Moderation in management research: What, why, when and how.

Many theories in management, psychology, and other disciplines rely on moderating variables: those which affect the strength or nature of the relationship between two other variables. Despite the near-ubiquitous nature of such effects, the methods for testing and interpreting them are not always well understood. This article introduces the concept of moderation and describes how moderator effects are tested and interpreted for a series of model types, beginning with straightforward two-way interactions with Normal outcomes, moving to three-way and curvilinear interactions, and then to models with non-Normal outcomes including binary logistic regression and Poisson regression. In particular, methods of interpreting and probing these latter model types, such as simple slope analysis and slope difference tests, are described. It then gives answers to twelve frequently asked questions about testing and interpreting moderator effects

Adolescent Loneliness and Social Skills:Agreement and Discrepancies Between Self-, Meta-, and Peer-Evaluations

Contains fulltext : 160961.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)Lonely adolescents report that they have poor social skills, but it is unknown whether this is due to an accurate perception of a social skills deficit, or a biased negative perception. This is an important distinction, as actual social skills deficits require different treatments than biased negative perceptions. In this study, we compared self-reported social skills evaluations with peer-reported social skills and meta-evaluations of social skills (i.e., adolescents' perceptions of how they believe their classmates evaluate them). Based on the social skills view, we expected negative relations between loneliness and these three forms of social skills evaluations. Based on the bias view, we expected lonely adolescents to have more negative self- and meta-evaluations compared to peer-evaluations of social skills. Participants were 1342 adolescents (48.64 % male, M age = 13.95, SD = .54). All classmates rated each other in a round-robin design to obtain peer-evaluations. Self- and meta-evaluations were obtained using self-reports. Data were analyzed using polynomial regression analyses and response surface modeling. The results indicated that, when self-, peer- and meta-evaluations were similar, a greater sense of loneliness was related to poorer social skills. Loneliness was also related to larger discrepancies between self- and peer-evaluations of loneliness, but not related to the direction of these discrepancies. Thus, for some lonely adolescents, loneliness may be related to an actual social skills deficit, whereas for others a biased negative perception of one's own social skills or a mismatch with the environment may be related to their loneliness. This implies that different mechanisms may underlie loneliness, which has implications for interventions.11 p

Role-based paternalistic exchange: Explaining the joint effect of leader authoritarianism and benevolence on culture-specific follower outcomes

We propose a new construct-role-based paternalistic exchange, or followers' awareness of and engagement in a family-like exchange relationship with leaders that builds upon both leaders' parent-like role and followers' child-like obligation. We use this construct to explain the joint effect of leader authoritarianism and benevolence, the essential components of paternalistic leadership, on two culture-specific follower outcomes in Chinese settings: emic organizational citizenship behavior and deference to supervisor. Using three independent samples, we develop a unidimensional measure. We then employ another sample to test how leader authoritarianism and benevolence relate to role-based paternalistic exchange and, thereby, the two follower outcomes indirectly. Our results indicate that, in contrast to authoritarianism- or benevolence-dominant paternalistic leadership, classical paternalistic leadership (the balanced display of leader authoritarianism and benevolence) has the greatest potential to facilitate role-based paternalistic exchange, which, in turn, positively relates to the two follower outcomes. These results suggest that role-based paternalistic exchange advances our understanding of how paternalistic leadership enhances emic outcomes in Chinese settings

The relationship between employees' objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance: A within-person analysis

Purpose: Researchers have paid little attention to the relationship between employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance. Moreover, few studies have considered that employees’ objective pay standing is dynamic; that is, it changes over time. In this study, we analyze the relationship between changes in employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: We test the hypotheses using data for players in the National Basketball Association over a period of 12 seasons (n = 4830). Findings. Decreases in employees’ objective internal and external pay standing are negatively related to their task performance. Furthermore, decreases in employees’ objective internal pay standing, but not in their external pay standing, are negatively related to their contextual performance. Implications. Analyzing the relationship between changes in employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance adds to our understanding of the individual-level consequences of pay dispersion. Originality/Value. This is one of the first studies to analyze the relationship between employees’ objective internal and external pay standing and their job performance. Moreover, this is one of the first studies that considers that employees’ objective internal and external pay standing changes, for example, because the external and internal labor markets change. The study contributes to research on employee compensation and salary, and to research on pay disparities

Psychological Contracts and Organizational Identification: The Mediating Effect of Perceived Organizational Support

Social exchange, Social identity, Psychological contracts, Perceived organizational support, Organizational identification,