How does abusive supervision restrict employees’ feedback-seeking behavior?

Beat People but Not Face: The Role of Perceived Face Threat in the Influence of Abusive Supervision on Employee Feedback Seeking

One of the purposes for superiors to abuse subordinates is to obtain a positive response from subordinates by conveying a negative attitude. However, abusive behavior cannot guarantee positive behaviors due to the differences in subordinates' characteristics, such as feedback seeking. Based on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study explores the relationship between abusive supervision by superiors and feedback seeking by subordinates in East Asian cultures. Questionnaires were collected from multiple time points and multiple sources. Datum analysis was performed on 318 paired questionnaires between employees and direct supervisors. The results showed that: (1) Employees' perceived face threat has a mediating effect on the relationship between abusive supervision and feedback seeking. (2) Self-affirmation of subordinates positively moderates the relationship between abusive supervision and perceived face threat. (3) Self-handicapping of subordinates positively moderates the relationship between perceived face threat and feedback seeking. This not only explains the mechanism of perceived face threat in the influence of abusive supervision on employees' feedback-seeking behavior, but also reveals the boundary effect of employees' self-affirmation and self-handicapping characteristics in it, which expands the theoretical explanation framework of the influence of abusive supervision on employees' feedback-seeking behavior and also provides new ideas for managers to better implement management in the organization.

Exploring the limits of mindfulness during the COVID-19 pandemic: qualitative evidence from African context

Purpose

This paper is one of the first studies to examine specificities, including limits of mindfulness at work in an African organisational context, whilst dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It specifically addresses the role of organisational and managerial support systems in restoring employee wellbeing, social connectedness and attachment to their organisations, in order to overcome the exclusion caused by the ongoing pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a qualitative research methodology that includes interviews as the main data source. The sample comprises of 20 entrepreneurs (organisational leaders) from Ghana and Nigeria.

Findings

The authors found that COVID-19-induced worries restricted the practice of mindfulness, and this was prevalent at the peak of the pandemic, particularly due to very tough economic conditions caused by reduction in salaries, and intensified by pre-existing general economic and social insecurities, and institutional voids in Africa. This aspect further resulted in lack of engagement and lack of commitment, which affected overall team performance and restricted employees’ mindfulness at work. Hence, quietness by employees even though can be linked to mindfulness was linked to larger psychological stress that they were facing. The authors also found leaders/manager’s emotional intelligence, social skills and organisational support systems to be helpful in such circumstances. However, their effectiveness varied among the cases.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first studies to establish a link between the COVID-19 pandemic and mindfulness limitations. Moreover, it is a pioneering study specifically highlighting the damaging impact of COVID-19-induced concerns on leader–member exchange (LMX) and team–member exchange (TMX) relationships, particularly in the African context. It further brings in a unique discussion on the mitigating mechanisms of such COVID-19-induced concerns in organisations and highlights the roles of manager’s/leader’s emotional intelligence, social skills and supportive intervention patterns. Finally, the authors offer an in-depth assessment of the effectiveness of organisational interventions and supportive relational systems in restoring social connectedness following a social exclusion caused by COVID-19-induced worries.

The hot and the cold in destructive leadership: Modeling the role of arousal in explaining leader antecedents and follower consequences of abusive supervision versus exploitative leadership

Due to its devastating consequences, research needs to theoretically and empirically disentangle different sub-types of destructive leadership. Based on concepts derived from aggression research distinguishing re- and proactive aggression, we provide a process model differentiating abusive supervision and exploitative leadership. High versus low arousal negative affect is installed as the central mediating factor determining (1) whether perceived goal-blockage (leadership antecedents) leads to abusive supervision versus exploitative leadership and (2) whether a specific leadership behavior leads to active versus passive follower behavior (leadership consequence). Further, theoretical anchoring of individual and contextual moderators onto the model's process paths is provided and exemplary hypotheses for concrete moderation effects are deduced. Based on the provided process model, we highlight four recommendations to facilitate process-based construct differentiation in future research on destructive leadership. To precisely understand the differences and commonalities in different forms of destructive leadership will ultimately enable custom-tailored inter- and prevention.

Plain Language Summary

Negative leadership—also named “destructive” leadership—has very bad effects on followers and organizations. There are not just one, but many forms of destructive leadership and it is important to understand where different sub-types come from (i.e., to understand their antecedents) and which specific effect they have (i.e., to understand their consequences). In this paper, we focus on better understanding two forms of destructive leadership, namely abusive supervision and exploitative leadership. These two forms are similar to the two main forms of aggression. Abusive supervision is similar to reactive aggression, an impulsive “hot blooded” form of aggression. Exploitative leadership is similar to proactive aggression, a premeditated “cold blooded” form of aggression. We explain the parallels between the two forms of aggression and the two forms of leadership and provide a model which allows to predict when one versus the other form of leadership occurs and to which follower behavior they lead. An important factor in this model is the physiological characteristic of the emotional reaction to an event (i.e., arousal). An emotional reaction can be high in arousal; for instance, anger is a high arousal negative emotional reaction. On the contrary, boredom, for instance, is a low arousal negative emotional reaction. Dependent on whether both a leader and a follower react to a negative event (e.g., not getting what they want, being treated badly by others) with high or low arousal, their behavior will be different. We explain how this mechanism works and how it can help us to better predict leaders' and followers' behavior. We also outline how individual characteristics of the leader and follower and characteristics of their environment and context interact with arousal and their behavior.

The Artificial Intelligence System for the Generation of Sports Education Guidance Model and Physical Fitness Evaluation Under Deep Learning

In recent years, China's achievements in artificial intelligence (AI) have attracted the attention of the world, and AI technology has penetrated into all walks of life. In particular, the in-depth integration of AI technology with sports education guidance and physical fitness evaluation has achieved very significant progress and results, which has improved the quality of life of people and provided more high-quality, customized, and personalized health management services for human beings. This study aimed to explore the application model of deep learning in sports education and guidance and in the analysis of the residents' physical fitness, so as to formulate a personalized and intelligent exercise program. The residents of A and B units are selected as the research object to evaluate the physical fitness. Subsequently, the self-designed questionnaire is used to survey the chronic disease online, and the acquired data are put into a deep learning model for the analysis to obtain the physique scoring results and exercise guidance. According to the results of physical fitness evaluation, the proportion of overweight was the highest (40.4%), followed by fatty liver (24.3%) and hyperlipidemia (20.4%), showing high incidence in people aged 41-50 years. The highest incidence of female gynecological diseases was gout (23.0%) and hyperlipidemia (20.6%). After exercise therapy, the scores were excellent and good. Conclusions: The database SQL Server 2005 was a platform for storing all kinds of data and knowledge-based rule information. The user's access service was provided by the remote server via the browser. Therefore, building a rule-based reasoning mechanism can realize physical test data collection, physical fitness evaluation, and information management for improving physical fitness.

The Influence of New Ventures' Work Environment and Innovation Behaviors on Corporate Performance

The purpose of the study is to improve the business performance of new ventures. The influence of working environment and innovation behavior on business performance based on personality psychology is studied. First, the relevant theories of new ventures are introduced, and then the structural equation model is displayed. Second, the conceptual model is constructed in response to the two influencing factors of new ventures. Finally, the influencing factors of new venture performance are extracted according to the conceptual model, and a questionnaire is designed. Statistical Product and Service Solutions software is used to analyze the questionnaire data. The results show that the proportion of new enterprise developers is from 8 to 16%, and the number of employees is <150 people. The establishment time of the surveyed enterprises is from 3 to 7 years, and the proportion of the enterprises whose establishment time is <3 years is 30.79%. Management means policies, exploratory innovation, and applicability innovation have different effects on the business performance of new ventures. Among them, the management means of managers have the greatest impact on business performance, accounting for 32.57%, followed by the applicability innovation behavior of employees, accounting for 29.47%; the exploratory innovation behavior of employees takes up 26.47%. The policy environment in the industry where the enterprise is located has the smallest impact on business performance. The results of the hypotheses show that exploratory innovation and applicability innovation do not influence each other; working environment and innovation behavior have a great influence on the performance of enterprises; the most influential factor is the management means of managers. This study provides a reference for new ventures to improve their performance based on the working environment and innovation behavior.

Design and interactive performance of human resource management system based on artificial intelligence

The purpose is to strengthen Human Resources Management (HRM) through information management using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. First, the selection criteria of the applicant’s resume during recruitment and the formulation standards of the contract salary are analyzed. Then, the resume information is extracted and converted into the data-type format. Besides, the salary forecast model in the HRM system (HRMS) is designed based on the Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN), and network structure, parameter initialization, and activation function of the BPNN are selected and optimized. The experimental results demonstrate that the algorithm optimized by the Nadm has shown improved convergence speed and forecast effect, with 187 iterations. Moreover, compared with other regression algorithms, the designed algorithm achieves the best test scores. The above results can provide references for designing the AI-based HRMS.

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.

Financial Risk Prediction and Entrepreneurs' Psychological Status Under Entrepreneurial Psychology

Entrepreneurship plays an important role in the development of national economy. The study aims to accelerate the construction of social and economic structure by improving the success rate of new entrepreneurs in the process of innovation and entrepreneurship. First, the related theories of financial risk prediction are introduced, and entrepreneurial psychological status and the psychological states on entrepreneurship are analyzed. Second, the current situation of entrepreneurial psychology of new entrepreneurs is analyzed through a questionnaire survey and model test. The results show that private enterprises account for the largest proportion, with a percentage of 58.14% of 125. In total, 32 Chinese-foreign joint ventures rank second and account for 14.88% of the total, and the scale of each type of enterprises accounts for 25%, respectively. The operating years of enterprises are mainly between 10 and 20 years. Among the enterprises surveyed, the significant level of entrepreneurial psychology and entrepreneurial opportunity of entrepreneurs is p = 0.000–0.01. It indicates that males’ psychological adjustment ability and entrepreneurial ability in the entrepreneurial process are higher than females’, and their entrepreneurial psychological states and entrepreneurial ability will improve with the growth of age, education levels, and positions. It is concluded that entrepreneurial psychological capital and entrepreneurial opportunity are significantly positively correlated with financial risk expectation. The research results prove the impact of financial risks on the entrepreneurial psychology of new entrepreneurs, and provide a reference for new entrepreneurs in predicting financial risks.

Role of Technological Knowledge and Entrepreneurial Orientation on Entrepreneurial Success: A Mediating Role of Psychological Capital

This study pursues to build the conceptual model of entrepreneurial success (ES) that discusses the concept and phenomenon of ES and its perquisites and outcomes. This proposed mode anticipated that factors technological knowledge (TK), entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and psychological knowledge influence ES. This paper explains previous literature on perquisites, the phenomenon of TK, EO and psychological knowledge, and ES. This conceptual paper targets the scholarly works that provide support for the proposed model. A significant contribution of this paper is to propose an original relationship between prerequisites, phenomena, and consequences in ES. The proposed model shows a novel conceptualization of how these constructs may be connected to affect ES outcomes. This study enhances the literature by providing the theoretical literature of forerunners and outcomes for ES. In addition, this study has important implications for practitioners and entrepreneurs to generate success in entrepreneurial activities. Based on new insights, this study also developed and suggested new approaches and opportunities for future research.

Why Not All the Powerful Abuse? The Competitive Effects of Psychological Distance and Self-Control

Building on the social distance theory of power, this study proposed the positive and negative mechanisms of power and their impacts on abusive supervision from the competitive perspectives of psychological distance and self-control. The boundary effects of independent self-construal were also analyzed. The hypotheses of this study were tested through questionnaires and an experimental study design. The Study 1 data were collected from 422 supervisors and subordinates from five private enterprises and one state-owned enterprise in Eastern China. Study 2, on the other hand, was conducted through a scenario-based experiment in which 180 part-time master of business administration (MBA) students from a university in Eastern China participated. All data were tested using polynomial regression analysis and a bootstrapping appraisal. The results revealed that (1) the relationship between power and abusive supervision is not significant; (2) psychological distance mediates the relationship between power and abusive supervision, with high power leading to higher psychological distance, which, in turn, strengthens abusive supervision; (3) self-control mediates the relationship between power and abusive supervision, with high power leading to higher self-control, which, in turn, weakens abusive supervision; (4) the mediating effect of psychological distance is stronger, and the mediating effect of self-control is weaker when independent self-construal is high rather than low. At the end of this study, the theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Impact of the Stress Status of Employees on the Enterprise Technology Management Cost Through Matter-Element Analysis Under Psychological Health Education

In this study, in order to analyze the stress sources and stress-coping strategies of employees in construction enterprises, to explore the influencing factors of enterprise technical management cost, and to offer suggestions for mental health education of employees, 372 employees of Shandong Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd. were selected for a questionnaire survey. The influences of stress sources and stress-coping strategies on the mental health of employees were compared, based on different demographic variables. The evaluation model was constructed using the matter-element analysis to rank the factors influencing the enterprise technology management cost. The results showed that the stress value of work characteristics was the highest (4.26 ± 0.511), followed by the organizational structure and atmosphere (4.15 ± 0.382); stress-coping strategies at the individual level (1.84 ± 0.315) scored higher than that at the organizational level (1.67 ± 0.248) (P < 0.05). Notable differences were observed in balance between work and family between males and females (P < 0.05); in work characteristics, role orientation, personal relationship, and balance between work and family between subjects of different ages (P < 0.05); in work characteristics, and balance between work and family between the married and the unmarried (P < 0.05); and in role stress and work characteristics between subjects in different positions (P < 0.05). The evaluation results revealed that the factors influencing the technology management cost of enterprises included price index, development cost, fixed investment proportion, power equipment rate, mechanical artificial intelligence, labor cost, rate of technical equipment, the output value, informatization of technology management, and national policy. In conclusion, the two major sources of stress for employees in Luoyang Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd. were as follows: (1) work characteristics and (2) organizational structure and atmosphere. Besides, many employees adopted the stress-coping strategies at the individual level, and enterprises needed to strengthen the psychological health education for employees at the organizational level. In practice, the enterprise needed to add importance to the development of mechanical artificial intelligence, informatization of technology management, and national policy.

The Effect of Psychological Contract Combined With Stress and Health on Employees' Management Behavior

In order to effectively manage employees and improve their work enthusiasm, based on the theoretical basis of project team members' psychological contract, the status quo of employees' psychological contract, stress and health status are investigated and analyzed. The differences of employees' psychological contract are analyzed through the questionnaire. A total of 400 questionnaires are distributed and 365 are returned. The method of one-way ANOVA is used to study the psychological contract status of project members from four aspects: gender, education background, position level, and working years, and obtain the results of difference analysis in four aspects. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) is used to evaluate the work stress of employees. The results show that gender, education background, position level and working years have different effects on employees' psychological contract. Moreover, if employees continue to bear high-intensity work stress, a series of psychological and physical health problems will appear, such as difficulty in concentration. For enterprises, the poor psychological and physical conditions of employees will make the overall work inefficient and the working atmosphere dull. Therefore, enterprises should control employees' work stress within a reasonable range, and should not blindly impose high-intensity work stress on employees. This exploration demonstrates the way to realize the psychological contract construction of project team members, and targeted employee management countermeasures are put forward.

Supervisor narcissistic rage: political support as an antidote

Purpose

This research examines how perceived supervisor political support (SPS) moderates the relationship between perceived supervisor narcissistic rage (SNR) and relevant employee work outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

Across three studies (Study 1: 604 student-recruited working adults; Study 2: 156 practicing lawyers: Study 3: 161 municipality employees), employees provided ratings for SPS, SNR and ratings of their job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), depressed work mood and work neglect.

Findings

Results supported the authors’ argument that SPS moderates the relationship between SNR and work outcomes. Specifically, SNR was associated with unfavorable outcomes only when SPS was low. When SPS was high, SNR had little effect on job satisfaction, OCBs, depressed mood and neglect.

Research limitations/implications

Results affirm that supervisor characteristics considered toxic do not always provoke adverse reactions when considering other leader features simultaneously.

Practical implications

Supervisors capable of offering political support can positively influence subordinate attitudes, behaviors and well-being even when other aspects of their personality potentially initiate antagonism.

Originality/value

This study is the first to examine SNR features and informal support activities concurrently.

Exploration and Analysis on the Psychological Capital of Entrepreneurship and the Deviant Innovation Behavior of Employees

This study aims to explore the psychological capital of entrepreneurship and the deviant innovation behavior of employees, thereby providing theoretical support for the implementation of Chinese innovation policy. By analyzing the previous research results, this study used questionnaires to collect the required data for exploration. Two questionnaires were designed: one was a survey for the psychological capital of entrepreneurship, and the other was a survey for deviant innovation behavior of employees. The research results show that the correlation coefficient between entrepreneurial performance and entrepreneurial psychological capital is 0.29, indicating that there is a significant correlation between entrepreneurial psychological capital and entrepreneurial performance; the correlation coefficient between entrepreneurial opportunity ability and entrepreneurial performance is 0.40, indicating that there is a significant correlation between entrepreneurial opportunity ability and entrepreneurial performance; the correlation coefficient between entrepreneurial psychological capital and entrepreneurial opportunity ability is 0.81, indicating that there is a significant correlation between entrepreneurial psychological capital and entrepreneurial opportunity ability. In addition, there are significant correlations between the work values and psychological empowerment of employees, the work values and deviance innovation of employees, and the psychological empowerment and deviance innovation of employees. The scores of psychological empowerment and work values of employees during the period of low emotional intelligence show a downward trend, while the scores of the psychological empowerment of employees increase significantly when they show high emotional intelligence, and the differences are statistically significant. When task interdependence is high, the psychological empowerment and deviance innovation scores of employees are lower, and the difference is statistically significant. For this purpose, this study enriches the research on psychological capital and deviant innovation and provides a reference for the practice of innovation management.

Analysis of the Influence of Entrepreneur's Psychological Capital on Employee's Innovation Behavior Under Leader-Member Exchange Relationship

How to make use of leaders' psychological capital to improve the innovation behavior of employees has become an important issue for the talent management of enterprises today, and it is also the goal that enterprises must pursue if they want to stand out in fierce competition. Therefore, a total of 154 enterprises in a high-tech area were selected for questionnaire survey in this study. The correlation between leader-member exchange (LMX) relationship (emotion, loyalty, contribution, and professional respect), leaders' psychological capital (confidence, hope, optimism, and tenacity), and employees' innovation behaviors were analyzed based on multivariate regression. Hierarchical regression method was used to examine the mediating effect of the LMX. It was found that confidence, toughness, and contribution were significantly positively correlated with employee innovation behavior (p < 0.001). The positive correlation between hope, optimism, emotion, and loyalty with employees' innovation behavior was significant (p < 0.05). Besides, emotion, loyalty, and contribution had mediating effects on the leaders' psychological capital and the innovation behavior of employees. In conclusion, leaders' psychological capital can have a significant positive effect on the innovation behavior of employees directly, and it can also have an indirect positive effect on the innovation behavior of employees by maintaining high quality LMX.

The Influence Factors of Psychological Understanding and Behavior Choice for Legal Industry Entrepreneurs Based on Artificial Intelligence Technology

This study is aimed to promote China's support for innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of the rapid development of the artificial intelligence industry. Considering the advance law-based governance implemented in this country, the relationship between the psychological understanding and behavior choice of entrepreneurs in the law industry and artificial intelligence industry was explored. The investigation was conducted in the form of questionnaire survey, and the data were collected by sending emails. In addition, the model was established to make the investigation direction clearer. The reliability analysis of the questionnaire was carried out by means of Cronbach α reliability coefficient. The validity analysis of the questionnaire was carried out by Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) coefficient. The statistical software was used to analyze the correlation between the factors in the investigation. The results show that there is a positive correlation between behavior speed in the psychological understanding of entrepreneurs in the legal industry as well as the entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneur behavior. The concentration of entrepreneurs' behavior is negatively correlated with the entrepreneur's industrial experience. The behavior speed and concentration of entrepreneurs in the artificial intelligence industry are negatively correlated with the age of entrepreneurs, but their entrepreneurial behavior and psychological understanding do not show correlation. The behavior speed and concentration of entrepreneurs in the artificial intelligence industry are positively correlated with product innovation, technological innovation, and market innovation. Therefore, the behavior choice of entrepreneurs in the legal industry are highly correlated with psychological understanding. The entrepreneurs' psychological understanding and behavior choice in the field of artificial intelligence do not show a direct correlation but indirect correlation through indirect factor innovation opportunities. The investigation on entrepreneurs' psychological understanding and behavior choice can provide important theoretical support for entrepreneurs in China's legal industry and artificial intelligence industry.

The Effects of Dynamic Work Environments on Entrepreneurs' Humble Leader Behaviors: Based on Uncertainty Reduction Theory

Although it is widely acknowledged that the environments faced by entrepreneurs now are more dynamic than ever, little is known about the effect of dynamic work environments on entrepreneurs' leader behaviors. Based on the uncertainty reduction theory and the data from 197 entrepreneurs and their subordinates, this research found a positive relationship between dynamic work environments and entrepreneurs' humble leader behaviors. Moreover, this positive relationship can be mediated by entrepreneurs' feedback-seeking behavior. And the relationship between dynamic work environments and entrepreneurs' humble leader behaviors (via feedback-seeking) can be moderated by entrepreneurs' intolerance of uncertainty. The contributions and implications of this study are discussed.