The Performance Implication of Obsessive Work Passion: Unpacking the Moderating and Mediating Mechanisms from a Conservation of Resources Perspective

Work passion is an important determinant of work performance. While harmonious work passion (HWP) shows its consistent predictive value, obsessive work passion (OWP) appears to have a mixed relationship with work performance. To address this puzzle, we integrate research on OWP and emotional exhaustion with conservation of resources (COR) theory. Specifically, we argue that OWP determines emotional exhaustion, whose relationship with work performance is attenuated by leader-member exchange (LMX). By conducting a field study with a sample of 262 U.S. employees, we found supportive evidence, even when controlling for psychological detachment from work. The findings somewhat reconcile the inconsistent results about OWP and work performance in the literature, shed light on research on work passion, LMX, and emotional exhaustion, and provide implications for managerial practice

Exploring the Signaling Function of Idiosyncratic Deals and Their Interaction

By adopting signaling theory as the overarching framework and integrating self-determination theory, we examined the signaling function of task i-deals, financial i-deals, and their interaction. Across three studies with varying measures, we found that task i-deals, independently and jointly with financial i-deals, conveyed a positive message regarding competence in that they were positively related to recipients’ competence need satisfaction. In turn, competence need satisfaction positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors. The competence-signaling function of task i-deals and task-financial i-deals interaction remained significant even after accounting for leader-member exchange, organization-based self-esteem, and perceived organizational support. Financial i-deals, however, did not exhibit a competence-signaling function. The current research sheds light on the signaling function of i-deals and their interaction, and provides guidance on the practice of granting one or multiple types of i-deals

Employee and Coworker Idiosyncratic Deals: Implications for Emotional Exhaustion and Deviant Behaviors

By integrating conservation of resources and social comparison perspectives, we seek to investigate how employees’ own i-deals, independently from and jointly with their coworker’s i-deals, determine their emotional exhaustion and subsequent deviant behaviors. We conducted a field study (131 coworker dyads) focusing on task i-deals, and used Actor–Partner Interdependence Model and polynomial regression to test the hypotheses. We found that emotional exhaustion not only mediated the negative relationship between employees’ own task i-deals and deviant behaviors, but also mediated the positive relationship between upward social comparison of task i-deals (i.e., a coworker’s vs own task i-deals) and deviant behaviors. These results demonstrated the intra- and interpersonal implications of task i-deals for emotional exhaustion and subsequent deviant behaviors. The current research not only shifts the attention from a predominantly positive view on i-deals to a more balanced and nuanced view on i-deals’ implications, but also sheds light on the interpersonal nature of i-deals and the emotional exhaustion implication of upward social comparison

Promoting Harmonious Work Passion among Unmotivated Employees: A Two-Nation Investigation of the Compensatory Function of Cooperative Psychological Climate

This research draws on self-determination theory to investigate (a) the role of cooperative psychological climate in promoting harmonious work passion among employees with low intrinsic motivation; and (b) the mediating role of harmonious passion in linking cooperative psychological climate to behavioral outcomes. We propose that cooperative psychological climate facilitates harmonious passion and, in particular, plays a compensatory role among employees with low intrinsic motivation. In turn, harmonious passion is expected to facilitate both task performance and interpersonal helping, thereby linking cooperative psychological climate to these employee behaviors. We test the model using data from employees and their supervisors across two countries (Singapore and Brazil) and find cross-national evidence that cooperative psychological climate compensates for low intrinsic motivation to predict harmonious passion. Harmonious passion also positively predicts task performance and interpersonal helping, but only in the Brazilian sample. This research enriches the nomological network of harmonious passion, provides an alternative pathway to driving employee passion when intrinsic motivation is lacking, and underscores the value of considering the joint roles of passion predictors so as to reap the performance benefits of harmonious work passion

A self-determination perspective of strengths use at work: Examining its determinant and performance implications

We investigate the role of strengths use in the workplace by drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) to propose that strengths use at work can yield performance benefits in terms of task performance and discretionary helping, and that the social context, in the form of leader autonomy support, can promote employees’ strengths use. Further, consistent with an interactional psychology perspective, we contend that the relationship between autonomy support and strengths use will be stronger among individuals with strong independent self-construal. We tested the model using matched data from 194 employees and their supervisors and found evidence for the relevance of strengths use at work, even after accounting for the role of intrinsic motivation. In addition to providing practical implications on developing employee strengths use and how to do so, this study advances theory and research on workplace strength use, SDT, and positive organizational behavior