Women at Work: How Organizational Features Impact Career Development

Organizations benefit from gender diversity, as research clearly documents. Nevertheless, statistics reveal consistent gender differences in career development and payment. Women who feel undervalued at work will re-evaluate their priorities and are tempted to “opt out.” Organizations that wish to reap the benefits of gender diversity can profit from behavioral science research identifying mechanisms that may prevent women from making the same career choices as men: (a) implicit bias decreases the odds that women will enter and perform in male-dominated job levels or organizations, (b) glass cliff effects make career development less attractive for women, (c) Queen Bee effects prevent women in leadership from acting as role models for other women, and (d) some work–family approaches imply that women have to give up family life to be successful in their professional career. Being aware of these mechanisms, their implications, and possible remedies can benefit organizations and policy makers, and encourage women in different career stages to “lean in.”

Defining the common feature: task-related differences as the basis for dyadic identity

In this paper, we present an experimental study that examines the influence of work-goal differences and informational differences on the formation of a common identity in dyads. We show that when both kinds of differences are present within a dyad, these differences-- just like similarities--come to be seen as defining dyadic features. Furthermore, mediational analysis shows that as the accumulation of differences results in a clearer conception of the dyad, it fosters dyadic identification. This is not the case when dyad members only differ from each other in one respect (i.e. either in work goals or information), while remaining similar in the other. The results are explained in the light of recent insights and developments in the social identity tradition

The role of expectancies in accepting task-related diversity: do disappointment and lack of commitment stem from actual differences or violated expectations?

Two studies show that initial expectancies influence the way people respond toward task-related differences (i.e., in work goals or work styles) between the self and a collaboration partner. When no advance information is available, participants expect their partner to be similar to themselves in task-related aspects. However, when people expect their partner to have a different work goal (Study 1) or work style (Study 2), and this actually is the case, disappointment is reduced and commitment toward future collaboration is increased. Initial expectations are important because these help people develop a clear picture of their partner. When initial expectations are violated, people conceive the other less clearly and this is part of the reason they report lower levels of commitment

Volunteering for charity: pride, respect, and the commitment of volunteers

This study builds upon and extends the social-identity-based model of cooperation with the organization (T. R. Tyler, 1999; T. R. Tyler & S. L. Blader, 2000) to examine commitment and cooperative intent among fundraising volunteers. In Study 1, structural equation modeling indicated that pride and respect related to the intent to remain a volunteer with an organization, and that this relation was mediated primarily by normative organizational commitment. In Study 2, structural equation modeling indicated that the perceived importance of volunteer work was related to pride, that perceived organizational support related to the experience of respect, and that pride and respect mediated the relation between perceived importance and support on the one hand and organizational commitment on the other. Overall, the results suggest that volunteer organizations may do well to implement pride and respect in their volunteer policy, for instance to address the reliability problem (J. L. Pearce, 1993)

Science as collaborative knowledge generation

The COVID-19 pandemic points to the need for scientists to pool their efforts in order to understand this disease and respond to the ensuing crisis. Other global challenges also require such scientific cooperation. Yet in academic institutions, reward structures and incentives are based on systems that primarily fuel the competition between (groups of) scientific researchers. Competition between individual researchers, research groups, research approaches, and scientific disciplines is seen as an important selection mechanism and driver of academic excellence. These expected benefits of competition have come to define the organizational culture in academia. There are clear indications that the overreliance on competitive models undermines cooperative exchanges that might lead to higher quality insights. This damages the well-being and productivity of individual researchers and impedes efforts towards collaborative knowledge generation. Insights from social and organizational psychology on the side effects of relying on performance targets, prioritizing the achievement of success over the avoidance of failure, and emphasizing self-interest and efficiency, clarify implicit mechanisms that may spoil valid attempts at transformation. The analysis presented here elucidates that a broader change in the academic culture is needed to truly benefit from current attempts to create more open and collaborative practices for cumulative knowledge generation

Morality and Social Identity

Moral norms and values are key features of human essence, that provide the standards against which behavior is evaluated. Some moral norms and values are universally endorsed (e.g., “do no harm”), others can be more specific (e.g., “eat no meat”). Professional, cultural or religious groups and communities often define their own unique system of moral norms that true group members are expected to adhere to. These are used to identify ‘proper’ group members, regulate the behavior of individuals, and sanction those who transgress them. This is functional to the extent that such guidelines help provide groups and their members with a unique and distinct social identity. Yet they can also constitute a source of social tension and intergroup conflict. This hallmark feature of human morality represents an important challenge to contemporary societies

Temporal networks in collaborative learning: A case study

Social Network Analysis (SNA) has enabled researchers to understand and optimize the key dimensions of collaborative learning. A majority of SNA research has so far used static networks, ie, aggregated networks that compile interactions without considering when certain activities or relationships occurred. Compressing a temporal process by discarding time, however, may result in reductionist oversimplifications. In this study, we demonstrate the potentials of temporal networks in the analysis of online peer collaboration. In particular, we study: (1) social interactions by analysing learners' collaborative behaviour, part of a case study in which they worked on academic writing tasks, and (2) cognitive interactions through the analysis of students' self-regulated learning tactics. The study included 123 students and 2550 interactions. By using temporal networks, we show how to analyse the longitudinal evolution of a collaborative network visually and quantitatively. Correlation coefficients with grades, when calculated with time-respecting temporal measures of centrality, were more correlated with learning outcomes than traditional centrality measures. Using temporal networks to analyse the co-temporal and longitudinal development, reach, and diffusion patterns of students' learning tactics has provided novel insights into the complex dynamics of learning, not commonly offered through static networks

The social responsibility of organizations: Perceptions of organizational morality as a key mechanism explaining the relation between CSR activities and stakeholder support

Prior research on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has documented how specific CSR activities relate to responses of relevant stakeholders, mainly examining employees. However, it is as yet unclear whether these findings generalize to other types of CSR activities or to responses of other stakeholder groups. In fact, results from studies to date also show inconsistent effects in need of further explanation. In this contribution we offer a new perspective on this literature. We extend current insights on organizational CSR activities and stakeholder support, by elaborating on the psychological mechanisms that can explain these relations. We draw together recent developments on organizational anthropomorphism with insights on organizational identification, to argue that the impact of CSR activities on a broad range of stakeholder responses depends on perceptions of organizational morality. We connect prior work on organizational ethics, CSR, and stakeholder support, to social psychological theory and research on impression formation, impression management, and impression updating. This new perspective allows us to broaden the current debate on CSR and stakeholder support. Building on this analysis, we propose a new model that offers a roadmap for future research. We explain the impact of organizational CSR on stakeholder responses, by highlighting perceived organizational morality as a key mediating variable. We then proceed to consider likely moderators of this relation distinguishing between (a) characteristics of the organization, (b) characteristics of (communications about) CSR activities, and (c) characteristics of the perceivers. On the basis of this extended model we develop specific predictions, and review initial evidence supporting these prediction

The importance of morality for collective self-esteem and motivation to engage in socially responsible behavior at work among professionals in the finance industry

Public comments criticizing the honesty and trustworthiness of Professionals in Finance (PIFs) are commonly seen as a way to motivate them towards engaging in more socially responsible business practices. However, the link between public views of this professional group, the self-views of individual group members, and their motivation to engage in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities has not been empirically examined. In this research, we draw on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and the Behavioral Regulation Model for social evaluation (BRM) to examine how the self-views of individ-ual group members relate to perceived characteristics of their professional group, indi-cating Competence and Morality. In two studies (N= 123, 191) we examined whether the self-views of high- profile and general PIFs are affected by other people's percep-tions of the honesty and trustworthiness of this professional group. The results offer support for our reasoning derived from SIT and the BRM. In both studies, we first dem-onstrate that public concerns about the group's lack of honesty and trustworthiness impact on the moral self-views of financial professionals. Subsequently, we employ an experimental design to reveal that reinforcing moral criticism leveled at the group only reduces the motivation of individual group members to engage in CSR activities, while group- level moral affirmation enhances this motivation. The results of both studies converge to demonstrate how public critique on the moral behavior of their profes-sional group relates to the self-views and behavioral motives of PIFs. We consider the theoretical and practical implications of these findings