Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons^™

Do Satisfied Employees Deliver Better Service Experiences That Result In Satisfied Customers, And, What Are The Factors Affecting Employee Satisfaction And Customer Satisfaction?, Chuen Kong Kevin Cheong

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

It is often said that a happy worker is a good worker, but do happy workers in the service industry result in happy or satisfied customers or guests? This research aimed to seek out answers to this anecdotal question by surveying both frontline, customer-facing employees and visitors or guests in several visitor attractions in Singapore and the Philippines. The research found significant correlation between job satisfaction, psychological empowerment and guest satisfaction, particularly in zone-managed visitor attractions. Zone-managed attractions did not deploy the conventional and traditional functional operating structure; employees’ job functions were clustered by customer touchpoints associated with how the …

Micro-Coaching As A Blend To Make E-Learning More Effective, Krishnan Narayanan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

While e-learning has taken a stronghold as the de-facto training medium in knowledge intensive technology sector organizations, several factors have been hypothesized to influence the efficacy of training efforts, such as educator presence, interaction levels and individual motivation for development. This dissertation looks at one blended learning intervention that organizations can make use of to significantly improve the learning outcomes. The paper introduces micro-coaching, a new construct referring to brief coaching and mentoring interventions, that in conjunction with the e-learning sessions can improve cognitive as well as behavioral changes in individuals, which are key to improving learning and the resultant …

Being Sensitive To Positives Has Its Negatives: An Approach/Avoidance Perspective On Reactivity To Ostracism, Ferris D. Lance, Shereen Fatimah, Ming Yan, Lindie H. Liang, Huiwen Lian, Douglas J. Brown

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Workplace mistreatment is typically conceptualized as being exposed to a negative stimulus – for example, a threat, verbal abuse, or other forms of harassment. Consequently, we expect workplace mistreatment will have the greatest effect on individuals who are sensitive to the presence and absence of negative stimuli – or those with a strong avoidance temperament. Although this may be the rule for most mistreatment constructs, we argue that ostracism may be the exception. Using an approach/avoidance framework to highlight unique elements of ostracism, we build on the definition of ostracism as being the absence of an expected positive stimulus (i.e., …

Constructed Response Formats And Their Effects On Minority-Majority Differences And Validity, Filip Lievens, Paul R. Sackett, Jeffrey Dahlke, Janneke Oostrom, Britt De Soete

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The inflow of immigrants challenges organizations to consider alternative selection procedures that reduce potential minority (immigrants)-majority (natives) differences, while maintaining valid predictions of performance. To deal with this challenge, this paper proposes response format as a practically and theoretically relevant factor for situational judgment tests (SJTs). We examine a range of response format categories (from traditional multiple-choice formats to more innovative constructed response formats) and conceptually link these response formats to mechanisms underlying minority-majority differences. Two field experiments are conducted with SJTs. Study 1 (274 job seekers) contrasts minority-majority differences in scores on a multiple-choice versus a written constructed response …

Humility Breeds Authenticity: How Authentic Leader Humility Shapes Follower Vulnerability And Felt Authenticity, Burak Oc, Michael A. Daniels, James M. Diefendorff, Michael Ramsay Bashshur, Gary John Greguras

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Integrating existing work that considers the self through an interpersonal lens with theories pertaining to leader humility and authenticity, we develop a moderated mediation model that theorizes how and under what circumstances leader humility relates to follower felt authenticity. We argue that followers feel less vulnerable when their leaders express humility and further that this relation becomes weaker as the authenticity of leader humility decreases. We also theorize that follower vulnerability is the mechanism explaining the interactive effect of leader humility and its authenticity on follower felt authenticity at work. Our theoretical model was supported across four studies employing both …

Revisiting The Human Capital System, Richard Raymond Smith

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

A holistic view of human capital inside any organization consists of talent management, organizational structure and culture, and strategic leadership.

Flexible Moral Behavior In The Workplace, Kraivin Chintakananda

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In my dissertation, I systematically examine what it means to be morally flexible. I develop a scale to capture an individual’s willingness to adapt their moral behavior and examine both positive and negative consequences of this type of moral flexibility in the workplace. My dissertation consists of three studies. In Chapter 2, I draw from the personality strength literature and research on within-person variability in moral behavior to introduce the construct of moral adaptability (MA) defined as the willing to adjust moral behavior depending on the situation. I argue MA functions in a similar manner to personality strength (but in …

Stock Market Responses To Unethical Behavior In Organizations: An Organizational Context Model, Bradford E. Baker, Rellie Derfler-Rozin, Marko Pitesa, Micheal D. Johnson

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We develop and test a model that extends the understanding of how people react to news of organizational unethical behavior and how such reactions impact stock performance. We do so by taking into account the interplay between the features of specific unethical acts and the features of the organizational context within which unethical acts occur. We propose a two-stage model in which the first stage predicts that unethical acts that benefit the organization are judged less harshly than are unethical acts that benefit the actor, when the organization is seen as pursuing a moral goal (e.g., producing inexpensive medicine rather …

Mapping Cultural Tightness And Its Links To Innovation, Urbanization, And Happiness Across 31 Provinces In China, Roy Y. J. Chua, Kenneth Huang, Mengzi Jin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We conduct a 3-y study involving 11,662 respondents to map cultural tightness—the degree to which a society is characterized by rules and norms and the extent to which people are punished or sanctioned when they deviate from these rules and norms—across 31 provinces in China. Consistent with prior research, we find that culturally tight provinces are associated with increased governmental control, constraints in daily life, religious practices, and exposure to threats. Departing from previous findings that tighter states are more rural, conservative, less creative, and less happy, cultural tightness in China is associated with urbanization, economic growth, better health, greater …

Economic Cycles As A Source Of Social Influence On Individuals, Nina Sirola

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current review summarizes emerging research in psychology and associated disciplines showing that the economic cycles exert social influence on individuals across a range of psychological domains. Most research on social influence focused on how factors in the proximal environment impact individuals, while influences emanating from the state of the economy as a whole received far less attention. I review the development of different intellectual traditions examining social influence to explain the relative lack of attention to economic cycles and position emerging work on the topic relative to past research. I then review research on how economic cycles influence individuals …

The Employment Relationship: Key Elements, Alternative Frames Of Reference, And Implications For Hrm, John W. Budd, Devasheesh P. Bhave

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The employment relationship is the connection between employees and employers through which people sell their labor. This might consist of an immigrant day laborer paid by the bushel to pick fruit in the hot sun, a tech industry freelancer completing episodic gigs without ever meeting a boss, a salaried manager who has been working in an air-conditioned office for the same company for 40 years, or innumerable other situations. Irrespective of situation, all employees and employers have fundamental interests they pursue through the employment relationship, all forms of this relationship are mediated by labor markets and states, and each instance …

Recruitment And Selection, Filip Lievens, Derek Chapman

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Few people question that recruitment and selection are key strategic domains in HRM. At the same time, recruitment and selection also have an image problem. First, recruitment and selection are often viewed as ‘old’ ingrained HRM domains. It seems like the traditional recruitment and selection procedures have been around for decades, which is at odds with the ever changing internal and external environment of organizations. Hence, practitioners often wonder whether there are any new research-based ways for recruiting and selecting personnel. Another image problem for recruitment and selection is that a false dichotomy is often created between so-called macro HR …

Reputation Concerns Under At-Will Employment, Jian Sun, Dong Wei

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We study a continuous-time model of long-run employment relationship with fixed wage and at-will firing; that is, termination of the relationship is non-contractible. Depending on his type, the worker either always works hard, or can freely choose his effort level. The firm does not know the worker’s type and the monitoring is imperfect. We show that, in the unique Markov equilibrium, as the worker’s reputation worsens, his job becomes less secure and the strategic worker works harder. We further demonstrate that the relationship between average productivity and job insecurity is U shaped, which is consistent with typical findings in the …

Gender, Emotional Displays And Negotiation Outcomes, Horacio Arruda Falcao Filho

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This paper examined whether positive and negative emotional displays influenced negotiation outcomes (value creation and claiming) differentially for female and male negotiators. Also considered was how negotiation dyad gender composition might affect value creation and claiming. I examined recordings from a negotiation exercise (N = 194). Results revealed that when females expressed negative emotions significantly reduced value claiming on the part of those female negotiators. However, the effects of expressing positive emotions on negotiation outcomes did not vary by negotiator gender. The findings suggest that female negotiators do not need to be positive but only need not be negative to …

A Closer Look At Response Options: Is Judgment In Situational Judgment Tests A Function Of The Desirability Of Response Options?, Katarina Kaminski, Jorg Felfe, Philipp Schaepers, Stefan Krumm

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The current study builds on the current scholarly debate about SJTs potentially being less situational than previously assumed. Specifically, we respond to recent calls to examine general (situation unspecific) information included in response options as a guide to SJT responses. Across three consecutive studies and three different forms of SJT administration (standard, without situation descriptions, under fake-good instructions), the relevance of social desirability of response options on SJT responses was examined. Results suggest that social desirability of response options is significantly related to test takers' response. This finding generalized across different forms of SJT administration. Across studies and together with …

The Differential Impact Of Interactions Outside The Organization On Employee Well-Being, Devasheesh P. Bhave, Freyr Halldórsson, Eugene Kim, Alexandru M. Lefter

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We examine two different perspectives of interactions outside the organization: the relational work design perspective and the emotional labour perspective. The relational work design perspective suggests that interactions outside the organization have favourable outcomes for employees, whereas the emotional labour perspective suggests that such interactions have adverse outcomes for employees. Our goal is to reconcile findings from these two research streams. In Study 1, using data from employees working in diverse occupations, we find that interactions outside the organization have a positive indirect effect on employee well‐being via task significance, and a negative indirect effect on employee well‐being via surface …

Why Are Americans So Divided On Refugee Policy?, Shilpa Madan, Shankha Basu, Aneeta Rattan, Krishna Savani

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The U.S. will resettle the lowest number of refugees in fiscal year 2019 since the Refugee Act was passed in 1980. After taking office, President Donald Trump reduced the admission limit from 110,000 in 2017 to 45,000 in 2018, and to 30,000 in 2019. The reduction is not a result of fewer refugees seeking resettlement. On the contrary, the number of people seeking resettlement is on the rise.

The Missing Shifts, Saumya Sindhwani, Jerry Conner, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Saumya Sindhwani, Jerry Connor and Howard Thomas argue it is time to change the way we develop leaders – and tap into the power of mindset. The needs the managers speak of fit into two broad categories (“empathy” and “resourcefulness”) and both are fundamental “changes in mindset”. By that, we mean a change in attitude or world view.

Enabling Models Of Inclusive Growth: Addressing The Need For Financial And Social Inclusion, Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, Howard Thomas

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

While poverty is falling, the gap between the rich and poor is getting wider and more and more people are being excluded from the means to better themselves. Yuwa Hedrick-Wong and Howard Thomas look at ways to include them.

The Influence Of Work On Personality Trait Development: The Demands-Affordances Transactional (Data) Model, An Integrative Review, And Research Agenda, Stephen A. Woods, Bart Wille, Chia-Huei Wu, Filip Lievens, Filip De Fruyt

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Although personality is typically conceptualized in industrial, organizational, and vocational psychology as enduring and stable, an increasing volume of research now shows that personality changes throughout the lifespan, with work being a potentially important influence of trait development. This paper reviews and integrates the emergent literature in this area, and in doing so proposes a new Demands-Affordances TrAnsactional (DATA) model of personality development at work, against which research is evaluated. This DATA model clarifies how personality-related behavior at work is called upon by work demands at four different levels (vocation, job, group and organization) and proposes Person-Environment (PE) fit as …

Support For Resettling Refugees: The Role Of Fixed Versus Growth Mind-Sets, Shilpa Madan, Shankha Basu, Aneeta Rattan, Krishna Savani

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In six studies (N = 2,340), we identified one source of people’s differential support for resettling refugees in their country—their beliefs about whether the kind of person someone is can be changed (i.e., a growth mind-set) or is fixed (i.e., a fixed mind-set). U.S. and UK citizens who believed that the kind of person someone is can be changed were more likely to support resettling refugees in their country (Studies 1 and 2). Study 3 identified a causal relationship between the type of mind-set people hold and their support for resettling refugees. Importantly, people with a growth mind-set were more …

Dominant Coalitions Directing Acquisitions: Different Decision Makers, Different Decisions, Cyndi Man Zhang, Henrich R. Greve

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Coalitions are important in organizational decision making, but the question of how coalitions are built and make decisions in response to firm performance is still not sufficiently explored. In this study, we develop and test theory on how potential coalitions are built through shared experience and recruitment of allies. When organizations respond to performance relative to aspiration levels, either as problemistic search following low performance or opportunity exploration following high performance, members form coalitions to influence decisions. We develop theory of coalition formation that builds on upper echelons theory and the theory of dominant coalitions to predict how past experience …

Breaking The Cycle Of Abusive Supervision: How Disidentification And Moral Identity Help The Trickle-Down Change Course, Shannon G. Taylor, Matthew D. Griffith, Abhijeet K. Vadera, Robert Folger, Chaim R. Letwin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Studies show that abusive leader behaviors "trickle down" to lower organizational levels, but this research ignores that many abused supervisors do not perpetuate abuse by harming their own subordinates. Drawing on social-cognitive theory and related research, we suggest abused supervisors might defy rather than emulate their managers' abusive behavior. Specifically, we predicted that some abused supervisors-namely, those with strong moral identities-might in effect "change course" by engaging in less abuse or demonstrating ethical leadership with their subordinates to the extent they disidentify with their abusive managers. Across 2 experiments (n = 288 and 462 working adults, respectively) and a field …

Does Having A Bad Boss Make You More Likely To Be One Yourself?, Shannon G. Taylor, Robert Folger, Abhijeet K. Vadera, Matthew D. Griffith, Chaim R. Letwin

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Toxic bosses harm employees in countless ways — for instance, by lowering morale, diminishing well-being, and increasing work-family conflict. Estimates suggest abusive supervision costs organizations millions in lost productivity, employee turnover, and litigation each year. Although prior research has found that leader behaviors can “trickle down” to affect the actions of employees at lower organizational levels, surely not all abused supervisors abuse their own subordinates. So when do supervisors perpetuate abuse in organizations, when don’t they, and why?

Third Party Employment Branding: What Are Its Signaling Dimensions, Mechanisms, And Sources?, Brian R. Dineen, Greet Van Hoye, Filip Lievens, Lindsay Mechem Rosokha

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Massive shifts in the recruitment landscape, the continually changing nature of work and workers, and extraordinary technological progress have combined to enable unparalleled advances in how current and prospective employees receive and process information about organizations. Once the domain of internal organizational public relations and human resources (HR) teams, most employment branding has moved beyond organizations’ control. This chapter provides a conceptual framework pertaining to third party employment branding, defined as communications, claims, or status-based classifications generated by parties outside of direct company control that shape, enhance, and differentiate organizations’ images as favorable or unfavorable employers. Specifically, the authors first …

Head Above The Parapet: How Minority Subordinates Influence Group Outcomes And The Consequences They Face, Burak Oc, Michael R. Bashshur, Celia Moore

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The vast majority of research on power, social, and minority influence treats those who are recipients of powerholders’ decisions (i.e., subordinates) as an undifferentiated group, overlooking how recipients may respond in unique ways to the decisions that affect them. In this paper we examine the role of minority subordinates in shaping how powerholders allocate resources. We also explore how psychological distance between the minority subordinate and powerholder moderates this relationship, as well as the individual consequences minority subordinates face for articulating their unique opinions. In three experimental studies, we show that even as a lone voice, the feedback of a …

An Exploratory Comparative Study Of Experts And Generalists As Change Management Leaders In Non-Core Areas Of Organizations, Steven Glenn Burton

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Large-scale organizational change is a necessary undertaking critical to the ongoing success of most firms. Despite the necessity of such change, it is also an undertaking that fails at approximately twice the rate that it succeeds. Prior work on change leadership primarily looks at characteristics of the individual leader and does not differentiate on areas of the organization where change will be occurring. The work conducted in this research compares categories of change leaders and looks at change within a specific area of a firm, its non-core business area.

This exploratory research compared core-area technical experts to generalists as change …

The Impact Of Camaderie On Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty In The Hotel Industry, Huiping Josephine Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

In the hotel industry, the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty has always been ambiguous, as a satisfied hotel guest may not necessarily be loyal. Loyalty is of greater interest to the hotel industry as it translates to more business opportunities. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate how camaraderie and emotional customer satisfaction can predict potential service loyalty. Empirical tests of the relationship between camaraderie, emotional satisfaction and loyalty had never been conducted before in the hotel industry. The findings of this research suggest that camaraderie has a direct and significant relationship to the four phases of …

A Dual-Process Theory Perspective To Better Understand Judgments In Assessment Centers: The Role Of Initial Impressions For Dimension Ratings And Validity, Pia V. Ingold, Mirjam Donni, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Insight into assessors’ initial impressions has the potential to advance knowledge on how assessors form dimension-based judgments and on possible biases in these ratings. Therefore, this study draws on dual process theory to build and test a model that integrates assessors’ dimension ratings (i.e., systematic, slow, deliberate processing mode) with their initial impressions (i.e., intuitive, fast, automatic processing mode). Data collection started with an AC where assessors provided ratings of assessees, and an online survey of assessees’ supervisors who rated their job performance. In addition, two other rater pools provided initial impressions of these assessees by evaluating extracted 2-min video …

Performance Trends Matter: But Why, How, And When?, Jochen Reb, Gary J. Greguras, Shenghua Luan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

That performance is dynamic and varies over time has long been recognized. However, research is only beginning to understand the implications of dynamic performance for performance appraisals and performance-based decisions. Against this backdrop, despite what we see as serious methodological concerns (e.g., single-item measures, operationalization of variables), we believe that Schmidt (2017) makes several contributions that point to important directions for future research.