Asia Pacific Journal of Management

Wu, Long-Zeng; Huang, Yucheng; Sun, Zhuanzhuan; Lyu, Yijing; Ye, Yijiao; Kwan, Ho Kwong; Liu, Xinyu

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09919-zpmid: N/A

Based on social identity theory, this research investigates the mechanism between perceived organizational exploitation and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior. Using data collected from 340 supervisor–subordinate dyads in 6 hotels in China, our findings indicate that perceived organizational exploitation negatively influences employees’ OCB. Moreover, organizational identification is found to fully mediate the associations between perceived organizational exploitation and employees’ OCB. Furthermore, power distance weakens the direct effect of perceived organizational exploitation on organizational identification, as well as its indirect effects on employees’ OCB. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.

Wu, Long-Zeng; Huang, Yucheng; Sun, Zhuanzhuan; Lyu, Yijing; Ye, Yijiao; Kwan, Ho Kwong; Liu, Xinyu

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09936-ypmid: N/A

Zhu, Yanghao; Long, Lirong; Zhang, Yannan; Wang, Haijiang

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09928-ypmid: N/A

The rejection of employees’ suggestions by leaders is a common occurrence in organizations, yet the extant research is unclear regarding how and when leader voice rejection affects employees’ subsequent upward voice. Based on social information processing theory, this paper examines the mediating roles of voice self-efficacy (VSE) and leader-member exchange (LMX) as well as the moderating role of leader gratitude expression in the relationship between leader voice rejection and employees’ subsequent upward voice. We test these hypotheses by conducting a scenario-based experimental study (N = 190) and a survey study of leader − employee dyads (N = 245). We find that leader voice rejection reduces employees’ subsequent upward voice behavior by reducing their VSE and LMX, while leader gratitude expression moderates not only the direct effects of leader voice rejection on employees’ VSE and LMX but also the indirect effects of leader voice rejection on employees’ subsequent upward voice via VSE and LMX. The theoretical implications and practical implications of these findings are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Ali, Ahsan; Tariq, Hussain; Wang, Yanling

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09927-zpmid: N/A

The abusive supervision literature commonly suggests that employees who experience abuse from their supervisors may blame either the supervisors or the organization for the misconduct, leading to reduced job performance as a form of retaliation to ‘even the scales’. However, this study contributes to a recent stream of research that suggests one positive aspect of abusive supervision by highlighting the bright side of self-blame, where abused employees engage in prosocial behaviors to improve their situation, in order to negate any perception of themselves as victims. Drawing on the social cognitive theory of self-regulation, this study predicts a dual-stage moderated mediation pattern linking abusive supervision to objective service performance via abused employees’ self-blame, with interpersonal justice and work centrality as the first-stage moderators and core self-evaluation as a second-stage moderator. Using time-lagged and multi-source data collected from 411 employees, this study found that in a context of high interpersonal justice, work centrality, and core self-evaluation, abused employees blame themselves for the abusive supervision to negate any perception of themselves as victims, and subsequently make an attempt in the form of improving their objective service performance to prevent future supervisory misconduct. These findings challenge the predominant narrative by introducing circumstances in which abusive supervisors can elicit productive responses from their abused direct reports. This study also discusses the theoretical contributions and practical implications for managers, direct reports, and practitioners.

Li, Yan; Khan, Abdul Gaffar; Chen, Sizhi

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09929-xpmid: N/A

Ambivalent situations activate ambivalent emotions (i.e., the simultaneous experience of discrete emotions such as happiness and sadness), which is a ubiquitous phenomenon in organizations. Yet, how and when does ambivalent emotion foster or impede creativity? Unfortunately, prior scholars have largely overlooked the consequences of ambivalent emotion. However, informational theories of emotion deem that ambivalent emotion stimulates more information, which facilitates creativity. On the other hand, another resource depletion perspective thinks ambivalence is a stressful situation that hinders creativity, which demands more psychological resources to identify and solve problems in a new way. Drawing from the lenses of conservation of resources theory (COR), informational theories of emotion, the theory of emotion regulation strategy, and the bifurcation model of affect, a moderated mediation model is developed and found where two facets (i.e., information searching and coding engagement and idea generation engagement) of creative process engagement mediate the association between ambivalent emotion and creativity, in which ambivalent emotion diminishes the two facets of creative process engagement so that results in undermined creativity. And one dimension (i.e., emotion threshold) of a new construct of emotional stability moderated the mediation effect of idea generation engagement in the process, such that this relationship is stronger when emotion threshold is high. This study also reveals that another dimension (i.e., emotion recovery) of the new emotional stability positively relates to creativity. We test and find support for our theorized hypotheses across two field studies using Chinese samples (N =294) and Bangladeshi samples (N =243 with multi-wave and multisource designs). The theoretical and practical implications of these findings in organizations, their plausible limitations, and future directions are addressed.

Tung, Yu-Chuan; Shih, Chih-Ting

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09937-xpmid: N/A

There is ongoing debate in extant empirical work on whether vertical leadership acts as a facilitator or an inhibitor of shared leadership teams and whether shared leadership acts as a substitute for vertical leadership. This study adopts role theory to clarify formal leaders’ role in shared leadership teams by simultaneously considering both transformational leadership and laissez-faire leadership. Using a sample of 68 work teams varied in functions in high-tech firms in Taiwan, the results support most of our predictions. Specifically, this study provides empirical evidence that transformational leadership can significantly facilitate activities of shared leadership teams that are highly goal-committed. Our findings also suggest that shared leadership does not substitute for transformational and laissez-faire leadership to influence team adaptive performance. Instead, a high level of transformational leadership would strengthen the effect of shared leadership teams on adaptive performance whereas a high level of laissez-faire leadership would result in shared leadership teams decreasing team adaptive performance.

Bao, Yan; Ma, Weibo; Wang, Xin

doi: 10.1007/s10490-023-09932-2pmid: N/A

This study draws on conservation of resources theory to propose a moderated mediation model in which team–medical staff incongruence in patient orientation affects medical service quality through emotional exhaustion. In addition, we identify patient’s identification with medical staff as a key first-stage moderator in shaping the mediation process. Based on survey data from 213 medical staff on 37 medical teams at two hospitals in China, our findings revealed that team–medical staff incongruence in patient orientation led to high emotional exhaustion of medical staffs. Further, when the patient orientation of the medical staffs was higher than that of the team, medical staffs perceived higher emotional exhaustion, and the effect of the team–medical staff incongruence in patient orientation on medical service quality was mediated by the emotional exhaustion of medical staffs. Finally, our results found that patient’s identification with medical staff moderates the indirectly relationship between team–medical staff incongruence in patient orientation and medical service quality via emotional exhaustion. Our findings enrich the academic understanding of the team–medical staff incongruence in patient orientation and provide practical suggestions for hospital management.

Kwan, Ho Kwong; Chen, Yang; Tang, Guiyao; Zhang, Xiaomeng; Le, Jiaqi

doi: 10.1007/s10490-024-09947-3pmid: N/A

Although many studies have explored the benefits of empowering leadership for followers, the beneficial effect of such behavior for actors who demonstrate empowering leadership has been overlooked. Applying conservation of resources theory, we propose and test a model that determines why and when empowering leadership benefits actors. We use an experience sampling survey to examine the effect of empowering leadership on actors’ daily work engagement. In particular, we focus on the moderating role of power distance orientation and the mediating roles of negative affect and sleep quality, which operate sequentially. The results based on responses from 160 supervisors in two Chinese organizations indicated that empowering leadership in the morning was negatively related to negative affect in the afternoon and positively related to sleep quality at night and next-day work engagement. The strength of this beneficial effect was moderated by power distance orientation, such that supervisors with a high degree of power distance orientation obtained fewer benefits from empowering leadership than those with a low degree of power distance orientation. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings for the leadership, affect, sleep, power distance, and conservation of resources literatures are discussed.

Zhang, Zhe; Chen, Chang; Jia, Ming

doi: 10.1007/s10490-024-09956-2pmid: N/A

Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we examine how and when stretch goals affect work effort and cheating behavior. We conduct an online experimental study (Study 1, N = 194) and a three-wave field study (Study 2, N = 298) to test our hypotheses. Results show that trait resilience moderates the relationship between stretch goals and work meaningfulness. When trait resilience of employees is high, stretch goals generate work meaningfulness, which in turn promotes work effort. Meanwhile, stretch goals are indirectly related to cheating behavior through emotional exhaustion. Moreover, trait resilience alleviates the link between stretch goals and emotional exhaustion and the indirect effect of stretch goals on cheating behavior through emotional exhaustion. The present study provides important theoretical and practical implications.

Liu, Shengming; Li, Ning; Wang, Hui; Wang, Zhen; Du, Jiayi

doi: 10.1007/s10490-024-09949-1pmid: N/A

The positive effect of informal leadership has been well established, whereas our understanding of its potential negative effect in interpersonal interaction is still limited. This study explores the influence of individual informal leadership on helping received from peers from an interpersonal interaction perspective. Drawing upon social comparison theory, we posit that a focal employee’s moderate level of informal leadership in a team can pose a threat to peers, which inhibits the helping behavior from peers to the focal employee. To test our hypothesis, we conducted an experiment in Study 1 and a field survey in Study 2. The results revealed that individual informal leadership had a curvilinear relationship with helping behavior from peers via threat to peers. Furthermore, the focal employee’s political skill mitigated this curvilinear effect. Theoretical and future research implications are discussed.