A face for all seasons:searching for context-specific leadership traits and discovering a general preference for perceived health

Previous research indicates that followers tend to contingently match particular leader qualities to evolutionarily consistent situations requiring collective action (i.e., context-specific cognitive leadership prototypes) and information processing undergoes categorization which ranks certain qualities as first-order context-general and others as second-order context-specific. To further investigate this contingent categorization phenomenon we examined the “attractiveness halo”—a first-order facial cue which significantly biases leadership preferences. While controlling for facial attractiveness, we independently manipulated the underlying facial cues of health and intelligence and then primed participants with four distinct organizational dynamics requiring leadership (i.e., competition vs. cooperation between groups and exploratory change vs. stable exploitation). It was expected that the differing requirements of the four dynamics would contingently select for relatively healthier- or intelligent-looking leaders. We found perceived facial intelligence to be a second-order context-specific trait—for instance, in times requiring a leader to address between-group cooperation—whereas perceived health is significantly preferred across all contexts (i.e., a first-order trait). The results also indicate that facial health positively affects perceived masculinity while facial intelligence negatively affects perceived masculinity, which may partially explain leader choice in some of the environmental contexts. The limitations and a number of implications regarding leadership biases are discussed

Bald paper supplemental materials

Bald paper supplemental materials - additional information on method, results of suspicion check from Study

Competition and Innovative Team Performance

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2019: Due to practical constraints we have not been able to collect the amount of data necessary for our intended hypothesis tests. Instead, we now intend to report the data in a more exploratory way, and combine data from study 1 and 2 to at least have enough statistical power to detect a main effect of competition (if there indeed is one). _____________________________________________________________________________ In this project we investigate how intergroup competition either hinders or facilitates the quality of team performance on innovative tasks. So far we have conducted one lab study (2015, in NL) and aimed to replicate this with a field study (2017, in NZ). The field study failed to create a non-competitive ingroup cooperative focus in the control condition - demonstrating how difficult it can be to take out competitive elements outside of a lab. For this reason we are going back to a lab environment in another attempt to replicate Study 1. We run a few test-groups this week (August 16th and 17th 2018), and either continue the procedure as is, or make changes where necessary. We aim to collect our data (100 to 128 teams) in August, September, and October of 2018

Bald paper supplemental materials

Bald paper supplemental materials - additional information on method, results of suspicion check from Study

Le Courrier

06 mars 18261826/03/06 (A0,N65)

The HPWS and AMO: a dynamic study of system- and individual-level effects

PurposeDrawing on the dynamic model of ability, motivation, opportunity (AMO) for human resource research, this study aims to examine how organizational system-level (i.e. the high-performance work system (HPWS)) and individual-level AMO affect employees' performance. Specifically, this paper proposes that employee task performance is resultant from the integration of system- and individual-level AMO factors with employee contextual performance.Design/methodology/approachA survey design is employed with data collected from 250 employees working in New Zealand's service sector.FindingsThis study finds both organizational system (HPWS) and individual AMO dimensions have positive associations with employees' performance. At the system level, the supportive role played by contextual performance is highlighted with pro-social behaviors fully mediating the relationship between the HPWS and task performance. At the individual level, contextual performance is found to partially mediate the relationship between ability and task performance and fully mediate the relationship between motivation and task performance. Opportunity, on the other hand, is significantly associated with task but not contextual performance.Originality/valueIn acknowledging there are a plurality of factors that impact performance, this study enriches our understanding of AMO's influence in the context of people management.</jats:sec

Gender and job performance: linking the high performance work system with the ability–motivation–opportunity framework

PurposeFor some years, human resource management (HRM) scholars have sought to understand how the high performance work system (HPWS) impacts performance. Recently, attention has turned to developing knowledge about the more micro-level aspects of this relationship, with the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) framework providing a useful lens. Empirically, these studies have produced mixed results. This study explores whether context is useful in explaining these anomalous findings.Design/methodology/approachThis study considered the effects of context across two levels – the descriptive (situated demography–gender) and the analytical (societal–national culture) – on employees' behaviour in the HPWS–job performance relationship using survey data obtained from a sample of New Zealand organisations.FindingsResults indicate that the employee demographic of gender may play an influential role, with ability found to be the most significant predictor of job performance for males and opportunity the strongest predictor of job performance for females. Given the importance of cultural context when examining employees' gendered behaviours, this study also considers the influence of New Zealand's national culture.Practical implicationsBy describing the interaction between trait expressive work behaviours and job features, this study dispels the myth of universalism. In line with a contingency view, practitioners are encouraged to ensure alignment between features of their organisational context and the behavioural outcomes sought from their HPWS.Originality/valueThis study suggests HPWS research designs would benefit from analysing the full effects of contextual variables, rather than considering them purely as controls.</jats:sec