Journal of Vocational Behavior最新文献

The importance of social networking helping employees achieve career success is widely recognized. However, there is limited discussion regarding employees' subtle networking behaviors with leaders and their impact. With this paper we contribute to this oversight by conceptualizing workplace upward networking (WUN) and by developing and validating a new scale that assesses the extent to which employees build and maintain relationships with leaders in pursuit of resources. Using 10 samples (N = 1597), the results provide strong evidence for the reliability and validity of the WUN scale, and support the nomological network of the WUN construct. Our work contributes to social networking research by demonstrating the theoretical uniqueness of WUN versus similar constructs, such as workplace peer networking and impression management, as well as the underlying mechanisms by which WUN affects work outcomes. Overall, with this study we offer support for the reliability and validity of WUN scale and advance the burgeoning node-specific networking literature both conceptually and empirically.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a majority of the global workforce turned to virtual meetings for work-related communication and continues to do so as part of the shift to hybrid work. This change in communication patterns has led to an increased scholarly emphasis on the costs of virtual meetings for employees. The present study adds to this emerging field of research by taking a theory-led approach to highlight that alongside costs there are benefits to spending time in virtual meetings for employee functioning. Specifically, we integrate the concept of flow experiences and the Conservation of Resources theory to expand our understanding of the psychological mechanisms that link daily time spent in virtual meetings to employees' functioning in the work (i.e., task performance and counterproductive work behavior) and home domains (i.e., work-family conflict and need for recovery). More specifically, we argue that the benefits of virtual meetings manifest through flow experiences and associated reduced within-day changes in cognitive depletion. Furthermore, we identify low emotional dissonance as a contingency in virtual meetings that can strengthen the benefits of this mode of computer mediated communication. Results from two daily diary studies largely support the hypothesized relationships. Our findings have important theoretical and practical implications for employee functioning in the ‘new normal’ of hybrid work.

Studies on interim leadership have proliferated across multiple disciplines over the past forty-five years since the first studies on non-traditional careers emerged in the late 1970s. Interim leadership tenures typically range from weeks to more than a year during critical change-induced contexts in organizations (e.g., unexpected leadership departures). Interim leadership brings benefits to both interim executives (e.g., career advancement, work-life flexibility) and organizations (e.g., the capacity to quickly adapt). Undertaking a comprehensive review of 61 articles on interim leadership published in top journals in multiple domains over almost five decades, we highlight terminologies adopted, moderating factors, theoretical perspectives and models pertinent to interim leadership explored to date. Importantly, our review identifies four emerging themes (i.e., Selection, Socialization, Success, and Succession) which represent stages of the interim leadership process, leading to the development of the resultant “4S” process framework. We subsequently explore factors which influence each of these stages that interim leaders move through from entering to exiting interim executive assignments. Following this, the review proposes a future research agenda for theoretical, empirical, and methodological advancement of interim leadership scholarship, particularly in relation to the less researched areas of socialization and success and notes practical implications to inform better practice of interim leadership for individuals and organizations.

Although a great deal of research has examined supra-individual level moderators of the job performance-turnover relationship, research on individual-level moderators such as relevant employee personality traits is limited. In the current study, we examine how emotional stability moderates the job performance-voluntary turnover relationship at different levels of job performance by analyzing multi-wave time-lagged data collected over a five-year period. Results indicate that the relationship between job performance ratings and voluntary turnover at the lower end of job performance is less negative (flatter) among emotionally stable (vs. neurotic) employees. The job performance-turnover relationship at the higher end of job performance is almost flat (close to zero) among emotionally stable employees yet somewhat positive for neurotic employees. This study suggests that emotionally stable (vs. neurotic) employees, regardless of their job performance level, are more likely to stay, thus highlighting the important role of emotional stability in obtaining workforce stability. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results, along with study limitations and future research directions.

Drawing on an integrated perspective of self-determination theory (SDT) and conservation of resources theory (COR theory), this study investigated normal and reverse causation within-person effects among basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS), meaning in work, and burnout over time. Using random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPM), we examined data from German-speaking employees (complete cases = 781, imputed cases = 2131) at three time points over 12 months. At the within-person level, increased burnout was related to subsequent decreased BPNS (i.e., autonomy and competence need satisfaction). In line with COR theory, reciprocal within-person effects between burnout and meaning in work suggest a loss-cycle over time. Explorative analyses suggest that increased autonomy need satisfaction is related to subsequent increased competence and relatedness need satisfaction. At the between-person level, all variables were significantly correlated. Overall, this study found limited support for within-person assumptions of SDT, while supporting assumptions of COR theory. We discuss how the previous neglect of reverse causation, within-person effects, and the effect of time in SDT and COR theory may have led to a misrepresentation of the associations among BPNS, meaning in work, and burnout.

With the broadening scope of research inquiries into work, employment, industrial and organizational processes, and vocational development addressing issues with systemic oppression, there is a pressing need for discussion on using research methodologies as tools for catalyzing liberatory change. This article is underpinned by liberation theories and perspectives, which critically examine the Euro-American systems of thoughts that justify and perpetuate decisions, conditions, and culture that may exclude marginalized knowers, knowledge, and ways of knowing. Building on the work of other liberation scholars, we propose a new framework of community-engaged vocational research methodologies, which expands the existing methodologies: a) from distance to proximity, b) from academic capitalism to community vocational outcomes, c) from researcher authority to community partnership, and d) from theoretical knowledge to actionable knowledge. We discuss guiding Global Majority values to address tensions that may arise from expanding and complicating the traditional boundaries of methodologies. The framework also shows expansion through intersectional, interdisciplinary, anti-oppressive, and action-oriented approaches. With the introduction of this framework, we invite readers to broaden the scope of research methodologies and transform them into processes and tools for people who generate, need, and use the community-based knowledge of work and working.

Owing to the growing emphasis on self-managed career patterns, career competencies as essential personal career resources play a vital role in several work and career outcomes. Despite extensive research on career competencies in the last three decades, it lacks a consistent theorization and often relies on diverse theoretical perspectives. To synthesize our scholarly knowledge of career competencies, we conducted a systematic literature review of 80 peer-reviewed articles from 1985 to November 2022. In doing so, we understand how the construct of career competencies has been conceptualized and measured, review prominent theoretical perspectives adopted, and build a theoretical model based on a self-regulation perspective. This review helped us identify significant research limitations and locate promising research gaps. Building on these insights, we craft a future research agenda highlighting opportunities for conceptual, theoretical, and empirical advancement of career competencies research.

Many studies have assumed that workplace hurdles have uniform effects on innovative behavior and that motivational mechanisms are the key explanation. Guided by the conservation of resources theory, this study argues that different subgroups of workplace hurdles might relate to innovative behavior differently and that the mechanism underlying the relationship between workplace hurdles and innovative behavior can be informed by an organizational attachment perspective. Meta-analytical data from 544 samples (N = 188,572) showed that (a) social hurdles were more strongly and negatively related to innovative behavior than were task and organizational hurdles, (b) the absence of favorable conditions was more strongly and negatively related to innovative behavior than were proximal stressors, and (c) hindrance stressors were more strongly and negatively related to innovative behavior than were challenge stressors. The path analysis results also provide support for the proposed theoretical process: workplace hurdles weaken organizational attachment, which in turn lowers innovative behavior. Crucially, organizational attachment remained a significant mediator even when I controlled for the mediating effects of job and creative motivation. Moderator analyses showed that the study relationships were generally robust.

Social networks are known to be critical for enhancing employees' work outcomes. However, we still know relatively less about how employees take charge of their networks to reap network, work, and career-related benefits and how we can intervene in this process. Based on the self-regulation theory and the networking literature, we developed and evaluated the effectiveness of a network crafting self-training intervention. In a quasi-experimental research design of 88 participants in the experimental group and 59 participants in the control group, our results revealed that, after the intervention, employees reported an increase in three trained network crafting actions (i.e., using existing contacts, establishing new contacts, and maintaining professional contacts). Those participating in the intervention reported higher levels of two career outcomes (i.e., career autonomy and perceived marketability). Moreover, we found that through the three trained network crafting actions, the intervention indirectly enhanced participants' network size and diversity as well as their work performance (e.g., task performance and problem-solving). Our study provides insights into a means to smartly shape one's social networks. Our intervention offers an effective management tool that employees and managers can use to guide individuals' network crafting actions and apply them in their daily work context.