Commitment of cultural minorities in organizations:Effects of leadership and pressure to conform

PURPOSE: In this study, we investigated the commitment of cultural minorities and majorities in organizations. We examined how contextual factors, such as pressure to conform and leadership styles, affect the commitment of minority and majority members. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A field study was conducted on 107 employees in a large multinational corporation. FINDINGS: We hypothesize and found that cultural minorities felt more committed to the organization than majority members, thereby challenging the existing theoretical view that cultural minorities will feel less committed. We also found that organizational pressure to conform and effective leadership increased the commitment of minorities. IMPLICATIONS: Our findings indicate that organizational leaders and researchers should not only focus on increasing and maintaining the commitment of minority members, but should also consider how majority members react to cultural socialization and integration processes. The commitment of minority members can be further enhanced by effective leadership. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: In this study, we challenge the existing theoretical view based on similarity attraction theory and relational demography theory, that cultural minorities would feel less committed to the organization. Past research has mainly focused on minority groups, thereby ignoring the reaction of the majority to socialization processes. In this study, we show that cultural minorities can be more committed than majority members in organizations. Therefore, the perceptions of cultural majority members of socialization processes should also be considered in research on cultural diversity and acculturation

Respectful leadership:Reducing performance challenges posed by leader role incongruence and gender dissimilarity

We investigate how respectful leadership can help overcome the challenges for follower performance that female leaders face when working (especially with male) followers. First, based on role congruity theory, we illustrate the biases faced by female leaders. Second, based on research on gender (dis-)similarity, we propose that these biases should be particularly pronounced when working with a male follower. Finally, we propose that respectful leadership is most conducive to performance in female leader–male follower dyads compared with all other gender configurations. A multi-source field study (N = 214) provides partial support for our hypothesis. While our hypothesized effect was confirmed, respectful leadership seems to be generally effective for female leaders irrespective of follower gender, thus lending greater support in this context to the arguments of role congruity rather than gender dissimilarity

Female Institutional Directors on Boards and Firm Value

The aim of this research is to examine what impact female institutional directors on boards have on corporate performance. Previous research shows that institutional female directors cannot be considered as a homogeneous group since they represent investors who may or may not maintain business relations with the companies on whose corporate boards they sit. Thus, it is not only the effect of female institutional directors as a whole on firm value that has been analysed, but also the impact of pressure-resistant female directors, who represent institutional investors (investment, pension and mutual funds) that only invest in the company, and do not maintain a business relation with the firm. We hypothesize that there is a non-linear association, specifically quadratic, between institutional and pressure-resistant female directors on boards and corporate performance. Our results report that female institutional directors on boards enhance corporate performance, but when they reach a certain threshold on boards (11.72 %), firm value decreases. In line with female institutional directors, pressure-resistant female directors on boards also increase firm value, but only up to a certain figure (12.71 % on boards), above which they have a negative impact on firm performance. These findings are consistent with an inverted U-shaped relationship between female institutional directors and pressure-resistant female directors and firm performance

Relational demography and relationship quality in two cultures

Prior research has shown that demographic similarity between supervisors and subordinates shapes supervisor-subordinate relationship quality in US settings. The current study extends this body of research by comparing effects in a US production facility to effects in a Mexican facility owned by the same company. Results suggest that, in both locations, demographic similarity influences the quality of relationships between supervisors and subordinates. The specific patterns in Mexico, however, are not identical to those in the United States. Age similarity has negative effects on relationship quality in Mexico, but not in the United States. Also, gender similarity has a stronger positive impact on one dimension of relationship quality (trust) in Mexico, but it has a stronger positive impact on a second dimension of relationship quality (leader-member exchange) in the United States. Both the overlap and disparities between demography effects in the two regions are important considerations when attempting to transfer human resource management practices, such as diversity management programmes, across the American-Mexican border

Supervisor-subordinate conflict and perceptions of leadership behavior: a field study

Although management scholars have generated a significant stream of research on workplace conflict, there has been a lack of attention to the specific features of conflict between persons at different hierarchical levels. The current study addresses this gap by examining the structure and correlates of conflict in vertical dyads. An analysis of data from 72 supervisor-subordinate pairs reveals that such conflict has a two-factor structure: one factor is pure emotional conflict, and the second factor is mixed conflict, a combination of emotional and task conflict. Both kinds of conflict have negative associations with perceptions of supervisors' leadership behaviors, but pure emotional conflict has stronger negative associations than mixed conflict. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Inc

No es come mi: Relational demography and conflict in a Mexican production facility

In recent years management scholars have conducted an array of studies on relational demography. Most of this research, however, has taken place in the USA. Also, few of these prior investigations have looked at the role of moderators. In an effort to begin addressing those gaps, this study assessed the relationship between individual demographic dissimilarity and conflict in a Central Mexican workplace; additionally, it examined the moderating role of supervisor facilitation. Data from 190 Mexican workers revealed that in this study, as in comparable US studies, conflict had a two-dimensional structure consisting of task conflict and emotional conflict. Associations between relational demography and conflict, however, were not identical to those previously found in the USA. Individual dissimilarity in age was positively associated with emotional conflict, while individual dissimilarity in tenure was negatively associated with both task and emotional conflict. Supervisor facilitation moderated the relationships between tenure dissimilarity and conflict. These results suggest that greater attention to demography effects, as well as moderators of those effects, in Mexico is warranted