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Showing papers in "Human Relations in 2009"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new measure of work—family balance is developed and discriminant validity is established between it, work— family conflict, and work-family enrichment and results suggest that balance explains variance beyond that explained by traditional measures of conflict and enrichment.
Abstract: This study deepens our theoretical and practical understanding of work-family balance, defined as the 'accomplishment of role-related expectations that are negotiated and shared between an individual and his/her role-related partners in the work and family domains' (Grzywacz & Carlson, 2007: 458). We develop a new measure of work-family balance and establish discriminant validity between it, work-family conflict, and work-family enrichment. Further, we examine the relationship of work-family balance with six key work and family outcomes. Results suggest that balance explains variance beyond that explained by traditional measures of conflict and enrichment for five of six outcomes tested: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, family satisfaction, family performance, and family functioning. We conclude with a discussion of the applications of our work.

420 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the ontological, theoretical and methodological assumptions among six approaches to framing are analyzed to reduce conceptual confusion and identify research opportunities within and across these approaches, using a meta-paradigmatic perspective.
Abstract: Divergent theoretical approaches to the construct of framing have resulted in conceptual confusion in conflict research. We disentangle these approaches by analyzing their assumptions about 1) the nature of frames — that is, cognitive representations or interactional co-constructions, and 2) what is getting framed — that is, issues, identities and relationships, or interaction process. Using a meta-paradigmatic perspective, we delineate the ontological, theoretical and methodological assumptions among six approaches to framing to reduce conceptual confusion and identify research opportunities within and across these approaches.

370 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a close analysis of a large private autobiography of a former manager and show that identity work simultaneously uses discursively available narratives and creates new narratives (many small stories being embedded in one large... ).
Abstract: To study and better understand people's working lives and organizational involvement in the context of their whole lives and in the context of the societal culture in which they have grown up and now live, it is helpful to bring together three key concepts of narrative, identity work and the social construction of reality. Such a move can be connected to the abandonment of widely used but limiting concepts, such as that of`managerial identity'. The essentially sociological nature of this move also provides an antidote to the equally limiting tendency towards the `narrative imperialism' which is associated with the idea of the `narrative self'. The value of the suggested theoretical framing and its linking of narrative, identity work and social construction is demonstrated by the close analysis of a large private autobiography of a former manager. This individual's identity work simultaneously uses discursively available narratives and creates new narratives (many small stories being embedded in one large ...

344 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, women entrepreneurs of Moroccan and Turkish origin in the Netherlands construct their ethnic, gender and entrepreneurial identities in relation to their Muslim identity, using Islam as a boundary to let religious norms and values prevail over cultural ones and to make space for individualism, honour and entrepreneurship.
Abstract: This article discusses how female entrepreneurs of Moroccan and Turkish origin in the Netherlands construct their ethnic, gender and entrepreneurial identities in relation to their Muslim identity. We contribute to theory development on the interrelationship of work identities with gender, ethnicity and religion through an intersectional analysis of these women's gender and ethnic identities within their entrepreneurial contexts and in relation to their Muslim identity. We draw on four narratives to illustrate how the women interviewed perform creative boundary work at these hitherto under-researched intersections. Islam is employed as a boundary to let religious norms and values prevail over cultural ones and to make space for individualism, honour and entrepreneurship. Moreover, different individual religious identities are crafted to stretch the boundaries of what is allowed for female entrepreneurs in order to resist traditional, dogmatic interpretations of Islam. Our study contributes to studies on e...

334 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the principal antagonistic discourses on which managers in a large UK-based engineering company drew in their efforts to construct versions of their selves are analysed, based on an understanding that subjectively construed discursive identities are available to individuals as in-progress narratives that are contingent and fragile.
Abstract: In this article, we analyse the principal antagonistic discourses on which managers in a large UK-based engineering company drew in their efforts to construct versions of their selves. Predicated on an understanding that subjectively construed discursive identities are available to individuals as in-progress narratives that are contingent and fragile, the research contribution we make is threefold. First, we argue that managers may draw on mutually antagonistic discursive resources in authoring conceptions of their selves. Second, we contend that rather than being relatively coherent or completely fluid and fragmented managers' identity narratives may incorporate contrasting positions or antagonisms. Third, we show that managers' identity work constituted a continuing quest to (re)-author their selves as moral beings. Antagonisms in managers' identities, we suggest, may appropriately be analysed as the complex and ambiguous effects of organizationally based disciplinary practices and individuals' discursi...

306 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines an organizational crisis (a shooting and standoff in a business school) and presents a model for how resilience becomes activated in such situations, and three social mechanisms describe resilience activation.
Abstract: When external events disrupt the normal flow of organizational and relational routines and practices, an organization’s latent capacity to rebound activates to enable positive adaptation and bounce back. This article examines an unexpected organizational crisis (a shooting and standoff in a business school) and presents a model for how resilience becomes activated in such situations. Three social mechanisms describe resilience activation. Liminal suspension describes how crisis temporarily undoes and alters formal relational structures and opens a temporal space for organization members to form and renew relationships. Compassionate witnessing describes how organization members’ interpersonal connections and opportunities for engagement respond to individuals’ needs. And relational redundancy describes how organization members’ social capital and connections across organizational and functional boundaries activate relational networks that enable resilience. Narrative accounts from the incident support the...

303 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In addition to leadership psychology, there is also another journey to understand the context of leadership that takes as its starting point the linguistic turn in the social and the organizational sciences as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In addition to leadership psychology, there is another journey to understand the context of leadership that takes as its starting point the linguistic turn in the social and the organizational sciences. Those impacted by the linguistic turn are broadly social constructionist, discursive, and more qualitative than mainstream leadership scholars. In varying degrees, these scholars view context as multi-layered, co-created, contestable, and locally achieved. This article explores a constellation of perspectives united by these themes, introduces the qualitative special issue articles, and suggests directions for future research on the context of leadership.

269 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The importance of context in leadership psychology has been recognized over the past few decades as discussed by the authors, and context has been more and more routinely included in psychological leadership research over the last decade.
Abstract: Despite Lewin’s identification of the importance of context in behavioral research over 70 years ago, leadership psychology tended to ignore the context. Only in the past 10 years has context been more routinely included in psychological leadership research. We provide examples of leadership research that has explored the context, introduce the special issue articles, and provide suggestions for future research on the context of leadership.

263 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw inspiration from the concept of self-alienation to explain experiences beyond disidentification, where actors perceive the truth of themselves (who I really am') as alien.
Abstract: Dis-identification is now an important research area in organization studies investigating how employees subjectively distance themselves from managerial domination by constructing identities considered more `authentic'. But how should we understand situations where actors become aware that their putative`real' selves are paradoxically unreal and foreign? We draw inspiration from the concept of self-alienation to explain experiences beyond dis-identification, where actors perceive the truth of themselves (`who I really am') as alien. An empirical study of a global management consultancy firm demonstrates how a discursive and non-essentialist understanding of self-alienation might usefully capture this experience of identity. Three causes of self-alienation are proposed and we discuss their significance in relation to identity and authenticity in contemporary organizations.

254 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a brief overview of some of the contention concerning the creative industries, in terms of their purview, their significance within political economy, and the extent to which, and how, they may differ from other sectors.
Abstract: This article introduces its subject with a brief overview of some of the contention concerning the creative industries, in terms of their purview, their significance within political economy, and the extent to which, and how, they may differ from other sectors. Arguing that the `motley crew' is a very broad church, and management must not confine itself solely to the management of production but should also consider the role of consumption, the authors suggest that research into the creative industries may be considered in relation to the capitals that inform its domain: intellectual capital (creative ideas), social capital (networks), and cultural capital (recognized authority or expertise). Considering research in these terms allows us to identify a matrix that might provide the basis for conversations between a range of discrete research areas, while also guiding future research into the creative industries.

214 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored the processes of doing gender as a social and discursive practice, highlighting the necessity to manage difference and the processual, emergent, dynamic, partial and fragmented nature of gendered identities.
Abstract: This article presents a qualitative study of men who do traditionally female dominated and feminized work (specifically nursing and primary school teaching). Men are often seen as not only a minority to women in these contexts, but also their Other. The article explores the processes of doing gender as a social and discursive practice, highlighting the necessity to manage difference and the processual, emergent, dynamic, partial and fragmented nature of gendered identities. We show some of the complex ways in which men manage difference and how they transcend Otherness by doing masculinity and appropriating femininity so that masculinity is partially subverted and partly maintained. This analysis not only relies on the doing of gender through the doing of difference but also surfaces the undoing of gender and difference to disrupt gender norms and practices in work organizations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined effective managerial approaches regarding telecommuting implementation and found that telecommuters supervised with an information-sharing approach were more likely to report lower work, family conflict, increased performance, and were more willing to help co-workers.
Abstract: Voluntary telecommuting is an increasingly prevalent flexible work practice, typically offered to assist employees with managing work— family demands. Most organizations with telecommuting policies rely on supervisor discretion regarding policy access and implementation in their department. Although supervisors' approaches have implications for telecommuters and their non-telecommuting co-workers, few studies integrate these stakeholder perspectives. Drawing on surveys and interviews with 90 dyads of supervisors and subordinates, some of whom were telecommuters and some of whom were not, we examine effective managerial approaches regarding telecommuting implementation. First, supervisors should stay in close contact with telecommuters, but this contact should emphasize sharing information rather than close monitoring of work schedules. Telecommuters supervised with an information-sharing approach were more likely to report lower work—family conflict, increased performance, and were more likely to help co-...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article analyzed how multiple organizational identities are constructed through rhetoric to maintain and enhance the legitimacy claims made by organizations, and argued that the multiple identity claims constituted aspects of constabularies' self-presentation strategies by which they attempted to exert control over stakeholders' perceptions and establish pragmatic, cognitive and moral claims to legitimacy.
Abstract: This article analyses how multiple organizational identities are constructed through rhetoric to maintain and enhance the legitimacy claims made by organizations. Our theorizing is founded on an investigation of the 43 geographically based English and Welsh constabularies. The research contribution of our study is threefold. First, we show that officially sanctioned web-based organizational identity claims are multiple and discuss their implications for identity theory. Second, we consider how these multiple identity claims are constituted using particular rhetorical strategies. Third, we argue that the multiple identity claims constituted aspects of constabularies’ selfpresentation strategies by which they attempted to exert control over stakeholders’ perceptions and establish pragmatic, cognitive and moral claims to legitimacy. This is contrary to some previous research that has suggested that organizations seek to reconcile or redefine multiple claims, and that has ignored them as a resource for satisf...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors propose a theory of leadership that utilizes five levels of being as context for effective leadership: 1) the physical world; 2) the world of images and imagination; 3) the level of the soul; 4) the levels of the Spirit; and 5) the non-dual level.
Abstract: This article proposes and develops a theory of leadership that utilizes five levels of being as context for effective leadership: 1) the physical world; 2) the world of images and imagination; 3) the level of the soul; 4) the level of the Spirit; and 5) the non-dual level. We first explore how each of the five levels of being provides a means for advancing both the theory and the practice of leadership. Second, we utilize these five levels to create the foundation for a theory of leadership based on being that goes beyond current theory which emphasizes having and doing — either having appropriate traits and competencies or doing appropriate actions depending on the situation. We present propositions for future research as we discuss each of the five levels of being. Finally, we discuss implications for leadership development and future research that arise from such a being-centered leadership theory.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study how the discourses of Ambition and Autonomy clash and interact in a consultancy firm, and develop the concept of counter-resistance to expand our understanding of the dynamics of resistance.
Abstract: Consent, obedience and resistance can be seen as key concerns in management and organization. Why people comply is a crucial issue in the field. We address the theme within a specific area: management consultants in a big firm that places quite a lot of pressure on its personnel to be hardworking and predictable and to subordinate themselves to hierarchy, standards and tight production schedules. By studying how the discourses of Ambition and Autonomy clash and interact in a consultancy firm, we add and develop the concept of counter-resistance to expand our understanding of the dynamics of resistance. The idea is to show how the impulse to resist becomes countered and neutralized. The study offers insights into the deeper mechanisms and dynamics behind consent and shows the multidimensional character of resistance.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a study of professional identity work, using in-depth interview material from research conducted into the work lives of 10 gay men employed in the UK National Health Service Trust, was conducted.
Abstract: This article is a study of professional identity work, using in-depth interview material from research conducted into the work lives of 10 gay men employed in a UK National Health Service Trust. Using the men's portraits of professional life, we examine the different ways they understand what it means to be a `professional'. The article suggests that while gay men appear to be empowered by forms of agency to self-identify as professionals in `gay-friendly' work contexts, they are by no means unaffected by dominant professional norms and discourses of heteronormativity that treat sexuality and professionalism as polar opposites. Thus how straightforward it might be for the interviewees to self-identify as `professional' and openly gay within an organization that is perceived to be `gay-friendly' is scrutinized in terms of the professional identity dilemmas experienced by the study participants. We conclude that, even within `gayfriendly' organizational settings, fashioning a professional identity is a proc...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a longitudinal study of one first-line supervisor at a restructured Australian industrial plant is presented, where the authors argue that neither self-narration nor dramaturgical performance accounts for the practical discursive work that constructs managerial ''identity''.
Abstract: This article examines how frontline managers establish managerial identities. It combines narrational and Goffmanesque conceptions of managerial identity work in a longitudinal study of one first-line supervisor at a restructured Australian industrial plant. We argue that, singly, neither self-narration nor dramaturgical performance accounts for the practical discursive work that constructs managerial `identity'. We demonstrate that frontline manager identity work is an iterative process in which self-narration and dramaturgical performance are almost seamlessly interwoven. The supervisor uses these different identity work stratagems simultaneously, and they are processually co-dependent. We conclude, therefore, that organizational scholars who study how persons construct managerial identities should take Goffman's dramaturgical perspective more seriously. It is an indispensible complement to the analysis of identity narratives, because successful performances undergird managers' attempts to craft stable ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the role of emotions in mediating the effects of perceived politics on adverse employee outcomes and found that frustration translates employees' perceptions of politics into lower levels of performance and increased organizational withdrawal.
Abstract: Using affective events theory as a framework, this study examined the role of emotions in mediating the effects of perceived politics on adverse employee outcomes. The authors proposed that frustration translates employees' perceptions of politics into lower levels of performance and increased organizational withdrawal (i.e. turnover intentions) through a mediational path that involves job satisfaction. The proposed model received support with empirical results from 134 subordinate—supervisor dyads sampled across a single government agency. In particular, there was evidence that frustration and job satisfaction mediated the effects of politics perceptions on employee behavioral outcomes.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the validity of the idea that a deterrent to organizational safety is an inability to redirect ongoing actions once they are underway and suggest that the process of redirecting action is moderated by two social factors: giving voice to concerns and seeking alternative perspectives.
Abstract: Research on organizational safety and reliability largely has emphasized system-level structures and processes neglecting the more micro-level, social processes necessary to enact organizational safety. In this qualitative study we remedy this gap by exploring these processes in the context of wildland fire management. In particular, using interview data gathered from 28 individuals involved in wildland firefighting, we explore the validity of the idea that a deterrent to organizational safety is an inability to redirect ongoing actions once they are underway. The findings suggest four major themes. First, individuals and groups redirect ongoing action as a result of re-evaluating that action. Second, noticing early warning signs, while necessary, is not sufficient to drive change. Third, two social processes — giving voice to concerns and actively seeking alternative perspectives — appear to be key drivers of re-evaluation. Fourth, the process of redirecting action is moderated by two social factors: ins...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reframe NAT in a manner that helps the theory to address its non-falsifiability problem and factor in the role of humans in accidents, arguing that open systems theory can account for the conclusions reached by NAT and HRT.
Abstract: We resolve the longstanding debate between Normal Accident Theory (NAT) and High-Reliability Theory (HRT) by introducing a temporal dimension. Specifically, we explain that the two theories appear to diverge because they look at the accident phenomenon at different points of time. We, however, note that the debate’s resolution does not address the non-falsifiability problem that both NAT and HRT suffer from. Applying insights from the open systems perspective, we reframe NAT in a manner that helps the theory to address its non-falsifiability problem and factor in the role of humans in accidents. Finally, arguing that open systems theory can account for the conclusions reached by NAT and HRT, we proceed to offer pointers for future research to theoretically and empirically develop an open systems view of accidents.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examined dialectical tensions in global virtual teams, and the ways in which tensions are negotiated through communicative practices of team members, finding that managers were more likely to treat tensions productively as complementary dialectics which enabled them to transcend oppositions, whereas lower-level foreign assignees were less able to cope with tensions, experiencing them as simple contradictions or paradoxes which constrained and disempowered them.
Abstract: This study examines dialectical tensions in global virtual teams, and the ways in which tensions are negotiated through communicative practices of team members. Drawing on ethnographic data from a global software team, the analysis revealed three main tensions in global team interaction: autonomy—connectedness, inclusion— exclusion, and empowerment—disempowerment. These tensions were composed of layers of subdialectics, which were either productive or detrimental depending on how they were managed. Team members engaged in selection, transcendence, and withdrawal strategies to negotiate these dialectics. Managers were more likely to treat tensions productively as complementary dialectics which enabled them to transcend oppositions, whereas lower-level foreign assignees were less able to cope with tensions, experiencing them as simple contradictions or paradoxes which constrained and disempowered them. This research contributes a tension-centered model of global team interaction that challenges dominant ass...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper conducted a qualitative study of toy car designers that showed how creative workers may develop and express "signature styles" through their work, and how these signature styles allowed designers to affirm their creative, professional identities while designing commodity products within the practical constraints of a corporate context.
Abstract: I describe findings from a qualitative study of toy car designers that shows how creative workers may develop and express `signature styles' through their work. The display of these signature styles — that were not advertised, stamped on products, or even recognized in official corporate marketing communications — allowed designers to affirm their creative, professional identities while designing commodity products within the practical constraints of a corporate context. Findings further revealed that creative workers used signature styles, primarily, to affirm the identity categorizations of `idealistic' and `independent'. I discuss how these findings extend our understanding of `identity work' among creative workers, and may improve our ability to effectively manage these workers in corporate settings.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examined precipitating events (triggers) that activate a faultline and identified five types of triggers: differential treatment, different values, assimilation, insult or humiliating action, and simple contact.
Abstract: Today’s leaders face unprecedented challenges in attempting to manage interactions between social identity group members with a history of tension in society at large. Research on faultlines suggests that social identity groups often polarize in response to events that make social identity salient, resulting in negative work outcomes. The current research extends the faultlines literature by examining precipitating events (triggers) that activate a faultline. Qualitative interview data were collected from two samples of employees working in multiple countries to identify events that had resulted in social identity conflicts. In the first study (35 events), an exploratory approach yielded a typology of five types of triggers: differential treatment, different values, assimilation, insult or humiliating action, and simple contact. A second qualitative study (99 events) involved a more geographically varied sample. Research findings are discussed in terms of implications for the faultlines literature and for...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the conflict dynamics of dual executive leadership in non-profit performing arts companies in Canada using a social psychological lens, and find that conflict dissemination beyond the duo and their co-occurrence with conflict types impacting on the organization's ability to function well.
Abstract: The paradoxical co-existence of business and artistic objectives in creative organizations provides a useful background to explore the conflict dynamics of dual executive leadership. Using a social psychological lens, eight case studies of non-profit performing arts companies in Canada generated two sets of findings that highlight 1) types of conflict dissemination beyond the duo and 2) their co-occurrence with conflict types impacting on the organization's ability to function well. The study also re-confirmed types of conflict as found in the leadership duo.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored ''boundaryless'' careers and the nature of career boundaries in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Nigeria, and found that career mobility in Nigeria reproduces or challenges contemporary projections of the ''Boundaryless' career (i.e. as characterized by increased inter-firm mobility).
Abstract: Drawing from institutional theory, this article explores `boundaryless' careers and the nature of career boundaries in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Nigeria. The specific objectives are to explore: 1) whether career mobility in Nigeria reproduces or challenges contemporary projections of the `boundaryless' career (i.e. as characterized by increased inter-firm mobility) and 2) the structural boundaries (barriers) that constrain individuals' ability to enact the boundaryless career in this context. Findings of the interviews with 50 technical professionals in the Nigerian ICT industry challenge contemporary projections of `boundaryless' careers by providing evidence to support the continuing existence of career boundaries and traditional career patterns (i.e. as characterized by hierarchical and progressive movement within a single organization). Findings also suggest that ethnic allegiance, personal connections, gender discrimination, perceptions of educational qualificatio...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that distributed leadership cannot be divorced from its institutional context and that the relative influence of divergent institutional forces depends upon the immediate organizational environment, and argue that the implementation of distributed leadership is most difficult in the schools located in socially deprived areas, that is, the very context where policy-makers expect distributed leadership to make the most impact.
Abstract: Distributed leadership is promoted as being well suited to public service organizations because of their multiple goals, less pronounced managerial authority and presence of powerful professional groups. Drawing on qualitative evidence we analyse the complex process of the institutionalization of distributed leadership in English schools. Our analysis suggests that competing institutional forces simultaneously foster and stymie the adoption of distributed leadership. Consequently, the school principals find themselves in a classic Catch-22 situation, which they resolve by enacting a weak form of distributed leadership. Ironically, the implementation of distributed leadership is the most difficult in the schools located in socially deprived areas, that is, the very context where policy-makers expect distributed leadership to make the most impact. Moving beyond our specific case, we argue that distributed leadership, and leadership more generally, cannot be divorced from its institutional context and that the relative influence of divergent institutional forces depends upon the immediate organizational environment.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the role of organizational commitment in one paradigmatic area of contingent work arrangements: temporary agency work and found that commitment to the client was detrimental to workers' well-being.
Abstract: Previous research found that organizational commitment is positively related to employee well-being. However, in the current age of contingent work, transitions, and `protean careers', the advisability of commitment is questionable. Therefore, we analyzed the role of organizational commitment in one paradigmatic area of contingent work arrangements: temporary agency work. In contrast to standard workers, temporary agency workers have to deal with two organizations: the temporary agency and client organization. Results revealed an ambivalent role of organizational commitment for temporary workers. Cross-sectional commitment towards the client organization had positive effects on workers' well-being, whereas commitment towards the agency had no effects. However, longitudinal analyses revealed that commitment to the client was detrimental to workers' well-being when they experienced reassignment to another client. In sum, we found beneficial and dysfunctional effects of organizational commitment on well-bein...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors developed a comprehensive model of top management behaviors, perceived management credibility, and employee cynicism and outcomes, identifying managerial behaviors that affect employees' perceptions of trustworthiness and competence and examine how each of those components relates to employee cynicism, and found that different sets of managerial behaviors generate attributions of competence, incompetence, trustworthiness, and non-trustworthiness.
Abstract: By combining quantitative and qualitative methods of study, we develop a comprehensive model of top management behaviors, perceived management credibility, and employee cynicism and outcomes. Specifically, we identify managerial behaviors that affect employees’ perceptions of two components of top management’s credibility — trustworthiness and competence — and examine how each of those components relates to employee cynicism. Top management competence and trustworthiness relate to different components of employee cynicism (cognitive, affective, and behavioral cynicism), and these dimensions of cynicism differentially relate to organizational commitment and self-assessed job performance. Content analysis of critical incidents revealed that different sets of managerial behaviors generate attributions of competence, incompetence, trustworthiness, and non-trustworthiness. This study and the resulting model open the door to more finely distilled research on management credibility and employee cynicism.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a qualitative study was conducted to validate the conceptualization of vigor as comprising physical strength, emotional energy and cognitive liveliness, and explore vigor's work-related antecedents.
Abstract: Our first objective in this qualitative study was to validate the conceptualization of vigor as comprising physical strength, emotional energy and cognitive liveliness. Our second objective was to explore vigor's work-related antecedents. We applied theme analysis to the contents of interviews held with 38 randomly selected employees. The results clearly supported the three-component conceptualization of vigor as most employees (77%) related to vigor as a multifaceted variable. The most frequent work-related antecedents of vigor that emerged from the interviews were meaningful interactions with others, coping with challenging situations, and achieving success on a project. By superimposing the Job Characteristics Model on these qualitative findings, we inferred from the items describing vigor's antecedents that job significance, supervisory feedback, and job identity were the most frequently mentioned antecedents of vigor at work. Additionally, we found indications of a spillover effect of vigor from the ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the social distance between leaders and followers as a cross-level moderator of the relationships between senior level managers' transformational leadership and individual-level outcomes.
Abstract: Following recent interest in contextual factors and how they might influence the effects of transformational leadership, we consider the social distance between leaders and followers as a cross-level moderator of the relationships between senior level managers’ transformational leadership and individual-level outcomes. Our sample comprised 268 individuals in 50 leader-follower groups. Results revealed that high social distance reduced or neutralized transformational leadership’s association with followers’ emulation of leader behavior. In contrast, high levels of social distance between leaders and followers enhanced the effects of transformational leadership on individuals’ perceptions of their units’ positive emotional climate and individuals’ sense of collective efficacy. Results not only highlight the importance of social distance as a contextual variable affecting leader-follower relations but also suggest that the same contextual variable may have differential effects, enhancing some relationships a...