Disentangling Passion and Engagement: An Examination of How and When Passionate Employees Become Engaged Ones

While anecdotal industry evidence indicates that passionate workers are engaged workers, research has yet to understand how and when job passion and engagement are related. To answer the how question, we draw from person-environment fit theory to test, and find support for, the mediating roles of perceived demands-abilities (D-A) fit and person-organization (P-O) fit in the relationships between passion and job engagement, and between passion and organizational engagement, respectively. Also, because the obsessive form of passion is contingency-driven, we answer the when question by adopting a target-similarity approach to test the contingent role of multi-foci trust in the obsessive passion-to-engagement relationships. We found that when obsessively passionate workers trust their organization, they report greater levels of organizational engagement (because of increased P-O fit). In contrast, when these workers trust both their co-workers and supervisor simultaneously, they report greater levels of job engagement (because of increased D-A fit)

A Model of Idiosyncratic Deal-Making and Attitudinal Outcomes

Purpose: We disentangle the relationship between the request of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) and the receipt of such deals, and investigate the moderating roles of human capital (gender and industry experience) and social capital (LMX) in this relationship. Attitudinal outcomes of i-deals receipt are also examined. Design: Data were collected from 244 alumni of a Midwestern public university. Findings: The positive relationship between i-deals request and receipt was stronger at higher than at lower levels of LMX. Receiving i-deals was related positively to job satisfaction and affective commitment, and negatively to turnover intention. Research implications: We provide a nuanced perspective of i-deals by separating employees’ request from their receipt of i-deals, and identifying contingent factors that determine whether i-deal requests are successful. Practical implications: For employees, cultivating a strong relationship with one’s supervisor can yield benefits that extend to i-deals negotiation. Providing i-deals to deserving workers can boost employees’ work attitudes. Originality/value: Previous studies have operationalized the i-deals construct as requesting and receiving the deal, thereby excluding the possibility that employees may have requested but did not receive the i-deal. This is one of the first studies to disentangle these two concepts, thereby providing a more balanced and representative view of i-deal-making in organizations

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

Chameleonic Obsessive Job Passion: Demystifying the Relationships between Obsessive Job Passion and In-Role and Extra-Role Performance

In seeking to address the theoretical ambiguity regarding how and when obsessive job passion (OJP) leads to work performance, we integrate both self-verification and person–environment (P-E) fit perspectives to propose and test a moderated mediation model linking OJP to performance. We argue that OJP is indirectly related to co-worker-rated in-role and extra-role performance through self-verification, and these indirect links are conditioned by perceived demands–abilities (D-A) fit and needs–supplies (N-S) fit. Results from 190 healthcare professionals and their co-workers collected at three different time periods revealed the contrasting roles played by these two moderators. Individuals with higher OJP self-verify more when they perceive low D-A fit, but self-verify less when they perceive high N-S fit, whereas the opposite holds true for high D-A fit and low N-S fit. Contrary to predictions, negative relationships were found between self-verification and both types of performance. Specifically, OJP is associated with greater in- and extra-role performance (because of reduced self-verification) under high perceived D-A but low N-S fit, whereas the opposite results are observed under low perceived D-A and high N-S fit. The findings underscore the contingent nature of OJP and contribute to job passion, self-concept, and person–environment fit research

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

Predicting Entrepreneurial Burnout in a Moderated Mediated Model of Job Fit

We introduce, and empirically test, a model of entrepreneurial burnout that highlights the relationships among job fit, entrepreneurial passion, destiny beliefs, and burnout. Using a sample of 326 individuals involved in entrepreneurial jobs, we tested the link between job fit and two forms of passion—harmonious and obsessive—and the moderating role of entrepreneurs\u27 destiny beliefs about work (i.e., the belief that a successful career is “meant to be”). Findings illustrated that their job fit perceptions were positively related to harmonious passion, which in turn negatively predicted burnout. Additionally, the relationship between job fit and obsessive passion was moderated by destiny beliefs, such that it was positive at high and average levels of destiny beliefs. In turn, obsessive passion was positively related to burnout. We discuss implications for both theory and practice

When subordinates become IT contractors: Persistent managerial expectations in IT outsourcing

T his paper investigates the persistence of managerial expectations in an IT outsourcing context where the traditional relationship between supervisor and subordinate changes to one of client-manager and contractor. A mixed-method approach was used, in which a qualitative methodology preceded a large-scale quantitative survey. Data were collected from 147 survivors of a government IT organization which had undergone IT outsourcing in the previous year. Findings show that role overload, the presence of strong ties between manager and contractor, and the lack of prior outsourcing experience increased the persistence of managerial expectations. In turn, persistence of expectations had a distinct influence on managerial perceptions of contractor performance. (IT Outsourcing; Persistent Expectations; Role Overload; Strength of Ties; Contractor Performance; Contract Workers; Changing Employment Status) Introduction Since the late 1980s, the trend towards outsourcing of information systems has continued unabated. Much research has focused on reasons why companies outsource One form of outsourcing that is commonly practiced is that of spin-offs, examples of which can be found in organizations such as American Airlines, Baxter Healthcare, and Philips Electronics . In this form of outsourcing, an IT department (including the employees, systems, and operations) within an organization gets "spun-off" into a separate external entity, becoming empowered to behave as an external vendor and having to focus on new issues such as marketing, customer service, and offering competitive prices to the clients Koh 2000, Willcocks and. In addition, the IT employees formally leave their organization and are transplanted to the new spin-off company, which employs them and offers their services back to the original employer for a service fee. Even though these transplants still provide services to the original organization, it no longer directly employs them. Instead, the spin-off company is the new employer and is responsible for the management and supervision of these transplants, including compensating them and assigning them to specific clients (Ang and Slaughter 2002). In other words, the status of the transplants relative to the original employer changes from subordinates to third-party contractors. The advantages for a client organization of using transplants (as opposed to nontransplants) are numerous. Due to the transplants' prior experience with the client organization, they are familiar with the operations and procedures of the organization and need not invest as much time and effort to understand its fundamental problems and opportunities. Also, because these transplants (or contractors) are former subordinates of the client-managers, the latter should possess a deeper knowledge of contractor competencies and skills and, consequently, be more effective in supervising them. There is an alternative hypothesis about the efficacy of using transplants. From their prior experience in supervising the contractors (as subordinates), clientmanagers may have developed clear expectations about what the contractors should provide to the organization, such as a requisite level of work, effort, and commitment. Evidence from social psychology suggests that expectations and beliefs are not readily subject to change, even in the face of disconfirming evidence (e.g., The objective of this study is to examine managerial attitudes and expectations toward transplants in IT spin-off arrangements. Specifically, we focus on the phenomenon of persistent expectations by exploring the conditions under which managerial expectations persist and the effect on managerial evaluation of contractor performance. We first draw on literature in social and cognitive psychology, particularly research in belief perseverance, as well as agency theory, to offer theoretical lenses for the phenomenon of persistent expectations. We then adopt a mixed-method approach to empirically develop and test a model of persistent expectations (Creswell 1994, Tashakkori and Persistent Expectations in IT Outsourcing Spin-offs as a form of IT outsourcing arrangement involve the use of transplants and entail a change in the relationship between the two contracting parties. Before outsourcing, the relationship is supervisorsubordinate, in which supervisors have legitimate power arising from their position of formal authority in the organizational hierarchy (Masten 1991). Supervisors can guide and influence subordinates' workrelated actions, tasks, and decisions. Moreover, the scope of their authority is fluid and not explicitly circumscribed in the employment contract. This is reflected in the notion that subordinates have a "zone of indifference" in their duties and responsibilities Agency theory (e.g., 1 In the former relationship, supervisors monitor the day-to-day activities of their subordinates and rely primarily on behavior-based controls, given the formal authority prescribed under the employment contract and the relative ease of measuring subordinate behavior. However, when the relationship changes to one between client and contractor, the two parties now work for two different organizations, thereby introducing the potential for goal conflict (Eisenhardt 1989b). Consequently, agency theory stipulates that the contract and the ensuing control mechanism should change to one that is predominantly outcome-based instead in order to be efficient. Second, in IT outsourcing, the contract between the client organization and the vendor organization plays 1 We are especially grateful to our anonymous reviewer for highlighting the pertinence of control mechanisms as described in agency theory. a more important role Hirschheim 1993, Lacity and Despite the overnight change in the legal relationship from supervisor and subordinate to clientmanager and contractor, it is likely that ex-supervisors (now client-managers) will continue to perceive contractors as direct subordinates. Therefore, they will persist in imposing on their former employees (now contractors) a set of expectations that were internalized in their prior employment relationship, expectations which include mostly the use of micromanagement and behavioral controls rather than predominantly outcome-based controls as prescribed by agency theory. We posit that client-managers will expect former subordinates to perform their duties and contribute much as they did in the past, even though these duties and responsibilities may not be included in the new outsourcing contractual arrangement. We advance the theoretical construct "persistent expectations" to describe and explain this phenomenon. This term is adopted from the "belief perseverance" phenomenon described in the social cognition literature (e.g., HO, ANG, AND STRAUB Applied to the IT outsourcing context, these sociopsychological findings lend weight to the notion that client-managers do not change their old schemas and expectations regarding former subordinates, even though the managers may recognize that these exsubordinates are no longer officially under their jurisdiction but are under the supervision of another organization. Consequently, client-managers may continue to impose on contractors demands and responsibilities that may not have been contracted for in the IT outsourcing arrangement. To develop a framework for the occurrence of persistent expectations and to explore this phenomenon in greater detail, we adopted a mixed-method approach, starting with an exploratory, qualitative case study to develop the theoretical model. Study 1: Development of Theoretical Model Since neither belief perseverance nor persistent expectations has been examined in the context of a change in employment relationship, a qualitative case study approach was selected to provide critical information about the phenomenon. Following Eisenhardt (1989a), the purpose of the first qualitative phase was to obtain a richer description and understanding not only about the nature of the phenomenon, but also about factors affecting, and effects arising from, persistent expectations. We used focus groups to elicit the nature of persistent expectations, the organizational context in which it occurs, and the consequences of persistent expectations (Spradley 1979). Study 1: Method Participants and Setting. We conducted focus group sessions with employees in a large public-sector organization offering IT services to 20 government bodies. The services included the development of information systems, promotion of IT services in the government bodies, and propagation of IT usage to the general public. The department had spun-off its systems building and maintenance services eight months before to increase organizational efficiency and streamline operations. Before the spin-off, the IT department employed 1,501 personnel providing a full range of IT services. Approximately 67% (1,013) of the employees were development and maintenance personnel. They built and maintained applications software and managed and operated the data centers of the organization. The remaining 488 employees were support staff (e.g., administrative, financial, and human resource personnel) and IT planners and solutions providers who created liaisons with end users in the subsidiaries and managed in-house systems development projects. In effect, the IT planners and solutionsproviders formed the upper and managerial levels of the IT department, with IT developers and maintainers occupying the lower, technical levels. In the outsourcing changeover, all the IT developers and maintainers were formally separated from the IT department and transplanted to a new spin-off organization. They became employees of the new organization but continued to offer technical services to their former employers (henceforth called the "client" organization) as contractors. The exchange became a client-vendor arrangement governed by a formal service-level agreement (SLA). The IT planners and solutions providers remained with the client organization and continued to provide IT solutions to various government bodies. In addition, they became clientmanagers responsible for managing the outsourcing contracts with the same IT professionals who were now external contractors to the client organization, rather than its subordinates. Procedure. Three focus-group sessions involving a random selection of 19 client-managers in the client organization were conducted over a two-week period. In each focus-group session, the second author led the discussions. We developed a questioning protocol to guide the participants in describing the repercussions of the outsourcing, specifically pertaining to their relationships with transplants, i.e., former subordinates who were now contractors. The questions required the participants to describe: HO, ANG, AND STRAUB (1) the nature of their jobs before and after outsourcing; (2) the changes experienced by them in terms of roles, responsibilities, interactions, and relationships with the contractors; and (3) the changing expectations and obligations of the contractors. One other major issue that was deliberated was the phenomenon of persistent expectations. Participants discussed the implications and repercussions of having the development IT professionals working for them under the auspices of the new vendor organization instead of as subordinates. Two of the authors and two research assistants independently took notes of the discussions, which were compiled and transcribed for processing and further analysis in NUD•IST, a qualitative data analysis program. To reveal the major themes, we adopted the approach advocated by To establish an independent assessment of these themes, two "blind" coders (Ph.D. students in MIS and management) read and coded transcripts using the six themes. They conducted initial coding of the first transcript to establish interrater reliability, the calculated Cohen's Kappa for which was 0.865. The raters then discussed the discrepancies and developed explicit coding rules to reconcile the discrepancies. Subsequently, the coders independently coded the rest of the transcripts, with a resulting Cohen's Kappa of 0.92. Given this level of agreement, the coding approach was deemed reliable, satisfying Landis and Koch's (1977) threshold of 0.70 for robustness and validity. Study 1: Results and Theoretical Model Six major themes emerged from the focus group discussions: (1) persistent expectations, i.e., the client-managers' continued expectations of the contractors to respond as if they were still subordinates; (2) client-managers' experiences of role overload resulting from IT outsourcing; (3) their strength of ties with former subordinates; (4) their level of trust in the contractors; (5) their outsourcing experiences with other thirdparty vendors and a comparison of these with those relating to the new contractors; and (6) client-managers' assessment of contractor performance. Themes Persistence of Expectations. In terms of clientmanagers' working relationship with contractors, client-managers found it both difficult and awkward to manage former subordinates as external contractors. Many continued to relate to their former subordinates as if they were still subordinates and continued to expect the same level and quality of support and service. However, managing contractors requires a different mindset and skill set from that required for managing subordinates. In general, managers can compel subordinates to perform a broader range of tasks than what they can demand of contractors. From the perspective of agency theory, this translates to the use of predominantly behavior-based controls by the managers. After outsourcing, however, the client-managers' formal authority over the contractors was limited only to tasks that were explicitly stated in the SLA between the client and vendor organizations. Consequently, clientmanagers found that former subordinates had become unwilling to simply "take orders" from them. Instead, these contractors adhered closely to the terms and conditions spelled out in the outsourcing contract. In contrast, the client-managers expected the contractors to provide the same service level as in the past. One manager explained: The problem with the contractors is mainly the relationship. For other vendors, the expectations are already set in the contract, and we know the limit of their responsibilities. But for these contractors, we assume that they will continue with their prior responsibilities as subordinates, so our present behavior is based on past behavior. . . . There's a lot of assumptions between both sides, and we need to manage the relationship. It's like getting a divorce but still staying in the same house. Another manager also noted the difficulty in trying to switch their treatment and expectations of the transplants from subordinates to contractors. In the past, they [the contractors] will do anything under the sun, like moving computers from one site to another, or writing Chinese and Tamil software and other small tasks. Now, if it's not specified under the SLA, they won't do it. . . . Not surprisingly, the discrepancy between clientmanagers' expectations and contractors' actual service levels does not please the client-managers. One manager described his situation as follows: Before, we [both client-managers and contractors] worked as a team towards a common goal. Now, they won't go beyond their duties or responsibilities, but only up to specs. . . . There's a lot of emotions that go with the change of relationship from subordinate to contractor. . . . The emotional aspects don't pertain to newcomers because they don't have the prior relationship with the contractors as subordinates. Role Overload (Antecedent to Persistent Expectations). In terms of work concerns resulting from IT outsourcing, client-managers reported having to perform additional duties that were previously not part of their job requirements and, subsequently, feeling overwhelmed in their duties and responsibilities. One manager noted: I'm managing more things now. In the past, I handled one specific project and it was very specific in the skills that are required. But with outsourcing, my job scope has expanded to contract management, to vendor relationships, to writing proposals, and all other kinds of skills that are needed. . . . But I've little time to develop technical skills, and it's difficult to read and get enough depth. Other client-managers agreed. Many described an expansion in job scope and duties, particularly with regard to administrative matters. A manager described her situation: I had to do administrative work for the past four to five months, and had to do coordination and liaison work. I should join the administration department since I'm largely doing administrative work 90% of the time, like verifying the number of tables and chairs! While client-managers had to undertake additional roles and responsibilities after outsourcing, they were stripped of subordinates who previously supported them in completing work assignments. This resulted in a lack of resources needed to fulfill job responsibilities. One manager summarized the situation: We have to pay the contractor a fee to perform the R&D work that was previously absorbed by our subordinates. Now I have to do the exploration myself, whereas in the past the subordinates did it. . . . In the past, I could delegate administrative work to my subordinates, but not any more. We need clerical officers, administrative officers, or executive officers to help us out. Overall, these findings indicate that as a result of the massive downsizing requisite in IT outsourcing, job roles and responsibilities of survivors expanded significantly to the extent that they experienced role overload. In turn, this role overload may have amplified client-managers' persistent expectations, such that, to cope with the overload, they continued to perceive the contractors as subordinates and expected them to perform duties that fell within a subordinate's role, even though they were no longer in such a position. The relationship between role overload and persistent expectations can be explained by examining the cognitive and motivational biases of the clientmanagers. In terms of cognitive constraints, increases in role overload result in survivors having limited time and cognitive resources to assimilate and interpret new information. It has been proposed that, when such constraints exist, people make judgments and evaluations based on salient information or available schemas currently in their possession (Anderson and Lindsay 1998). We predict a similar reaction in the IT outsourcing context. Client-managers who experience role overload will be preoccupied with trying to deal with the urgent, day-to-day issues resulting from outsourcing. Consequently, they will not have sufficient time and cognitive resources remaining to gather and analyze new data to develop a new set of expectations for the contractors. Also, it is well documented that, in times of cognitive stress, people tend to experience threat rigidity and rely on automatic information processing Other than the cognitive effects described above, motivational forces may also contribute to the persistence of expectations. Anderson and Lindsay (1998) suggests that "motives or needs of the perceiver can influence what information is brought to bear" (p. 22). In the outsourcing context, client-managers with role overload are already overwhelmed with having to cope with the additional duties and responsibilities resulting from outsourcing. This works against their decreasing their expectations of help from others. Hence, client-managers do not have the motivation or reason to expect that contractors will provide fewer services than they did as subordinates. In fact, for clientmanagers to cope with the increase in workload, they need contractors to offer even more assistance than they did previously. This suggests that client-managers continue to evoke old schemas of the transplants as subordinates, and expect contractors to perform certain duties and tasks for which they may no longer be responsible under the new outsourcing agreement. Therefore, we hypothesize that

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