Retaliation in the workplace: The role of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice.

The authors investigated the relationship between organizational justice and organizational retaliation behavior-adverse reactions to perceived unfairness by disgruntled employees toward their employer-in a sample of 240 manufacturing employees. Distributive, procedural, and interactional justice interacted to predict organizational retaliation behavior. A relation between distributive justice and retaliation was found only when there was low interactional and procedural justice. The 2-way interaction of distributive and procedural justice was observed only at a low level of interactional justice, and the 2-way interaction of distributive and interactional justice was observed only at a low level of procedural justice

Whom to Punish? How observers sanction norm-violating behavior in ostracism situations

When observing ostracism, individuals can either side with the target or the sources of ostracism. Here we demonstrate that side-taking depends on whether the target previously acted in adherence to or in violation of perceived social norms. In four studies, a target behaved either norm-consistently or violated a social norm, and was subsequently either excluded by the sources or was not. Next, participants could sanction the behavior of the observed persons by refraining to assign money (Studies 1 and 2), or by subtracting money from a bonus (Studies 3 and 4). Observers assigned less money to the sources when these excluded a norm-consistent target. However, when the target had violated a social norm before, participants assigned less money to the target instead. These results have far-reaching implications because the (in)actions of neutral individuals can legitimize the sources' behavior, or help a target under attack

Must heads roll?: a critique of and alternative approaches to swift blame

When mistakes or perceived wrongdoings occur in the workplace, managers-like most human beings-demonstrate the tendency to locate someone to blame, including assigning responsibility and sanctioning perceived wrongdoers for their actions. We highlight that although this response can be motivated by organizational, legal, and psychological factors, blame can be detrimental to the organization and its employees when it occurs in a spontaneous and nondeliberative manner, which we label swift blame. We argue that swift blame can involve distorted perceptions and judgment, exacerbate conflict, erode employee engagement, and stifle organizational learning. We further argue that managers have a special responsibility to thoughtfully and carefully consider how they react to perceived wrongdoings. Drawing from dual processing theory of cognition, we propose that managers can respond more effectively by adopting perspectives that slow down these tendencies and promote more thoughtful reactions. To this end we highlight research opportunities for three alternatives to swift blame: (a) a no-blame approach, (b) systems of inquiry and accountability, and (c) mindfulness training

Can a leader be seen as too ethical? The curvilinear effects of ethical leadership

Ethical leadership predicts important organizational outcomes such as decreased deviant and increased organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). We argued that due to the distinct nature of these two types of employee behaviors, ethical leadership decreases deviance in a linear manner (i.e., more ethical leadership leading to less deviance), but we expected ethical leadership to reveal a curvilinear relationship with respect to OCB. Specifically, we expected that, at lower levels, ethical leadership promotes OCB. However, at high levels, ethical leadership should lead to a decrease in these behaviors. We also examined a mechanism that explains this curvilinear pattern, that is, followers’ perceptions of moral reproach. Our predictions were supported in three organizational field studies and an experiment. These findings offer a better understanding of the processes that underlie the workings of ethical leadership. They also imply a dilemma for organizations in which they face the choice between limiting deviant employee behavior and promoting OCB

Testing an Empathy Model of Guest-Directed Citizenship and Counterproductive Behaviours in the Hospitality Industry: Findings from Three Hotels

This research proposes and tests an empathy model of guest-directed discretionary behaviors (i.e., citizenship and counterproductive behaviors) using two studies conducted in three hotels. Building on the two-stage model of empathic mediation, we examined the mediating role of empathic concern in the relationship between perspective taking and both forms of discretionary behaviors in Study 1. Support for this mediated model was found in relation to citizenship behaviors but not for counterproductive behaviors. Study 2 was conducted to extend these findings using peer-reports of discretionary behaviors, and to apply an interactional psychology perspective to predict guest-directed counterproductive behaviors. We drew upon trait activation theory to highlight the importance of situational triggers, in the form of interpersonal injustice from guests, in moderating the relationship between perspective taking and counterproductive behaviors, mediated through empathic concern. We found support for the hypothesized moderated mediation effect, such that perspective taking inhibited counterproductive behaviors through empathic concern only when interpersonal injustice was high, but not when injustice was low. Replicating the results in Study 1, perspective taking also positively predicted peer-reported citizenship behaviors, but this was not mediated by empathic concern. Research and practical implications from these findings are discussed. Practitioner Points: Highlights to organizations in the hospitality industry the importance of perspective taking in generating customer goodwill, through promoting employees’ citizenship behaviors toward guests, and in reducing their counterproductive behaviors in instances of guest injustice. Suggests ways in which organizations can develop employees’ perspective taking, such as appointing mentors or role models, providing training programs to help employees improve their interpersonal skills, and assessing job applicants’ trait empathy as part of the selection process

Using self-definition to predict the influence of procedural justice on organizational, interpersonal, and job/task-oriented citizenship behaviors

An integrative self-definition model is proposed to improve our understanding of how procedural justice affects different outcome modalities in organizational behavior. Specifically, it is examined whether the strength of different levels of self-definition (collective, relational, and individual) each uniquely interact with procedural justice to predict organizational, interpersonal, and job/task-oriented citizenship behaviors, respectively. Results from experimental and (both single and multisource) field data consistently revealed stronger procedural justice effects (1) on organizational-oriented citizenship behavior among those who define themselves strongly in terms of organizational characteristics, (2) on interpersonal-oriented citizenship behavior among those who define themselves strongly in terms of their interpersonal relationships, and (3) on job/task-oriented citizenship behavior among those who define themselves weakly in terms of their distinctiveness or uniqueness. We discuss the relevance of these results with respect to how employees can be motivated most effectively in organizational settings

Industrial Relations Climate and Union Commitment: An Evaluation of Workplace-Level Effects

This paper examines the relationship between industrial relations (IR) climate and union commitment. Using a multi-workplace sample from North East England, aggregation analysis provided support for treating IR climate as a workplace-level variable, and workplace IR climate was negatively associated with union commitment. However, IR climate moderated none of the relationships between individual-level antecedents and union commitment

Correlates of miniaturization in Neotropical stingless bees

We study multilevel interactions using experimental methods. Does the efficiency of a production team suffer from the freeriding behavior of some team members at the firm level? Can we identify behavioral spillovers affecting teams? We isolate common tasks that teams must complete – coordination and cooperation – and model each of them using a simple experimental game that is designed to avoid identification problems. By observing a team's efficiency before and after the firm-level event, we identify the behavioral spillovers of freeriding to team-level cooperation and coordination. We demonstrate that team composition with respect to freeriding behavior of individual members during the firm-level conflict conditions behavioral spillovers. In particular, the efficiency of heterogeneous teams decreases after a firm-level conflict, whereas homogeneous teams can improve their performance

The role of individual differences in the perceived job relatedness of a cognitive ability test and a multimedia situational judgment test

Abstract Although there is a growing number of publications concerning applicant reactions to different selection instruments, the relationships between individual differences and applicant reactions have largely remained unexplored. The aim of the present study was to examine the effects of several testing-related and general individual differences (anxiety, self-evaluations, and personality) on the most commonly studied dimension of applicant reactions, namely the perceived job relatedness of selection instruments. Participants were 153 psychology students, who completed a cognitive ability test and a multimedia SJT as part of their educational program. Our results indicated that computer anxiety negatively affected perceived job relatedness and core self-evaluations, subjective well-being, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience positively affected perceived job relatedness. Openness to experience was the most consistent predictor of perceived job relatedness. The results of our study suggest that certain individuals may be more predisposed to react positively to selection instruments. Therefore, we concluded that the nature of the applicant pool should be carefully considered when designing interventions to improve applicant reactions

Reactions to psychological contract breaches and organizational citizenship behaviours: An experimental manipulation of severity

Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Grounded in affective events theory, we investigated the effects of experimentally manipulated psychological contract breaches on participants\u27 feelings of violation, subsequent perceptions of psychological contract strength, and organizational citizenship behaviours in a sample of working adults. Results support previous findings that pre-existing relational psychological contract strength interacts with severity of unmet promises or expectations. Specifically, individuals with high relational contracts who experience low severity of unmet promises/expectations have the lowest breach perceptions, whereas individuals with high relational contracts who experience more severe levels unmet promises/expectations experience the highest level of breach perceptions. Results also support the concept of a breach spiral in that prior perceptions of breach led to an increased likelihood of subsequent perceptions of breach following the experimental manipulation. Furthermore, consistent with affective events theory, results support the argument that a psychological contract breach\u27s effect on specific organizational citizenship behaviours is mediated by feelings of violation and the reassessment of relational contracts. These effects were present even after controlling for the direct effects of the manipulated severity of unmet promises/expectations