Fairness perceptions of supervisor feedback, LMX, and employee well-being at work

Effect of Employee Experience on Organizational Commitment: Case of South Korea

This study's purpose is to examine the effect of employee experience on job satisfaction, psychological well-being, and organizational commitment among corporate employees, with a specific focus on three factors: physical, technological, and cultural experiences. Given the growing importance of mental health management for employees, the study investigates the relationship between employee experience and mental toughness. A structural equation modeling research model was designed, and data were collected through a survey of 534 Korean employees. The analysis results show that cultural and physical experiences have a significant impact on organizational commitment, while technological experience does not have a significant impact. Furthermore, the study identifies that employee experience positively effects organizational commitment through job satisfaction and psychological well-being as mediators. It also reveals that the effect of employee experience on organizational commitment varies depending on the level of mental toughness. The findings suggest that managing employee experience can increase organizational commitment by improving job satisfaction and psychological well-being. Therefore, it is essential to be aware of individual mental toughness and its development. Hence this study highlights the importance of considering the physical, technological, and cultural experiences of employees in enhancing their well-being and commitment to the organization.

The nonlinear effect of time pressure on innovation performance: New insights from a meta-analysis and an empirical study

As competition grows, when employees are required to accelerate innovation, they also face increasing time pressure. In order to shed light on how time pressure affects employees' innovation performance, two studies were conducted to examine the effect of time pressure on innovation performance. In Study 1, based on 50 effect sizes from 50 independent samples (N = 15,751) in 40 articles, a meta-analysis was conducted to examine the J-shaped effect of time pressure on innovation performance. In Study 2, based on a two-wave survey of 645 employees, the mechanism underlying the J-shaped effect of time pressure on innovation performance was explored. Results from Study 1 revealed that time pressure had a J-shaped effect on innovation performance, such that high levels of time pressure had a more positive effect on innovation performance. Results from Study 2 showed that learning behavior significantly mediated the J-shaped effect of time pressure on innovation performance, and that supervisor developmental feedback moderated the intermediary process. These results deepen the understanding of the relationship between time pressure and innovation performance, and provide practical advice on how to manage innovation performance under time pressure.

The influence of supervisor creative feedback environment on team creativity: The role of the ambidextrous learning and creative cognitive style

The survival and success of organizations increasingly depend on creativity. A Supervisor Creative Feedback Environment is of special value in enhancing team creativity, but few studies have explored the relationship between the supervisor creative feedback environment and creativity and how it affects creativity. Based on feedback intervention theory and triadic reciprocal determinism, this paper explores the process mechanism and boundary conditions of the supervisor creative feedback environment affecting team creativity from the perspectives of ambidextrous learning and team creative cognitive style. With 506 team members from 115 work teams in domestic enterprises as research samples, regression analysis was used to test the theoretical hypotheses. Feedback intervention, according to the feedback intervention theory, is a complicated process. There are various influencing factors, such as the feedback provider, means of feedback intervention, the content of the feedback information, situational factors, and the feedback recipients (Junwei, 2003). The leading creative feedback loop includes important feedback receiver's factors which are not mentioned above. Triadic reciprocal determinism holds that individual behavior is formed by the interaction and interconnection of individual, environment, and behavior. The two above-mentioned theories can explain why the leadership creative feedback environment can affect team creativity by influencing ambidextrous learning. The results also show that the feedback environment of supervisor creativity has positive effects on team creativity. Ambidextrous learning mediates the relation between supervisor creative feedback environments and team creativity. Team creative cognitive style has a positive moderating effect on the indirect relationship between a supervisor creative feedback environment and team creativity through ambidextrous learning. This study validates feedback intervention theory and triadic reciprocal determinism, expands the application of feedback environment factors in the research field of team creativity, provides a theoretical framework for the influence of the creative feedback environment on team creativity, and also provides theoretical support for managers to apply the management tool of a supervisor creative feedback environment to organizational context to improve team creativity. Based on the research results, this paper puts forward corresponding management suggestions from the aspect of creating a supervisor creative feedback environment, attaching importance to team ambidextrous learning, and making good use of creative cognitive style.

Supporting the well-being of new university teachers through teacher professional development

Over the last decades, changes within higher education have created increased pressure and uncertainty for academics, increasing their risk for cognitive, behavioral, physical, as well as psychological issues due to high job demands. Specifically, for new academics in teaching roles, their lack of knowledge and skills can contribute to a negative effect of these job demands on their well-being. This study therefore explored how teaching-related professional development programs can enhance new university teachers’ well-being, through semi-structured interviews with 10 university teachers participating in such a program at a mid-sized Dutch university. We pay special attention to the relationship between specific learning activities integrated in the program (such as learning communities, formal workshops, and reflecting) and various dimensions of the psychological model of well-being by Ryff and Keyes (such as self-acceptance, autonomy, environmental mastery, and positive relationships). Using co-occurrence analysis and content analysis, we found that different learning activities had distinct relationships with different well-being facets. For example, formal workshops were mainly related to environmental mastery, a purpose in life and personal growth, while reflecting seemed to be especially connected to teachers’ self-acceptance, and participating in a learning community was mainly related to positive relations with others and personal growth. Our findings have implications for research on teacher well-being as well as for the design of professional development programs for higher education teaching staff.

A Meta-Analysis of the Relative Contribution of Leadership Styles to Followers’ Mental Health

It is well-established that different leadership styles are associated with followers’ mental health. However, little is known about the relative strength of the relationship of different leadership styles with followers’ mental health. So far, there is no meta-analysis comparing the incremental contribution of different leadership styles to mental health and studying potentially problematic construct proliferation. We included studies that compared at least two leadership styles in view of their relationships with followers’ mental health and directly estimated the relative contribution of seven leadership styles (i.e., transformational, transactional, laissez-faire, task-oriented, relationship-oriented, and destructive leadership, as well as leader-member exchange) to followers’ mental health. Using meta-analytical regression models, we compared the strength of the relationships between these leadership styles and followers’ overall mental health as well as positive (well-being and psychological functioning) and negative aspects of their mental health (affective symptoms, stress, and health complaints). Fifty-three studies with 217 effect sizes comprising 93,470 participants met the inclusion criteria. Transformational and destructive leadership were the strongest predictors of overall and negative aspects of mental health among followers. In contrast, the strongest predictors of positive mental health outcomes among followers were relations-oriented and task-oriented leadership, followed by transformational leadership. In sum, our results suggest that various leadership styles make unique contributions to explaining followers’ mental health and thus construct proliferation mostly does not pose a major problem when predicting relevant outcomes in this domain of leadership research. Our results are relevant for leadership development programs and for future organizational leadership models.

Linking teacher-student relationship quality and student group performance: A mediation model

We tested a mediation model of the influence of teacher-student relationship quality on student group performance in a higher-education context where a group-oriented learning approach is implemented. Specifically, we posit that the relationship between teacher-student relationship quality at the group level and group performance is mediated by positive affective group well-being and intragroup communication quality. Data were collected from 68 groups of students at four time points. The hypotheses involved in the proposed mediated model were tested by means of multiple regression. We controlled for group size and students’ initial familiarity with the other group members. All the analyses were conducted at the group level by means of the PROCESS macro for SPSS. The results obtained showed that teacher-student relationship quality has an indirect positive influence on group performance, mediated by positive affective group well-being and within-group communication quality. These findings help to understand how and why teacher-student relationship quality is related to student group performance.

Leader Psychological Need Satisfaction Trickles Down: The Role of Leader-Member Exchange

This article addresses the impact of leader psychological need satisfaction on employees. We draw on the self-determination theory (SDT) and leader-member exchange (LMX) theory to investigate if and how leader psychological need satisfaction trickles down to employee psychological need satisfaction. Adopting a multi-actor, multilevel design, results from 1036 leader-employee dyads indicate that employee-rated LMX mediates the trickle-down effect of leader psychological need satisfaction. Additional analyses of leader psychological needs show that leader competence is the main psychological need that underlying this relationship. We also found an unexpected negative association between leader autonomy need satisfaction and employee competence need satisfaction. Overall, this study shows the importance of both (1) leaders' psychological need satisfaction and (2) employee perceptions of the relationship quality for employee psychological need satisfaction.

The antecedents of leader-member-exchange (LMX) relationships in African context: the influence of the supervisor’s feedback delivery-tactic

Purpose

The current paper aims to analyse the antecedents of leader–member exchange relationships (LMX) by specifically focusing on the influence of the supervisor’s feedback delivery tactic.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses qualitative research methods with primary interviews as the main data source. Primary interviews with 40 managers from top supermarkets in Nigeria, South Africa and the UK were undertaken.

Findings

The authors found that both high-quality positive feedback and constructive criticisms produced the same feelings – more positive interpersonal relationships with their supervisors, higher levels of commitment to their organisations, higher job satisfaction and thus, high-quality LMX relationships. Where criticisms were delivered without greater interpersonal treatment, feedback was perceived as negative, and participants revealed lack of job satisfaction, lack of commitment to their organisations, poor interpersonal relationship with their supervisors, high turnover intent and thus low-quality LMX relationship.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the current paper is one of the first studies to highlight the consequences of different feedback delivery tactics on subsequent LMX quality particularly in African context. The authors specifically develop a process-based model of enhancing high-quality LMX, which shows the role of the supervisor’s feedback delivery tactic in the process. The authors also develop a process-based model that illustrates how negative/unconstructive feedback could result in a low-quality LMX. Finally, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is also one of the first to offer a comparative assessment between African and British (the UK) empirical settings and highlight some interesting dynamics concerning LMX quality and role of supervisor’s feedback delivery tactic.

Getting Ratees to Accept Performance Feedback: A Relational Approach

This paper seeks to understand the association between ratees' relational justice perceptions and their feedback acceptance, both directly and through leader-member exchange (LMX). The paper also examines the moderated mediation effect of supervisory trust. The paper presents the findings of two studies. Study 1 utilized two data sets collected through an online survey from 280 part-time students working full-time (Sample 1) and 292 working professionals (Sample 2) in Pakistan. Study 2 utilized data collected from N = 167 students recruited for a scenario-based experiment that manipulated whether a manager was fair or unfair. Results revealed that relational justice positively predicted feedback acceptance in Studies 1 and 2. LMX positively mediated the above-mentioned relationship in both studies. As expected, supervisory trust negatively moderated the relational justice-feedback acceptance relationship in Study 2. The present study contributes to performance management theory and practice by illuminating that raters can stimulate performance partnership by employing a relational justice approach that increases the likelihood that employees accept performance feedback.

Does the gap between health workers' expectations and the realities of implementing a performance-based financing project in Mali create frustration?

Background

Performance-Based Financing (PBF), an innovative health financing initiative, was recently implemented in Mali. PBF aims to improve quality of care by motivating health workers. The purpose of this research was to identify and understand how health workers’ expectations related to their experiences of the first cycle of payment of PBF subsidies, and how this experience affected their motivation and sentiments towards the intervention. We pose the research question, “how does the process of PBF subsidies impact the motivation of health workers in Mali?”

Methods

We adopted a qualitative approach using multiple case studies. We chose three district hospitals (DH 1, 2 and 3) in three health districts (district 1, 2 and 3) among the ten in the Koulikoro region. Our cases correspond to the three DHs. We followed the principle of data source triangulation; we used 53 semi-directive interviews conducted with health workers (to follow the principle of saturuation), field notes, and documents relating to the distribution grids of subsidies for each DH. We analyzed data in a mixed deductive and inductive manner.

Results

The results show that the PBF subsidies led to health workers feeling more motivated to perform their tasks overall. Beyond financial motivation, this was primarily due to PBF allowing them to work more efficiently. However, respondents perceived a discrepancy between the efforts made and the subsidies received. The fact that their expectations were not met led to a sense of frustration and disappointment. Similarly, the way in which the subsidies were distributed and the lack of transparency in the distribution process led to feelings of unfairness among the vast majority of respondents. The results show that frustrations can build up in the early days of the intervention.

Conclusion

The PBF implementation in Mali left health workers frustrated. The short overall implementation period did not allow actors to adjust their initial expectations and motivational responses, neither positive nor negative. This underlines how short-term interventions might not just lack impact, but instil negative sentiments likely to carry on into the future.

Multi-Level Effects of Humble Leadership on Employees' Work Well-Being: The Roles of Psychological Safety and Error Management Climate

Employees’ work well-being (WWB) is vital to employees’ performance and organizations’ sustainable development. This study aims to explore the role of psychological safety and error management climate (EMC) between humble leadership and WWB in Chinese organizations. Drawing upon social information processing theory, a multi-level study was conducted to test the underlying mechanisms between humble leadership and employees’ WWB. A time-lagged data of 221 team members was collected from 12 small and medium sized companies in China. Results showed that team-level humble leadership was positively related to WWB. Psychological safety and EMC both played a partial mediating role linking humble leadership and WWB. EMC positively moderated the relationship between humble leadership and psychological safety. This paper contributes to revealing the multi-level effects of humble leadership on work well-being. These findings also provide some important implications for managerial practices.

Demands, Control, Goal-related Feedback, and Case Managers' Affective Well-being: A Two-sample Mediation Study

Purpose: An understudied, but important, topic within the social work literature is the affective well-being of human service case managers. The groundbreaking demand-control (DC) model predicts additive effects for job demands and job control on job-related affective well-being. Meta-analytic data and comprehensive literature reviews report inconclusive findings for this classic additive model.Method: This two-sample cross-sectional field survey study sought to address both issues by testing a recently introduced modified additive model using 810 human service case managers from the state of New York.Results: Mediational analyzes (i.e., structural equation modelling and bootstrapping) confirmed goal-related feedback's intervening role on the job control-wellbeing relationship for each sample.Discussion: Results not only contribute uniquely to the evidence-based social work literature, but also help clarify forty years of inconsistent classic additive model findings.

Comprehensive moderated mediation model of potential appraisal of employees

Purpose

Potential appraisal is the foremost indicator of employee's readiness to take higher responsibilities and used for multiple purposes in promotion, human resource development including training and development needs of employees. This study examines how construal level as psychological difference among employees (holistic–analytic differential in preference of thinking for various action domains among individuals) and meaningfulness of work is related to their readiness for development and responsibility. Combining meaning of work literature and cognitive psychology, the moderated mediation model is formed to examine the psychological process and social boundary conditions in the relationship between construal level and potential appraisal of employees.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 1,494 working executives and their 297 reporting managers across companies operating in an industrial cluster situated in India. The proposed model considered “experienced meaningfulness” as mediator and contextual factors of psychological empowerment and supervisor feedback as moderators.

Findings

Using multi-variate analysis and after controlling for industry type and experience, supervisor potential appraisal ratings of employees are found to be statistically related to construal level, and this relationship is found to be partially mediated by “experienced meaningfulness” of work. Further, contextual factors are found to be significant as moderators.

Originality/value

By bringing the subjective interpretation of different aspects of meaning of work from work design literature to examine its role in relationship between aspects of cognitive psychology and potential appraisal of employees, this study bridges the gap between cognitive psychology of development, meaning of work literature and HRD literature. Further implications for academic literature and managers are discussed.

Does Self-Efficacy and Team Leader Equity Matter for Older Workers’ Mental Health?

Background and Objectives

Prolonged working life is not necessarily associated with good mental health. Despite the importance of healthy working life in later years, little research has been conducted on predictors of mental health in the workplace among older workers. This study aimed to investigate how personal (self-efficacy) and team (leader equity) factors are associated with older workers’ mental health through work engagement.

Research Design and Methods

We analyzed responses of 508 U.S. workers aged 50 years and older from the Age and Generations Study data using structural equation modeling.

Results

Results showed that perceived self-efficacy was a strong predictor of mental health. Also, work engagement was a powerful mechanism for promoting older adults’ mental health; engagement partially mediated the relationship between perceived self-efficacy and mental health, and fully mediated the relationship between team leader equity and mental health.

Discussion and Implications

The findings highlight how important it is for employers to invest in human capital development, suggesting human resource programs should focus on strategies that target older adults’ engagement through tailored self-efficacy programs and inclusive leadership training programs. Such attempts would contribute to enhancing the mental health of older workers.

Using Red Font Influences the Emotional Perception of Critical Performance Feedback

Abstract. The color red has been shown to affect psychological functioning. In performance settings, it is associated with negative emotions, avoidance motivation, and cognitive restriction. Because red is frequently used in written performance feedback, we examined whether it represents an external form aspect that can adversely influence the perception of critical feedback by the receiver, independent of the verbal content of the feedback. To this end, we conducted a web-based experiment in which 171 participants performed an alleged attention test and were then given moderately critical feedback, including hints for improvement. Per random assignment, either some of the words within the feedback were presented in red letters or all words were presented in standard black. The participants’ subsequent evaluation of the feedback revealed that using red in the feedback caused the feedback to be perceived as relatively less emotionally positive. There was no direct effect of using a red font in how the feedback was cognitively perceived (i.e., how helpful, fair, or comprehensible it was). However, preliminary evidence suggests that using a red font indirectly had an adverse effect on the cognitive feedback perception, mediated via the emotional feedback perception. As a practical implication, red should be used cautiously in critical feedback in order to avoid compromising the functions of feedback.

Relationship between feedback environment established by mentor and nurses' career adaptability: A cross-sectional study

AIM

The aim of this study was to explore nurses' feedback seeking, the contextual issues established by mentors and career adaptability in a Chinese context. In addition, this research explored the moderating role of nurses' political skill.

BACKGROUND

Mentors play a direct, important and distinct role in supporting mentees. However, little is known about the relationship between the contextual elements of mentor feedback and nurses' career adaptability.

DESIGN

This study was based on cross-sectional data collected from 303 frontline nurses.

METHOD

SPSS 22.0 was used for correlation and regression analysis, and the SPSS PROCESS macro was used for mediating, moderating and conditional process analysis.

RESULTS

Feedback environment established by the mentor is associated with nurses' feedback-seeking behaviour and career adaptability. The indirect association of feedback environment with career adaptability via feedback seeking is stronger for employees with high political skill than those with low political skill.

CONCLUSION

When mentors create a suitable context for feedback, nurses' career adaptability can be enhanced through feedback seeking, especially for nurses with high political skill.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Nurse managers should strive to build a supportive feedback environment established by mentor. It is necessary to improve nurses' political skills.

Leader–member exchange and employee health: an exploration of explanatory mechanisms

Purpose

The impact of employee health on organizations, individual employees and society as a whole is vast. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between leadership–member exchange (LMX) and employee mental and physical health. Additionally, two variables with strong empirical and theoretical ties to employee health (empowerment and stress) are explored as potential mediators.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses from 182 employees across two organizations were collected to measure study variables. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to analyze data and test hypotheses.

Findings

An association between LMX and employee health was found to be fully mediated by both empowerment and stress.

Originality/value

These findings contribute to the literature by providing evidence of the association between leadership and both the mental and physical health of employees. This phenomenon highlights the significant impact that leaders have on subordinates both at work and in their general lives outside of the workplace. Understanding the mediating pathways through which leadership comes to impact employee health creates new knowledge regarding the manner in which constructs as disparate as leadership and employee health come to form an association.

Enhancing Women's Well-Being: The Role of Psychological Capital and Perceived Gender Equity, With Social Support as a Moderator and Commitment as a Mediator

The study aims to determine the role of psychological capital and perceived gender equity on employee well-being, particularly women, and assess if commitment mediates and social support moderates the relationships between psychological capital, perceived gender equity, and well-being. A personal survey method was employed for data collection using standardized measures from a representative sample of 433 managers (201 women and 233 men) from private sector companies in India. The findings revealed that perceived gender equity in the workplace positively impacts employee well-being for both men and women, with the greater impact being on women's well-being. To Facilitate employee well-being, organizations can leverage the strengths of psychological capital through training interventions and can promote perceived gender equity through appropriate policies and practices. This bridges the knowledge gap in developing and utilizing psychological capital to enhance employee well-being, especially for women, who are under pressure due to their demanding multiple roles at work and home.

Associations of Work Stress, Supervisor Unfairness, and Supervisor Inability to Speak Spanish with Occupational Injury among Latino Farmworkers

Little is known about how psychosocial work factors such as work stress, supervisor fairness, and language barriers affect risk of occupational injury among Latino farmworkers. This study attempts to address these questions. Surveys were administered via interviews to 225 Latino thoroughbred farmworkers. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of occupational injury in the past year in relation to occupational characteristics. Work stress (OR 6.70, 95% CI 1.84-24.31), supervisor unfairness (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.14-9.73), longer tenure at farm (OR 2.67, 95% CI 1.13-6.34), and supervisor inability to speak Spanish (OR 2.29, 95% CI 1.05-5.00) were significantly associated with increased odds of occupational injury. Due to the associations between work stress, supervisor unfairness, supervisor inability to speak Spanish and injury, supervisor training to improve Spanish language ability and equitable management practices is merited. Future research is needed to understand the antecedents of work stress for Latino farmworkers.

How managers experience situations involving employee mental ill-health

Purpose

Mental health conditions such as depression are prevalent in working adults, costly to employers, and have implications for legal liability and corporate social responsibility. Managers play an important role in determining how employees’ and organizations’ interests are reconciled in situations involving employee mental ill-health issues. The purpose of this paper is to explore these situations from the perspective of managers in order to develop theory and inform practice in workplace mental health promotion.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 Australian managers who had supervised an employee with a mental health issue. Interview transcripts were content analyzed to explore themes in managers’ experiences.

Findings

Managing an employee with a mental health issue involves becoming aware of the issue, taking action to understand the situation and develop an action response, implementing the response and managing the ongoing situation. Each of these tasks had a range of positive and negative aspects to them, e.g., managing the situation can be experienced as both a source of stress for the manager but also as an opportunity to develop greater management skills.

Practical implications

Understanding line managers’ experiences is critical to successful implementation of HR policies regarding employee health and well-being. HR strategies for dealing with employee mental health issues need to consider implementation support for managers, including promotion of guiding policies, training, emotional support and creating a psychosocial safety climate in their work units or teams.

Originality/value

The insights gained from this study contribute to the body of knowledge regarding psychosocial safety climate, an emergent theoretical framework concerned with values, attitudes and philosophy regarding worker psychological health. The findings also have important implications for strategic human resource management approaches to managing mental health in the workplace.

How to Apply Feedback to Improve Subjective Wellbeing of Government Servants Engaged in Environmental Protection in China?

Background

In order to improve subjective wellbeing of government servants engaged in environmental protection who work in high power distance in China, it is important to understand the impact mechanism of feedback. This study aims to analyze how feedback environment influences subjective wellbeing through basic psychological needs satisfaction and analyzing the moderating role of power distance.

Method

The study was designed as a cross-sectional study of 492 government servants engaged in environment protection in Shandong, China. Government servants who agreed to participate answered self-report questionnaires concerning demographic conditions, supervisor feedback environment, basic psychological need satisfaction, and power distance as well as subjective wellbeing.

Results

Employees in higher levels of supervisor feedback environment were more likely to experience subjective wellbeing. Full mediating effects were found for basic psychological needs satisfaction. Specifically, supervisor feedback environment firstly led to increased basic psychological needs satisfaction, which in turn resulted in increased subjective wellbeing. Additional analysis showed that the mediating effect of basic psychological needs satisfaction was stronger for employees who work in high power distance than in low power distance.

Conclusion

The results from the study indicate that supervisor feedback environment plays a vital role in improving subjective wellbeing of government servants engaged in environmental protection through basic psychological needs satisfaction, especially in high power distance.

Are Leadership Fairness, Psychological Distress, and Role Stressors Interrelated? A Two-Wave Prospective Study of Forward and Reverse Relationships

While previous research has mainly considered leadership as an antecedent to psychological distress and role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and role conflict) among subordinates, a reverse relationship where these variables influence reports of leadership is also possible. To determine the directionality of the associations this two-wave prospective study assesses bidirectional relationships between fair leadership and role stressors and examines whether psychological distress mediates the reciprocal associations between fair leadership and the role stressors. Analyses were conducted in a sample of 6,790 Norwegian employees with a 2-year time-lag between measurement points. Fair leadership was associated with lower stability adjusted role ambiguity, but not role conflict, over time. Role conflict, but not role ambiguity, was related to subsequent reports of the immediate leader as less fair. Psychological distress did neither mediate the relationship between fair leadership and subsequent reports of role stressors, nor the association between role stressors and subsequent reports of fair leadership. The findings suggest that the fair leadership – role stressor association is not a one-directional process, but that exposure to role stressors also influence subordinates’ perceptions of leadership. An implication of the findings is that theoretical models of organizational leadership should include this reverse impact of role stressors. To reduce the effects of role stressors, organizations could set consistent, clear and attractive goals and provide employees with necessary information for conducting their work tasks in order to help workers understand and master their roles at the workplace.

Subordinates’ core self-evaluations and performance predict leader-rated LMX

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of subordinates’ individual differences or traits and their performance behavior on the formation of leaders’ LMX, based on leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, thus proposing that both who subordinates are and what they do may affect supervisors’ LMX perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach

Two studies were conducted. The first was a non-experimental field study and the second was a laboratory experiment.

Findings

Study 1, a non-experimental field study, HLM, showed that subordinates’ self-reported characteristics predict their leaders’ LMX ratings; Study 2, a laboratory experiment, showed that subordinate performance causes leaders’ LMX perceptions while holding subordinate’s individual differences constant.

Originality/value

The current research was the first to demonstrate experimentally that LMX develops over multiple interactions. Additionally, it demonstrates that task-oriented behavior (i.e. job performance) and personality characteristics (i.e. internal locus of control and self-efficacy) are predictors of LMX.

Using a Feedback Environment to Improve Creative Performance: A Dynamic Affect Perspective

Prior research on feedback and creative performance has neglected the dynamic nature of affect and has focused only on the influence of positive affect. We argue that creative performance is the result of a dynamic process in which a person experiences a phase of negative affect and subsequently enters a state of high positive affect that is influenced by the feedback environment. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze a sample of 264 employees from seven industry firms. The results indicate that employees' perceptions of a supportive supervisor feedback environment indirectly influence their level of creative performance through positive affect (t2); the negative affect (t1) moderates the relationship between positive affect (t2) and creative performance (t2), rendering the relationship more positive if negative affect (t1) is high. The change in positive affect mediates the relationship between the supervisor feedback environment and creative performance; a decrease in negative affect moderates the relationship between increased positive affect and creative performance, rendering the relationship more positive if the decrease in negative affect is large. The implications for improving the creative performances of employees are further discussed.

Impact of the Supervisor Feedback Environment on Creative Performance: A Moderated Mediation Model

Studies on the relationship between feedback and creative performance have only focused on the feedback-self and have underestimated the value of the feedback environment. Building on Self Determined Theory, the purpose of this article is to examine the relationship among feedback environment, creative personality, goal self-concordance and creative performance. Hierarchical regression analysis of a sample of 162 supervisor-employee dyads from nine industry firms. The results indicate that supervisor feedback environment is positively related to creative performance, the relationship between the supervisor feedback environment and creative performance is mediated by goal self-concordance perfectly and moderated by creative personality significantly. The mediation effort of goal self-concordance is significantly influenced by creative personality. The implication of improving employees' creative performance is further discussed. The present study advances several perspectives of previous studies, echoes recent suggestions that organizations interested in stimulating employee creativity might profitably focus on developing work contexts that support it.

Justice perceptions, leader-member exchange, and upward influence tactics

Purpose

The authors examine the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and the selection of upward influence tactics. The purpose of this paper is to integrate research on perceptions of justice, LMX, and influence tactics in order to empirically test an integrative model.

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires were administered to n=407 employed Masters of Business Administration students at a private Southeastern University in the USA. Structural equation modeling was used to test the statistical significance of paths specified in the models.

Findings

Results indicate that perceptions of organizational justice have indirect effects on upward influence tactics reported. LMX had mediating effects on the relationship between interactional justice and the use of rational and coalition tactics.

Research limitations/implications

The data are cross-sectional and were collected using self-reports, which limits the conclusions that can be drawn. The findings however, suggest that perceptions of interactional justice are associated with LMX, whose effects in turn are associated with the use of influence tactics.

Practical implications

Coalition strategies were used more when subordinates experienced poor LMX. The research suggests that perhaps for individuals experiencing poor relationships with the supervisor, coalition strategies might present an alternative to “rational” influence tactics (which are used more in high-quality relationships).

Originality/value

The current study extends LMX research by examining differing subordinate influence strategies in high- and low-quality relationships. It also extends organizational justice research by examining the effects of the interpersonal implementation of fair procedures on the dynamics between leadership and upward influence.

Why does interactional justice promote organizational loyalty, job performance, and prevent mental impairment? The role of social support and social stressors

Using social exchange theory as a conceptual framework, we investigated the relationship between interactional justice and the outcomes organizational loyalty (affective commitment, turnover intentions), perceived job performance (self-rated performance, personal accomplishment), and mental impairment (cognitive irritation, emotional exhaustion) in an online survey of 218 employees working in the field of computer technology. Specifically, we predicted that interactional justice would heighten the quality of social exchange relationships and therefore expected perceived social support (POS) and bullying to mediate the proposed relationships. We tested our hypotheses applying a latent structural equation model. Our findings revealed that POS mediated the relationship between interactional justice and organizational loyalty, whereas bullying mediated the relationship between interactional justice and mental impairment. Practical implications are discussed concerning how to foster interactional justice and POS and how to weaken bullying behavior.

Health-Relevant Leadership Behaviour: A Comparison of Leadership Constructs

There is empirical evidence that leadership behaviour is related to employee well-being. Most studies have analysed the relation between individual leadership constructs and indicators of employee well-being. There has been no systematic comparison of different leadership constructs with respect to their impact on different indicators of employee well-being within the same sample. The aim of our study was therefore to compare different leadership constructs with respect to their relation with indicators of positive and negative employee well-being. The sample consists of 1,045 health care workers. We conducted relative weight analyses and hierarchical regression analyses in order to identify the best leadership predictor for employee well-being. Our analyses reveal that leader-member exchange best predicts most of the well-being indicators and that the other leadership constructs fail to add substantial additional variance. Our findings advance the understanding of how leaders can enhance employee well-being and provide implications for research and practice.