Overcoming the challenge of exploration: How decompartmentalization of internal communication enhances the effect of exploration on employee inventive performance

Drawing upon the notion of boundaryless organizations and upon the information processing perspective of organizational design, we investigate the decompartmentalization of internal communication as a unique organizational context that moderates the relationship between R&D employees’ exploration behaviors and their individual inventive performance. We test our hypotheses using a novel combination of survey and archival data. We find that R&D employees who explore more generate inventions that are more valuable only when in workplaces characterized by high communication decompartmentalization. Such workplaces have more frequent communication between R&D and other units, more employee mobility via cross-unit project rotations, or greater managerial support for decompartmentalization. Our findings suggest the importance of communication decompartmentalization, especially for companies that need employees to engage in exploration

Theories in Business and Information Systems Engineering

Even though the idea of science enjoys an impressive reputation, there seems to be no precise conception of science. On the one hand, there is no unified definition of the extension of activities subsumed under the notion of science. According to the narrow conception that is common in Anglo-Saxon countries, science is restricted to those disciplines that investigate nature and aim at explanation and prediction of natural phenomena. A wider conception that can be found in various European countries includes social sciences, the humanities and engineering. On the other hand and related to the first aspect, there is still no general consensus on the specific characteristics of scientific discoveries and scientific knowledge

Effects of supervisor-subordinate similarity on performance evaluations

Three models of supervisor-subordinate similarity were identified from the literature: (a) perceived similarity, perceptions of how similar the supervisor/subordinate is; (b) actual similarity, the actual similarity of demographic characteristics of the supervisor and subordinate; and (c) similarity of perceptions, similarity of perceptions about behaviors important in receiving a high merit pay raise. Results supported the idea that these models were conceptually distinct. The models accounted for different sources of variance in subordinate job satisfaction, performance and pay ratings. Perceived similarity provided the strongest relationship with the dependent variables. Results from exploratory analyses questioned the assumption that similarity affects evaluations through a bias. It was concluded that the supervisor-subordinate interaction accounted for variance in performance ratings, and issues for future research were identified.Psychology, Department o

Applicant-employee fit in personality: testing predictions from similarity-attraction theory and trait activation theory

We extend prior research by examining whether, and how, applicant-employee fit in the personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion affect organizational attractiveness. We test hypotheses based on similarity-attraction theory and trait activation theory. Results from two studies indicate that applicants high in valued traits are more attracted to organizations when employees are more similar to them in those personality traits, whereas employees’ trait levels do not affect attraction for applicants low in valued traits. The effects of objective applicant-employee fit in personality on attractiveness were mediated by perceived applicant-employee fit. The pattern of the observed applicant-employee fit interactions was best predicted by trait activation theory and thus provide an important extension to similarity-attraction theory

The Mentoring Relationship as a Context for Psychological Contract Development

This study examined the mentoring relationship as a context for the development of psychological contracts and investigated the obligations that mentors and protégés feel that they owe and are owed in the mentoring relationship. By using psychological contract theory, we develop new insights into the dynamics of the mentoring relationship and extend psychological contract research by applying the theory to a relation outside the employer-employee context. Results indicate that both parties perceive that they owe and are owed obligations, and these perceptions are influenced by the formality of the relationship and the supervisory status of the mentor. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed

Information-Receiving and Information-Giving During Job Transitions

Based on social exchange theory, this research develops a typology of six strategies for exchanging information. This study explored the information-receiving and information-giving of both newcomers and transferred employees involved in job transitions in one organization. Results suggest that unsolicited information-receiving is positively related to job satisfaction and organizational knowledge, in addition to being negatively related to intention to quit, and that information-giving through modeling is also negatively associated with intention to quit. Results also indicate that transferred employees are more knowledgeable of the organization and their roles, as well as, more likely to model consciously appropriate behaviors than newcomers. Conversely, newcomers are more likely to use observations to gain information than transferees

Feedback Seeking Following Career Transitions

We examined how inquiring and monitoring for feedback from peers and supervisors changed over time for transferees. Hypotheses were grounded in uncertainty reduction and impression management theory. Results from a longitudinal study in which data were collected three times over a year indicated that monitoring for feedback from peers and supervisors remained constant over time, as did inquiry from supervisors, but that inquiry from peers declined. In addition, role clarity negatively influenced subsequent peer inquiry. Results suggest the need to examine how both uncertainty reduction and impression management concerns influence feedback seeking

Personality and the goal-striving process: The influence of achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus on performance and enjoyment

The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms by which personality traits influence performance and satisfaction. Specifically, the authors examined how 3 personality characteristics derived from self-determination theory (autonomy, control, and amotivated orientations) influence performance and enjoyment through achievement goal patterns, goal level, and mental focus. Data were collected from 284 students at 5 points in time. In particular, mental focus emerged as an important aspect of the self-regulation process. The results suggest that global personality traits can help researchers to understand and predict the motivational strategies that people use while working toward goals in achievement settings

You’re Fired! Gender Disparities in CEO Dismissal

CEO dismissals attract considerable attention, presumably because of the visibility, publicity, and intrigue that often surrounds the decision to fire the CEO. With the goal of advancing scholarly understanding of CEO dismissals, we examine whether CEO gender influences the likelihood of dismissal. We theorize and find that ceteris paribus, female CEOs are significantly more likely to be dismissed than male CEOs. Perhaps even more importantly, we find a CEO gender by firm performance interaction such that male CEOs are less likely to be dismissed when firm performance is high (compared to when it is low), whereas female CEOs have a similar level of dismissal likelihood regardless of firm performance. Notably, our results are robust to multiple analytical techniques and various econometric specifications, bringing greater credence to the validity of our findings. Implications and directions for future research are also discussed

Do women CEOs face greater threat of shareholder activism compared to male CEOs? A role congruity perspective

We examine the glass cliffproposition that female CEOs receive more scrutiny than male CEOs, by investigating whether CEO gender is related to threats from activist investors in public firms. Activist investors are extraorganizational stakeholders who, when dissatisfied with some aspect of the way the firm is being managed, seek to change the strategy or operations of the firm. Although some have argued that women will be viewed more favorably than men in top leadership positions (so-called female leadership advantage logic), we build on role congruity theory to hypothesize that female CEOs are significantly more likely than male CEOs to come under threat from activist investors. Results support our predictions, suggesting that female CEOs may face additional challenges not faced by male CEOs. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed