Exploring the role of implicit person theory in the relationship between innovative work climate and proactive behaviour at work

Background. Empathy is widely recognized as a multifaceted trait that includes cognitive and emotional components. The Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCEI) (Reniers et al., 2011) has been widely used in many countries. However, the question of its factor structure as applied to the Chinese samples was not resolved in two previous works Our approbation allowed us to clarify its psychometric characteristics, which is important for its further application in China and in cross-cultural studies.The problem of the relationship between the implicit theories (IT) of emotions and personality and empathy, which has not yet been investigated, is also relevant. Objective. 1) re-adaptation of the QCEI questionnaire on a Chinese sample, 2) testing hypotheses about the connections of implicit theories of personality and the ability to control emotions with the cognitive and affective components of empathy (on a Chinese sample). Design. 1,319 Chinese participants completed the QCEI questionnaire, of which 520 in person and 799 through online communication. Their data was randomly split into two samples. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out for the first sample, and confirmatory factor analysis was done for the second one. These 1319 people filled out the questionnaire of implicit theories of emotions (ITE). 520 participants filled out the questionnaire of implicit theories of personality (ITP) as well. To assess the convergent validity of our Chinese version of the QCAE questionnaire 799 participants also completed the M. Davis IRI empathy questionnaire. Results. A four-factor QCAE model was established for the Chinese sample (as opposed to the author’s five-factor model); IRI components are significantly positively correlated with QCAE components, which indicates the commonality of their nomological network. Based on the fact that the incrementality index for ITE is significantly and positively correlated with cognitive empathy, we accepted the hypothesis of the cognitive component as the leading one in the person’s assumption about the possibility of controlling emotions. The ITP incrementality index positively correlates only with the “Adjustment” subscale, which indicates a lower representation of the cognitive component in ITP in the Chinese sample. It follows from our results that the hypothesis on the connection of the affective component of empathy with the IT of emotions and personality can be rejected.

Learning is central to newcomer socialization, but research has rarely investigated the individual motivations that predict learning. Drawing from motivated action theory, this study examines newcomers’ learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings, and their effects on the different domains of learning through two separate routes of information‐seeking and relationship‐building proactive behaviours. In Study 1, we develop and validate a scale for communal goal strivings, demonstrating the empirical distinctiveness of the proposed construct from related constructs of prosocial motivation and need to belong. Study 2 involved a 2‐wave survey of 185 university student interns investigating newcomer learning. The results revealed that learning goal orientation predicted greater information seeking in the form of direct inquiry, which in turn predicted role, organization, and social learning. Communal goal strivings predicted the relationship‐building proactive behaviour of networking, and increased social and organization learning. These results underscore the value of goal strivings during socialization and provide a nuanced understanding of the relationships between goal strivings, proactive behaviours, and newcomer learning. Practical implications are discussed. Practitioner points Organizations keen to hire proactive employees can select job applicants high in both learning goal orientation and communal goal strivings. Organizations should not treat newcomer learning as a single entity. Our results suggest that organizations can encourage specific newcomer proactive behaviours to meet targeted learning objectives in the socialization process. To encourage newcomers’ proactivity and learning, greater attention should be accorded to the organizational environment, emphasizing the social aspects of the socialization process. This includes highlighting the importance of teams and workgroups.

The implicit theories teachers hold about the gifted influence their perception of and behavior toward highly able students, thus impacting the latter's educational opportunities. Two persistent stereotypes about the gifted can be distinguished: the harmony hypothesis (gifted students are superior in almost all domains) and the disharmony hypothesis (giftedness implies maladaptive social behavior and emotional problems). The present study investigated whether teachers' implicit personality theories about the gifted are in line with the harmony or the disharmony hypothesis. Using an experimental vignette approach, we examined 321 prospective and practicing teachers' implicit personality theories (based on the big five personality framework) about students described along three dimensions (ability level, gender, and age, resulting in 8 different vignettes), controlling for teachers' age, gender, experience with gifted students, and knowledge about giftedness. Ability level had the strongest effect on teachers' ratings (partial η² = .60). Students described as gifted were perceived as more open to new experiences, more introverted, less emotionally stable, and less agreeable (all ps < .001). No differences were found for conscientiousness. Gender and its interaction with ability level had a small effect (partial η²s = .04 and .03). Thus, teachers' implicit personality theories about the gifted were in line with the disharmony hypothesis. Possible consequences for gifted identification and education are discussed.

The purposes of this study were to examine the influence of proactive personality on creative behavior, the mediating effect of learning goal orientation in the relationship between proactive personality and creative behavior, the moderating effect of creative self-efficacy in the relationship between proactive personality and learning goal orientation, the moderating effects of organizational creative climate and supervisor support for creativity in the relationship between learning goal orientation and creative behavior. Data were gathered from 330 employees who were working in one organization in Korea. To reduce the effect from the common method bias, the creative behavior was rated by others(three hundred and thirty peers, subordinates, and supervisors). As a result, learning goal orientation partially mediated the relationships between proactive personality and creative behavior. Creative self-efficacy moderated the relationship between proactive personality and learning goal orientation. Organizational creative climate moderated the relationship between learning goal orientation and creative behavior. Also supervisor support for creativity had a moderating effect between learning goal orientation and creative behavior. Finally, implication of results and future research tasks were discussed with limitations.

PurposeThe paper examines the role of learning organization in enhancing employees’ proactive work behavior. Furthermore, drawing on the conjectures of broaden-and-build and conservation of resources theory, this study tested the mediating role of employee resilience on the relationship between learning organization and proactive work behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected over two measurement periods (six months apart) via a structured questionnaire among Indian IT/ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) organizational employees. The study utilized confirmatory factor analysis to test the proposed measurement model. Additionally, the study employed Preacher and Hayes PROCESS macro to investigate the mediating effect of employee resilience.FindingsThe study results demonstrated that employee’s perceptions of learning organization (measured at time 1) positively predict proactive work behavior (measured at time 2), with the relationship being mediated by employee resilience (measured at time 1).Practical implicationsThe study asserts that organizational practitioners who aim to boost their employees’ proactive behavior need to first invest in nurturing learning organization and focus on building their employees’ resilient capability. As a matter of fact, despite focusing on alleviating the adverse events and chiefly emphasizing on stress management, the organizational practitioners should concentrate on building their employees’ resilient capability.Originality/valueThe present study explores the links between learning organization, employee resilience and proactive work behavior. This study tested a cohesive research model to investigate the role of both the contextual and individual resilient capability in enhancing employee proactivity at work. Furthermore, the study unfolds the underlying mechanism between the study variables by exploring the mediating role of employee resilience.

When judging others, individuals often unconsciously apply their own special knowledge and personal constructs about human beings, which eventually forms some implicit theories of personality (ITPs). On the basis of different implicit personality theories, these individuals thus divided into two categories: a type of people believe that personality attributes or traits are sequestration, namely entity theorists; another type of people believe that personality attributes or characteristics are gradient, i.e. incremental theorists. Unlike studies that focus on how personality traits interact, implicit personality theory explores people’s beliefs about the fixity and plasticity of personality traits. Based on projective techniques, a fairy tale situation test is developed to explore whether the implicit personality theories of college students have consistency across different personal attributes (such as characteristic or ability), as well as whether entity theory and incremental theory are two dimensions or two poles of the same dimension. The result of the pretest shows that the compiled fairy tale situation test could be a measurement to analyse the universality of implicit personality theory and the structural pattern of its dimension. A formal test separated the implicit personality theories of 120 college students. The results of both the pretest and the formal test indicated that (a) college students had a common and consistent implicit theory across five personal attributes including character, ability, temperament, morality, and emotion and that (b) entity theory and incremental theory were two inverse poles of the same dimension in implicit theories of personality. These results show that Implicit Theories of Personality has the characteristics of two dimensions (entity theory vs. gradient theory).

PurposeHealthcare organizations require more proactive behaviors from nursing professionals. However, nurse managers’ proactivity has rarely been analyzed in the literature and little is known about the antecedents and consequences of their proactive behavior at work. This study examines the relationships between job characteristics (i.e. job autonomy and job variety), psychological empowerment, proactive work behavior and job effectiveness indicators (i.e. innovative work behavior, job performance). We tested a model in which psychological empowerment and proactive work behavior sequentially mediate the relationship between job characteristics and job effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional study was conducted among nurse middle managers from a French hospital (N = 321). A hypothetical model was developed based on existing theory. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults show that psychological empowerment and proactive work behavior fully mediate the relationship between job characteristics and innovative work behavior, and partially mediate the relationship between job characteristics and job performance.Originality/valueThis study provides insights for understanding how job characteristics can contribute to fostering the proactivity of nurse middle managers and how their proactive work behavior can be positively related to innovative work behavior and job performance. Findings raise several implications for hospital administrators and upper management seeking new ways to enhance nurse middle managers' proactive work behavior and push further their effectiveness at work.

PurposeAlthough learning goal orientation (LGO) has shown to promote learning and performance in employees, only a limited number of studies have explored its situational antecedents. The main purpose of the present research was to examine the effects of role modeling on employee LGO and proactive behavior.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted to collect data from medical employees (n = 478) at an acute hospital in Japan.FindingsThe results of structural equation modeling showed that role model proactive behavior promoted employee LGO, mediated through perceived role model LGO; and that perceived role model LGO enhanced employee proactive behavior, mediated through employee LGO.Research limitations/implicationsAs the sample was limited to employees in a nursing department at a Japanese hospital, the characteristics of the national culture and occupation may have potentially affected the results.Practical implicationsProactive employees can act as role models to enhance the level of employees' LGO and proactive behavior in organizations. It is imperative to develop employee role modeling to enhance LGO and proactive behavior.Originality/valueThis study may be the first to identify the influence of role modeling as an antecedent of LGO. The role model may provide employees with job resources to develop their LGO and proactive behaviors.

Proactive employees are an important part of social capital in modern organizations that operate in a competitive and ever-changing business environment. Proactive behavior (PB) is defined as self-directed and future-oriented actions that are aimed to change the situation, work environment, or oneself (Bindl &amp; Parker, 2010). Proactive workers initiate individual and organizational changes, and they not only respond to work requirements or adapt to environmental conditions (Fritz &amp; Sonnentag, 2009). Therefore, it is important to analyze the work and personal characteristics that may be significant in order to enhance the employees’ PB. The paper presents an empirical study that integrates the theoretical approaches of Proactive Behavior (Parker &amp; Collins, 2010) and Job Demands – Resources (Schaufeli &amp; Bakker, 2004). It is aimed, first, to examine the links between job demands (pace and amount of work, emotional and mental workload), resources (autonomy and feedback), and work engagement and stress with employee strategic proactive behaviors as well as work and person-environment fit proactive behaviors. Second, to determine the role that work engagement and stress have in the relationships between job characteristics and PB types. A total of 386 employees from various Lithuanian organizations were surveyed online. Sixty one percent of the respondents were female; the average age of the respondents was 34.8 (SD = 11.32) years, with an average of 7.3 (SD = 8.22) years of working experience in their organizations. Twenty one percent of the respondents were first-level managers. Most of the respondents (93.6%) had acquired higher education. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that strategic PB, through engagement as a mediator, was predicted by autonomy, mental workload, and feedback; proactive work behavior was predicted by emotional workload, while mental workload, autonomy, and feedback were related to proactive work behavior through work engagement as a mediator; proactive person-environment fit behavior was predicted only by feedback via work engagement as a mediator. The study has shown that employee PB can be reinforced not only with job resources (autonomy and feedback) but job demands as well (the mental and emotional workload) via the mediative effect of work engagement. Work stress was not related with PB. The practical applications of research findings are discussed.

The effect of consumers' implicit theory of personality and product feedback in self-directed consumer contexts

Organizacijoms, siekiančioms konkurencingumo dinamiško verslo sąlygomis, neabejotina darbuotojų proaktyvaus elgesio reikšmė. Proaktyvaus elgesio prielaidų tyrimuose vis dažniau atkreipiamas dėmesys į socialinės aplinkos svarbą. Šiame straipsnyje aprašomo tyrimo tikslas siejamas su iki šiol mažai tirtų potencialių proaktyvaus darbuotojų elgesio prielaidų analize: ieškoma sąsajų su vadovo, kolegų ir organizacijos parama bei vadovo proaktyviu elgesiu. Tyrime dalyvavo 206 darbuotojai (79 vyrai ir 127 moterys, amžiaus vidurkis 30 metų). Rezultatai: organizacijos, vadovo ir kolegų parama yra teigiamai susijusi su darbuotojų proaktyviu elgesiu, stipriausias prediktorius yra organizacijos parama. Vadovo proaktyvus elgesys tiesiogiai nėra susijęs su proaktyviu darbuotojų elgesiu, tačiau padeda numatyti bendrą proaktyvaus elgesio rodiklį, užduoties atlikimo, asmens ir aplinkos dermės bei strateginį tipus, kai išreikšta vadovo, kolegų ir organizacijos parama: vadovo proaktyvaus elgesio ir darbuotojų strateginio elgesio ryšį sustiprina kolegų ir organizacijos parama, o vadovo proaktyvaus elgesio ir darbuotojo asmens ir aplinkos dermės elgesio ryšį – vadovo parama.

Transference, the extent to which consumers transfer their opinions of a parent brand to a new extension, is critical to the success of any brand-extension strategy. Past research has shown that transference is a complex process that varies among persons depending upon an implicit personality theory, entity versus incremental. In a laboratory experiment analysis of ratings for 100 21-yr.-old undergraduates of attitude, perceived fit and risk, prior product involvement, and implicit personality theory (entity versus incremental) the influence of consumers' implicit personality theory on transference was considered within the brand-extension context. As expected, the amount of transference differed between those espousing entity and incremental theories. "Entity theorists" were much more likely to transfer feelings associated with the parent brand to the new extension than were "incremental theorists" who did not rely on prior brand information when forming evaluations of a new extension. This effect did not occur when perceived fit between the parent brand and the extension was high.

The overall purpose of the present study was to investigate the psychological significance of the Euclidean representation of implicit personality theory (IPT) by testing the predictive usefulness of this representation. Multidimensional scaling analyses of 18 subjects’ estimates of assumed trait co‐occurences (IPT) gave Euclidean trait‐distance matrices which were used to predict the subjects’ trait‐to‐trait inferences. The results showed that: (1) The Euclidean representations of subjects’ IPTs can be used to predict (p &lt; 0.10) most subjects’ (14 of 18) trait‐to‐trait inferences; (2) The similarity between the Euclidean representation of subjects’ IPTs was positively correlated (rs = 0.43, p &lt; 0.001) with the similarity between subjects’ trait‐to‐trait inferences. These results suggest that the Euclidean representation of IPT has some predictive value, and thus, may at least to some extent, be justified and considered as psychologically significant.

本研究探討員工知覺的轉型領導(TFL)及學習式目標導向(LGO)分別與其角色行為（創新行為和組織公民行為）之關係。再者，本研究也欲檢測員工LGO對於TFL與創新行為的關係之干擾效果是否會受到表現式目標導向(PGO)高低的干擾。最後，本研究亦欲檢驗員工LGO對於TFL與組織公民行為的關係之干擾效果是否會受到PGO高低的干擾。本研究之受測對象為台灣地區電子公司497位員工，實得有效問卷303份。結果顯示，員工知覺的轉型領導愈高，其愈會積極表現出創新行為，也愈會積極表現出組織公民行為。員工的學習式目標導向愈高，其亦愈會積極表現出組織公民行為。員工LGO對於TFL與其創新行為的關係之干擾效果會受到PGO高低的干擾。當員工PGO高時，LGO會對TFL與其創新行為之關係產生干擾效果。亦即，若員工PGO高且LGO低時，則員工知覺到的TFL與其表現出之創新行為呈顯著正相關；然而，若員工PGO高且LGO高時，則員工知覺到的TFL與其表現出創新行為之正向關聯性較低。相對而言，當員工PGO低時，LGO不會對TFL與其創新行為之關係生產干擾效果。最後，員工LGO對於TFL與其組織公民行為的關係之干擾效果亦會受到PGO高低的干擾。當員工PGO高時，LGO會對TFL與其組織公民行為之關係產生干擾效果。亦即，若員工PGO高且LGO低時，則員工知覺到的TFL與其表現出之組織公民行為呈顯著正相關；然而，若員工PGO高且LGO高時，則員工知覺到的TFL與其表現出組織公民行為之正向關聯性較低。相對而言，當員工PGO低時，LGO不會對TFL與其組織公民行為之關係產生干擾效果。

This paper aims to investigate the mediating role of explicit knowledge sharing in the relationship between empowering leadership and proactive work behavior in defense industry enterprises. The sample of this study consists of defense industry enterprises operating within the borders of Turkey. A total of 305 survey data were collected from these enterprises using the random sampling method, and 5 survey data among them were eliminated because of missing information, and analyzes were made with a total of 301 survey data. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research model and hypotheses. According to the analysis results of the study, empowering leadership has a positive effect on proactive work behavior and explicit knowledge sharing. In addition, it has been understood that open information sharing has a positive effect on proactive work behavior. Finally, it has been revealed that explicit knowledge sharing has a mediating role in the relationship between empowering leadership and proactive work behavior.