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Summary: This article investigates cross-country differences in economic growth rates from a psychological perspective. Based on social capital theory it is argued that 1) financial honesty and trust are positively correlated with each other when they are aggregated on a country level and that 2) a high level of financial honesty and trust in a given country reduces transaction costs and thus stimulates economic growth. Using data from the World-Value-Surveys in 1981 and 1990 these hypotheses are empirically confirmed. The influence of social capital (i.e., financial honesty and trust) on economic growth was robust and substantial even if a number of relevant variables like gross national product (GNP), urbanization, economic inequality or the proportion of agriculture in gross domestic product were controlled. Thus, it seems worthwhile for economic psychology to further explore the influence of psychological determinants (like trust and honesty) on macroeconomic variables like economic growth or wealth.

This paper reviews the empirical research dealing with two types of intragroup interdependence at both the group and individual levels of analysis. Based on this review we identify directions for further research, including attention to levels‐of‐analysis issues, the effects of interdependence over time, and the development of prescriptive theory. The paper ends with the description of a theory‐based intervention framework, intended as a tool for choosing the appropriate intervention in work teams and for stimulating the development of such a prescriptive theory.

Many employees are underpaid relative to their country's level of wealth. In agreement with social identity theory principles extended to the national level, our 59-nation study uncovered that this form of wealth-referenced underpayment is associated with the proportion of working women. In countries with a relatively small or relatively large proportion of female workers, all workers are underpaid to the extent that merit pay and strikes are relatively rare. Payroll taxes, labour supply, unemployment rate, collective bargaining power, and the national wage gap could not disconfirm the results. We discuss how these country-level findings may innovate theory building on the impact of female worker proportion, merit pay, and strikes on payment in occupations, departments, and organizations.

Motivation and performance theories in organizational psychology tend to have a predominantly individualistic scope, relating characteristics of individual tasks to personal work outcomes of individuals (e.g., the Job Characteristics Model [JCM]). The present study goes beyond the realm of individual job characteristics by examining the effects of two interpersonal characteristics: task and outcome interdependence of team members. Subscales for the measurement of these social job dimensions were developed. The results support the hypothesis that, in addition to the JCM variables, the interdependence dimensions influence the employees' sense of responsibility and personal work outcomes. More specifically, the interdependence dimensions influence experienced responsibility for the others' work and thus account for a separate part of the variance in team members' personal work outcomes.

Driven by existential needs for thermal comfort, nutrition, and health, human populations create cultural adaptations to environmental conditions. Entrepreneurs starting new businesses in more threatening or more challenging environments may be a case in point. In a secondary analysis of population-level data from 107 nations, we cross-sectionally examined six adaptation hypotheses based on climato-economic theorising. The regression results show that new business creation is experienced as being the hardest in the threatening environments of poorer countries with colder winters and cooler summers (e.g. Bolivia and Ukraine), and as being the easiest in the challenging environments of richer countries with hotter summers and warmer winters (e.g. Singapore and United Arab Emirates). Rival explanations in terms of the historical trajectory of state emergence (state antiquity, colonial past, communist past) and societal development (industrialisation, democratisation, education) are ruled out and discussed. This article suggests that results of individual-level and group-level research into entrepreneurship are tentative at best as long as cultural adaptations to climato-economic environments are left out of consideration.

The arrival of a new member can provide the impetus for learning and performance improvement in groups, but only if the newcomer is accorded status within the new group. We examine newcomer status in cases of member replacement, i.e., when a newcomer assumes an existing role within an established group. Drawing from status characteristics and status construction theories, we suggest that status in role-differentiated groups is inertial—nominal roles acquire status value, and these role-related status attributions carry forward to affect the status of a replacement newcomer. We also suggest that these inertial status dynamics can be affected by the relative performance of the host versus donor group and that they will have consequences for group performance. These hypotheses were supported in a controlled setting using teams engaged in several rounds of a management simulation exercise. The theory and results of this study have important implications for research on intragroup status, membership change in groups, and the transfer of knowledge through member rotation.

This article reports effects of perceived skill dissimilarity and perceived skill complementarity on dyadic helping behavior using a cross-lagged panel study. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that perceived skill dissimilarity is negatively related, whereas perceived skill complementarity is positively related, to self-rated and peer-rated dyadic helping behavior in teams. The authors compare the effects of both perceptions in a sample of 301 unilateral work relationships within 20 student research teams. The study shows that perceived skill dissimilarity is unrelated to self-rated and peer-rated dyadic helping behavior whereas perceived skill complementarity is positively related to both self-rated and peer-rated dyadic helping behavior.

Past research suggests that power asymmetry within teams can have a stifling effect on team learning and performance. We argue here that this effect is contingent on whether power advantages within a team are used to advance individual or collective interests. This study considers the moderating role of one factor that can influence the individual or collective orientation of team members—the type of performance feedback that a team receives. We propose that whereas individual feedback reinforces the negative effects of power asymmetry on team learning, group feedback fosters a collective orientation within a team that transforms power differences into a stimulus for team learning. Analysis of multisource, multimethod data obtained from 218 individuals in 46 teams provided support for these hypotheses. Results also suggested that team learning mediated the relationship between power asymmetry and team performance. These findings suggest that power asymmetry can be a resource for and not just an obstacle to team learning in power-asymmetric teams.

Do accommodative or integrative components make contentious conflict behavior more effective? A questionnaire study shows that Japanese subordinates (N = 136) handle interpersonal conflicts with superiors more effectively to the extent that they complement high contending with high accommodating. By contrast, prior research shows that high contending by Dutch subordinates and superiors is more effective if complemented with high integrating. Together, these findings support the notion that the most effective conglomeration of contending with other components of conflict behavior is society‐specific.