Cross-level Analysis Research Articles

Perceived insider status and employees' innovative behavior: the role of knowledge sharing and organizational innovation climate

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effect of perceived insider status to employees' innovative behavior, the mediating role of knowledge sharing and the moderating role of organizational innovation climate in the relationship between knowledge sharing and employees' innovative behavior.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted questionnaires to gather data. The sample of 341 employees working in diverse organizations in China was applied to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe results indicate that perceived insider status is positively related to employees' innovative behavior and knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between perceived insider status and employees' innovative behavior. In addition, organizational innovation climate enhances the relationship of knowledge sharing and employees' innovative behavior.Originality/valueThis study builds a system from psychological aspect to behavior, which includes the mechanism of the influence of perceived insider status on employees' innovative behavior and a cross-level analysis of the influence of organizational innovation climate on employees' innovative behavior, breaking through the previous research paradigm of a single level of climate and employee behavior.

Continued usage of smart wearable devices (SWDs): cross-level analysis of gamification and network externality.

With the increasing maturity of mobile networks and big data technology, smart wearable devices (SWDs) are regarded as a new technology trend following smartphones. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in telework and the growing interest in self-health monitoring have greatly promoted the market growth of SWDs. This study aimed to investigate the factors affecting the continued use of SWDs. A cross-level analysis model that integrates technical characteristics, gamification theory, perceived value theory, and network externality was constructed. A hierarchical linear model was employed to evaluate the data and test it against the hypotheses. The empirical results showed that, at the individual level, gamification enhances users’ value perceptions. Users pay more attention to rewards in gamification than to competition. Rewards were also found to effectively promote the users’ value perception and increase the intention to continue using the device. At the group level, the effect of network externality significantly influences the intention to continue using SWDs. Moreover, SWDs are associated with the phenomenon by which consumers conspicuously display and highlight their own characteristics, and this attribute is also a crucial factor enticing consumers to continue using SWDs. Developers should therefore establish clear product positioning and strengthen interactivity as early as possible to build a loyal customer base.

Aiming for legitimacy but perpetuating clichés – Social evaluations of the entrepreneurial identity

ABSTRACT The positive evaluation by society of entrepreneurs as a social group is hugely important because it determines that group’s legitimacy. However, researchers have tended to neglect the role of society in social evaluations and also that constructing them is a multilevel process. This knowledge gap has prompted us to investigate how entrepreneurs are perceived and evaluated (1) from the societal perspective, (2) from the entrepreneurs’ own perspective on entrepreneurial identity, and (3) from the entrepreneurs’ perspective on society’s views on them. We contribute to the literature by proposing a model that connects entrepreneur identities and the social evaluations of entrepreneurs. The multilevel and cross-level analysis of the evaluations of entrepreneurs linked to the individual and social entrepreneur identities reveal inconsistencies and potential trade-offs. We base this analysis primarily on a sorting study of visual representations of entrepreneurs published in the media. Although the entrepreneurs perceive the entrepreneurial identity more positively and seriously than society in general, they do not construct visual representations to convey this positive identity to the public. Finally, the results underscore the usefulness of visual analyses in revealing stereotypes.

Inclusive leadership and knowledge sharing in Japanese workplaces: the role of diversity in the biological sex of workplace personnel

PurposeThis study aims to examine the impact of managers’ inclusive leadership (IL) on knowledge-sharing (KS) behavior. Additionally, the authors consider the cross-level moderation effect of diversity in the biological sex of employees on the relationship between IL and employee KS behaviors.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave questionnaire survey was conducted in a large Japanese company. The sample included 827 employees (254 men and 573 women) in 129 groups. The authors, then, conducted a cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM).FindingsIL promotes two types of KS among employees: knowledge donating (KD) and knowledge collecting (KC). Additionally, the moderating effects of employee biological-sex diversity on the relationship between IL and KS varied according to the KS type. IL had a positive effect on KD only in groups with higher biological-sex diversity, and did not affect groups with lower biological-sex diversity. Biological-sex diversity did not moderate the relationship between IL and KC.Practical implicationsThis study has practical implications, especially for personnel departments with high diversity in employees’ biological sex. Further, to improve employees’ KS behaviors, it may be important to develop managers’ IL skills.Originality/valueThis is the first study that explores the relationship between IL and KS and the first to provide evidence of the moderating effect of diversity of employee’s biological sex.

Time for life? The spillover effect of strain-based family-to-work conflict on early retirement intentions and the role of HR practice flexibility

PurposeTo cope with the workforce shortages brought by population ageing, it is critical to understand the workplace micro-foundations that determine the mechanisms of older workers' early retirement intentions. Drawing on the conservation of resource theory, this study examines the spillover effect of strain-based family-to-work conflict (SFWC) on early retirement intentions, with emotional exhaustion as a mediator. Additionally, it investigates the contextual resources, HR practice flexibility, as a boundary condition for the above relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe study tests the hypotheses by employing a multi-sourced matching sample of 231 workers (aged 45–65) and their 49 managers.FindingsThe results of cross-level analysis revealed that SFWC has a positive indirect relationship with early retirement intentions, through increased emotional exhaustion. The relationship between emotional exhaustion and early retirement intentions is weaker when older employees experience higher HR practice flexibility.Originality/valueThis study is the first to use a resources perspective to analyse early retirement mechanisms, and it examines the spillover effect of SFWC on early retirement intentions. The findings also contribute to the literature on the role of HR practice for ageing workers.

The Effect of Supportive Organizational Climate on Employee Turnover Intention: A Cross-Level Analysis

Employee turnover affects the stable development of enterprise. It is not only an urgent problem that leaders need to think about, but also a research topic that management scholars and economists focus on. Turnover intention can well predict the turnover behavior of employee. Therefore, this paper investigates 50 enterprises and 305 employees in China and uses a cross-level regression model to test the mechanism between supportive organizational climate and employee turnover intention based on the organizational support theory. The results show that the supportive organizational climate can significantly reduce employee turnover intention, and job embedding plays a cross-level partial mediating role, and high commitment work system plays a cross-level moderating role between them. The research suggests that in the Chinese context, managers should not only devote themselves to creating a fine organizational climate for employee, but also actively implement high commitment work system to meet the spiritual needs and material needs of employee, thus reducing their turnover intention and promoting the long-term and stable development of the enterprise.

The Effect of Work Overload on Cut-corner Behavior

This study investigated in what context and climate employees engage in cut-corner behavior. Cut-corner is an organizational behavior aimed at reducing the use of individual or organizational resources by being flexible within one’s own standards. In this study, we focused on the pressure employees feel on their work and the perceived competition with colleagues. We primarily examined the effect of work overload as a major factor influencing cut-corner behavior. We also tested that promotion regulatory focus as individual variable and psychological competition as contextual factor that have interaction effects to cut-corner. We further examined that counterproductive climate as an environmental factor, and applied a multi-level methodology using reference-shift composition model from the counterproductive behavior. For analyses, We used data collected from 141 people from 37 teams of various organizations. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the work overload has a positive effects on the cut-corner. The promotion regulatory focus has no significant interaction effect between work overload and cut-corner, whereas the three-way interaction with psychological competitive (work overload × promotion regulatory focus × psychological competition) has significant effect. Cross-level analysis found significant interaction effects between work overload and counterproductive climate on cut-corner behavior. Implications and suggestions for future research were provided based on the findings.

Dual-level eco-efficiency analysis in sustainable management: An empirical study on textile manufacturers and supply chains in China

Eco-efficiency analysis at multi-levels can address the disconnection between its macro-level necessity and micro-level contribution. This cross-level analysis helps policymaking on systematically improving the sustainability of industry. Therefore, in this study, the dual-level eco-efficiency evaluation combing with interactive econometric analysis was applied for contributing a more holistic view of sustainable management in the heavy pollution industry. The empirical study was based on 12 international clothing brands and retailers' textile supply chains and their 202 major upstream manufacturers in China from 2015 to 2019. The dual-level evaluation uncovered a significant improvement in eco-efficiency both at the textile manufacturer and supply chain levels during the five years. The manufacturers' average eco-efficiency increased by 54%. The dyeing and finishing companies' efficiency of emissions to air, energy use, GHG emissions, and water use averagely increased by 165%, 39%, 28%, and 19%, respectively; discharges to water did not change significantly. Meanwhile, the interactive econometric analysis revealed the effects of green management certification, technological innovation, and the number of buyers/suppliers on dual-level eco-efficiency. The influencing mechanism of the same factor on eco-efficiency was demonstrated heterogeneous at manufacturer and supply chain levels. Adopting green management certification was an efficient facilitator to promote textile manufacturers' eco-efficiency, but not sufficient to advance supply chain's ecological performance until 2018. Conversely, inducing technological innovation can promote industry sustainability benefitting from knowledge search and absorption at the supply chain level. Depending on the multi-level lens, this study underlines that the same factor may have heterogeneous impacts at different levels and provides a drawable approach that can support decision-making on improving overall eco-efficiency for stakeholders such as companies, brands and retailers, and the government.

Combining Distributed and Kernel Tracing for Performance Analysis of Cloud Applications

Distributed tracing allows tracking user requests that span across multiple services and machines in a distributed application. However, typical cloud applications rely on abstraction layers that can hide the root cause of latency happening between processes or in the kernel. Because of its focus on high-level events, existing methodologies in applying distributed tracing can be limited when trying to detect complex contentions and relate them back to the originating requests. Cross-level analyses that include kernel-level events are necessary to debug problems as prevalent as mutex or disk contention, however cross-level analysis and associating events in the kernel and distributed tracing data is complex and can add a lot of overhead. This paper describes a new solution for combining distributed tracing with low-level software tracing in order to find the latency root cause better. We explain how we achieve a hybrid trace collection to capture and synchronize both kernel and distributed request events. Then, we present our design and implementation for a critical path analysis. We show that our analysis describes precisely how each request spends its time and what stands in its critical path while limiting overhead.

Authentic Leadership and Team Members’ Outcomes: A Cross-level and Multi-level Analysis

This study considers the multi-level research design to build on the Conservation of Resource (COR) theory to help develop a model that links authentic leadership to followers’ outcomes. Though previous studies have examined the direct effect of leadership and followers’ outcome at the individual level, findings of the impact of authentic leadership at the cross-level and multi-level are limited. Consistent with our hypotheses, the findings of the study, from a sample of 547 dyads from the financial sector in India, revealed that authentic leadership has a significant impact on authentic followership and team-level work engagement. The cross-level analysis indicated that 8.4 per cent of the variance in authentic followership is attributable to authentic leadership at the team level. Likewise, the multi-level analysis revealed that 9.4 per cent of the variance at work engagement between the teams is attributable to authentic leadership. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed further JEL: M12

Social integration of people with a migration background in Swiss sport clubs: A cross-level analysis

Sport clubs are considered an ideal setting for the social integration of people with a migration background. However, they can also be a place of social closure practices, where assimilative ideas and ethnic boundaries are present. Besides the individual characteristics of the members, adequate club organizational structures are relevant for preventing social closure and facilitating social integration. Thus, the role of organizational structures for social integration might differ between natives and people with a migration background. Based on data from 42 Swiss sport clubs and 780 sport club members, with and without a migration background, we analyzed individual (migration background and membership biography) and structural factors (situational, club goals, and club culture) using multilevel models and tested cross-level interactions between structural variables and migration background. The results reveal that membership biography (e.g. membership duration and volunteering) and migration background are relevant for social integration. The estimated cross-level effects reveal that, unlike for natives and second-generation people with a migration background, structural conditions are especially relevant for first-generation people with a migration background. For example, social integration increases with a higher proportion of people with a migration background in the club or a less assimilative club culture.

Do Interlocks Lead to the Convergence of Interfirm Innovation Performance? Evidence From China

We examine how interlocking directorates influence innovation performance differentials between firms. Our study offers a new perspective of the effect of interlocking directorate ties upon innovation performance, focusing on network effects on interfirm performance. Using a sample of China’s listed companies for the period 2012–2016, we empirically examined the relationship between board interlocks and interfirm innovation performance differentials. The results demonstrate that the presence of board interlocks reduces interfirm innovation performance differentials and leads to a convergence of innovation performance between the connected companies. Furthermore, cross-level analysis found that the relationship between board interlocks and interfirm innovation performance differentials is moderated by the interfirm industry attributes and demographic characteristics of the board. This study expands the existing research in explaining the driving mechanism of enterprise innovation performance as affected by interlocking directorate ties.

A cross-level examination of team-directed empowering leadership and subordinates' innovative performance: an AMO theory perspective

PurposeIn the field of innovation, individual innovative performance also has an important impact on team and organizational innovative performance, thus it is necessary to identify factors that increase individual innovative performance. One key to unlock individual innovative performance is empowering leadership. Drawing on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) theoretical framework, this study investigates the cross-level influence of team-directed empowering leadership on subordinates' innovative performance and verifies the mediating role of creative self-efficacy (A), intrinsic motivation (M), team knowledge sharing (O) and the moderating effect of feedback seeking climate.Design/methodology/approachWith a sample of 102 teams and 722 employees, this study uses Mplus7.4 software to carry out cross-level model analysis based on MSEM multilevel mediation test methodology.FindingsThe results from cross-level analysis indicate that: (1) Team-directed empowering leadership has a significant positive impact on subordinates' innovative performance. (2) Team-directed empowering leadership enhances subordinates' innovative performance through the improvement of creative self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation and team knowledge sharing. (3) Based on the feedback perspective, feedback seeking climate moderates the relationship between team-directed empowering leadership and creative self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation and team knowledge sharing.Originality/valueThis study introduced the AMO theory into the research on cross-level mediating mechanism between team-directed empowering leadership and subordinates' innovative performance, which broadens the theoretical research perspective. Considering the difference between empowering leadership and laissez-faire leadership and the guiding role of feedback, this study selects feedback seeking climate as a moderator in view of feedback, which riches the contingency factors on the cross-level effect of team-directed empowering leadership.

Cross-level analysis of molecular and neurobehavioral function in a prospective series of patients with germline heterozygous PTEN mutations with and without autism

BackgroundPTEN is a well-established risk gene for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Yet, little is known about how PTEN mutations and associated molecular processes influence neurobehavioral function in mutation carriers with (PTEN-ASD) and without ASD (PTEN no-ASD). The primary aim of the present study was to examine group differences in peripheral blood-derived PTEN pathway protein levels between PTEN-ASD, PTEN no-ASD, and idiopathic macrocephalic ASD patients (macro-ASD). Secondarily, associations between protein levels and neurobehavioral functions were examined in the full cohort.MethodsPatients were recruited at four tertiary medical centers. Peripheral blood-derived protein levels from canonical PTEN pathways (PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK) were analyzed using Western blot analyses blinded to genotype and ASD status. Neurobehavioral measures included standardized assessments of global cognitive ability and multiple neurobehavioral domains. Analysis of variance models examined group differences in demographic, neurobehavioral, and protein measures. Bivariate correlations, structural models, and statistical learning procedures estimated associations between molecular and neurobehavioral variables. To complement patient data, Western blots for downstream proteins were generated to evaluate canonical PTEN pathways in the PTEN-m3m4 mouse model.ResultsParticipants included 61 patients (25 PTEN-ASD, 16 PTEN no-ASD, and 20 macro-ASD). Decreased PTEN and S6 were observed in both PTEN mutation groups. Reductions in MnSOD and increases in P-S6 were observed in ASD groups. Elevated neural P-AKT/AKT and P-S6/S6 from PTEN murine models parallel our patient observations. Patient PTEN and AKT levels were independently associated with global cognitive ability, and p27 expression was associated with frontal sub-cortical functions. As a group, molecular measures added significant predictive value to several neurobehavioral domains over and above PTEN mutation status.LimitationsSample sizes were small, precluding within-group analyses. Protein and neurobehavioral data were limited to a single evaluation. A small number of patients were excluded with invalid protein data, and cognitively impaired patients had missing data on some assessments.ConclusionsSeveral canonical PTEN pathway molecules appear to influence the presence of ASD and modify neurobehavioral function in PTEN mutation patients. Protein assays of the PTEN pathway may be useful for predicting neurobehavioral outcomes in PTEN patients. Future longitudinal analyses are needed to replicate these findings and evaluate within-group relationships between protein and neurobehavioral measures.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02461446

Abusive Supervision Climate and Emotional Exhaustion: A Cross-Level Analysis

Abusive Supervision Climate and Emotional Exhaustion: A Cross-Level Analysis

Motivation, Personality, and Ideology as Antecedents of Transformational Leadership in Young Adults: A Cross-Level Analysis

Journal of Anthropology and Archaeology is a peer-reviewed international journal, which publishes original papers promoting theoretical, methodological and empirical developments in the discipline of socio-cultural anthropology.

The Mediating Role of Organizational Justice in Linking Human Resource Practices to Employee Outcomes: Evidence from Indian Banks

The study represents a pioneering and seminal attempt to understand the implications of human resource practices on employee outcomes in the Indian banking sector from an organizational justice perspective. The study aims to examine the mediating influence of organizational justice perception between HR Practices and employee outcomes of job satisfaction and stress. The study expands by examining three different dimensions of organizational justice namely, distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice. Data was collected using stratified sampling from 328 respondents from Indian public and private banks in Delhi. The study tests the conceptual framework using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis for mediation effect using Hayes approach of bootstrap method. Using cross-level analysis, the relative influence of interactional justice was found to be largest for job satisfaction in private banks. The study contributes to the existing debate that exists around “how” employee perception of human resource practices leads to employee outcomes. This research will sensitize human resource practitioners working in Indian banks on how to implement human resource practices as an intervention to bring positive employee outcomes.

Perception of organizational politics, psychological safety climate, and work engagement: A cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling

Perception of organizational politics, psychological safety climate, and work engagement: A cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling

Impact of human capital strategies on employee attitudes and behavior: a view of internal and external labor markets

PurposeAccording to human capital theory, companies derive economic value from the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) of their employees. Research conducted by strategic human resource management has focused on how investment in human capital can create a competitive advantage for an organization. The purpose of the paper is, therefore, to investigate how the choice of different human capital acquisition strategies – “make or buy” – can influence employee attitudes and behavior.Design/methodology/approachThis study explores the relationship between internal and external human capital strategies and employee’s attitudes and behavior in Taiwan's IC (integrated circuit) design industry. The cross-sectional dataset derives from a sample of 49 human resource departments and 497 employees from 25 different IC design companies.FindingsThe findings indicate that the decisions made on human capital strategies have an important influence on employee’s attitude and behavior. The results also show that a climate of trust and perceived organizational support is a cross-level mechanism for both human capital strategy and employees' attitudes and behavior.Originality/valueThere has been little research on the cross-level analysis of human capital acquisition strategies that can influence employee’s attitudes and behavior. This study verified that internal and external human capital strategies do affect employees' individual perceptions of organizational support via the organizational-level climate of trust, which in turn influences employees' attitudes and behavior. This cross-level mechanism indeed will facilitate new insights into the nature of strategic human resource management.

National Social Benefit Systems and Entrepreneurial Intentions: A Cross-National and Cross-Level Analysis

In this study, we examine how social benefit systems (public and private social expenditure) may influence entrepreneurial intentions, and how it may moderate the relationship between fear of failure and entrepreneurial intentions. Our cross-level model of 97,012 people from 32 countries demonstrates that individuals in countries with high levels of public social expenditure are less likely to show entrepreneurial intentions because they compare and contrast the safety net provided by social systems versus risk associated with starting a business. In addition, the results show that higher levels of private social spending weaken the negative impact of fear of failure on entrepreneurial intentions.