Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons^™

Beyond The Bright Side: Dark Personality At Work, Peter D. Harms, Seth M. Spain

P. D. Harms Publications

Despite the long history of the psychological study of dark personality characteristics and the recent surge of interest in the topic, much work remains to fully understand the breadth and depth of the impact of dark personality in the workplace. This commentary briefly covers the history of dark personality, discusses the place of this special issue within that history, and then proposes a number of avenues for future research in terms of defining, measuring, and providing a more comprehensive theoretical framework for the study of dark personality.

Effects Of Psychological Capital On Mental Health And Substance Abuse, Dina V. Krasikova, Paul B. Lester, Peter D. Harms

P. D. Harms Publications

Luthans, Youssef, Sweetman, and Harms proposed a holistic approach to psychological capital that involves examining psychological capital and its effects across multiple life domains, including work, relationships, and health. This article focuses on the effects of psychological capital on objective health outcomes. Using data from a sample of 1,889 U.S. Army soldiers, we demonstrate that soldiers with higher levels of psychological capital prior to deployment were less likely to receive diagnoses for mental health problems and substance abuse postdeployment. In addition, the effects of psychological capital on mental health diagnoses were mediated by soldiers’ overall health perceptions.

Quality Management And Innovation: New Insights On A Structural Contingency Framework, Dara Schniederjans, Marc Schniederjans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

With increasing market competition, organizations are striving for greater innovation in products and services. Quality management has the potential to invigorate an organization’s product, process and administrative innovation when strategically aligned with internal contingencies. This paper seeks to address the relationship between social and technical quality management with innovation. Moreover, this paper empirically assesses contingency factors including organization size, task and managerial ethics which play roles in moderating the relationship between quality management and innovation. Based on an empirical study we find social quality management practices, not technical quality management practices, are positively associated with innovation. We also find a …

Racial Differences In Job Attribute Preferences: The Role Of Ethnic Identity And Self-Efficacy, Jakari N. Griffith, Gwendolyn M. Combs

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Using a sample of 149 white and 190 black business students, the authors examined racial differences in job attribute preferences. Results of this study indicate there were significant racial differences in 19 of 21 job attributes examined, with black students placing greater importance on job attributes than white students. Investigation of the mechanisms contributing to this difference reveals that the relationship between race and job attribute preferences was mediated by ethnic identity. Furthermore, the relationship between ethnic identity and job attributes was moderated by personal efficacy, with higher self-efficacy levels leading to greater importance placed on job attributes.

The Influence Of Exploration On External Corporate Venturing Activity, Varkey K. Titus Jr., Jenny M. House, Jeffrey G. Covin

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

We utilize the exploration/exploitation framework to examine how a firm’s engagement in exploration influences its portfolio of external corporate venturing (ECV) activities. Three forms of equity-based ECV are considered: corporate venture capital investments, joint ventures, and acquisitions. The organizational learning literature is used to investigate how a firm’s engagement in exploration influences its usage of acquisitions relative to its overall portfolio of ECV activities. The investing firm’s industry technological dynamism is posited as a moderator of the relationship between exploration and the relative usage of acquisitions. Utilizing a sample of 1,326 firm-year observations between 1996 and 2008, we find that …

Contagion Effect Of Global Leaders’ Positive Psychological Capital On Followers: Does Distance And Quality Of Relationship Matter?, Joana S. P. Story, Carolyn M. Youssef-Morgan, Fred Luthans, John E. Barbuto Jr., James A. Bovaird

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

A key assumption of effective international human resource management (IHRM) is that global leaders influence and serve as role models for their followers, regardless of the inherent distance (physical and frequency of interaction) between them in today’s global context or the quality of the relationship. Although considerable attention has been devoted to cultural differences between global leaders and their diverse followers and teams, this study investigates the impact that distance and quality of the relationship has on a sample of a Fortune 100 multinational firm’s global leaders’ level of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) contagion effect on their followers located around …

Deception In Cosmetics Advertising: Examining Cosmetics Advertising Claims In Fashion Magazine Ads / 化妆品广告中的欺骗:分析时尚杂志广告中的化妆品广告, Jie G. Fowler, Timothy H. Reisenwitz, Les Carlson

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

The FDA has only focused upon the physical safety of cosmetics and has ignored the significant reasonability of advertising claims. As such, the present article is intended to examine/ascertain the extent to which cosmetics claims contain deceptive content in fashion ads. Through a content analysis, the study reported herein revealed that cosmetics claims were not evenly distributed. To that end, the preponderance of the claims appeared to be described primarily by three categories (scientific, performance and subjective). The results also showed that more cosmetics claims were classified as deceptive than were deemed as acceptable. Close examination of these trends revealed …

Chaos, Reports, And Quests: Narrative Agency And Co-Workers In Stories Of Workplace Bullying, Stacy Tye-Williams, Kathleen J. Krone

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

This study examined narratives that targets of workplace bullying told about their difficult work experiences along with how co-workers were framed in these narratives. Three different narrative types emerged from their accounts: chaos, report, and quest narratives. Co-worker responses of support or lack thereof were related to the construction of various narrative forms and the level of narrative agency evident in target accounts. The study has important implications for the difference co-workers can make in a target’s ability to withstand bullying and narrate his or her experience.

Survey Of Lincoln Area Businesses About Skill And Training Requirements, Eric Thompson

Bureau of Business Research Publications

his report discusses the results from the Make it Work for Lincoln survey of employers conducted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bureau of Business Research (UNL-BBR). The survey of employers in the Lincoln Metropolitan Area was conducted under contract with the Nebraska Department of Labor and with the participation of the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and ATD-Lincoln. The report examines the types of occupations Lincoln area employers are searching for and hiring, and the types of difficulties employers face when hiring. The survey also asks about the types of training which employers provide. Business responding to the survey reported …

Gender Differences In Narcissism: A Meta-Analytic Review, Emily Grijalva, Daniel A. Newman, Louis Tay, M. Brent Donnellan, Peter D. Harms, Richard W. Robins, Taiyi Yan

P. D. Harms Publications

Despite the widely held belief that men are more narcissistic than women, there has been no systematic review to establish the magnitude, variability across measures and settings, and stability over time of this gender difference. Drawing on the biosocial approach to social role theory, a meta-analysis performed for Study 1 found that men tended to be more narcissistic than women (d = .26; k = 355 studies; N = 470,846). This gender difference remained stable in U.S. college student cohorts over time (from 1990 to 2013) and across different age groups. Study 1 also investigated gender differences in three …

A Conceptualization And Empirical Examination Of The Effects Of Marketing Alignment On Franchising Relationships, Joseph Matthes

College of Business: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Franchising is a widely utilized business format that continues to grow in popularity both domestically and abroad. Through the recruitment of franchisees as agents, franchisors are able to access additional resources and rapidly expand their networks. The marketing relationship between franchising partners presents unique opportunities and challenges due to this captive and codependent channel structure. In order to fill a gap in the literature and better understand franchisee-franchisor relationships, the author conceptualizes marketing alignment as being comprised of both agreement and cooperation across the dimensions of strategies, operations, and values. A conceptual model is developed that addresses the following research …

Follower Perceptions Deserve A Closer Look, Peter D. Harms, Seth M. Spain

P. D. Harms Publications

On the whole, we embrace the wisdom of Lord and Dinh’s suggestion that leadership researchers need to refocus our attention on the distinction between leadership perception and effectiveness. That said, we hope that the field can move one step further by recognizing the need to treat perceptual biases as more than systematic errors to be controlled for. As encoded in Lord and Dinh’s first two principles, followers are active participants in the construction of leadership phenomena, so the perceptual “baggage” that they bring into the leader–follower system is an important building block in that construction. We believe that by accounting …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: May 16, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) rose by 1.89% during April 2014. The rise in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, suggests solid growth in the Nebraska economy in the second half of 2014. Among the growing components of the leading economic indicator, there was a sharp drop in initial unemployent claims, suggesting solid improvement in labor market conditions. There also was solid improvement in business expectations. Specifically, respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predicted an increase in sales and employment at their business over the next six month. At …

Reciprocal Relationship Between Proactive Personality And Work Characteristics: A Latent Change Score Approach, Wen-Dong Li, Doris Fay, Michael Frese, Peter D. Harms, Xiang Yu Gao

P. D. Harms Publications

Previous proactivity research has predominantly assumed that proactive personality generates positive environmental changes in the workplace. Grounded in recent research on personality development from a broad interactionist theoretical approach, the present article investigates whether work characteristics, including job demands, job control, social support from supervisors and coworkers, and organizational constraints, change proactive personality over time and, more important, reciprocal relationships between proactive personality and work characteristics. Latent change score analyses based on longitudinal data collected in 3 waves across 3 years show that job demands and job control have positive lagged effects on increases in proactive personality. In addition, proactive …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: March 21, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) increased by 0.99% during February 2014. The increase in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, suggests moderate growth in the Nebraska economy during the summer of 2014. Four of six components of the leading economic indicator grew during February. Manufacturing hours and airline passenger counts both rose modestly. Initial unemployment claims dropped significantly in February, a positive sign for the labor market. There was also a solid improvement in business expectations. Respondents to the Survey of Nebraska Business predicted an increase in sales and employment …

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: February 21, 2014, Eric Thompson, William Walstad, Shannon Mcclure, Mihdi Vahedi

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) decreased by 0.95% during January 2014. The decrease in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, follows a strong increase in December 2013. Taken together, LEI-N results for the last two months suggest continued improvement in the Nebraska economy, specifically moderate growth in mid-2014. Five of six components of the leading economic indicator declined during January. There was a decline in building permits and airline passengers. Initial unemployment claims increased slightly in January, a negative sign for the labor market. There was a modest decline in …

Empowered And Engaged: Exploring Social Media Best Practices For Nonprofits, Tessa Warner, Alexis Abel, Frauke Hachtmann

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Faculty Publications

Although nonprofits see value and potential in social media, many have not yet mastered social media and harnessed their full potential. This phenomenological study sought to identify the best social media strategies and tactics for effectively engaging existing and potential donors, volunteers and stakeholders, according to social media nonprofit professionals. Six themes emerged: listening to the audience; engaging instead of fundraising; sharing relevant, valuable and actionable content; being honest, accessible and responsive; using social media as part of a multi-channel strategy; and that measuring is mandatory.

Business Intelligence In Risk Management: Some Recent Progresses, Desheng Dash Wu, Shu-Heng Chen, David L. Olson

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Risk management has become a vital topic both in academia and practice during the past several decades. Most business intelligence tools have been used to enhance risk management, and the risk management tools have benefited from business intelligence approaches. This introductory article provides a review of the state-of-the-art research in business intelligence in risk management, and of the work that has been accepted for publication in this issue of Information Sciences.

Smarter Intentions And Authentic Goals (2014 Edition), Connie I. Reimers-Hild

Kimmel Education and Research Center: Faculty and Staff Publications

Intentions influence our actions and behaviors. If intentions are established with awareness, truth, and meaning, they help us experience a life filled with passion and personal fulfillment. Lack of understanding around our true intentions often causes frustration and confusion, which is one reason people oftentimes do not achieve their goals. Many goals are written; however, they are not established with honest intent.

It’s time to get brutally honest about your true intentions so you can achieve authentic goals. Intentions have the power to strengthen your Inner Leader and help you move forward in a meaningful way as long as they …

Entr/Mgnt 421: Initiating And Managing Entrepreneurial Growth—A Peer Review Of Teaching Project Benchmark Portfolio, Varkey K. Titus Jr.

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

My primary goal for this portfolio is to codify the processes and goals of this course in a manner that can be transferred to other instructors. Students consistently comment on how much they enjoy the participatory and interactive nature of the course; I would like to formally document methods to create an interactive classroom that aligns with the expectations we have of senior-level entrepreneurship students regarding critical thinking and communication skills.

Impact Of Authentic Leadership On Performance: Role Of Followers’ Positive Psychological Capital And Relational Processes, Hui Wang, Yang Sui, Fred Luthans, Danni Wang, Yanhong Wu

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Authentic leadership has received considerable attention and research support over the past decade. Now the time has come to refine and better understand how it impacts performance. This study investigates the moderating role followers’ positive psychological capital (PsyCap) and the mediating role that leader–member exchange (LMX) may play in influencing the relationship between authentic leadership and followers’ performance. Specifically, we tested this mediated moderation model with matched data from 794 followers and their immediate leaders. We found that authentic leadership is positively related to LMX and consequently followers’ performance, and to a larger degree, among followers who have low rather …

Meeting The Challenges Of Effective International Hrm: Analysis Of The Antecedents Of Global Mindset, Joana S. P. Story, John E. Barbuto Jr., Fred Luthans, James A. Bovaird

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The full force of globalization has hit today’s organizations, and it is clear that there are many cultural and human problems. International human resource management (IHRM) is being asked to better understand and develop multinational organizational leaders to meet the challenges. A prominent solution that is receiving increased attention is the construct of global mindset, which has growing rhetoric but little research support. To help fill this need, after first theoretically framing global mindset as made up of one’s cultural intelligence and global business orientation, this study identifies and empirically tests some theory-driven antecedents. Utilizing a diverse sample (N = …

The Role Of Mindfulness And Psychological Capital On The Well-Being Of Leaders, Maree Roche, Jarrod M. Haar, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

In today’s highly competitive and extremely complex global economy, organizational leaders at all levels are facing unprecedented challenges. Yet, some seem to be handling the pressure better than others. Utilizing 4 samples of CEOs/presidents/top (n = 205), middle (n = 183), and junior (n = 202) managers, as well as 107 entrepreneurs, using Structural Equation Modeling we tested the direct effect that their level of mindfulness (heightened awareness) and the mediating effect of their psych logical capital (i.e., hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism) may have on their mental well-being. In all 4 samples, mindfulness was found to be negatively related …

Two Stage Procurement Processes With Competitive Suppliers And Uncertain Supplier Quality, Yue Jin, Jennifer K. Ryan, Walter Yund

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty Publications

This paper considers a sourcing problem faced by a manufacturer who outsources the manufacturing of a product to one of several competing suppliers, whose cost and quality capabilities are unknown. We consider a two-stage sourcing process in which the first stage is the qualification stage, while the second stage is the supplier selection stage. In the first stage, the manufacturer exerts effort to learn about the quality level of each of the suppliers and then must determine the set of qualified suppliers, subject to some tolerance for error. In the second stage, the manufacturer runs a price-only procurement auction, in …

Narcissism: An Integrative Synthesis And Dominance Complementarity Model, Emily Grijalva, Peter D. Harms

P. D. Harms Publications

Narcissism has become an increasingly popular research topic in recent years. We describe why it is beneficial for organizational researchers to study narcissism due to its two strongest organizational correlates: counterproductive work behavior and leadership. We explore why narcissists perform counterproductive work behavior and offer advice on what organizations can do to prevent narcissists’ counterproductivity. Subsequently, we discuss narcissism’s relationship with leadership effectiveness, and propose a Narcissistic Leaders and Dominance Complementarity Model, which examines the dynamic interaction of narcissistic leaders’ characteristics with those of their followers to predict leadership effectiveness. Finally, we suggest four areas of management that may benefit …

A Force Of Change: Chris Peterson And The Us Army’S Global Assessment Tool, Paul B. Lester, Peter D. Harms, Mitchel Norman Herian, Walter J. Sowden

P. D. Harms Publications

The US Army launched the Global Assessment Tool (GAT) – a 105-item psychometric instrument taken by approximately one million soldiers annually – in October, 2009 in support of a population-wide resilience development initiative known as the Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness (CSF2) program. The lead developer of the GAT was Chris Peterson, and his work on this project – along with that of Nansook Park and Colonel Carl Castro – will likely leave an important and indelible mark on not only the Army, but also the field of military psychology. In this paper, we provide more detail on the history …

A Sociogenomic Perspective On Neuroscience In Organizational Behavior, Seth M. Spain, Peter D. Harms

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

We critically examine the current biological models of individual organizational behavior, with particular emphasis on the roles of genetics and the brain. We demonstrate how approaches to biology in the organizational sciences assume that biological systems are simultaneously causal and essentially static; that genotypes exert constant effects. In contrast, we present a sociogenomic approach to organizational research, which could provide a meta-theoretical framework for understanding organizational behavior. Sociogenomics is an interactionist approach that derives power from its ability to explain how genes and environment operate. The key insight is that both genes and the environment operate by modifying gene expression. …

Uncovering The Nuances Of Referral Hiring: How Referrer Characteristics Affect Referral Hires’ Performance And Likelihood Of Voluntary Turnover, Jenna R. Pieper

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The literature on employee referral hiring gives little attention to referrers. Synthesizing two theories in the literature (the better match and social enrichment accounts), through the lens of social resources theory, I provide a conceptual and empirical breakdown of the effects of referrer quality (referrer performance at hire and referrer tenure at hire) and post-hire accessibility (referrer employment and referrer-referral hire job congruence) on referral hire performance and likelihood of voluntary turnover. I tested my hypotheses with longitudinal data from 386 referrer-referral hire pairs at the same job level in a U.S. call center over a 2-year period. Across analyses …

Reflections On The Metamorphosis At Robben Island: The Role Of Institutional Work And Positive Psychological Capital, Wayne F. Cascio, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners from South Africa were imprisoned on notorious Robben Island from the mid-1960s until the end of the apartheid regime in 1991. The stark conditions and abusive treatment of these prisoners has been widely publicized. However, upon reflection and in retrospect, over the years, a type of metamorphosis occurred. Primarily drawing from firsthand accounts of the former prisoners and guards, it seems that Robben Island morphed from the traditional oppressive prison paradigm to one where the positively oriented prisoners disrupted the institution with a resulting climate of learning and transformation that eventually led to freedom …

Going Beyond Research On Goal Setting: A Proposed Role For Organizational Psychological Capital Of Family Firms, Esra Memili, Dianne H.B. Welsh, Fred Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Kotlar and De Massis found that membership assortment and the number of organizational members, as well as the imminence of succession, influence goal diversity in family firms. They also showed that goal diversity can be managed and family-centered goals can be stabilized through professional and familial social interactions, driving the formation of collective commitment to family- centered goals (CCFG). Using this research as a point of departure, we propose that CCFG may impact family firm economic and noneconomic performance. Furthermore, we introduce to the family firm literature the organizational psychological capital (OPC), consisting of hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism. We …