In spite of the increasing demand for virtual cooperation, still relatively little is known about the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) individuals need for virtual teamwork. Thus, the current paper aims at synthesizing the existing literature into a comprehensive model of virtual teamwork KSAOs. To this end, we review (a) existing frameworks of KSAO requirements for virtual teamwork, (b) challenges posed by different facets of virtuality, and (c) KSAOs particularly relevant for meeting the identified challenges. The results of this review are integrated into a holistic model of virtual teamwork KSAOs with distal characteristics (personality, experience) and more proximal qualities (knowledge, skills, and motivation). Research gaps as well as avenues for future research will be outlined and applications for virtual team staffing and training will be discussed.
Teams are increasingly engaged in networked interaction across both team and organizational boundaries in order to achieve complex, higher order goals. In contrast to theoretical work on goal pursuit within isolated teams, there is an absence of theoretical models focused on systems composed of such teams. In response, we propose a predictive model to improve understanding of the nature of motivational processes leading to performance in interdependent systems of teams. This model is grounded on goal hierarchy characteristics (goal level, priority, and degree of compatibility) and functional process interdependence (sequential, reciprocal, intensive) that differentially affect both goal setting and goal striving processes across component team and multiteam levels. The model also illustrates how goal choice and goal striving in multiteam systems (MTSs) can be viewed from multilevel and multiphasic perspectives. We discuss the implications of the model for understanding, researching, and effectively managing the motivational mechanisms underlying MTSs performance.
Employees have an enduring concern with how they appear to others, and will seek to claim certain attributions to strengthen their workplace image. In this research, a model of exemplification is presented. This model is an impression management strategy, whereby employees seek to claim the attributions of dedicated, moral, or generous by strategically displaying for audiences a willingness to do more or better than is necessary at work. This model draws from the literature on identity and impression management, and applies an interpersonal-perception framework to make predictions about exemplifying performances or the behaviors employees may act out to earn these attributions, potential audience reactions to those performances, and the influence those reactions might have on subsequent exemplifying performances.
Dyadic work relationships are fundamental to effective organizing and are a means by which individuals find meaning at work. Such relationships may contain latent competencies with the potential to infuse the dyad with purpose. Meaningful dyadic relationships depend on the dyad’s ability to be resilient to within-dyad adversity. Our conceptual analysis examines how interpersonal interactions emerge to dyad-level phenomena in the wake of such adversity. We introduce dyadic resilience, detail the process by which it emerges, identify protective factors and risk factors of dyadic resilience, and posit that the emergence of dyadic resilience influences dyadic thriving over time.
We review and develop two alternative conceptualizations of meaningful work: a predominant perspective we label realization and an underdeveloped, yet critical, perspective we label justification. We develop each conceptualization by identifying the core problem meaningful work is thought to address and accompanying solutions. Next, we build from this distinction to propose a research agenda that advances scholarly understanding of meaningful work from a justification perspective. Through building this research agenda, we elevate scholarly understanding on meaningful work by illuminating new foci for research, highlighting the relevance of social-cultural mechanisms, and suggesting alternative outcomes.
Interest in employee entitlement perceptions is increasing in academia and in organizations. Entitlement has a long history of being conceptualized as a personality trait in psychology closely aligned with narcissism. Research on workplace entitlement has generally revealed links with negative workplace behaviors, indicating costly outcomes for individuals, teams, and organizations. Our aim in this article is to review the literature on workplace entitlement perceptions, identifying how the construct has changed definition over time, and indicating related constructs that impact on research within industrial and organizational psychology. This review progresses research in this field by examining the nomological network around entitlement and resolving current inconsistencies in the construct definition of entitlement in the workplace, and establishing a set of firm future research directions for entitlement research.
In recent years, scholars have increasingly recognized that the theoretical underpinnings of employee-organization relationships (EOR) are in need of further extension in light of recent organizational changes. In prior research, the study of EOR has been based on social exchange theory, and the psychological contract (PC) has played a central role in understanding this crucial aspect of organizational life. The main objective of this paper is to provide an integration of the existing literature by adopting a multiple-foci exchange relationships approach. Specifically, we looked at identification; the quality of relationships and exchanges with the leader, coworkers, and other organizational agents; justice perceptions involving several organizational sources; and perceived organizational, leader, and coworker support to expand our understanding of the PC. Overall, we advocate a multiple-foci exchange relationships approach that will ultimately enable us to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of PCs in 21st century organizations.
Unsafe work environments have clear consequences for both individuals and organizations. As such, an ever-expanding research base is providing a greater understanding of the factors that affect workplace safety across organizational levels. However, despite scientific advances, the workplace safety literature suffers from a lack of theoretical and empirical integration that makes it difficult for organizational scientists to gain a comprehensive sense of (a) what we currently know about workplace safety and (b) what we have yet to learn. This review addresses these shortcomings. First, the authors provide a formal definition of workplace safety and then create an integrated safety model (ISM) based on existing theory to summarize current theoretical expectations with regard to workplace safety. Second, the authors conduct a targeted review of the safety literature and compare extant empirical findings with the ISM. Finally, the authors use the results of this review to articulate gaps between theory and research and then make recommendations for both theoretical and empirical improvements to guide and integrate future workplace safety research.
A large body of research accumulated on the consequences that absolute team size (i.e., team headcount) entails for the performance of teams working on innovative tasks. However, there is a dearth of research on team size in relation to a team’s assignments and objectives (i.e., relative team size). How this relative team size might influence innovation teams is therefore poorly understood. To stimulate theorizing on relative team size, we derive propositions from understaffing theory on how varying levels of relative team size affect teams with innovative tasks. We provide a more fine-grained analysis by differentiating between different dimensions of these teams’ performance (i.e., team creativity, output quality, and team efficiency) and develop an input-mediator-output model. Implications of our theoretical considerations and avenues for future research are discussed.
People in organizations often try to change the feelings of those they interact with. Research in this area has to date focused on how people try to regulate others’ emotions, with less attention paid to understanding the reasons why. This paper presents a theoretical framework that proposes three overarching dimensions of motivations for interpersonal emotion regulation at work, relating to the extent to which regulation is motivated by autonomy (intrinsic vs. extrinsic), relatedness (prosocial vs. egoistic), and competence (performance- vs. pleasure-oriented). Combining these dimensions suggests eight possible categories of motives that underlie interpersonal emotion regulation. The framework enables new predictions about how motives influence the types of emotions elicited in others, the strategies employed, and the effectiveness of interpersonal emotion regulation in organizations.
Given increasing awareness of time’s critical role, we assess the current position of time in the workplace mistreatment literature. Focusing on four mistreatment constructs (viz., abusive supervision, workplace bullying, workplace incivility, and social undermining) found in the organizational psychology literature, our search revealed 266 studies that have empirically examined the consequences of these forms of interpersonal mistreatment. We examine and critique these studies, finding that with a few exceptions, most have failed to design and test theoretical relationships in a manner consistent with construct definitions. As interpersonal mistreatment research has neglected the role of time, we conclude that the substantial number of existing studies offer limited insight into the true nature of mistreatment’s consequences over time. We go on to elaborate on the types of theoretical insights that might emerge when a temporal lens (objective time and/or subjective time) is adopted by mistreatment researchers.
We introduce the concept of "dynamic safety capability" (DSC) to describe an organization’s capacity to proactively change its core safety systems in environments characterized by change and uncertainty. Drawing on theories of dynamic capability in organizations, we define three core features of DSC: (a) sensing via scanning and attending to the future, (b) seizing via integrating complexity and, (c) transforming via enacting second-order change. We propose DSC is developed through organizational learning processes of experience, knowledge articulation, and knowledge codification. The features of DSC are integrated with major theories of safety and approaches to safety management. We discuss how organizational psychology can support the development of DSC through leadership and simulation activities.
Work identity and identification have generated a great deal of interest in the fields of organizational psychology and organizational behavior. Given several theoretical perspectives available to study work identity, the field has developed in somewhat haphazard fashion with independent streams of research investigating the same or highly similar phenomena. In the present review, we provide a broad overview of theoretical approaches and topics in work identity literature to inform and guide future integration. We review over 600 published articles and organize the literature along two dimensions: level of identity inclusiveness (i.e., individual, interpersonal, and collective) and static/dynamic approaches to identity change. Within each review category, a brief summary of extant research is provided, along with suggestions for future research.
In organizational psychology research, most theories put forth directional predictions, such as stating that an increase in one construct will result in an increase or decrease in another construct. Such predictions are imprecise, given that they can be confirmed by a wide range of values, and theories that rely on such predictions bear little risk of falsification. In this article, we present an approach for increasing theoretical precision by using results from meta-analyses to calibrate the predictions embedded in a theory. Our approach provides point values for theoretical predictions along with credibility intervals that capture the likely range of the predicted effects. We illustrate this approach by drawing from research on work engagement and calibrate the predictions represented by two conceptual models. Contributions and limitations of the proposed approach are discussed.
Scholars have used a variety of ways to examine personality at the team level, yet never has a dynamic, multilevel approach been taken to examine the structure of team personality, how it develops, and how and why it may influence team effectiveness. If the concept of personality at the team level is to be taken seriously, we argue that a consistent theoretical orientation is necessary to synthesize past findings and guide future research. To fill this need, we discuss the definition, function, structure, and emergence of team personality, culminating in the development of a dynamic multilevel model linking individual team member personalities to team personality. This model is the basis through which we describe the development, path dependence, and impact of team personality. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our model.
Groups are increasingly conceptualized as self-regulating, adaptive social systems, where time and history play central explanatory roles. Despite this, concepts related to opponent processes, which are central to theories of self-regulation, have been absent from discussions of leadership of groups. In this paper, we introduce the opponent process theory of leadership succession, and argue that the impact of leadership on current outcomes can be fully appreciated only by complementing the understanding of the current leader’s behaviors and style with the behaviors and styles of his or her predecessor. We outline both the process and content of opponent processes highlighting their potential to explain both adaptive and maladaptive behavior in groups.
In the current paper, we provide a formal taxonomy of the organizational context relevant to newcomer socialization. We also propose that what newcomers learn during socialization periods (i.e., socialization content) and how they could learn the new information and knowledge (i.e., socialization process) are two distinct but related aspects of newcomer socialization. Based on these conceptual developments, we establish a theoretical model that articulates the mechanisms via which different contextual factors may impact newcomer socialization content and socialization process. Implications and future directions related to this theoretical model are discussed.
The AAA model is presented as an integrative conceptualization of workplace stress that combines research from multiple models and theories to account for the numerous complexities that employees experience when cognitively evaluating organizational demands. The proposed model examines the effects of employees’ organizational stressors on the cognitive appraisal process and describes how employees’ emotions and self-regulation affect individual coping behaviors, adaptation, and learning from stressful experiences. Practitioner applications, theoretical contributions, and directions for future research are presented.
This review integrates research regarding organizations’ ethical infrastructure and moral disengagement to illustrate the complicated relationship between these constructs. We argue that employee perceptions of strong ethical infrastructures may reduce individuals’ tendencies to rationalize and engage in clearly self-interested unethical behaviors, but might motivate moral disengagement about other behaviors by tapping into members’ desires to preserve a positive self-image and reduce cognitive burden. This research builds upon scholars’ understanding that "good" people can be morally blind and engage in unsavory acts without awareness of the unethical nature of their actions, and suggests that even in organizations with formal and informal systems prioritizing ethics, unethical decisions and behaviors may be rationalized and go unnoticed. Finally, we discuss theoretical and methodological implications—notably that scholars should be concerned about conclusions drawn from employee perceptions about the ethicality of the organizational context, and supplement perceptual measures with direct observation and more objective assessment.
In contemporary organizations, the knowledge needed to perform work is frequently housed within groups. In order to effectively leverage this knowledge, however, groups must identify relative member expertise. Unfortunately, assessments of expertise in groups can be error-prone, given the human tendency to rely on efficient but noisy schemas and heuristics. The purpose of this paper is to consider the factors that lead to more mindful and, ultimately, more useful expertise attributions in task groups. We begin with the observation that mindful expertise attribution can be modeled as a motivation problem using expectancy theory. In order for group members to move beyond superficial expertise attributions, they must see value in doing so (valence) and they must feel that exerting that effort will be both possible (expectancy) and beneficial (instrumentality). We build on this basic observation to propose an "expertise dependence theory" of mindful attributions in task groups.
Drawing on several theoretical traditions in the social sciences, we offer a theory of the social facilitation of charismatic leadership by introducing the concept of squires. Squires are key followers who serve four social facilitation functions: liberating and legitimizing, modeling, buffering, and interpreting and translating. Liberating and legitimizing builds on social conformity research. Modeling is based in the social learning and social influence literatures. Buffering, and interpreting and translating, draw on insights from the psychology of power and organizational theory. These functions help resolve two central charismatic leadership paradoxes: (a) the need to be different from followers, though followers prefer to be led by leaders who are like them, and (b) the need to be personally inspiring to followers while being socially distant from them. In specifying squires’ functions, we also address three weaknesses in conceptions of followership and contribute to understandings of how charismatic leadership emerges, works, and endures.
As the nature of work changes due to technology, organizational restructuring, and globalization, complex tasks have emerged that necessitate the use of teams. Oftentimes, teams complete tasks that have more than one plausible solution or engage in performance episodes under uncertain circumstances. Therefore, teams are called upon to be highly adaptable to these ill-defined tasks by responding to continuous changes in the task environment. We propose that dimensions of team cognition (i.e., shared mental models and transactive memory systems) help drive adaptation. In recognition of the additional cognitive demands placed upon teams who must be highly adaptable, we believe much can be gained from taking a closer look at the facets of team-level cognitive variables. The current effort aims to provide a more comprehensive explanation of emergent cognitive states, and how they interact to drive adaptive team performance, especially within the context of ill-defined problems.
We identify "quarrelsomeness" as an important component in understanding destructive behaviors in organizational contexts. Quarrelsomeness has been studied both as a personality trait that generalizes over occasions and situations and as a reflection of interpersonal processes that unfold over time in association with event-specific cues. While a variety of studies have documented the role of quarrelsomeness in explaining behavior in interpersonal contexts, a review of the literature revealed few studies explicitly examining the influence of quarrelsomeness in organizational contexts. As work contexts typically involve frequent interpersonal interactions, it is plausible to expect that quarrelsomeness would be an influence on several organizationally relevant issues. The present article examines quarrelsomeness as a trait related to organizational issues such as dysfunctional conflict and workplace aggression, as a behavior that is likely to emerge in association with event-specific cues, and as a moderator of the association between organizational factors and individuals’ behavioral responses to these factors. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Evolutionary leadership theory (ELT) argues that humans possess specialized psychological mechanisms for solving coordination problems through leadership and followership. We discuss the evolutionary functions and psychological processes underlying leadership, and how to study leadership and followership from an integrated evolutionary perspective. An evolutionary perspective offers novel insights into major barriers to leadership effectiveness in organizations. These obstacles include (a) mismatches between modern and ancestral environments, (b) evolved cognitive biases affecting leader selection and decision-making and (c) innate psychological mechanisms designed to dominate and exploit other individuals. Understanding the evolved psychological mechanisms underlying leadership, in terms of adaptive functions, mismatches, and psychological processes, is critical for the development and integration of leadership theory, research, and practice.
The investigation of teams and teamwork in cooperative (e.g., group brainstorming and team decision-making) and mixed-motive (e.g., negotiation) contexts has been carried out through a variety of lenses and disciplines. One lens that has not been used to rigorously theorize about and empirically investigate teams is that of ideologies. In this review, we juxtapose the study of a particular status-related ideology, the Protestant work ethic (PWE), in cooperative and mixed-motive contexts. We begin with an analysis of PWE, and then discuss 3 sets of empirical findings. In particular, we consider the association of PWE with (a) motivational orientations; (b) greater perceptions of personal control; and (c) justification of status differences. Given these associations, we theorize how PWE might affect cooperative and mixed-motive teamwork, suggesting that PWE will exert largely positive effects among cooperative teams, but will produce more varied effects among mixed-motive teams.
Employee performance appraisals are complex events in organizations. They occur in contextually rich environments and have implications for careers, training opportunities, remuneration, and interpersonal relationships. For years, the study of performance appraisals has mirrored this complexity and has revealed a multitude of variables that can influence the accuracy of performance ratings. Of late, the importance of managers’ intentions as a determinant of performance ratings has gained prominence. What is less understood is where these intentions come from and what determines their relative strength or weakness. In the current paper, we present a model that explains the simultaneous presence and strength of multiple rating intentions that managers can have when rating employee performance.
Research has found that the most prevalent forms of bullying in the workplace are ambiguous and difficult to detect. As a result, bullying often results in subjective interpretations of the behavior thereby inducing various possible attributions by targets. Based on findings about the misattribution of bullying behavior, we extend current conceptualizations of workplace bullying and investigate the role of targets’ attributions in explaining the relationship between workplace bullying and key dimensions of targets’ performance. We propose that different attributions can have differential effects on targets’ work performance. This contributes to the current debate and conflicting views about the effects of workplace bullying on work performance. We develop a theoretical model of bullying attributions that integrates key contextual factors across multiple levels. We propose that bullying can paradoxically result in positive effects on target performance under certain conditions. This theoretical model serves as a roadmap for future research in this area.