Learning from mistakes climate scale: Development and validation

Learning from mistakes plays an important role in employee development; however, such a learning scale has not yet been developed. The objective of this study was to develop and examine the psychometric properties of the Learning from Mistakes Climate Scale (LMCS) in Malaysia. A pool of items was first developed based on the literature, with an expert panel then convened to select items that met the definition of learning from mistake climate in the workplace, specifically in Malaysia. The experts agreed on 23 items to be rated. In total, 554 working adults with a mean age of 32.28 were then recruited for this study. The LMCS was administered at baseline and 10–14 days later as a retest: 468 participants took part in the retest study, a dropout rate of 15.52%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the LMCS is a 17-item one-factor model. Validity, in its various forms, was supported, namely convergent validity, criterion validity, and predictive validity. Analysis also showed significant reliability, that is, test–retest reliability and in all intra-class correlations. The LMCS was found to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess the learning from mistake climate in Malaysia. This is the first scale in the organizational learning climate literature to integrate the mistake tolerance aspect. This instrument can assist in creating a psychologically safe work environment that helps to facilitate learning, especially in a highly hierarchical, collectivistic culture that is high in power distance.

<p>Do All Types of Compassion Increase Prosocial Lying?</p>

Background

Previous studies have shown that compassion increases prosocial lying. However, in the present study, we proposed that compassion toward individuals who are frustrated in striving for minimal living conditions (named here as compassion for other’s survival in suffering, abbreviated as COSS) increases prosocial lying, while compassion toward individuals frustrated in seeking development conditions (named here as compassion for other’s development in suffering, abbreviated as CODS) has little effect on prosocial lying.

Methods

In Studies 1 and 2, we asked participants to evaluate the same text twice before and after experimentally experiencing emotion to test the above hypotheses. In Study 3, we created a situation with a strong moral conflict between prosociality and truth-telling to investigate the potential psychological mechanisms.

Results

In Study 1, we show that COSS and CODS both increased prosocial lying. Notably, COSS effect on prosocial lying was significantly higher than CODS effect on prosocial lying. These findings were augmented by results from Study 2, which showed that individuals with low-trait compassion in COSS condition engaged in more prosocial lying than those with high trait compassion in CODS condition. In Study 3, we report that COSS increased prosocial lying significantly, while CODS did not.

Conclusion

COSS and CODS are two different types of compassion as shown in Studies 1 and 2; they have different potential psychological mechanisms on increasing prosocial lying (Study 3a and 3b). This study provides additional information on the theory of compassion, which is important in exploring compassion effects.

Managerial assignments of credit and blame: a five-country study of leadership desirability

Purpose

Although the international business literature has examined leader traits that are desirable in different cultures, it has not examined critical behaviors or managerial attributions of credit and blame. Credit and blame attributions have important consequences for the desirability of leadership across cultures. Arguing that these types of managerial attributions are likely to have a strong impact on what constitutes desirable leadership; the authors examine them in five countries, namely, USA, France, India, Turkey and Vietnam. The purpose of this paper is to contribute by examining the influence of credit and blame attributions on subordinate satisfaction and leadership perceptions (desirability), unaddressed in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The model was tested using questionnaire responses of subordinates in a variety of business organizations, from the five countries indicated, including manufacturing, telecommunication, financial and other services.

Findings

Using the implicit leadership theory, the authors contribute by demonstrating the importance of these attributions for leadership perceptions in five different cultures. The results are supportive of the hypotheses and suggest the important moderating role of subordinate performance for leadership perceptions. The authors discuss findings in the context of the literature, highlight contributions and identify limitations and future directions.

Originality/value

Using the implicit leadership theory, the authors contribute by demonstrating the importance of these attributions for leadership perceptions in five different cultures.