Drawing on insights from social learning and social cognitive perspectives and research on the multilevel reality of leadership influences, we developed and tested a multilevel model that examines ...mechanisms and conditions through which ethical leadership deters work unit- and individual-level ostracism. Based on two field studies using multiple measurement points, we found that at the work unit level of analysis, relational climate partially mediates the negative relationship between ethical leadership and work unit-level ostracism (the average level of ostracism reported by work unit members) whereas state mindfulness partially mediates the cross-level influence of ethical leadership on individual-level ostracism. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that the relationship between ethical leadership and relational climate was stronger when work units had a more mechanistic structure, and not when it had an organic work unit structure. Finally, we found that relational climate not only moderates the relationship between state mindfulness and individual-level ostracism, but also moderates the indirect influence of ethical leadership on individual-level ostracism through state mindfulness such that the indirect effect is stronger when relational climate is high as opposed to low. These findings highlight the individual- and work unit-level conditions and mechanisms through which ethical leadership relates to decreased ostracism at work, and thus extends theory and research on ethical leadership and ostracism.
Recent debates in healthcare have emphasized the need for more respectful and responsive services that meet patients’ preferences. These debates centre on patient experience, one of the most critical ...factors for measuring healthcare performance. In exploring the relevance of patient experience key questions need answers: what can managers or supervisors do to help improve the quality of healthcare? What is the role of employees? Addressing these questions, this study examines whether perceived supervisor support (PSS) promotes patient experience through a serial mediation involving perceived organizational support (POS), and positive employee outcomes such as engagement, involvement and advocacy. Using two-wave data from the British National Health Service, we show that PSS is strongly associated with POS, which in turn improves engagement, involvement and advocacy among employees. PSS also has a positive indirect influence on patient experience through POS and advocacy; but the indirect paths involving engagement and involvement are not supported. We offer useful guidance on how healthcare employers can support employees towards improving the quality of services rendered to patients.
Drawing from the group engagement model and the moral conviction literature, we propose that perceived leader ethical conviction moderates the relationship between ethical leadership and employee OCB ...as well as deviance. In a field study of employees from various industries and a scenario-based experiment, we revealed that both the positive relation between ethical leadership and employee OCB and the negative relation between ethical leadership and employee deviance are more pronounced when leaders are perceived to have weak rather than strong ethical convictions. Further, we argued and showed that employees' feelings of personal control and perceived voice opportunity mediated the interactive effect of ethical leadership and perceived leader ethical conviction on OCB and deviance. Implications of these findings for theory and practice are discussed.
Bottom-line mentality (BLM) describes a one-dimensional frame of mind revolving around bottom-line pursuits, which pervades most organizations today. But how does working with high BLM supervisors ...affect employees’ functioning both at work and at home? Guided by this question, we draw on social information processing theory and insights from the person–environment fit literature for a nuanced understanding of the effects of supervisor BLM. Using data from two field studies conducted in China (340 employees) and the United States (174 employees), we find that supervisor BLM increases employee perceptions of a competitive climate that ultimately increases employee thriving at work and insomnia outside work. We further find that employee trait competitiveness moderated the indirect relationship (via perceived competitive climate) between supervisor BLM and thriving at work but not for insomnia; employees high (versus low) in trait competitiveness were found to thrive at work under the competitive climate stimulated by high BLM supervisors. Taken together, our findings highlight the need for organizational leaders to be cautious of being too narrowly focused on bottom-line outcomes and aware of the wider implications of BLM on different domains of their employees’ lives.
Management scholars have highlighted the importance of creative self-efficacy for enhancing creative performance, yet we know little about how and when creative self-efficacy relates to creative ...performance. We use social cognitive theory to develop a model identifying thriving at work as an important mediating mechanism, and perceived work significance and perceived task interdependence as key moderators enhancing the creative self-efficacy to creative performance relationship. We analyze a multi-source dataset collected from 795 employees and 149 supervisors at two different time periods. Findings show that the relationship between creative self-efficacy and creative performance is partially mediated by thriving. Results also demonstrate that perceived work significance and perceived task interdependence individually and jointly moderate the creative self-efficacy-creative performance relationship such that the relationship is more prominent when both perceived work significance and task interdependence are high rather than low. Findings from this study shed light on the importance of work characteristics in understanding how and when creative self-efficacy relates to creative performance.
Although green training has been shown in past research to promote environmentally responsible behaviors at work, scholars have paid less attention to its influence on employees' eco‐friendly ...behaviors outside of work. This omission is critical because confining green training research to the work domain obscures its benefits in promoting employees' pro‐environmental behaviors beyond the workplace, and thus its role in supporting organizational efforts to conserve the natural environment. To address this gap, we examine the direct and indirect (via connectedness to nature) relationships between green training and employees' eco‐friendly behaviors outside of work, including consumption of eco‐friendly products, reuse of items and materials, and reduced consumption of resources such as water, electricity, and paper. We also examine the moderating influence of intrinsic spirituality on the direct link between green training and connectedness to nature, as well as the indirect link between green training and eco‐friendly behaviors beyond the workplace. Using time‐lagged, multisource data, we find support for our hypotheses. Our findings advance knowledge on the important yet largely overlooked role of green training in shaping employees' environmentally responsible behaviors outside of the workplace.
In a multi-source study, we examine how frequent change interacts with ethical leadership to reduce turnover intentions. We argue that ethical leaders enhance employees' state self-esteem, which ...explains the moderating effect of ethical leadership. Results from 124 employee-coworker-supervisor triads revealed that ethical leadership moderated the relationship between frequent change and turnover intention such that the relationship was positive only when ethical leadership was low. The moderating relationship could be shown to be mediated by employees' state self-esteem.
Given that many organizations are competitive and finance centered, organizational leaders may lead with a primary focus on bottom-line attainment, such that they are perceived by their subordinates ...as having a bottom-line mentality (BLM) that entails pursuing bottom-line outcomes above all else. Yet, the field is limited in understanding why such a leadership approach affects employees’ positive and negative contributions in the workplace. Drawing on social exchange theory, we theorize that supervisors high in BLM can influence employees’ felt obligation toward the bottom line, which in turn can influence employees’ task performance and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). We also examine employee ambition as a moderator of this process. Using three-wave, multisource data collected from the financial services industry, our results revealed that high-BLM supervisors elevate employee task performance as well as UPB by motivating employees’ felt obligation toward the bottom line. Furthermore, we found that employee ambition served as a first-stage moderator, such that the mediated relationships were stronger when employee ambition was high as opposed to low. Our findings break away from the dominant dysfunctional view of BLM and provide a more balanced view of this mentality.
•Perceived negative workplace gossip inhibits targets’ customer service performance by eliciting negative mood.•Trait mindfulness and forgiveness mitigates the effects of negative workplace gossip on ...customer service performance.•Perceived negative workplace gossip elicits negative mood among targets’ lower in trait mindfulness rather than higher.•Negative workplace gossip inhibits customer service performance among targets’ lower in trait forgiveness rather than higher.•Organizations should make efforts to contribute to the development of mindfulness and forgiveness at work.Organizations should make efforts to contribute to the development of mindfulness and forgiveness at work.
This study investigates why and when perceived negative workplace gossip inhibits targets’ in-role performance in the context of service. Relying on affective events theory, we argue that perceived negative workplace gossip inhibits targets’ customer service performance by eliciting negative mood. Furthermore, we argue that this mediating process is moderated by targets’ trait mindfulness and forgiveness. Specifically, we suggest that target employees who are lower (versus higher) in trait mindfulness are more likely to experience negative mood. In turn, the negative mood only inhibits customer service performance among those who have lower (versus higher) tendency to forgive. Results from a multi-wave, multisource field study provide support for our hypotheses, even while controlling for targets’ emotional exhaustion as an alternative pathway. These findings support the affective events perspective to understand negative workplace gossip and provide a more nuanced view on its consequences.
Drawing on social learning theory, this research examined the role of ethical leadership in conflict situations. Specifically, ethical leadership was predicted to build employees’ resolution efficacy ...and subsequently increase employees’ ability to deal with conflict situations in the workplace (i.e., relationship, task, and process conflict). A multisource study in Europe and a two-wave design study in Africa showed support for our mediation model. These findings expand and unite existing theory on conflict and ethical leadership.
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