Supervisor-subordinate Dyads Research Articles

The Impact of Customer Incivility on Employee Cheating Behavior: An Explanation of Conservation of Resources Theory

Previous studies have focused on the internal factors of employee cheating behavior, but neglected the external factors, such as customer attitudes and behavior. Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study explores how customer incivility affects employee cheating behavior through harmonious passion and discusses the moderating role of employee rumination in the relationship between customer incivility and harmonious passion. Data was collected from 298 supervisor-subordinate dyads of 4- and 5-star hotels in China. The results show that customer incivility indirectly affects employee cheating behavior, while harmonious passion intermediates the process. Rumination moderates the relationship between customer incivility and harmonious passion, as well as the intermediary role of harmonious passion in the relationship between customer incivility and employee cheating. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Coworkers’ interpersonal justice and team citizenship behaviors: mediation of social exchange and identity and moderation of extraversion

PurposeThe 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/approachBased on 134 subordinate–supervisor dyads, the authors conducted moderated multiple mediation analysis.FindingsThe 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 implicationsThis 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/valueOverall, 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.

The “sense” behind proactive behaviors: Feedback seeking, meaningfulness, and personal initiative

With organizations increasingly requiring employees to proactively manage their job and career, researchers have examined various proactive behaviors, such as feedback-seeking behavior and personal initiative. However, few studies have explored the relationships and dynamics among these behaviors. Based on sensemaking theory, this paper argues that employees' feedback-seeking behavior is positively associated with their performance through two stages: meaningfulness and personal initiative. Our hypotheses were tested and supported using two samples: 196 supervisor-subordinate dyads from one large organization in China (Study 1) and panel data of 207 full-time employees from the UK (Study 2). Our findings highlight the importance of recognizing the distinctiveness of different forms of proactive behavior and the synergistic way they contribute to performance. We also demonstrate that employees can seek feedback and construct meaningful work experiences in an agentic manner, which contributes to the literature on career crafting and career self-management.

Ethical leadership, subordinates’ moral identity and self-control: Two- and three-way interaction effect on subordinates’ ethical behavior

Ethical leadership has been shown to have a positive influence on employees’ moral behavior, but the strength of the relationship likely varies depending on several factors. We apply social learning theory and social cognitive theory to suggest that the association is stronger when the employees involved have high (versus low) moral identity and high (versus low) self-control. By testing the model using 375 supervisor-subordinate dyads at a large Iraqi organization, we demonstrated a separate strengthening role of subordinates’ self-control and moral identity in the positive effect of ethical leadership on their ethical behavior, and that ethical leadership had the strongest positive influence on the ethical conduct of employees with both high moral identity and high self-control. Our findings have important implications as they suggest that harnessing the full benefit of ethical leadership requires attention being paid to the characteristics of both leaders and subordinates.

When Abusive Supervision Increases Workplace Deviance: The Moderating Role of Psychological Safety and Organizational Identification

This study offers new insights into the moderators between abusive supervision and workplace deviance. Building on the conservation of resources theory, the study introduces coping resources as moderators between abusive supervision and the two dimensions of workplace deviance, that is, interpersonal and o rganizational deviance. The study identifies psychological safety, an intrapsychic state, as a moderator between abusive supervision and interpersonal deviance. Similarly, the research tests organizational identification as a moderator between abusive supe rvision and organizational deviance. The study tests the hypotheses by collecting two source of data from various Pakistani organizations. The two source data from 122 supervisor subordinate dyads provide support for the results. The study finds that low p sychological safety strengthens the positive link between abusive supervision and interpersonal deviance. Besides, a low level of identification with an organization strengthens the positive association between abusive supervision and organizational devian ce. Thus, the study extends the literature by highlighting the importance of several personal and coping resources for employees at work.

The dark and bright side of laissez-faire leadership: Does subordinates' goal orientation make a difference?

Laissez-faire leadership is universally considered to be the most ineffective leadership style. However, a few recent studies revealed that laissez-faire leadership may have modest or even significant positive influence on subordinates' work outcomes. To explain the inconsistent findings of laissez-faire leadership studies, the current study draws on stress theory and achievement goal theory to examine the boundary conditions and mechanisms underlying the impact of laissez-faire leadership on subordinates, cognitive appraisal and subsequent performance. Results from an experience sampling study of 68 supervisor-subordinate dyads that completed daily surveys over 10 consecutive work days indicated that: (1) when subordinates' learning goal orientation is high, the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and hindrance appraisal will be positive; the indirect relationship between laissez-faire leadership and subordinates' performance via subordinates' hindrance appraisal will be negative; and (2) when subordinates' performance-prove or performance-avoid goal orientation is high, the relationship between laissez-faire leadership and challenge appraisal will be positive; the indirect relationship between laissez-faire leadership and subordinates' performance via subordinates' challenge appraisal will be positive. This study found the double-edged sword effect of laissez-faire leadership at within-person level, which helps integrate inconsistent views in previous studies and explore the impact of laissez-faire leadership from a more nuanced and balanced perspective.

High-Performance Work Systems and Employees’ Innovative Work Behaviour: An Empirical Investigation Based on Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Theory

The drivers of individual-level innovation remain an underresearched area. Based on JD-R theory, we argue that (a) high-performance work systems (HPWS) enhance employees’ innovative work behaviours (IWB) through an increase in employees’ work engagement, and (b) that the positive relationship between HPWS and work engagement will be magnified at high levels of work overload. We collected data from 313 supervisor-subordinate dyads in an engineering R&D organization in India. Structural equation modelling results supported all the hypotheses except the moderation hypotheses. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, and we also suggest a few avenues for future research.

Visionary Leadership and Employee Voice Behavior: Mediating Role Of Self-efficacy

Facilitating employee voice behavior has become an area of interest in the human resource management field, and many studies have examined the influence of leadership on employee voice behavior. However, there are limited studies on the relationship of visionary leadership to employee voice behavior. We investigated the relationship between visionary leadership and employee voice behavior, as well as the mediating role of employee selfefficacy. Data were collected through a paper-and-pencil survey completed by 294 supervisor–subordinate dyads in China. Results of structural equation modeling showed that visionary leadership was positively related to employee voice behavior and that this direct relationship was mediated by employee selfefficacy. This study is the first to empirically examine the relationships among visionary leadership, employee self-efficacy, and employee voice behavior, and it provides a new path to link visionary leadership to employee voice behavior.

Authoritarian, Benevolent, and Moral Components of Paternalistic Leadership and Employee Performance: Psychological Safety As A Mediator

We adopted conservation of resources theory to examine how the authoritarian leadership component of paternalistic leadership interacts with two other dimensions: benevolent leadership and moral leadership, to jointly influence employee performance through psychological safety. We conducted a survey with 417 supervisor–subordinate dyads employed in a variety of industries in Guangdong Province, China. Results showed that paternalistic leadership mediated the negative relationship between the authoritarian leadership component and employees' task performance, organizational citizenship behavior toward individuals, and organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization. Further, the indirect effect of the authoritarian leadership component through employees' perceived psychological safety on their task performance and organizational citizenship behavior toward the organization was moderated by the benevolent leadership component. The findings in this study further understanding of how paternalistic leadership affects employee performance.

Crafting Personal territory in a political world: A human agency approach to organizational politics

AbstractTo examine human agency in organizational politics, this study investigates how employees take action to craft their working environments in response to their perception of organizational politics (POP). In Study 1, we manipulated POP using video materials in an experiment. Results from 209 participants show that POP triggered the intention to engage in both relational crafting and task crafting behaviours. In Study 2, we collected survey data from 176 supervisor–subordinate dyads. Our results replicate the findings of Study 1. Furthermore, we found significant indirect relationships between POP and two outcome variables (i.e., task performance and opportunistic behaviour) through relational crafting. The two indirect relationships were stronger for employees with lower emotional intelligence. Meanwhile, significant indirect relationships existed between POP and two outcome variables (i.e., opportunistic behaviour and turnover intention) through task crafting and these indirect relationships were stronger for employees with higher emotional intelligence. Both theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Potential buffering effect of being a right-hand subordinate on the influence of abusive supervision

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to borrow the concept of right-hand person as a specific type of work arrangement and propose a moderated mediation model highlighting the important role of work arrangement in affecting the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinate work outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe authors tested the hypotheses with a sample of 275 supervisor–subordinate dyads in China (68.8% response rate).FindingsResults showed that if the subordinate was a right-hand person of the supervisor, abusive supervision played a relatively weaker role on the subordinates' performance and organizational citizenship behaviors through leader–member exchange (LMX).Practical implicationsAbusive supervision is a major concern in contemporary organizations, and the current research found that work arrangement such as being a right-hand subordinate could buffer its negative effects. This finding indicates that it is important for organizations and supervisors to make clear work and role assignments.Originality/valueAbusive supervision has received a lot of research attention in the past decades. On top of the nature of supervisory abusive behaviors, researchers have investigated its antecedents and consequences. However, little is known concerning the roles of the work arrangement for the subordinate that may affect the impact of abusive supervision on subordinate work outcomes. This study empirically tests that being a right-hand subordinate may weaken the negative effect of abusive supervision on subordinate performance and organizational citizenship behaviors, which highlight the importance of work arrangement in studying abusive supervision.

How Distributed Leadership Fosters Individual Leadership Emergence: The Mediating Role of Empowerment Role Identity and Enacted Leader Identity

Departing from past research on managers’ influence on employees’ informal leadership emergence, we explore the mechanism of how distributed leadership enhances individual leadership emergence from a cognitive perspective. Drawing upon the leadership identity construction theory and role identity theory, we theoretically developed and empirically tested a serial mediation model. It examines how distributed leadership promotes employees’ leadership emergence via individual empowerment role identity and enacted leader identity. Using a three-wave field survey from 496 subordinate–supervisor dyads (82 supervisors and 496 employees) in China, we found that empowerment role identity and enacted leader identity serially mediate the association between distributed leadership and employees’ leadership emergence. The results demonstrate the leadership identity construction process of employees’ leadership emergence under distributed leadership. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are then discussed.

Linking visionary leadership with employee creativity: Perceived organizational support as a mediator

Although researchers have shown increased interest in visionary leadership, few studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship of visionary leadership with employee creativity. Drawing on a sample of 229 supervisor–subordinate dyads employed in enterprises in China, we examined whether perceived organizational support mediated the effect of visionary leadership on employee creativity. Results of structural equation modeling revealed that visionary leadership was positively related to employees' creativity and that perceived organizational support mediated this direct relationship. This study is the first to empirically examine the mediating role of perceived organizational support between visionary leadership and employee creativity, and provides a new path to link these variables. To boost employees' creativity at work, managers should use a leadership style that will build an organizational vision and communicate this to employees, and should enhance employees' perception of organizational support.

How emotional labor harms employee’s performance: unleashing the missing links through anxiety, quality of work-life and Islamic work ethic

Employing conservation of resources (COR) theory, this research examined how emotional labor influences employees’ job performance by testing a serial mediation moderation model. We propose job anxiety and quality of work-life (QoWL) as explanatory mechanisms in the emotional labor–job performance relationship, and Islamic work ethic as a coping mechanism between job-related anxiety and quality of work-life. To test our proposed hypotheses, the data was collected from 211 service sector supervisor-subordinate dyads in a three waved time-lagged study. Results elaborate that service employees who suffer from resource depletion due to emotional labor and job-related anxiety can still enjoy a better quality of work-life and deliver well at their workplace when they possess a stronger Islamic work ethic.

Does taking charge help or harm employees' promotability and visibility? An investigation from supervisors' status perspective.

Taking charge is an important form of proactive behavior that sustains organizational survival and success. Despite considerable research on how to encourage employees to take charge, little is known about whether and when supervisors will evaluate those who take charge as more or less promotable and visible. Building on and extending the theoretical notion of dyadic complementary fit, we propose that, compared with lower status-goal-striving supervisors, higher status-goal-striving supervisors regard those who take charge as helping enhance their status in the organization more (i.e., a dyadic fit condition) and subsequently evaluate these employees as more promotable and visible. In a vignette-based experiment using 175 U.S.-based supervisors (Study 1), a two-wave field survey among 143 supervisor-subordinate dyads in a hotel (Study 2), and a three-wave survey among 294 supervisor-subordinate dyads in various organizations and industries in China (Study 3), we find support for our predictions. The findings have important implications for proactivity theory and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Does it take two to tango? The joint role of high-performance work systems and ethical leadership

Employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), influenced both by human resource management (HRM) and leadership, is vital for meeting non-standard and unpredictable customer demands in the service industry. Drawing on social exchange theory, substitute-for-leadership theory and information-processing perspective, this study addresses the question of how employees’ perceptions of high-performance work systems (HPWS) and ethical leadership interact to impact employees’ affective commitment and service-oriented OCB. We tested the theoretical model using a sample of 275 supervisor–subordinate dyads from chain store enterprises in the service sector in Taiwan. The proposed models were tested with hierarchical linear modeling and Monte Carlo simulation. We found that the presence of high ethical leadership weakens the positive effect of employees’ perceptions of HPWS. Furthermore, affective commitment mediates the interactive effect of employees’ perceptions of HPWS and ethical leadership on employee service-oriented OCB. In particular, the indirect effect is positive and significant when ethical leadership is low.

Cooperation Leads Change: Subordinate Moqi, Leader-member Exchange, and Change-oriented Behaviors among Chinese Workers

This paper developed and tested a theoretical model linking subordinates’ moqi with their supervisor with change-oriented behaviors—specifically, creativity and taking charge—via leader–member exchange (LMX). Using a sample of 189 matched subordinate–supervisor dyads from 22 firms in China, a hierarchical modeling analysis showed that, as hypothesized, subordinate moqi with the supervisor positively affected employees’ creativity and taking charge. Additionally, LMX mediated the relationship between subordinate moqi with the supervisor and employees’ creativity and taking charge. This paper contributes to the current understanding of leadership from a followership perspective and its influence on change-oriented behaviors.

An Empirical Analysis of the Relationships among Participatory Decision Making and Employees’ Task Performance and Personal Growth

Due to rapid changes in technology and the resulting increase in uncertainty, the organization is becoming more horizontal, and participatory decision making as an effective method of decision making has attracted more attention. This study empirically explored and verified the path through which participatory decision-making leads to employees’ task performance and personal growth. The author focused on the sequential mediating role of perceived job meaningfulness and job involvement. Hypotheses were tested using survey data from 453 supervisor–subordinate dyads within organizations, across multiple industrial sectors. The results confirmed the direct and indirect relationships between participatory decision making and employees’ task performance and personal growth. Additionally, perceived job meaningfulness and job involvement were found to sequentially mediate the relationship between participatory decision making and task performance, and that between participatory decision making and personal growth. This study empirically demonstrates the necessity and importance of participatory decision making and suggests a specific mechanism. Furthermore, it presents implications for using participatory decision making in organizations effectively.

Can curiosity spark the fire of innovation? An investigation in China

AbstractCuriosity has been seen as an important driver of individual innovation. However, empirical evidence regarding the relationship between curiosity and innovation is equivocal. We draw on the situational strength perspective to develop and test a contingency model that focuses on the contextual boundary conditions of this relationship among Chinese employees. In a controlled experiment with 191 part‐time MBA students, in which curiosity was examined as a state, we found that (1) the main effect of curiosity on innovative behavioral intention was insignificant; (2) authoritarian leadership and job autonomy moderated the association of curiosity with innovative behavioral intention, such that this association was positively significant under circumstances of low authoritarian leadership or high job autonomy but not under circumstances of high authoritarian leadership or low job autonomy; and (3) job autonomy functioned as a mediator for the moderating effect of authoritarian leadership. These findings were constructively replicated in a field study of 206 subordinate–supervisor dyads in which curiosity was examined as a trait and innovative behavior was rated by supervisors. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Corporate social responsibility and Chinese employees' creative behavior: Supervisor–subordinate guanxi as a mediator

Although researchers have reported a positive link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee creative behavior, how this connection develops remains an underexplored topic, particularly in the Chinese context. From the Chinese guanxi perspective, we investigated if supervisor–subordinate guanxi plays a crucial role in mediating the relationship between these two variables. We conducted a survey to collect data from 239 subordinate–supervisor dyads employed in a variety of organizations in China. Structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. We observed a positive association between CSR and employee creative behavior, and supervisor–subordinate guanxi partially mediated this link. Our findings will assist in improvement of understanding of CSR and supervisor–subordinate guanxi for enhancing employees' creative behavior in organizations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.