Work Group Level Research Articles

Illegitimate tasks in the public sector—associations with work engagement, stress, and turnover intention: the moderating role of leadership

Illegitimate tasks are responsibilities that fall outside the accepted scope of an employee’s role and have been shown to negatively impact employee well-being, especially in the public sector. Despite repeated calls for multilevel models to explore whether the negative effects of illegitimate tasks can be mitigated by leadership behaviour, research remains limited. This study examines how the two dimensions of illegitimate tasks, unnecessary and unreasonable tasks, are associated with work engagement, stress, and turnover intention employing multilevel analysis while exploring the moderating role of transformational leadership. Using questionnaires and register data from a Swedish municipality, the study included 1721 employees. The findings indicate that more unnecessary and unreasonable tasks decrease work engagement, increase stress levels, and make it more likely that employees intend to leave their jobs. Moreover, aggregated at the workgroup level, transformational leadership moderates the relationship between unreasonable tasks and turnover intention. Specifically, higher levels of transformational leadership reduce the negative effects of unreasonable tasks on turnover intention. A similar trend is observed for the relationship between unnecessary tasks and stress, where transformational leadership marginally buffers this association. The findings in the study suggest that organisations should prioritise enhancing task alignment to minimise the prevalence of illegitimate tasks. However, as eliminating such tasks entirely may be challenging, fostering transformational leadership behaviours could help mitigate their negative impact, particularly on turnover intention.

Beyond the various contrivances by which orchids are pollinated: global patterns in orchid pollination biology

AbstractOrchidaceae show remarkable diversity in pollination strategies, but how these strategies vary globally is not entirely clear. To identify regions and taxa that are data-rich and lend themselves to rigorous analyses or are data-poor and need attention, we introduce a global database of orchid reproductive biology. Our database contains > 2900 species representing all orchid subfamilies and 23 of 24 tribes. We tabulated information on habit, breeding systems, means of pollinator attraction and the identity of pollinators. Patterns of reproductive biology by habit, geography and taxonomy are presented graphically and analysed statistically. On the basis of our database, most orchid species sampled are pollinator dependent (76%) and self-compatible (88%). Pollinator attraction based on rewards occurs in 54% of the species, whereas 46% use some means of deceit. Orchids generally have highly specific pollinator interactions (median number of pollinator species = 1). Nonetheless, on average, specificity is lower for species offering rewards, occurring in multiple continental regions or Northern America (as defined by the Taxonomic Database Working Group Level 1 regions). Although our database reveals impressive knowledge gains, extensive gaps in basic observations of orchid reproductive biology exist, particularly in tropical regions and diverse lineages of fly-pollinated species. The database is expected to facilitate targeted studies, further elucidating the ecological and evolutionary drivers of orchid diversity.

A Critical Analysis of Risk Factors and Strategies to Improve Mental Health Issues of Construction Workers

Previous research has enabled construction professionals to consider appropriate mental health interventions for improved mental health outcomes. However, the heterogeneity of such interventions in contemporary studies makes it difficult for practitioners to keep up to date with relevant alternatives. Thus, the aim of this research is to critically analyse mental health risk factors and identify strategies intended to mitigate risks and promote employees’ mental health in the construction industry. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was employed following PRISMA guidelines, and 58 articles that met the inclusion criteria were selected for data synthesis. In total, 100 risk factors and 76 preventive strategies were extracted and clustered into a taxonomy consisting of an individual level, workgroup level and organisational level. Strategies were further evaluated based on the type of prevention and financial significance. A critical content analysis of selected studies can suggest recommendations for future research, including the gap in mental health studies in the construction industry as well as the need for empirical research emphasis on generic forms of risks and strategies to cover more individual (e.g., age, profession), workgroup (e.g., team, trade, project) and organisational (e.g., culture, policy) factors that appropriately fit into construction workplace settings. The findings herein can broaden the mental health knowledge of industry practitioners, and could assist in mental health-related decision-making by developing best practices for boosting the mental wellbeing of the construction workforce.

Drug allergy: A 2022 practice parameter update

Drug allergy: A 2022 practice parameter update

Workgroup innovative behaviours in the public sector workplace: the influence of servant leadership and workgroup climates

ABSTRACT Despite much research on how to foster innovation in public organizations, little research has been conducted at a workgroup level. Against this backdrop, this study examines how servant leadership, ethical climate, and performance-oriented climate jointly influence workgroup innovative behaviours in public organizations. The results of this study suggest that servant leadership and ethical climate have positive relationships with workgroup innovative behaviour in general. In addition, a performance-oriented climate was found to moderate the relationship between servant leadership and workgroup innovative behaviour.

A Participatory Approach to Identify Key Areas for Sustainable Work Environment and Health in Employees with Flexible Work Arrangements

Flexible work arrangements are common worldwide, but knowledge on how to achieve a sustainable work environment is sparse. The aim of this study was to use a participatory approach to identify concrete suggestions and key areas for improvement that were considered relevant, effective, and feasible for promoting good work environment and health at organizational, work group and individual level (O-G-I), among office employees with flexible work arrangements. Eight focus group interviews (including 45 employees) were conducted in a large Swedish government agency in 2017. By using a Tree diagram approach, employees made a total of 279 suggestions for improvements, which were sorted into O-G-I levels and mapped into 18 key areas. We found that 13 key areas addressed organizational level (e.g., improving leadership, policy, job demands, and work efficiency), two key areas addressed group level (create common rules of availability and activity-based working), and three key areas addressed individual level (e.g., individuals’ responsibility to clearly communicate their availability). The participatory process was effective in obtaining concrete suggestions and key areas in need of improvement, which may provide an action plan that can guide organizations in developing interventions to promote good work environment and health in flexible work.

How do humble people mitigate group incivility? An examination of the social oil hypothesis of collective humility.

The present study explores the "social oil" function of humility at the workgroup level. Specifically, we examine collective humility, which reflects observable and consistent patterns of behavioral regularities exhibited by teams, as an explanation for linking group humility composition to reduced group experienced incivility. Drawing on the collective personality perspective, we hypothesize that teams with a high mean on members' humility could facilitate collective humility, in turn reducing group experienced incivility. We further propose two contingency factors that influence this proposed mediation pathway: (1) high group humility diversity could neutralize the positive association between group humility mean and collective humility and (2) an elevated differentiation of group incivility exposure will weaken the negative relationship between collective humility and group experienced incivility. Relying on a time-lagged, multisourced survey from 83 professional work teams, we tested this proposed moderated mediation model and found support for our hypotheses. Our findings have implications for team building and team management regarding personnel selection for humility, reducing the diversity of humility within teams, and explicitly valuing expressed humility in workgroups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A Multi‐Level Model of I‐deals in Workgroups: Employee and Coworker Perceptions of Leader Fairness, I‐Deals and Group Performance

AbstractWe test theory regarding the within‐group dynamics linking employees’ leader fairness judgments to the receipt of idiosyncratic deals (‘i‐deals’), and how differences between workgroups in the extent and variability of i‐deals influence workgroup performance. We assert that employees, their co‐workers, and the workgroup leader are three key stakeholders to i‐deals. Drawing on fairness heuristic theory, we hypothesize that employees are more likely to obtain i‐deals when they view their workgroup leaders as procedurally fair. Further, individual perceptions of leader fairness exist within the context of their co‐workers’ perceptions of leader fairness, that is, (in)congruence between the two affects individual i‐deals. At the workgroup level, we hypothesize a positive association between the access and extent of i‐deals and workgroup performance. Employing polynomial regression on data from 258 employees nested in 69 workgroups, we find that congruence between individual and co‐workers’ perceptions of leader fairness is positively related to the individual’s receipt of i‐deals; incongruence has an asymmetric effect, such that individual perceptions matter more. Finally, within‐group access and extent of i‐deals are positively related to group performance.

Exhausted by Social Distancing at Work: Understanding the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic in Workgroups

In the new post COVID-19 work order, we propose a multi-level model of how individual level social distancing interacts with workgroup level socio-structural support to influence employee exhaustion and performance. Drawing upon job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, we assert that workplace social distancing presents new job demands that emotionally exhaust employees and hinder their task and change-oriented performance. We further assert that job resources in the form of workgroup task interdependence and support for innovation mitigate these negative effects of social distancing. Per our expectations, multi-level modeling using time-lagged multi-source data from 231 employees and 34 managers revealed a significant relationship between social distancing and employee performance via emotional exhaustion. Further, the positive relationship between social distancing and emotional exhaustion was attenuated by workgroup task interdependence and support for innovation. Finally, moderated mediation path analyses showed that the indirect negative effect of social distancing on employee performance was weaker in workgroups with high task interdependence and high support for innovation.

Psychological entitlement and organizational citizenship behaviors: the roles of employee involvement climate and affective organizational commitment

The present study develops and tests an overreaching theoretical framework based on social exchange theory to examine the situations under which individuals with high levels of psychological entitlement are more or less likely to exhibit positive work attitudes and behaviors. In particular, we integrate perspectives from the team climate literature to analyze the moderating effects of employee involvement climate at the workgroup level on the relationship between psychological entitlement and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) through the mediating mechanism of affective commitment (a first-stage moderated mediation model). To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 231 supervisor-subordinate dyads across 41 work teams at a large Chinese automobile manufacturer. We find that when the employee involvement climate level is high, the effects of psychological entitlement on OCBs through affective commitment are positive and significant. In contrast, when the employee involvement climate level is low, the relationship is negative and significant. The present study makes a theoretical contribution to the literature by examining the frequently neglected positive side of psychological entitlement. It demonstrates that a high employee involvement climate helps to engage psychologically entitled employees by circumventing previously unbalanced social exchange relationships. We also discuss the practical implications of our findings and provide suggestions for human resource managers to maximize the contributions of entitled employees and foster their organizational commitment and OCBs.

Accommodation, interpersonal justice, and the turnover intentions of employees with disabilities

The number of employees with disabilities in the workforce is increasing and accommodations are essential to the work of many of these individuals. Prior research has explored perceptions of accommodation requests as well as coworkers’ and managers’ reactions to accommodations; yet, we know little about how employees with disabilities experience their own accommodations. We draw from the disability literature as well as contemporary justice and social exchange theory to develop and subsequently test a multilevel moderated mediation model on this subject. We test our hypotheses with data from 4,083 employees nested in 256 workgroups across two time points. We find support for our prediction that accommodation-focused interpersonal justice influences turnover intentions. The effect of these justice perceptions was mediated by workgroup openness to communication. Further, we find that representation of accommodated employees with disabilities at the workgroup level plays an important role in these relationships. We look beyond the technical aspects of accommodation with this research to highlight the social experience of accommodation as a central driver of employee perceptions and work outcomes.

Estimating the potential reduction in future sickness absence from optimizing group-level psychosocial work characteristics: a prospective, multicenter cohort study in German industrial settings

BackgroundAbsence from work due to sickness impairs organizational productivity and performance. Even in organizations with perfect work conditions, some inevitable baseline sickness absence exists amongst working populations. The excess sickness absence observed above this baseline rate has become the focus of traditional health promotion efforts, addressing preventable physical illness, health behavior and mental health at the personal level. However, a health and safety approach following the TOP-rule would consider work-group psychosocial work characteristics as a potential risk factor amenable to organizational measures. To date, there is a scarcity of studies relating psychosocial work characteristics to possible reduction of excess sickness-absence rates.MethodsWe aimed to estimate the potentially avoidable excess fraction of absence attributable to work-group psychosocial characteristics. We considered work-group averaged perception of psychosocial work characteristics as a proxy to the methodologically elusive objective assessment of organizational characteristics. Participants were recruited from multiple sites of a German automotive manufacturer with individuals nested within work groups. We predicted 12-month follow-up work-group sickness absence rates using data from a baseline comprehensive health examination assessing work characteristics, health behavior, and biomedical risk factors. We considered the quartile of work-groups yielding favorable psychosocial work characteristics as a realistic existing benchmark. Using the population attributable fraction method we estimated the potentially amenable sickness absence from improving work-group psychosocial characteristics.ResultsData from 3992 eligible participants from 29 work groups were analyzed (39% participation rate, average age 41.4 years (SD = 10.3 years), 89.9% males and 49% manual workers.). Work-group absence rates at follow up varied from 2.1 to 8.9% (mean 5.1%, 11.7 missed days). A prediction model of seven psychosocial work characteristics at the work group level explained 70% of the variance of future absence rates. The estimated reduction from improving psychosocial work characteristics to the benchmark level amounted to 32% of all sickness absence, compared to a 31% reduction from eliminating health behavioral and medical risk factors to the benchmark target.ConclusionsPsychosocial characteristics at the work-group level account for a relevant proportion of all sickness absence. Health promotion interventions should therefore address psychosocial characteristics at the work group level.

High-performance work systems and job performance: the mediating role of social identity, social climate and empowerment in Chinese banks

PurposeDespite the utility of social identity and social climate theories in explaining individual and group behaviour within organizations, little research has been conducted on how these approaches interconnect to explain the way high-performance work systems (HPWSs) may increase job performance. This study extends one’s understanding of the human resource management (HRM)–performance relationship by examining the interconnections between these disparate social approaches within the Chinese banking context.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on a sample of 561 employees working across 62 bank branches in China, the authors test four hypotheses: (1) HPWS is positively related to social climate; (2) social climate mediates the relationship between HPWS and social identification; (3) psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between social identification and job performance; and (4) social climate, social identification and psychological empowerment sequentially mediate the relationship between HPWS and job performance. Data were collected over two waves and job (in-role) performance was rated by managers.FindingsThe authors confirm the four hypotheses. Social climate, social identification and psychological empowerment sequentially mediate the relationship between HPWS and job performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contains some limitations. First, the authors’ research sites were focussed on one main region in state-owned banks in China. Second, this study examined only one industry with a relatively homogeneous workforce (i.e. relatively young and highly educated employees).Practical implicationsHPWS may translate into individual performance through a supportive social climate in which staff identify themselves with their work team. This suggests that organizations should pay close attention to understanding how their HPWS system can foster a strong social climate to enhance employee identification at the work group level. Second, as the nature of work is becoming increasingly more complex and interdependent, enabling not just individuals but also work groups to function effectively, it is critical for departments and work groups to promote a collective understanding of HRM messages with shared values and goals.Originality/valueThis research contributes towards a more comprehensive understanding of the HRM–performance chain as a complex social process underpinned by social identity theory. The authors demonstrate that social identification and social climate both play an important role in explaining how HPWS positively affects psychological empowerment and subsequent job performance.

What Moderates the Relation Between Intragroup Conflict, Emotional Exhaustion, and Work Engagement?

The present study investigated whether emotion regulation moderates the association between relationship conflict and group emotional exhaustion and whether conflict management moderates the association between task conflict and group work engagement in organizational workgroups. We conducted hierarchical regression and moderation analyses on questionnaire responses from the members of 91 workgroups (N = 595). The analyses revealed that emotion regulation via distraction moderated the influences of relationship conflict on group emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, a cooperative style of conflict management moderated the influences of task conflict on group work engagement. The findings suggest that distraction and a cooperative style are effective for moderating group emotional exhaustion and group work engagement respectively. Future research should use a more interpretive perspective to gain deeper insight on the ways of managing conflict at the workgroup level. This study suggests which strategies would be most useful for reducing group emotional exhaustion and for increasing group work engagement

Is Work Group Social Capital Associated With Sickness Absence? A Study of Workplace Registered Sickness Absence at the Work Group Level.

BackgroundThe concept of social capital has its focus on cooperative relations in the workplace. This study investigates the association between social capital and sickness absence among workers in 41 work groups in the Danish dairy industry and examines the possible effects of an intervention on social capital in the workplace on sickness absence.MethodsA sample of 791 dairy workers working in 41 work groups that participated in an intervention study on social capital filled in a questionnaire on four subtypes of social capital, and social capital scores from individual participants were aggregated to the level of work groups. Sickness absence was measured at the level of work groups in company registers as the two-year average percentage of working time lost to sickness absence. Group-level associations between social capital and sickness absence were analyzed using multilevel linear regression analysis. Analyses were adjusted for age, gender, group size, and random effects at the workplace level.ResultsWe found statistically significant associations between social capital within work groups, social capital in relation to the immediate manager, and social capital toward the workplace as a whole on the one side and sickness absence on the other side. We found no support for any effects of the intervention on sickness absence.ConclusionThe work group level of social capital is associated with the work group level of sickness absence. However, the intervention to enhance group-level social capital had no effect on reducing sickness absence in the intervention group.

Perceived barriers to multiprofessional team briefings in operating theatres: a qualitative study

ObjectivesThis study investigates perceived barriers towards the implementation of multiprofessional team briefings (MPTB) in operating theatres, as well as ways to overcome these perceived barriers. Previous research shows that MPTB...

Workplace bullying as predicted by non-prototypicality, group identification and norms: a self-categorisation perspective

ABSTRACT Research and theory on deviance in work groups suggest that non-prototypical members risk devaluation and mistreatment by their peers. Drawing on the self-categorisation theory, we propose and test a contextual model to explain workplace bullying from a target perspective, using non-prototypicality as a predictor and social identification and anti-bullying norms at the work group level as two- and three-way cross-level moderators. Multilevel modelling and a sample of employees from the university sector in the Low Lands (n = 572) was employed. In line with our first hypothesis, we found that risk of exposure to workplace bullying is particularly high for non-prototypical work group members. We also hypothesised that work group social identification would facilitate bullying of non-prototypical members, while anti-bullying norms would buffer it. Results showed, however, that both conditions acted as buffering moderators on the main association. Lastly, the combination of the two also entailed a cross-level three-way interaction effect, showing that non-prototypicality is associated with bullying only in work groups characterised by low levels on both moderators. These novel and partly unexpected results demonstrate the relevance and significance of group level explanations for workplace bullying, holding significant implications for scholars and practitioners.

Nationality diversity and leader–Member exchange at multiple levels of analysis

PurposeThe diversity literature has yet to investigate relationships between diversity and leader–member exchanges (LMX) at multiple levels of analysis. The purpose of this paper is to test a multilevel model of nationality diversity and LMX. In doing so, the authors investigate the role of surface- and deep-level diversity as related to leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD) and relative LMX (RLMX), and hence to subordinate job performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test a multilevel model of diversity and LMX using multisource survey data from subordinates nesting within supervisors. The authors do so in a context where diversity in nationality is pervasive and plays a key role in LMXs, i.e., a multinational organization in Dubai. The authors tested the cross-level moderated model using MPlus.FindingsThe results suggest surface-level similarity is more important to RLMX than deep-level similarity. The relationship between surface-level similarity and RLMX is moderated by workgroup nationality diversity. When workgroups are more diverse, there is a positive relationship between dyadic nationality similarity and RLMX; when workgroups are less diverse, similarity in nationality matters less. Moreover, LMXD at the workgroup level moderates the relationship between RLMX and performance at the individual level.Originality/valueThis study is one of very few to examine both diversity and LMX at multiple levels of analysis. This is the first study to test the workgroup diversity as a cross-level moderator of the relationship between deep-level similarity and LMX. The results challenge the prevailing notion that that deep-level similarity is more strongly related to LMX than surface-level diversity.

Public Service Motivation in a Work Group: Role of Ethical Climate and Servant Leadership

The current study attempts to examine Perry’s assertion that the public service motivation (PSM) of government employees may be influenced by the logic of appropriateness. Based on a survey of 596 Korean local government employees in 110 work groups, this study investigated the associations between ethical climate, servant leadership, and PSM. Multilevel structural equation models (SEM) were employed. At the individual level, ethical climate (i.e., efficiency, rule/law, independence) was significantly associated with PSM. However, at the work group level, ethical climate did not demonstrate a significant association with PSM. In addition, this study found that servant leadership is effective in helping government employees develop PSM at both the individual and work group levels.

Conditions for complex innovations: evidence from public organizations

Despite the growing interest in understanding innovative activities, an important limitation of the current literature on innovation—both public and private—is an assumption that innovative activity is a homogeneous phenomenon. However, most innovative activities are heterogeneous in nature. One way of characterizing innovation heterogeneity is the complexity of innovations. Using data from public organizations, this paper is one of the first studies to develop a framework for and provide an empirical test of the main influences on innovation complexity within the public sector context. The empirical evidence suggests that employees’ innovative behavior and cooperation, along with collaborating with important external sources and the ability to work in a complex environment, are positively associated with complex innovations in the public sector, suggesting that the influences on complex innovations span the individual, work group, and external environment levels. However, an organization’s leadership quality and innovation climate do not have any statistical effect on complex innovations.