Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2023-08-21
Abstract： Personal initiative behavior contributes to organizational success and helps employees navigate workplace uncertainty, and is therefore an essential research topic. However, most studies have focused on the influence of personal initiative behavior on leaders rather than coworkers. Moreover, the findings regarding the interpersonal effects of such behavior on coworkers are inconsistent. To address these issues, we take a contingency perspective that shifts the focus from a binary “good or bad for coworkers” logic to an understanding of the interpersonal benefits and risks of personal initiative behavior. Drawing on research stereotype traits, in this study we examine the moderating effect of the trait of employee warmth trait and explore the differential emotional and behavioral responses of coworkers toward employees with high or low warmth traits. We apply the approach-avoidance systems theory and hypothesize that warm and initiative-taking employees generate relational energy, leading to active facilitation behavior, whereas initiative-taking but non-warm employees may experience interpersonal disliking and subsequent ostracism behavior from coworkers.
We conducted two studies to test our hypotheses. Study 1 involved a multi-source round-robin survey to test the proposed model. Each survey wave was separated by a three-week interval. At Time 1, team leaders assessed each team member’s personal initiative behavior and demographics. The team members then rated their own warmth trait and demographics. Three weeks later at Time 2, the team members evaluated relational energy and interpersonal disliking through a round-robin design. Finally, three weeks later at Time 3, they rated their active facilitation behavior and interpersonal ostracism behavior using a round-robin design. The dataset comprised 1,164 dyads of 305 members in 65 teams. In Study 2, to enhance causal inference, a scenario-based experiment with a 2 (personal initiative behavior: high vs. low) × 2 (employee warmth trait: high vs. low) factorial design was conducted. The participants (280 full-time workers) were recruited from an online survey platform (Credamo) and randomly assigned to one of four scenarios. They reported their demographics, read the scenario, and provided responses to manipulation checks and questions regarding relational energy, interpersonal disliking, active facilitation behavior, and interpersonal ostracism behavior.
In terms of data analysis, we considered the complex nested structure of the round-robin data in Study 1 and utilized a multilevel social relations modeling approach to test the research model. In Study 2, we used ANOVA and regression analyses to examine the causal relationships in our theoretical model. The empirical results supported our hypotheses, indicating that initiative-taking and warm employees were more likely to stimulate coworkers’ relational energy and increase their active facilitation behavior. Conversely, initiative-taking but non-warm employees were more likely to trigger interpersonal disliking among coworkers, subsequently leading to increased interpersonal ostracism behavior.
This study has several theoretical implications. First, unlike studies that focus on singular effects, we explored the dual nature of the effects of personal initiative behavior on coworkers, thus providing a deeper understanding and a more comprehensive perspective. Second, by building on the literature on stereotype traits, we identified the employee warmth trait as a critical boundary that distinguishes the interpersonal benefits and risks of personal initiative behavior toward coworkers, thus reconciling other contradictory findings. Finally, by drawing on approach-avoidance systems theory, we revealed that relational energy and interpersonal disliking explain how and why coworkers have differential behavioral responses toward the personal initiative behavior exhibited by employees with high or low warmth traits.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： The balance of work and family has received widespread attention from managers and researchers in recent years. Previous research claims that job demand, as a kind of pressure felt by employees, reduces employees’ work motivation, increases employee fatigue and anxiety, and hinders work-family enrichment. However, different job demands (e.g., challenge demand and hindrance demand) have different effects on employees. Challenge demand, which gives individuals the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and promote personal growth, influences work-family enrichment in a complex way. However, few researches pay sufficient attention to the mechanism of the double-edged effect in the relationship between challenge demand and work-family enrichment. In addition, although scholarly research on job demand and work-family enrichment has increasingly focused on within-person fluctuations in recent years, how to examine the “dynamic” effects of challenge demand on work-family enrichment has received little attention. Therefore, based on conservation of resource theory and uncertainty management theory and from static and dynamic perspectives, we comprehensively examined the effects of challenge demand on work-family enrichment by clarifying the different attributes of challenge demand (daily level model, average level model, daily shift model, and variability model). We tested our hypothesis by conducting a diary study of 105 participations over 10 working days. Data were collected via a job demand scale, work absorption scale, relaxation scale, and work-family enrichment scale. First, we recorded control variables (gender, marital status, and spouse’s work status) during the weekends. Second, researchers collected daily data (challenge demand, hindrance demand, work absorption, relaxation, and work-family enrichment) from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. each workday. Ultimately, 645 valid data points at the within-person level were available for 81 participants. Using SPSS 24.0, Mplus 7.0, and R software, we conducted a multilevel path analysis to examine the theoretical model. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the validity of the key variables (challenge demand, work absorption, relaxation, and work-family enrichment), and the results confirmed that the present study had good discriminant validity. The results of multilevel path analysis showed that the following. (1) In the static model, challenge demand had double-edged sword effects on work-family enrichment at the within-person level (daily level model); in the average level model (between-person level), the average level of challenge demand positively predicted chronic work absorption and negatively predicted chronic relaxation, and the mediating effect of chronic relaxation was stronger than that of chronic work absorption. (2) In the dynamic model, directionality of daily shifts in challenge demand negatively affected daily work absorption and daily relaxation in the daily shift model (within-person level). Only the mediating role of daily relaxation was significant; in the variability model (between-person level), the variability level of challenge demand had a negative impact on chronic work absorption and chronic relaxation, and only the mediating role of chronic relaxation was significant. The study makes critical contributions both theoretically and practically. (1) The static model indicated that, through the gained and deleted paths, the double-edged sword effect of the relationship between daily challenge demand, average level of change demand, and work-family enrichment was significant. (2) Through the dynamic model, this study explored the negative effect of challenge demand fluctuations on work-family enrichment in two forms, namely, daily shift directionality and the variability of challenge demand. Practically, this study suggests that managers should fully recognize the double-edged sword effect of challenge demand.
Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2022-04-17
Abstract：
The balance of work and family has received widespread attention from managers and researchers in recent years. Previous research claims that job demand, as a kind of pressure felt by employees, reduces employees’ work motivation, increases employee fatigue and anxiety, and hinders work-family enrichment. However, different job demands (e.g., challenge demand and hindrance demand) have different effects on employees. Challenge demand, which gives individuals the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and promote personal growth, influences work-family enrichment in a complex way. However, few researches pay sufficient attention to the mechanism of the double-edged effect in the relationship between challenge demand and work-family enrichment. In addition, although scholarly research on job demand and work-family enrichment has increasingly focused on within-person fluctuations in recent years, how to examine the “dynamic” effects of challenge demand on work-family enrichment has received little attention. Therefore, based on conservation of resource theory and uncertainty management theory and from static and dynamic perspectives, we comprehensively examined the effects of challenge demand on work-family enrichment by clarifying the different attributes of challenge demand (daily level model, average level model, daily shift model, and variability model).
We tested our hypothesis by conducting a diary study of 105 participations over 10 working days. Data were collected via a job demand scale, work absorption scale, relaxation scale, and work-family enrichment scale. First, we recorded control variables (gender, marital status, and spouse’s work status) during the weekends. Second, researchers collected daily data (challenge demand, hindrance demand, work absorption, relaxation, and work-family enrichment) from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. each workday. Ultimately, 645 valid data points at the within-person level were available for 81 participants. Using SPSS 24.0, Mplus 7.0, and R software, we conducted a multilevel path analysis to examine the theoretical model.
Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the validity of the key variables (challenge demand, work absorption, relaxation, and work-family enrichment), and the results confirmed that the present study had good discriminant validity. The results of multilevel path analysis showed that the following. (1) In the static model, challenge demand had double-edged sword effects on work-family enrichment at the within-person level (daily level model); in the average level model (between-person level), the average level of challenge demand positively predicted chronic work absorption and negatively predicted chronic relaxation, and the mediating effect of chronic relaxation was stronger than that of chronic work absorption. (2) In the dynamic model, directionality of daily shifts in challenge demand negatively affected daily work absorption and daily relaxation in the daily shift model (within-person level). Only the mediating role of daily relaxation was significant; in the variability model (between-person level), the variability level of challenge demand had a negative impact on chronic work absorption and chronic relaxation, and only the mediating role of chronic relaxation was significant.
The study makes critical contributions both theoretically and practically. (1) The static model indicated that, through the gained and deleted paths, the double-edged sword effect of the relationship between daily challenge demand, average level of change demand, and work-family enrichment was significant. (2) Through the dynamic model, this study explored the negative effect of challenge demand fluctuations on work-family enrichment in two forms, namely, daily shift directionality and the variability of challenge demand. Practically, this study suggests that managers should fully recognize the double-edged sword effect of challenge demand.
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