Applied Psychology-An International Review-Psychologie Appliquee-Revue Internationale最新文献

Strengths use, an initiative an employee may take to apply personal strengths for task completion, is recognized in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory as a proactive action that can enhance well-being and performance, yet empirical inconsistencies persist regarding its antecedents and outcomes. Integrating JD-R with complementary theoretical perspectives (Self-Determination Theory for mediation; Situational Strength Theory for moderation), this meta-analysis synthesizes 111 independent samples (N = 43,575) and 459 effect sizes through Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM) methodology. Key findings establish that antecedents operate across three distinct categories: organizational support (structural resources), positive leadership (relational resources), and positive self-concept (personal resources) significantly strengthen strengths use. Individualism amplifies relationships between strengths use and externally influenced antecedents (organizational support/positive leadership) but not self-initiated pathways (self-concept). Additionally, basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS) fully mediates strengths use effects on fulfilling work and task performance. These results offer insights into the role of strengths use in the workplace and practical evidence for management and practice.

Existing research has predominantly highlighted the positive aspects of high leader–member exchange social comparison (LMXSC)—an individual's perception of having a comparatively better exchange relationship with their leader. Drawing on the literature on psychological power, we develop and test an integrated conceptual framework that captures both the beneficial and detrimental effects of high LMXSC on employee work behaviors. Through a multi-source, time-lagged field study of 231 employees in a high-tech manufacturing company, we find that LMXSC positively predicts psychological power. Moreover, via the mediation of psychological power, LMXSC exhibits an indirect negative association with creativity among employees with high relational orientation, while demonstrating indirect positive associations with creativity and rudeness among employees with low relational orientation. Our research findings carry significant implications for both theory and practice.

Guanxi in Chinese culture is deeply rooted in asymmetric interpersonal interactions, where favors and reciprocity play central roles. This emphasis on guanxi extends to management practices, known as guanxi human resource management (HRM) practices. Drawing on the transactional theory of stress and coping, we explore why individuals with high self-monitoring are more likely to adapt to workplace stress induced by guanxi HRM practices, which in turn motivates them to engage in relational job crafting (RJC) as a coping strategy. We further propose that engaging in RJC serves as both a boost and a burden for individuals, thereby highlighting its double-edged consequences. Our mediated-moderation framework was examined with a three-wave survey conducted with 114 supervisors and 268 employees from Taiwan. The results indicated that self-monitoring moderated the relationship between guanxi HRM practices and RJC. As predicted, RJC was positively associated with both ingratiation and work fatigue. Specifically, individuals with high self-monitoring were more likely to proactively engage in RJC in response to guanxi HRM practices. Furthermore, RJC mediated the interactive effects of guanxi HRM practices and self-monitoring on ingratiation and work fatigue. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This paper proposes and then tests a cross-level model pertaining to the intrapersonal and collective antecedents of work-related proactive behaviors. The model posits individual-level positive relational experiences and unit-level relational coordination as social contextual antecedents of individual-level proactive behaviors. The effects of these mechanisms are hypothesized to be mediated respectively by individual-level role breadth self-efficacy and unit-level psychological safety climate. To test the proposed model, multi-source data were collected from a representative sample of 246 staff nurses and their respective unit managers, based in four privately owned hospitals. Supporting evidence for the model enriches understanding of the role of social context in variously enabling and undermining the expression of proactive behaviors on the part of individuals, suitably aligned with the wider needs of key organizational units, in safety-critical work environments. We discuss the implications of our findings for fostering such behavioral alignment and outline directions for future research.

Understanding the development of newcomers' job future ambiguity is crucial for their adjustment, especially as the workforce becomes increasingly mobile. Based on Masterson and Stamper's (2003) framework of perceived organizational membership, we examined whether newcomers' experience of psychological contract breach affected their perceived insider status, which in turn influenced their job future ambiguity. We tested our hypotheses using data from a three-wave panel design, involving a sample of 126 recent college graduates in China who had just joined the workforce. Cross-lagged mediation panel analysis indicated that psychological contract breach had a negative effect on subsequent perceived insider status and job future ambiguity, and perceived insider status acted as the underlying mechanism through which psychological contract breach partially influenced subsequent job future ambiguity. Our cross-lagged reciprocal analyses further supported that psychological contract breach preceded job future ambiguity and perceived insider status rather than the other way around. Our study contributes to the literature by identifying two untested antecedents of job future ambiguity and providing the first formal empirical testing of the conceptual linkage between psychological contract breach and perceived insider status in the newcomer context. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

While previous research has highlighted the detrimental impact of the perception of organizational politics (POP) on job performance, we propose that POP can also motivate individuals to develop relationships with their supervisors, thus enhancing employees' job performance. To reconcile these competing perspectives, we draw on transactional stress theory and the approach-avoidance framework to explore the double-edged sword effect of POP on job performance. We examine how contrasting appraisals (i.e., challenge appraisals and threat appraisals) and relational coping strategies (i.e., relationship building and interaction avoidance) contribute to this dual effect in a manner that depends on whether employees exhibit an approach temperament or an avoidance temperament. A pilot study identified positive aspects of POP by revealing that POP is positively related to leader–member exchange (LMX) via supervisor-oriented relationship building. The main study extended the findings of the pilot study by revealing the double-edged sword effect of POP. Specifically, approach-oriented employees appraise POP as a challenge and cope with this situation by engaging in relationship building with their supervisors, thus leading to increased LMX and job performance. Conversely, avoidance-oriented employees appraise POP as a threat and cope with this situation by avoiding interaction with their supervisors, thus leading to reduced LMX and job performance. This study offers valuable insights and new approaches that can help account for the complexities associated with POP.

Although negative workplace gossip about supervisors (NWGS) is a prevalent phenomenon, how gossip recipients respond to coworkers' NWGS—particularly taking the perceived motives of gossip into consideration—remains insufficiently understood. Drawing from gossip attribution theory and adopting the recipient perspective, we propose that gossip recipients' emotional and behavioral reactions to coworkers depend on their attribution of the coworker's motive for engaging in NWGS. Using a two-wave critical incident survey design with a sample of 234 U.S. employees, we tested this moderated mediation model through structural equation modeling. Results show that when recipients perceive NWGS as driven by a support-seeking motive, they experience compassion and tend to engage in knowledge sharing. In contrast, when recipients perceive NWGS as driven by an information-seeking motive, they experience moral disgust and tend to engage in interaction avoidance. This study advances understanding of how motive attribution shapes recipients' emotional and interpersonal reactions to coworkers' NWGS, offering novel theoretical and practical insights.

Individualistic orientation is becoming increasingly prevalent among the younger workforce in contemporary China. This shift poses a significant challenge to the applicability of traditional yet effective paradoxical leadership, raising the question of whether such leadership approaches remain suitable for managing and guiding younger generations who embrace more individualistic values. In this study, integrating trait activation theory and paradoxical leadership theory, we examine whether paradoxical leader behavior (PLB) and non-PLB constitute different situations interacting with individualistic orientation to shape employee proactive behavior. Specifically, while PLB emphasizes both sides of the organizational (structural) demands and employee (individual) demands, non-PLB overemphasizes one side of the demands. We conducted two studies to test our hypothesis. The first study was a pilot study to compare the influence of PLB versus non-PLB conditions (n = 312). The main study was a survey study (n = 239). Results of the two studies consistently showed that individualistic orientation had positive influences on employee proactive behavior in non-PLB situations rather than PLB situations. Theoretical and practical implications for managers to foster employee proactivity are discussed.

In many places, the current political landscape is increasingly polarized. Unfortunately, such polarization may cause organizations to miss out on valuable human capital if their recruiters and hiring managers exhibit political bias. This research draws on integrated threat theory to investigate the implications of political polarization on applicant evaluations when information about their political views can be gleaned from cues in their application materials or social media. Through four lab studies (total N = 4223) involving Prolific participants with real-world hiring experience, we explore how subtle cues about an applicant's inferred political beliefs influence screening decisions. Study 1 indicates that political bias manifests primarily as a bias against those with differing political views rather than favoritism toward those with similar views. Drawing from integrated threat theory, Studies 2–3 find that political dissimilarity between applicants and hiring managers affects evaluations through perceived intergroup threats, particularly symbolic threats arising from conflicting values and beliefs. Study 3 reveals that political bias persists even when candidates are clearly highly qualified for the position. Studies 1–3 used COVID-related employment gaps, and Study 4 shows that these effects persist when evaluators are exposed to the applicant's views about abortion. We discuss how and when political bias may surface and offer suggestions for organizations to mitigate these biases to leverage the available human capital in their applicant pools.