An examination of substitutes for leadership within a levels-of-analysis framework

The individuals' discretionary behaviors at work. An overview and analysis of its growing interest

Nearly forty years have passed since the term Organizational Citizenship Behavior appeared. Despite a current consensus among scholars about the citizenship gestures as prosocial acts of employees that benefit the organization, it does not apply commonly to the exponential growth of all OCB-related concepts. The concept's expansion has confused the researchers and practitioners, mainly when choosing the most appropriate instruments (constructs) and dimensions to use in their area of interest and context. A systematic literature review was conducted and 420 articles were analyzed. Results point that the trends on OCB-like behaviors goes higher, with an average annual growth rate of new studies of 3.13%. United States (39%) and China (25%) lead but some "under-studied" contexts like Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania start being studied towards OCB. New trends appear in the spectrum of the many different domains and disciplines related to OCB, while leadership and task performance remain the most studied domains and disciplines. In future studies, researchers must freely choose the OCB dimensions and constructs they want to use or adapt to meet their needs and research needs since there is no written rule about their use, only the care to be taken with the context and discipline studying.

A Multilevel Model of Environmentally Specific Social Identity in Predicting Environmental Strategies: Evidence from Technology Manufacturing Businesses

This study proposed a multilevel model of environmentally specific social identity based on upper echelons theory and examined how environmentally specific transformational leadership influenced the environmentally specific social identity of the top management team (TMT), which consequently influenced a corporation’s choices of proactive environmental strategies. Besides, the environmentally specific transformational leadership atmosphere at the TMT level also influenced the environmentally specific social identity atmosphere at the TMT level, which consequently influenced a corporation’s choices of proactive environmental strategies at the same time. In particular, this study proposed a novel concept–environmentally specific social identity based on social identity theory, including environmentally specific self-categorization, environmentally specific affective commitment, environmentally specific self-esteem. This study employed a hierarchical linear model and collected longitudinal data of 210 chief executive officers with their 840 members of TMTs at technology manufacturing businesses of Greater China at three waves over six months to analyze the theoretical model. This study found that individual-level environmentally specific transformational leadership and TMT-level environmentally specific transformational leadership (atmosphere) influenced individual-level environmentally specific social identity and TMT-level environmentally specific social identity (atmosphere), which consequently influenced proactive environmental strategies. These findings provide theoretical insights for the field of sustainable development that can advance the literature on proactive environmental strategies.

Redefining the organizational citizenship behaviour

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the influence of organizational norms and job roles defined by organizations in the performance of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). To do so, the research proposes a model of OCB with the following dimensions: normative OCB and rule-bounded OCB on the basis of social exchange theory and role theory, respectively. Norms, roles and responsibilities of the organization vary from organization to organization. This paper reports the operational and empirical indicators of proposed dimensions of OCB, termed as discretionary OCB, normative OCB and rule-bounded OCB.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the proposed dimensions, the study uses concept analysis, delphi technique, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis on multi-source data. It indicates criteria for Cronbach’s alpha reliability, test-retest reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity and nomological validity for proposed dimensions.

Findings

The findings reveal two new dimensions of OCB. Besides an individual predisposition/voluntariness, employees exhibit OCB due to normative pressure in the organization and the overlapping of the contents of OCB with role and responsibilities. Self-driven, norms-driven and job-role-driven OCB will have different implications. The findings support the validity of the proposed OCB model and scale.

Research limitations/implications

The research fills a theoretical gap and will have implications for the measurement of OCB. The model facilitates the identification of the factors of OCB. An organization can use the research model in culture building and promoting functional OCB in the organization as per the organization’s need. The limitations of the study are discussed.

Originality/value

There is no research to date exploring the normative and rule-bounded aspects of OCB. This is the only research to empirically examine the overlap between the contents of OCB and role description of employees. This paper is also original in its contribution in measuring the display of OCB among employees due to pressure from the norms prevalent in the organizations.

Dyadic Leadership

A conceptualization of dyadic leadership is developed by focusing on multiple levels of analysis, multiple views of leadership, and longitudinal issues in the formation, development, and maintenance of dyadic relationships. Four views of dyads (i.e., dyads within groups, whole dyads, dyad parts, and cross-level dyads) and three genre of leadership models (i.e., instrumental, inspirational, informal) are combined to develop an integrated framework for understanding the literature on dyadic leadership. Using this approach, how dyadic leadership forms, operates, and changes over time is considered.

Transformational Leadership, Cohesion Perceptions, and Employee Cynicism About Organizational Change

The impact of supervisors' transformational leadership (TFL), informational and interpersonal justice, and group cohesion perceptions on employee cynicism about organizational change (CAOC) was investigated in a sample of 469 employees from a large Chinese organization undergoing major organizational change. Results indicate that (a) TFL is negatively related to employee CAOC; (b) employee perceptions of group cohesion moderate the relationship between TFL and CAOC such that the higher the cohesion perceptions, the stronger the influence of TFL on employee CAOC; (c) the moderating effect of cohesion perceptions on the TFL—CAOC relationship is fully mediated by interpersonal justice; and (d) informational and interpersonal justice partially mediate the TFL—CAOC relationship. The theoretical and practical implications of the process by which TFL impacts CAOC are discussed.

Relationships between Feedback and Self-Development

This study examined the extent to which dimensions of feedback are related to self-development. Employees rated their perceptions of feedback received, and supervisors rated employees’ self-development (seeking feedback and development) and job performance. Self-ratings of career motivation, public self-consciousness, and feelings of empowerment were also examined as correlates of self-development and performance. Respondents were 115 employees and their supervisors in a large Danish bank. A factor analysis showed four dimensions of feedback: positive reinforcement, evaluative feedback, threat, and development focus. Younger managers were higher on self-development. Those who perceived receiving more positive reinforcement and nonthreatening feedback and who felt empowered were rated higher in performance. Implications for practice and future research taking into account feedback dimensions and national culture are discussed.

Neutralizing substitutes for leadership theory: leadership effects and common-source bias

The purpose of this research was to examine alternative models of substitutes for leadership theory given the general lack of empirical support for the moderating effects postulated by the theory. On this basis, the research posited that the effects of substitutes also could be conceptualized as mediated relations. The research examined moderated and mediated relations for several sets of leader behaviors and substitutes that have been examined in the literature. The research design sampled 49 organizations, with 940 subordinates rating 156 leaders. Results, although generally not supportive of the moderator or mediator hypotheses, essentially demonstrated that leadership matters. The findings also suggest that prior significant effects in substitutes literature may be merely a statistical artifact, resulting from common-source bias.