Employees' Political Skill and Job Performance: An Inverted U-Shaped Relation?

Dimensionalized goal orientation, innovation climate, and knowledge sharing behavior in higher education research teams

Knowledge sharing behavior (KSB) in the work process is governed by achievement goals and organizational environments. It is of great value to focus on whether achievement goal orientation can effectively predict the employees knowledge sharing in the context of team innovation climate. On the basis of the data from 29 scientific research teams in China's higher education, a multi-layer linear model is constructed to investigate the cross-level relationship. The study finds that learning goal orientation (LGO) and performance proof orientation (PPO) contribute to knowledge sharing, performance avoidance orientation (PAO) tends to be knowledge hiding, and their political skills (PS) consolidate the connections. Team innovation climate not only promotes knowledge sharing behavior, but also activates the traits related to individuals' shared behavior in performance proof orientation, which has enhanced the relationship between achievement goal orientation and knowledge sharing, but has no effect on learning goal orientation and performance avoidance orientation.

The relationship between the political skills and negotiation behaviors of front-line nursing managers

BACKGROUND

Frontline nursing managers must possess sufficient political skills to successfully navigate organizational structures and relationships and produce positive results in complex healthcare systems.

AIM

This study explores the relationship between the political skills and negotiation behaviors of frontline nursing managers.

METHOD

The researchers adopted a quantitative correlational methodology to conduct the study in two selected hospitals with 100 frontline nursing managers determined through convenience sampling. Political Skill Inventory and Negotiation Self-Assessment Inventory were used to assess the political skills of nurse managers and measure the behaviors that they rely on most readily during negotiations, respectively.

RESULTS

The study sample had an average level of political skill and relied moderately on compromise during negotiations. There was a strong positive correlation between political skills, accommodation, and collaboration behaviors. Moreover, there was a strong negative correlation between political skills, avoidance, and competition. Further, there was a negative correlation between political skills and compromise behavior of negotiation.

CONCLUSION

Although nursing managers used different negotiation behaviors at different degrees in different situations, they mostly relied on compromise during negotiation. Therefore, hospital administrators should work on improving frontline nursing managers' political skills to improve their negotiation behaviors.

Understanding Zhongyong Using a Zhongyong Approach: Re-examining the Non-linear Relationship Between Creativity and the Confucian Doctrine of the Mean

Zhongyong, a central theme of Confucian thought, refers to the “doctrine of the mean,” or the idea that moderation in all things is the optimal path. Despite considerable interest in the relationship between zhongyong and creativity, especially in China, studies of this relationship have not yielded consistent results. Based on a review of the literature, we hypothesized that this inconsistency arises from the dual nature of zhongyong itself, which has both a positive side, promoting creativity, and a negative side, inhibiting creativity. We also hypothesized that the negative side of zhongyong takes the form of excessive zhongyong. Indeed, the observations that every coin has two sides and that too much of a good thing is as bad as too little are core principles of zhongyong in traditional Chinese culture. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two empirical studies (measuring explicit and implicit zhongyong personality, respectively) to examine the relationships between positive and negative zhongyong and creativity (measured in terms of creative personality, divergent thinking, and convergent thinking). The results of both studies revealed an interaction between positive zhongyong and negative zhongyong, indicating that only a moderate level of zhongyong is conducive to creativity; both deficiency and excess are harmful. We discuss the implications of these results, suggesting that a zhongyong approach can help to clarify non-linear relationships between things, and recommending to re-assess the creativity of Chinese culture from a neutral and objective outlook. This paper deepens understanding of zhongyong and offers clear insights into creativity from an in-depth cultural perspective.

The Too Little/Too Much Scale

This article describes the too little/too much (TLTM) scale as an innovation in rating scale methodology that may facilitate research on the too-much-of-a-good-thing effect. Two studies demonstrate how this scale can improve the ability to detect curvilinear relationships in leadership research. In Study 1, leaders were rated twice on a set of leader behaviors: once using a traditional 5-point Likert scale and once using the TLTM scale, which ranged between –4 ( much too little), 0 ( the right amount), and +4 ( much too much). Only linear effects were observed for the Likert ratings, while the TLTM ratings demonstrated curvilinear, inverted U-shaped relationships with performance. Segmented regressions indicated that Likert ratings provided variance associated with the too little range of the TLTM scale but not in the too much range. Further, the TLTM ratings added incremental validity over Likert ratings, which was entirely due to variance from the too much range. Study 2 replicated these findings using a more fine-grained, 9 -point Likert scale, ruling out differences in scale coarseness as an explanation for why the TLTM scale was better at detecting curvilinear effects.