No News Is Not Good News: The Mediating Role of Job Frustration in the Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Silence

Building on the affective event theory, we investigate the mediating role of job frustration in the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and employee silence. We suggest that job frustration induced by POP leads employees to become more passive in organizational participation, reflected in increased employee silence. Results from data collected from 459 employees of an Iranian organization indicate that POP has both a direct and an indirect effect on various employee silence motives. The study extends prior research by examining an affective mechanism linking POP to employee silence. The results suggest that frustration may be expressed silently in politicized work environments. The study attests to the need to explore the role of context-relevant discrete emotion in organizational phenomena. It also points to the need for organizational leaders to identify the emotional undercurrent of employee silence and to reduce negative politics in organizations.

Relevance of CSR for building affective commitment of employees: a multilevel approach

Purpose

Drawing on both social identity theory and signalling theory, this paper aims to theorize and empirically examine a moderated mediation model that investigates the underlying mechanism through which perception of Corporate social responsibility (CSR) influence employee affective commitment (AC) (micro-CSR) in case of companies that are among the highest spenders on CSR initiatives targeted at external stakeholders (macro-CSR).

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses were tested on 444 employees of top five banking and four information technology Indian companies. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the measurement model, whereas moderated mediation analysis was done through Hayes PROCESS Macro (v.4).

Findings

Findings suggest that employees develop a positive attitudinal disposition towards organisations CSR activities even when targeted only at external stakeholders. The research findings support advancement of CSR literature by suggesting that expenditure on CSR initiatives of business sends strong signals to employees of the care and empathy it has for stakeholders and due to prestige, that comes along with it, their self-concept gets accentuated. Lack of influence of employee volunteering (EV) on CSR outcomes highlights the need of integration of CSR initiatives with CSR strategy and human resource policies.

Originality/value

Results indicate that perception about CSR is directly related to AC, but its influence improves if it is routed through perceived organisational support and organisational trust in that order. Furthermore, the serial mediation of the model is not moderated by EV.

Using Robots at Work during the COVID‐19 Crisis Evokes Passion Decay: Evidence from Field and Experimental Studies

The growing trend of introducing robots into employees' work lives has become increasingly salient during the global COVID‐19 pandemic. In light of this pandemic, it is likely that organisational decision‐makers are seeing value in coupling employees with robots for both efficiency‐ and health‐related reasons. An unintended consequence of this coupling, however, may be an increased level of work routinisation and standardisation. We draw primarily from the model of passion decay from the relationship and clinical psychology literature to develop theory and test a model arguing that passion decays as employees increasingly interact with robots for their work activities. We demonstrate that this passion decay leads to an increase of withdrawal behaviour from both the domains of work and family. Drawing further from the model of passion decay, we reveal that employees higher in openness to experience are less likely to suffer from passion decay upon more frequent interactions with robots in the course of work. Across a multi‐source, multi‐wave field study conducted in Hong Kong (Study 1) and a simulation‐based experiment conducted in the United States (Study 2), our hypotheses received support. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Maybe It Is Who You Know: Social Networks and Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation

Existing literature on leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD) offers a meaningful view into the multilevel outcomes associated with leader follower relationships. However, despite the rapid growth of literature on LMXD, scholars lack a complete understanding of its antecedents or the processes that cause leaders to differentiate among team members. We address this issue by using social capital theory to propose that leaders perceive their followers’ social networks as potential resources to grow their own social capital. Because each follower has unique social networks, we propose that leaders differentiate LMX among followers depending on which followers provide them with access to the most social resources. In this conceptual paper, we posit that as leaders gain information about their followers’ social networks, they attribute status to each follower depending on their perception of that follower’s social capital. We then propose that key contingencies, such as a team’s psychological safety climate or a leader’s ambition, influence the relationship between social network characteristics and LMXD. Overall, our model provides a unique multilevel perspective of LMXD and provides important insights for both researchers and practitioners alike.

Machiavellianism, self-concept and resilience: do they affect employee performance? A moderated-mediated analysis

Purpose

Over the years, the impact of personality attributes on work behavior has constituted a broad research domain. The manner in which employees view themselves have been regarded as significant in analyzing their work behavior and eventual employee performance from the organizational perspective. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between self-concept and performance, with resilience as a mediator and Machiavellianism as a moderating variable.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 271 employees from four medium-sized private sector companies in India after excluding missing data. Correlation, regression and Hayes Macro analysis were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Resilience mediates the relationship between self-concept and performance. Second, Machiavellianism moderated the relationship between self-concept and resilience and moderated the mediation effect of resilience on the relationship between self-concept and performance. The role of personality attributes has been found to profoundly impact the employee's perception of self and work performance. Resilience, which refers to the individual's ability to bounce back amidst adverse situations, is simultaneously moderated by one of the dark triad personalities, Machiavellianism.

Practical implications

Understanding the self-concept dimension, the dual effects of resilience and the Machiavellianism personality have gradually become immensely significant for improvising employee work performance in the organization.

Originality/value

This original research has examined a model of untested variables and explored the mediating effect of resilience by connecting self-concept to performance along with the moderated-mediated impact of Machiavellianism on the variables, which is a novel attempt.

The Longitudinal Link between Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and Three Different Models of Happiness

A growing body of research conducted in general life settings has found positive associations between happiness and prosocial behavior. Unfortunately, equivalent studies in the workplace are lacking. Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), the prosocial behaviors at work, have not been properly studied in relation to happiness, despite the positive consequences of both constructs for workers and companies. In response, our research aims to better understand this relationship from several angles. First, using a three-wave longitudinal design, we explored how OCBs and happiness are related to each other over time. Second, happiness was measured from a broad perspective, and three conceptualizations were adopted: the hedonic (e.g., positive affect and life satisfaction), the eudaimonic (e.g., relatedness and autonomy), and the flourishing (e.g., meaning and engagement) approaches. Thus, not only the prospective link between OCBs and happiness was tested, but it was also explored using the three models of happiness previously mentioned. Third, we conducted this longitudinal design in a less typical sample than previous research (i.e., Chile). We found results that supported our main hypotheses: (1) OCBs are prospective positive predictors of hedonic happiness, eudaimonic happiness, and flourishing; (2) the three models of happiness also prospectively predict OCBs. Our findings suggest that OCBs foster a broad range of happiness facets, which in turn fosters back the emergence of more OCBs, leading to a virtuous circle of prosociality and well-being in the workplace. This positive spiral benefits not only workers’ quality of life, but also organizations’ profitability and sustainability. Theoretical and applied implications for the field of Positive Organizational Psychology are discussed.

Psychological needs matter more than social and organizational resources in explaining organizational commitment

This study investigates the effects of psychological needs satisfaction on teacher's commitment, over and above the impact of social and organizational resources, by building a model based on the Job Demands-Resources theory, Self-Determination Theory, and Conservation of Resources Theory. Hierarchical multiple regressions with data obtained from a sample of 301 Romanian teachers (89% women) reveal that psychological needs satisfaction explains a significant amount of variance in teacher commitment, compared to the variance explained by social resources and organizational resources (affective and normative organizational commitment). These results highlight the role of needs' satisfaction in predicting teachers' commitment and provide valuable information for practitioners aiming to design interventions to increase teachers' commitment.

Speaking Up at Work: The Role of Perceived Organizational Support in Explaining the Relationship Between Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Voice Behavior

Voice is a risky and more challenging type of organizational citizenship behavior in that it is designed to bring about change. Using conservation of resources and social exchange theories, we investigate relationships between voice, perceptions of organizational politics, and perceived organizational support (POS). We also investigate the mediating role of POS in the politics–voice relationship to determine the extent to which POS can explain this relationship. Lagged survey data from supervisor–employee dyads ( N = 257) were collected 6 weeks apart. Results show that perceptions of organizational politics were negatively related to voice, while POS was positively related to voice. POS had a mediating effect on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and voice. Our results underscore the importance of contextual factors in encouraging or prohibiting voice and may help managers and organizations understand how best to encourage this important change-oriented workplace behavior.

Applying self-determination theory to understand the motivational impact of cash rewards: New evidence from lab experiments

We investigated, based on self-determination theory (SDT), the impact of the functional meaning of monetary rewards on individuals' motivation and performance and further tested the role of the psychological needs as the underlying mechanism. In two experimental studies, we show that when presented in an autonomy-supportive way, rewards lead participants to experience greater intrinsic motivation, which leads them to perform better, than when monetary rewards are presented in a controlling way. This is mediated by greater psychological need satisfaction, indicating that through greater feelings of competence, autonomy, and relatedness, individuals experience greater intrinsic motivation for the task at hand. Our findings suggest that rewards can have a distinct effect on individuals' motivation and performance depending on whether they take on an autonomy-supportive or controlling meaning, thus providing empirical evidence for the theoretical and practical implications of SDT's concept of functional meaning of rewards. By highlighting the importance of this concept, this research contributes to our understanding of the effectiveness of such rewards in the workplace, suggesting that they can foster employee motivation and performance if organisations present them to employees in an autonomy-supportive way to convey an informational meaning and positively contribute to their psychological need stisfaction.

Perceived Organizational Politics, Engagement, and Stress: The Mediating Influence of Meaningful Work

The research aimed to assess proposed associations between organizational politics and employee engagement, employee stress (or more correctly 'strain'), and work meaningfulness. Very few studies have examined these associations. Confirmatory factor analyses established the dimensionality and reliability of the full measurement model across two independent samples (N = 303, N = 373). Structural equation modeling supported the proposed direct associations between organizational politics, operationalized as a higher order construct, and employee stress and employee engagement. These relationships were shown to be partially mediated by meaningful work. As such, politics had significant indirect effects on engagement and stress through meaningful work. The results also showed a significant and direct association between stress and engagement. Overall, the results shed important new light on the factors that influence engagement, and identify work meaningfulness as an important psychological mechanism that can help explain the adverse impact of organizational politics on employee engagement and stress. The results also support the dimensionality and validity of a new set of measures of perceived organizational politics focused on generalized perceptions about the use and abuse of relationships, resources, reputation, decisions, and communication channels. More generally, the results serve as a platform for further research regarding the negative influence of organizational politics on a range of individual and organizational outcomes.

Effects of trainee characteristics, training attitudes and training need analysis on motivation to transfer training

Purpose

Trainees’ motivation to transfer the training imparted is an important constituent in determining required training outcomes in organizations. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of trainee characteristics, training attitudes and training need analysis on motivation to transfer training.

Design/methodology/approach

Research hypotheses were tested using a survey. A questionnaire was used to collect data from employees of an Indian governmental power transmission organization, attending any one soft skills training programme in the past year. Out of the 500 questionnaires distributed, 389 were deemed useable for the study, producing an effective response rate of 77.8 per cent.

Findings

The findings establish a direct and positive association between trainee characteristics, training attitudes and need analysis with transfer motivation.

Originality/value

This study contributes to extant literature by examining associations in hitherto underexplored areas such as that of training attitudes and training need analysis with transfer motivation. In addition, the findings provide insights into challenges pertaining to transfer motivation in soft skills training initiatives.

Reorganizing Organizational Politics Research: A Review of the Literature and Identification of Future Research Directions

Organizational politics has been an oft-studied phenomenon for nearly four decades. Prior reviews have described research in this stream as aligning with one of three categories: perceptions of organizational politics (POPs), political behavior, or political skill. We suggest that because these categories are at the construct level research on organizational politics has been artificially constrained. Thus, we suggest a new framework with higher-level categories within which to classify organizational politics research: political characteristics, political actions, and political outcomes. We then provide a broad review of the literature applicable to these new categories and discuss the possibilities for future research within each expanded category. Finally, we close with a discussion of future directions for organizational politics research across the categories.

Mitigating the Harmful Effect of Perceived Organizational Compliance on Trust in Top Management: Buffering Roles of Employees' Personal Resources

This study considers how employees' POC-defined as their beliefs that the organizational climate stifles change and values compliance with the status quo-reduce their trust in top management, as well as how this negative relationship might be buffered by access to two personal resources that support organizational change: openness to experience and affective commitment to change. Data from a sample of Pakistan-based organizations reveal that POC reduce trust in top management, but this effect is weaker at higher levels of openness to experience and affective commitment to change. These findings are significant in that they indicate that employees who operate in organizational climates marked by "yea-saying" can counter the difficulty of improving their job situation by drawing from adequate personal resources.

Needs frustration makes me silent: Workplace ostracism and newcomers’ voice behavior

Employing self-determination theory, in this study, we explore how workplace ostracism (being ignored and excluded by others) affects newcomer’s voice behavior. Through an empirical study with 353 matched supervisor–subordinate pairs from a large high-technology company, we find that workplace ostracism has negative influence on newcomer’s both promotive and prohibitive voice through the mediating effect of psychological needs satisfaction. In addition, narcissism moderates the effects of ostracism on psychological needs satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Workplace Politics and Performance Appraisal

Drawing from Johns’s theory of self-serving behavior, we identified workplace politics as a contextual factor that affects the relative costs and benefits associated with supervisor rating behaviors. Our investigation tested these ideas by considering how politics influence the way in which raters combine information when evaluating subordinate performance. Specifically, we examined the three-way interaction of in-role behavior, extra-role behavior, and politics perceptions on overall ratings of performance in a two-study, multilevel investigation. Across two studies, results generally were consistent with the hypothesized three-way interaction, such that the joint effects of extra-role and in-role behavior on performance ratings varied across levels of politics. Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.

The mediating role of psychological needs in the relation between qualitative job insecurity and counterproductive work behavior

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to add to the understanding of the qualitative job insecurity, i.e. the insecurity about the continuity of valued job aspects in future. Specifically, the paper examines whether qualitative job insecurity is related to counterproductive work behavior (CWB), both directed to the organization (i.e. CWB-O) and other individuals at work (i.e. CWB-I), and whether frustration of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, belongingness and competence, as defined in self-determination theory, may account for these relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

– The hypothesis were examined using structural equation modeling in heterogeneous sample of Romanian employees.

Findings

– Results support the hypotheses showing that feeling insecure about one's valued job aspects associates with high levels of need frustration and, therefore, also with both CWB-O and CWB-I. While each of the accounted for the associations of qualitative insecurity and CWB-O, only frustration of the need for autonomy explained its detrimental association with CWB-I.

Originality/value

– This study is innovative, as it integrates and extends three different fields and has high practical relevance. The authors detail qualitative job insecurity, an increasing, but understudied job stressor. The authors extend research on the antecedents of CWB by focussing on environmental factors. The authors develop need satisfaction, as integrative theoretical underlying mechanism.