Suchergebnisse

Commuting is a global phenomenon that has primarily been studied in terms of its costs. However, anecdotes and recent theorizing suggest that some employees enjoy their commutes. Is it, thus, possible that commuting can also be beneficial for employees? We integrate the Work–Home Resources model with the Conservation of Resources theory to conceptualize commuting as a source of recovery that facilitates daily resource gain spanning the commute-, work-, and home domain. Specifically, we hypothesize that morning commute recovery experiences (relaxation, mastery and detachment) trigger resource gains in the work domain, manifesting in increased subjective vitality as a manifestation of physical and cognitive energy. Higher levels of subjective vitality in the work domain, in turn, are positively related to work-to-home commute recovery experiences and associated subjective vitality in the home domain. Furthermore, we explore commute duration as a contingency factor of the relationships between commute recovery experiences and subjective vitality at work and home. A diary across ten workdays largely supports our hypothesized model. On days with higher levels of relaxation during the morning commute, employees experience daily resource gains that culminate in increased evening subjective vitality in the home domain through relaxation during the evening commute.

Context frames such as describing a Prisoner's Dilemma as a "community" or a "stock exchange" game cause significant variation in cooperative behaviour. Here, we draw on recent advances in research on situation construal to propose that perceived conflict of interests is a mechanism underlying framing effects on cooperation in experimental games. Specifically, we argue that people readily think about situations in terms of conflicts of interests, and how people perceive the conflict of interests in different games predicts differences in cooperation across these games. In a formal model, we show that variation in perceived conflict of interests can affect cooperative decisions even when first-order beliefs and social preferences are static. We test this model across two studies (total N = 1615). In each study, we elicited situation perceptions and beliefs about others' behaviour in a framed game. The basic framing effect replicated in a dichotomous-choice Prisoner's Dilemma (study 1), but not in a continuous-choice Prisoner's Dilemma (study 2). Perceptions of conflict of interests mediated between framing and cooperative behaviour, whereas beliefs and preferences did not. Exploratorily, perceptions of conflict of interests had a causal effect on cooperative behaviour when induced orthogonally to the frame. This study provides evidence for perceptions of conflict of interests as a mechanism underlying framing effects and integrates framing effects with the wider literature on situation perception. Moreover, it supports a causal role of situation perception in social decision-making. However, the results also call into question the generalisability of framing effects.

Knowledge sharing is a discretionary act of employees who might see benefits in keeping their knowledge to themselves. We focus on the other-oriented nature of knowledge sharing to outline how respectful leadership as an other-oriented leadership style can enhance followers' knowledge sharing through its effect on followers' other-orientedness. Specifically, we propose that respectful leaders increase followers' social mindfulness—defined as the cognitive (i.e. perspective taking) and affective (i.e. empathic concern) willingness to behave in a way that increases others' opportunities—which facilitates knowledge sharing. To test our conceptual model, we conducted a three-wave field study with 275 followers, and a multi-source field study with 83 leader-follower dyads. In line with our hypotheses, followers' perspective taking (Study 1 and 2) and empathic concern (Study 1) mediated the positive effect of respectful leadership on followers' knowledge sharing. Moreover, perspective taking and empathic concern possessed interactive effects in Study 1, suggesting that the relationship between respectful leadership and followers' knowledge sharing was strongest when both components of social mindfulness were high. We discuss theoretical implications of the identified motivational pathway and elaborate on implications for practitioners who aim to facilitate knowledge sharing at work.

When competing for scarce resources, groups can behave aggressively toward one another. Realistic conflict theory suggests that intergroup hostility internally ties groups together, thus improving intragroup functioning. In contrast, conflict spillover theory suggests that aggressive behaviors between groups can permeate to the intragroup level and thus worsen intragroup functioning. We reconcile these two opposite perspectives by introducing the relative group size as a moderator that determines when and how targeted verbal aggression from one group harms or improves intragroup functioning in the targeted group. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of in-situ observations of transcribed plenary discussions in the German national parliament and compared intergroup targeted verbal aggression by distinguishing targeted verbal aggression from two social groups (i.e., a new populist smaller party vs. a larger group of veteran parliament members). We measured targeted verbal aggression as a form of hostile intergroup behavior from each social group using computerized text analyses. We analyzed intragroup functioning using a measure of verbal mimicry. Our results show support for our hypotheses. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for the verbal aggression and intergroup relations literature.

AbstractKnowledge transfer between younger and older employees can help to prevent organizational knowledge loss and contribute to business success. However, despite its potential benefits, knowledge transfer does not occur automatically. To better understand the challenges associated with age-diverse knowledge transfer, we develop a conceptual model outlining 10 propositions. Specifically, we adopt a temporal social comparison perspective suggesting that employees compare their current and future status (i.e., the prestige, respect, and esteem provided by others). Expected future status differences are meaningful among age-diverse employees because older employees may have a higher current status than their younger colleagues, whereas younger employees may gain a higher status in the future. In our conceptual model, we propose 2 opposing pathways through which temporal social comparison impacts knowledge transfer, namely age-specific motives (i.e., generativity and development striving) and discrete emotions (i.e., fear of losing status and fear of losing face). In addition, we introduce individual and organizational boundary conditions that can modify the downstream consequences of temporal social comparison on knowledge transfer between younger and older employees.

PurposeWe investigate the role of gender in linking communicative acts that occur in the interactions of self-managed teams to emergent leadership. Specifically, this study presents a framework that differentiates between agentic and communal task- and relations-oriented communication as predictors of emergent leadership, and it hypothesizes that men and women do not differ in what they say but do differ in how they are rewarded (i.e. ascribed informal leadership responsibilities) for their statements.Design/methodology/approachInteraction coding was used to capture the meeting communication of 116 members of 41 self-managed teams.FindingsMen and women exhibited the same amount of agentic and communal task- and relations-oriented communication and were equally likely to emerge as leaders. However, men experienced an emergent leadership advantage when engaging in agentic and communal task-oriented behaviors. Agentic and communal relations-oriented behaviors did not predict emergent leadership.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings imply that theories could be more precise in differentiating between objective behaviors (i.e. actor perspective) and perceptions thereof (i.e. observer perspective) to understand why women experience a disadvantage in assuming leadership roles.Practical implicationsAlthough women displayed the same verbal behaviors as men, they experienced different consequences. Organizations can provide unconscious bias training programs, which help increase employees' self-awareness of a potential positive assessment bias toward men's communication.Originality/valueThis research utilizes an innovative, fine-grained coding approach to gather data that add to previous studies showing that, unlike men, women experience a disadvantage in terms of emergent leadership ascriptions when they deviate from stereotypically expected behavior.

Abstract
Rapid technological advancements and global workforce aging shape the future of work. Drawing on the technology acceptance model, our study aims to connect the literature on aging with the research on technology use in organizations. At its heart, the technology acceptance model suggests that the two core components, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, predict the attitude toward a new technology. We connect these components with two age-related processes: first, we suggest a motivational pathway via future time perspective, including one's perceived future opportunities and remaining time at work. Second, we propose a capability pathway via cognitive constraints, including one's perceived struggle to process new information (i.e., perceived processing speed difficulties) and the perceived struggle to organize one's work (i.e., perceived organization difficulties). Moreover, we explore digital leadership as a potential buffer to the detrimental relations between age and technology acceptance. We preregistered our hypotheses and tested them using three-wave data from 643 employees. Our findings support our hypotheses for the motivational pathway, showing that age is negatively linked to attitude toward new technology via future time perspective and subsequent perceived usefulness as well as perceived ease of use. Digital leadership buffered the negative indirect relations between age and attitude toward new technology. For the capability pathway, the results were the opposite of what we expected. Together, our findings put the link between age and technology acceptance into a more positive light than previous research and suggest that motivational and capability-related forces are interwoven in predicting attitude toward new technology.

AbstractResearch on work and aging predominantly relies on self-report data to create new insights relevant to individuals, organizations, and society. Whereas surveys and interviews based on self-reports offer a valuable inward-directed perspective on individuals and their understanding of others, they can only provide limited knowledge on the behaviors of employees at different ages and in age-diverse settings. This is because what employees actually do is often considerably different from their survey-based reports of what they or others do. In this commentary, we challenge the field to move beyond a science of questionnaires by complementing survey research with behavioral data. First, this would allow scholars to identify when and how behaviors accurately translate into surveyed perceptions of behaviors. Second, such an approach can advance our understanding of the micro-dynamics occurring in age-diverse workforces that ultimately manifest in emerging phenomena (e.g., age-inclusive climate, psychological safety perceptions, or group affective tone). Lastly, studying concrete and specific behaviors also allows scholars to develop better interventions and provide meaningful recommendations for practice that differentiate actual from perceived behaviors.