Gossip as a resource:How and why power relationships shape gossip behavior

Gossip entails spreading evaluative information about people who are not present. From a social exchange perspective, we examined how hierarchical power relationships shape individuals gossip motives and behavior. Results of a laboratory experiment (Study 1) partially supported our prediction that gossip is less likely and elaborate in downward compared to upward and lateral interactions. We further predicted that people gossip laterally to seek information and social support, and upwards to exert influence. A scenario (Study 2) and critical incident study (Study 3) with working populations showed that lateral gossip was more functional for seeking information and expressive social support, whereas upward gossip (Study 2) and upward and lateral gossip (Study 3) were more functional for exerting informal influence and for seeking instrumental support. These results confirm our notion that gossip is functional behavior that enables individuals in hierarchical power relationships to strategically exchange different social resources (i.e., information, influence, support)

To be (creative), or not to be (creative)? A sensemaking perspective to creative role expectations

By combining organizational role theory with core features of the sensemaking perspective of creativity, we propose conditional indirect relationships between creative role expectations and employee incremental and radical creativity that are mediated by creative self-expectations and moderated by perceived necessity for performance improvement and creative cognitive style. We find empirical evidence for our hypothesized effects across two studies. First, in a field study using data collected from 325 supervisor–employee dyads in an academic institution in China, we find that creative role expectations are positively related to creative self-expectations and that perceived necessity for performance improvement strengthens this positive relationship. Furthermore, we find that creative self-expectations directly relate to incremental creativity, but that creative cognitive style is a necessary boundary condition under which such self-expectations relate to radical creativity. Second, the results of an additional survey study among 201 US employees suggest that the psychological process through which employees internalize external role expectations for creativity into their self-expectations for creativity is primarily driven by the satisfaction of basic needs for competence. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed

Health Self-Management Applications in the Work Environment:The Effects on Employee Autonomy

Organizations increasingly use Health Self-Management Applications (HSMAs) that provide feedback information on health-related behaviors to their employees so that they can self-regulate a healthy lifestyle. Building upon Self-Determination Theory, this paper empirically investigates the basic assumption of HSMAs that their self-management feature provides employees with autonomy to self-regulate their health-related behavior. The two-phase experimental study contained a 4-weeks HSMA intervention in a healthcare work environment with a feedback factor (performance vs. developmental) and pretest and posttest measurements of participants' perceived autonomy. Following the experiment, interviews were conducted with users to gain an in-depth understanding of the moderating roles of feedback and BMI (a proxy for health) in the effects of HSMA on perceived autonomy. Findings reveal that the use of an HSMA does not significantly increase perceived autonomy, and may even reduce it under certain conditions. Providing additional developmental feedback generated more positive results than performance feedback alone. Employees with higher BMI perceived a greater loss of autonomy than employees with lower BMI. The reason for this is that higher-BMI employees felt external norms and standards for healthy behavior as more salient and experienced more negative emotions when those norms are not met, thereby making them more aware of their limitations in the pursuit of health goals

Feedback type as a moderator of the relationship between achievement goals and feedback reactions

The aim of the current study is to shed new light on the inconsistent relationship between performance-approach (PAp) goals and feedback reactions by examining feedback type as a moderator. Results of a field experiment (N = 939) using a web-based work simulation task showed that the effect of achievement-approach goals was moderated by feedback type. Relative to individuals pursuing mastery-approach goals, individuals pursuing PAp goals responded more negatively to comparative feedback but not to task-referenced feedback. In line with the hypothesized mediated moderation model, the interaction between achievement goals and feedback type also indirectly affected task performance through feedback reactions. Providing employees with feedback is a key psychological principle used in a wide range of human resource and performance management instruments (e.g., developmental assessment centres, multi-source/360 degrees feedback, training, selection, performance appraisal, management education, computer-adaptive testing, and coaching). The current study suggests that organizations need to strike a balance between encouraging learning and encouraging performance, as too much emphasis on comparative performance (both in goal inducement and in feedback style) may be detrimental to employees' reactions and rate of performance improvement

Anger displays and integrative behavior among work dyads in teams:A regulatory fit approach

Anger has often been portrayed as a destructive social emotion in the literature. However, research conducted with a social functional approach has also revealed the functionality of anger and called for a shift toward understanding the conditions in which anger can have interpersonal utility at work. Given the complicated role and inevitability of anger in work teams, it is important to understand when team members can reap the interpersonal utility of anger and promote adaptive social interactions. Contributing to this approach, we developed a contingency model to postulate when and why anger displays can produce integrative behavior among co-worker dyads in teams. Drawing on regulatory fit theory we conducted three studies (one laboratory study and two field studies with a round-robin design) to examine our hypotheses. Results indicated that co-workers' anger displays were positively related to focal workers' (targets of anger) integrative behavior toward angry co-workers (expressers) when targets had a high level of prevention focus and perceived a low level of team goal interdependence. As expected, moreover, targets' problem identification with expressers was found to be the mechanism of this conditional relationship. Implications of our research are discussed

Transformational Leadership and Voice:When Does Felt Obligation to the Leader Matter?

Drawing on the notion that felt obligation is an important motivation variable that drives employees’ behavior, this study examines how leaders can evoke felt obligation in followers and to what extent such obligation can subsequently promote follower voice behavior. Using data from 384 Chinese employees and their 130 managers, we find that followers’ felt obligation to the leader (FOTL) serves as a mediator in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee voice behavior and that the mediation effect of FOTL is moderated by followers’ power distance orientation (PDO), such that the mediation effect is significant only for employees with low PDO. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed

Low ranks make the difference: how achievement goals and ranking information affect cooperation intentions

This investigation tested the joint effect of achievement goals and ranking information on information exchange intentions with a commensurate exchange partner. Results showed that individuals with performance goals were less inclined to cooperate with an exchange partner when they had low or high ranks, relative to when they had intermediate ranks. In contrast, mastery goal individuals showed weaker cooperation intentions when their ranks were higher. Moreover, participants’ reciprocity orientation was found to mediate this interaction effect of achievement goals and ranking information. These findings suggest that mastery goals are more beneficial for exchange relationships than performance goals in terms of stronger reciprocity orientation and cooperation intentions, but only among low-ranked individuals

Self-Evaluative and Other-Directed Emotional and Behavioral Responses to Gossip About the Self

Gossip, or informal talk about others who are not present, is omnipresent in daily interactions. As such, people who are targeted are likely to hear some gossip about themselves, which may have profound implications for their well-being. We investigated the emotions and behavioral intentions of people who hear performance-related gossip about themselves. Based on the affective events theory, we predicted that gossip incidents have strong emotional consequences for their targets and that these emotional responses trigger different behaviors. Two scenario studies (N1 = 226, Mage = 21.76; N2 = 204, Mage = 34.11) and a critical incident study (N = 240, Mage = 37.04) compared targets' responses to positive and negative gossip. Whereas, targets of positive gossip experienced positive self-conscious emotions (e.g., pride), targets of negative gossip experienced negative self-conscious emotions (e.g., guilt), especially when they had low core self-evaluations. In turn, these negative self-conscious emotions predicted repair intentions. Positive gossip also led to positive other-directed emotions (e.g., liking), which predicted intentions to affiliate with the gossiper. Negative gossip, however, also generated other-directed negative emotions (e.g., anger), especially for targets with high reputational concerns, which in turn predicted retaliation intentions against the gossiper. This pattern of emotional reactions to self-relevant gossip was found to be unique and different from emotional reactions to self-relevant feedback. These results show that gossip has self-evaluative and other-directed emotional consequences, which predict how people intend to behaviorally react after hearing gossip about themselves