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The purpose of this study is to investigate when and why supervisor negative feedback is associated with employees' job performance via two different pathways (i.e. emotion-focused coping and problem-focused coping) and to introduce proactive personality as a moderator.

Time-lagged data were collected using a field survey research design. Participants included 389 dyads of employees and their direct supervisors from five companies in China.

Supervisor negative feedback can lead to employees' emotion-focused coping, which in turn impairs their job performance. Meanwhile, supervisor negative feedback can trigger employees’ problem-focused coping, which subsequently promotes their job performance. Furthermore, proactive personality moderates the indirect effect of supervisor negative feedback on employee performance through emotion-focused coping.

This study explored the double-edged effects of supervisor negative feedback on employee job performance from a coping strategy perspective and investigated how proactive personality influences the choice of coping strategies.

Understanding employees’ multi-dimensional motivations is at the core of realizing the potential of a well-designed human resource (HR) system. This study aims to investigate whether the effects of HR practices on employee motivations, and their performance would be dependent on the service orientation of HR department.

The authors collected data in two surveys: a pilot survey and a main survey with a two-wave design. The pilot survey with 93 respondents was to verify the newly developed HR service orientation scale. In the main survey, a total of 276 supervisor-subordinate pairs from 48 companies were valid for analysis.

The authors find support for their hypothesis that promotion-oriented motivation mediates the relationship between discretionary HR practices and employee outcomes [in-role performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)]. Furthermore, the indirect effect of discretionary HR practices on employee outcomes is stronger when the HR service orientation is higher. Transactional HR practices, however, are not evidenced to relate to employee prevention-focused motivation and outcomes.

The findings illustrate a comprehensive process of HR practices on employees’ multi-dimensional motivations. High service skills of HR professionals in handling internal employees’ needs could amplify employees’ promotion-focused motives, which in turn increase their in-role performance and OCB.

In sum, the authors' study contributes to both human resource management (HRM) and employee motivation literature by demonstrating the different impacts of discretionary and transactional HR practices on employees’ motivations. In addition, by revealing HR service orientation as an important contingency factor, the authors shed greater light on when and how HR practices can motivate employees.

This study aims to investigate how the individual-focused transformational leadership effect of transformational leadership impacts the team member’s individual work performance through the intermediary mechanisms of work engagement and regulatory focus.

A moderated mediation model was analyzed through PLS-SEM by using a sample of 462 team members across diverse work teams in Sri Lankan organizations.

Results revealed that individual-focused transformational leadership positively impacts the team member’s individual work performance through the mediation of the team member’s work engagement. The direct relationship between individual-focused transformational leadership and the team member’s work engagement was found to be positively moderated by the team member’s promotion regulatory focus.

This paper demonstrates implications for team designing and leadership development and highlights the importance of team leaders utilizing individual-focused transformational leadership to gain improved work performance from each team member.

This study provides empirical evidence for the mediating role of work engagement and the moderating role of promotion regulatory focus in deriving the team member’s work performance, which contributes to constructing a more refined profile of individual-focused transformational leadership.

Presents a study which explored a relationship between production process focus and performance at the business unit level using the profit impact of marketing strategies (PIMS) database. The relationship between production process focus and financial performance for business units was partially supported using return‐on‐sales (ROS), and was not supported with return‐on‐assets and return‐on‐income. Indicates that the degree of production process focus is not directly related to a business unit′s performance. The implication is that the degree of production process focus must be recognized as part of a manufacturing strategy that is consistent with an overall business strategy.

Using staff focus groups in the redevelopment of a library web site deploys their knowledge of user navigation issues and search strategies and addresses the unique needs of library staff. This paper seeks to describe the process of planning, recruiting, and conducting staff focus groups and provide a discussion of lessons learned.

A committee of professionals and non‐professionals from the University of Calgary Library conducted a series of five focus groups with library staff. The goals were to determine their content and service priorities for the redesigned library web site, and also to ensure that staff was included in the redesign process.

This paper makes recommendations for library staff focus group interviewing, including planning, formulating questions, recruitment, conducting sessions, and analysis and reporting.

Focus group interviews can be effectively conducted in‐house, with careful planning and adherence to established guidelines. Focus groups are a very useful method for gathering staff input for web site redesign or any other library‐planning project.

This paper will be useful to librarians interested in assessing staff needs and priorities through focus group interviews. The paper fills a void in the library literature regarding the use of library staff as both focus group leaders and participants.

This paper seeks to highlight the current confusion in the terminology for group research, identify the geographic, historical and scientific sources of this confusion and suggest a reduction in the number of terms used to two, thereby offering a definition on which researchers from different cultural backgrounds and scientific traditions may be able to agree.

A review of the academic and practitioner literature on qualitative group research in academic, social and market research indicates that various terms for groups are used interchangeably and are often assumed to have the same meaning. These terms include; Focus Group, Group Discussion, Group Interview, Group, Focus Group Interview, Focus Group Discussion, Qualitative Group Discussion and Nominal Group Interview.

The contribution of this paper is that it offers a resolution of this issue and so allows researchers from across geographic borders, different scientific traditions and from both academic and practitioner backgrounds to talk to one another in a common language.

This issue of differences in terminology for groups has largely been ignored by researchers and this paper hopes to bring some clarity and understanding of the key differences between focus group interviews and focus group discussions.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of customer focus and competitor focus on marketing performance of food and beverages organizations in Nigeria.

The paper adopted an exploratory design‐ six measures of marketing performance is used to capture the customer‐focus and competitive‐focus of food and beverages organizations in Nigeria. Data were collected from key informants using a research instrument. Returned instruments were analyzed using regression analysis through the use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16.

The paper validated the existing instruments for measuring customer focus, competitor focus and marketing performance. The paper also finds a strong positive relationship between the three constructs.

Two major implications are identified in this paper, one to scholars on the investigation of the link between customer focus, competitor focus and marketing performance in two different organizations. The second is for managers to be aware of the need for effective assessment of marketing performance measure in line with customer focus and competitor focus. This will no doubt help to provide knowledge and understanding of the reason for and consequences of any particular marketing decision.

The paper significantly refines the body of knowledge concerning the impact of customer focus, competitor focus and marketing performance in the Nigerian context.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

The effects of a promotion focus, prevention focus, and a dual regulatory focus on work performance, sickness, and emotional exhaustion were investigated for managers and non-managers in The Netherlands. The dual focus relates more to managers, who have more complex roles and are called on to be able to act in flexible ways on a continual basis. It was tentatively found that a dual focus is not as beneficial as previously expected, and perhaps enhancing a promotion focus for managers and non-managers is more advantageous for an organization.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent, information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differential effects of problem‐focused and solution‐focused coaching questions by means of a literature overview and results of an exploratory pilot study.

In a problem‐focused coaching session 39 participants complete a range of measures assessing self‐efficacy, their understanding of a problem, positive and negative affect, and goal approach. They then respond to a number of problem‐focused coaching questions, and then complete a second set of measures. The 35 participants in a solution‐focused session complete a mirror image of the problem‐focused condition, responding to solution‐focused coaching questions, including the “Miracle Question”.

Both the problem‐focused and the solution‐focused conditions are effective at enhancing goal approach. However, the solution‐focused group experience significantly greater increases in goal approach compared with the problem‐focused group. Problem‐focused questions reduce negative affect and increase self‐efficacy but do not increase understanding of the nature of the problem or enhance positive affect. The solution‐focused approach increases positive affect, decreases negative affect, increases self‐efficacy as well as increasing participants' insight and understanding of the nature of the problem.

Solution‐focused coaching questions appear to be more effective than problem‐focused questions. Although real‐life coaching conversations are not solely solution‐focused or solely problem‐focused, coaches should aim for a solution‐focused theme in their coaching work, if they wish to conduct effective goal‐focused coaching sessions that develop a depth of understanding, build self‐efficacy, reduce negative affect, increase positive affect and support the process of goal attainment.

This is the first study to explore this issue.

Considers the focus group as an alternative to the traditional structured questionnaire. Their appeal, what they can and cannot achieve, and four key questions related to conducting focus groups are discussed. Focus groups are relevant to a broad spectrum of marketing issues related to the food industry, and it is concluded that their role will continue to dominate qualitative market research. Increasingly high standards will be demanded of moderators, perhaps leading to recognised qualifications for the holding of focus groups.