage their engagement.
Practical implications
Interpersonal leadership characteristics can be developed, and are positively related to employees’ identification, commitment, and engagement, which are negatively related to job tension.
Social implications
Interpersonal leaders are positively associated with employees’ engagement; high engagement has been related to positive employee health and well-being. A healthy workforce translates into a healthy society.
Originality/value
This study is one of the few to examine the underlying mechanisms through which leadership relates to engagement.
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Marc Ohana, Florence Stinglhamber and Gaëtane Caesens
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of coworkers’ interpersonal justice (defined as the extent to which one is treated by coworkers with dignity, courtesy and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of coworkers’ interpersonal justice (defined as the extent to which one is treated by coworkers with dignity, courtesy and respect) on team citizenship behaviors. More precisely, the authors first test the mediating role played by both team-member exchange and team identification in this relationship. Further, they examine the moderating role of extraversion in these two mediating mechanisms.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on 134 subordinate–supervisor dyads, the authors conducted moderated multiple mediation analysis.
Findings
The results of this study showed that, for highly extraverted employees, coworkers’ interpersonal justice positively influences team citizenship behaviors because of an exchange relationship of better quality among the team members. In contrast, for employees with low or medium levels of extraversion, the positive effect of coworkers’ interpersonal justice on team citizenship behaviors is explained by their higher identification with the team.
Practical implications
This paper holds important implications for management practice in teamwork environment. Given coworkers' interpersonal justice role in determining team citizenship behaviors, the findings of this study highlight the importance of establishing a work culture where each employee treats others fairly.
Originality/value
Overall, these findings indicate that, depending on the level of employees’ extraversion, mechanisms grounded in the social exchange and the social identity perspectives act as complementary mechanisms in the team-focused justice–citizenship behaviors relationship.
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This paper aims to develop a theoretical model describing how newcomers’ team-member exchange (TMX), team identification and workplace loneliness may be affected by existing team…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop a theoretical model describing how newcomers’ team-member exchange (TMX), team identification and workplace loneliness may be affected by existing team members’ rejections to the newcomers’ interpersonal helping behavior (IHB).
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical analysis was performed.
Findings
The authors propose the following propositions. First, higher levels of IHB rejections result in lower levels of TMX and team identification and higher levels of workplace loneliness experienced by a newcomer. Second, a newcomer’s TMX mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness and team identification. Finally, a newcomer’s team identification mediates the relationship between IHB rejections and the newcomer’s workplace loneliness.
Practical implications
This theoretical study provides the following managerial implications. First, managers need to proactively implement tactics that help satisfy newcomers’ affiliation needs through the development of strong formal work relationships with existing members. Second, managers are advised to consider the use of tactics that facilitate the development of effective informal relationships between newcomers and existing team members upon the entry of the team. Third, managers need to implement informal social events where newcomers have the opportunity to exhibit their helpful behaviors. Fourth, managers should periodically inform existing team members of some common anxieties and fears of newcomers that are triggered by entering new interpersonal environments. Finally, managers may utilize mentoring programs that help facilitate newcomers’ accurate interpretations of phenomena occurring around them.
Originality/value
This theoretical study is the first study that examines consequences of IHB rejections in organizations.
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