Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

A Cross-Cultural Examination Of Preferences For Work Attributes, Melissa S. Woodard, Jane K. Miller, Daniel Miller, Kirk D. Silvernail, Chun Guo, Sudhir Nair, Mehmet Devrim Aydin, Ana Helosia Da Costa Lemos, Paul Donnelly, Vilmante Kumpikaite, Robert Marx, Linda M. Peters

Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between individual- and country-level values and preferences for job/organizational attributes. Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from 475 full-time employees (average of nine years work experience, and three years in a managerial position) enrolled in part-time MBA programs in seven countries. Findings – Preference for a harmonious workplace is positively related to horizontal collectivism, whereas preference for remuneration/advancement is positively related to vertical individualism. The authors also find a positive relationship between preference for meaningful work and horizontal individualism, and between preference for employer prestige and social adjustment …

2016 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Management And Telework, Arlene J. Nicholas

Faculty and Staff - Articles & Papers

This chapter discusses telework as a desirable option for workers and a valuable tool for employers to attract and retain employees. Telework's many benefits are appealing to technologically competent and confident workers. Managers may be concerned with employee accessibility, productivity and possible loss of management roles (Arnold, 2006). When Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer banned working from home, it was described as a step backward that countered studies of increased productivity, retention and job satisfaction that could demoralize the workers (Cohan, 2013; Gaudreau, 2013). An overview of benefits, incentives, organizational examples as well as possible deterrents and management resistance are identified.

The Effect Of Corporate Social Performance On Acquisition Performance, Sammy G. Muriithi

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I investigate the impact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement may have on post-acquisition performance outcomes. I argue that prospective targets are among the audiences that observe the firm's corporate social activities and make judgments out of the signals portrayed by such activity. With prospective targets being largely more successful than their counterparts, it stands to reason that they would prefer to be acquired by successful firms that would likely assure benefits in the long term. The socially responsible acquirer would likely be viewed as the more attractive suitor since the established moral and reputational capital present …

The Perception Of Knowledge Management System Implementation To Employee Performance Is Measured With Balanced Scorecard At Pt Vale Indonesia Tbk, Yeni Febriyani

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Knowledge Management System (KMS) is a necessary concept as knowledge possessed by each individual employee is an intellectual property asset that will provide benefits for any organization. In a company, in terms of KMS, employees’ performance holds an important role in helping run the business of the company becoming sustainable and successful. Therefore, the measurement of employees’ performance based on a balanced scorecard is needed to understand the current business situation. This research helped focus on the perception between the KMS and employee’s performance based on a balanced scorecard (BSC) regarding a financial perspective, customer perspective, internal business process perspective, …

An Acculturation Program For Foreign-Born Workers At Multinational Companies Transferred To Offices In The United States, Eric Krieger

Capstone Collection

The purpose of this study is to create an acculturation program that multinational companies can use to ease the transition of foreign-born employees who are transferred to the United States. There are a number of challenges for these employees, from navigating the logistics of finding a place to live, setting up a bank account and filling out taxes to the social emotional issues of trying to adapt to another culture, build community and be successful in a new work environment. Through interviews with foreign-born employees, Human Resources professionals, and intercultural trainers, qualitative and quantitative data was collected to understand current …

Knowledge Cluster Development Through Connectivity: Examples From Southeast Asia, Hans-Dieter Evers, Thomas Menkhoff

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Whereas since the 1990s national and regional planners saw the creation of knowledge clusters as a panacea for gaining a competitive advantage to propel a region or country into a higher stage of industrial development, recent research suggests that connectivity (e.g. through broadband penetration or joint research connections with collaborators elsewhere) is one of the enablers for socio-economic development. This paper will draw on the results of studies on knowledge clusters in Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore) as well as the relevant current literature to ask the question, whether knowledge clusters really contribute to regional development and if yes, …

How Do We Adopt Multiple Cultural Identities? A Multidimensional Operationalization Of The Sources Of Culture, Badri Zolfaghari, Guido Mollering, Timothy Adrian Robert Clark, Graham Dietz

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Given the shortcomings of unidimensional accounts of culture that are based on nationality, this paper builds on and steps beyond current multidimensional conceptualizations of culture in order to provide first empirical evidence for a multidimensional operationalization of culture. It shows the multiple and simultaneous sources of cultural values (i.e., Family, Nationality, Urban/Rural Background, etc.) that individuals draw from in order to behave in accordance with their social setting. This contributes to our understanding of how and when individuals adopt multiple cultural identities. As the first attempt to operationalize the 'mosaic' framework of culture proposed by Chao and Moon (2005), this …

The Benefits Of Bad Economies: Business Cycles And Time-Based Work-Life Conflict, Christopher M. Barnes, Alexandru Lefter, Devasheesh P. Bhave, David Turley Wagner

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Recent management research has indicated the importance of family, sleep, and recreation as nonwork activities of employees. Drawing from entrainment theory, we develop an expanded model of work-life conflict to contend that macrolevel business cycles influence the amount of time employees spend on both work and nonwork activities. Focusing solely on working adults, we test this model in a large nationally representative dataset from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that spans an 8-year period, which includes the “Great Recession” from 2007 through 2009. We find that during economic booms, employees work more and therefore spend less time with family, sleeping, …

Organizational Development And Learning Technology In The Workplace: The Migration Of University Reporting Tools, Anne C. Pinder

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study focused on organizational development (OD) as it related to implementing a new technology, the Cognos reporting tool, within working groups at a mid-sized University, in southern New Jersey. In this study, I intended to understand how these two work groups accomplished this change on an individual, team, and organizational level, while they achieved success through dealing with stressors associated with the software implementation. I was especially interested in how individuals in the two workgroups dealt with a major change within their organization. I was also interested in evaluating my personal leadership skills as a contributor to the …

Authentic Servant-Leadership Exemplified By Early Childhood Educator David Lawrence Jr.: A Case Study, Blanca Correa-Cespedes

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advocacy and leadership style are essential concepts in education. This qualitative case study was undertaken to demonstrate how Robert K. Greenleaf’s servant-leadership framework could be a useful framework to adopt by educational leaders and child advocates. Servant-leadership identifies the needs of others as a primary goal of leadership. The study contributes to understanding the value of exemplary servant-leadership and advocacy in public education as demonstrated by David Lawrence Jr. The researcher addressed questions regarding how Lawrence embodies servant-leadership traits and explored how a servant-leader has been positively influencing early childhood public educational policy in Florida to benefit all children.

There …

Understanding Millennial, Generation X, And Baby Boomer Preferred Leadership Characteristics: Informing Today’S Leaders And Followers, Lee-Volker Cox

Dissertations

Purpose. This quantitative study’s purpose was to describe and determine the degree of difference and importance of leadership characteristics as perceived by Baby Boom, Generation X, and Millennial generational cohort followers in STEM-related U.S.-based or headquartered aerospace and computer organizations as measured by the Multigenerational Leadership Characteristics Questionnaire (MLCQ).

Methodology. This was a cross-sectional, nonexperimental, comparative and correlational quantitative, ex post facto study. A web-based MLCQ was developed after conducting an academic literature review. Participants used a 6-point Likert scale identifying the importance of 30 characteristics with 2 aggregation questions identifying the most and least important characteristics; 408 members of …

Underestimating Our Influence Over Others’ Unethical Behavior And Decisions, Vanessa K. Bohns, M. Mahdi Roghaniziad, Amy Z. Xu

Vanessa K. Bohns

We examined the psychology of “instigators,” i.e., people who surround an unethical act and influence the wrongdoer (the “actor”) without directly committing the act themselves. In four studies, we found that instigators of unethical acts underestimated their influence over actors. In Studies 1 and 2, university students enlisted other students to commit a “white lie” (Study 1) or commit a small act of vandalism (Study 2) after making predictions about how easy it would be to get their fellow students to do so. In Studies 3 and 4, online samples of participants responded to hypothetical vignettes, e.g., about buying children …

Guilt By Design: Structuring Organizations To Elicit Guilt As An Affective Reaction To Failure, Vanessa K. Bohns, Francis K. Flynn

Vanessa K. Bohns

In this article, we outline a model of how organizations can effectively shape employees’ affective reactions to failure. We do not suggest that organizations eliminate the experience of negative affect following performance failures—instead, we propose that they encourage a more constructive form of negative affect (guilt) instead of a destructive one (shame). We argue that guilt responses prompt employees to take corrective action in response to mistakes, while shame responses are likely to elicit more detrimental effects of negative affect. Further, we suggest that organizations can play a role in influencing employees’ discrete emotional reactions to the benefit of both …

Opposites Fit: Regulatory Focus Complementarity And Relationship Well-Being, Vanessa K. Bohns, Gale M. Lucas, Daniel C. Molden, Eli J. Finkel, Michael K. Coolsen, Madoka Kumashiro, Caryl E. Rusbult, E. Tory Higgins

Vanessa K. Bohns

Two studies of romantic couples examined the circumstances under which complementary goal-pursuit strategies (specifically, the pairing of a relationship partner who prefers to pursue goals eagerly with a relationship partner who prefers to pursue goals vigilantly) lead to positive relationship outcomes. As hypothesized, couples who reported higher levels of goal congruence (Study 1) or greater self-other overlap (Study 2) benefited from complementary regulatory focus orientations. We suggest that such benefits stem from the advantages provided by the availability of both eager and vigilant strategic preferences, which allow complementary couples to “divide and conquer” goal pursuits as a unit so that …

Implicit Theories Of Attraction, Vanessa K. Bohns, Abigail A. Scholer, Uzma Rehman

Vanessa K. Bohns

Sexual satisfaction is an important component of relationship well-being within romantic relationships. Yet, relatively little is known about the psychological factors that predict responses to the inevitable sexual challenges couples face. Four studies provide evidence that implicit theories of sexual attraction as either fixed or malleable predict responses to sexual challenges. In Studies 1 and 2, individual differences in these beliefs predicted (above and beyond other implicit theories, relationship beliefs, and measures of sexual desire) perceptions of success for a relationship lacking sexual chemistry. In Study 3, these beliefs predicted actual relationship outcomes in committed couples. Finally, in Study 4, …

Regulatory Focus And Interdependent Economic Decision-Making, Jun Gu, Vanessa K. Bohns, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli

Vanessa K. Bohns

Traditional theories of self-interest cannot predict when individuals pursue relative and absolute economic outcomes in interdependent decision-making, but we argue that regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997) can. We propose that a concern with security (prevention focus) motivates concerns with social status, leading to the regulation of relative economic outcomes, but a concern with growth (promotion focus) motivates the maximization of opportunities, leading to a focus on absolute outcomes. Two studies supported our predictions; regardless of prosocial or proself motivations, a promotion focus yielded greater concern with absolute outcomes, but a prevention focus yielded greater concern with relative outcomes. Also, Study 3 …

Underestimating Our Influence Over Others At Work, Vanessa K. Bohns, Francis J. Flynn

Vanessa K. Bohns

Employees at all organizational levels have influence over their subordinates, their colleagues, and even their bosses. But are they aware of this influence? We present evidence suggesting that employees are constrained by cognitive biases that lead them to underestimate their influence over others in the workplace. As a result of this underestimation of influence, employees may be reluctant to spearhead organizational change, discount their own role in subordinates’ performance failures, and fail to speak up in the face of wrongdoing. In addition to reviewing evidence for this bias, we propose five moderators that, when present, may reverse or attenuate the …

Liking The Same Things, But Doing Things Differently: Outcome Versus Compatibility In Partner Preferences For Joint Tasks, Vanessa K. Bohns, E. Tory Higgins

Vanessa K. Bohns

We propose a distinction between two types of interpersonal compatibility in determining partner preferences for joint tasks: outcome compatibility and strategic compatibility. We argue that these two types of compatibility correspond to preferences for similar and complementary task partners, respectively. Five studies support this distinction. A pilot study demonstrates that established scales for measuring attitudes and values (variables associated with similarity effects) capture more information about desired outcomes, whereas established scales for measuring dominance (the variable most widely associated with complementarity effects) capture more information about desired strategies. Studies 1a and 1b demonstrate that framing the same variable as either …

Unpacking Unintended Consequences In Planned Organizationalchanges: A Process Model, Guowei Jian

Guowei Jian

The author develops a process model of the unintended consequences in planned organizational change that draws on the structuration, organizational change, and organizational tension literatures. The model depicts the communicative actions of both senior management and employees and reveals the dynamic through which unintended consequences unfold. The model extends theoretical understandings of planned organizational change and discusses how future research can build a dialectic and dialogic model of planned change focused on employee participation. The author illustrates the model with a case study of organizational change and its unintended consequences. The article concludes with insights on change management for practitioners …