2014 - Reprints: Organizational Behavior and Human Resources
What makes court-referred mediation effective? International Journal of Conflict Management, 25(1), 21-37, 2014.
A. Galin
(Reprint No. 279)
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to obtain insight into court-referred mediation in the Israeli Labor Courts, by analyzing its processes and outcomes, as a function of tactics used by both the disputants and the mediator.
Design/methodology/approach – Observation of 103 court-referred mediations, for each of which a detailed process and outcome were documented. Data on disputants’ refusal to participate in the mediation was also collected. At the end of each mediation case, disputants were given a questionnaire in which they expressed their satisfaction with the outcome and their evaluation of the mediator’s contribution.
Findings – A low rate of refusal to participate in court-referred mediation was found. Also, the higher the ratio of soft tactics to pressure tactics employed (by all parties involved) during the process, the higher the rate of agreements. Mediators use significantly more soft tactics than disputants, and are more active in using tactics. The two significant variables that predict the mediation’s agreement are the ratio between soft tactics to pressure tactics used by all parties, and mediator contribution to the process.
Practical implications – The significant role of soft tactics in the process, outcome, and satisfaction of court-referred mediation may serve as a guideline for disputants and mediators.
Originality/value – This unique research, which examines the impact of tactics on court-referred mediation, may provide added and significant theoretical insight into its process and outcome, as well as a better understanding of other “hybrid” (compulsory at the beginning, voluntary at the end) mediations.
Joint effect of chronic medical illness and burnout on depressive symptoms among employed adults, Health Psychology, Vol. 33(3), 264-272, 2014; DOI: 10.1037/a0033712
G. Armon, S. Melamed, S. Toker, S. Berliner and I. Shapira
(Reprint No. 281)
Objective: Chronic medical illnesses (CMIs) are prevalent in nearly half the working population and are associated with a two-fold risk for developing depression. Burnout is a chronic affective state comprised of symptoms of emotional exhaustion, physical fatigue, and cognitive weariness. It is an outcome of depletion of energetic resources resulting from prolonged exposure to work and life stresses. Building upon the Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), this prospective study was designed to test the hypothesis that CMI interacts with burnout to facilitate the development of depressive symptoms. Method: Participants were 4,861 employed men and women, aged 19 to 67 years, who came for routine health examinations and were followed for 18 months on average. Forty-seven percent reported having one or more diagnosed CMIs. Results: Burnout was found to predict an increase in depressive symptoms in apparently healthy individuals. Furthermore, the coexistence of burnout in employees with a CMI accelerates the process of developing depressive symptoms within a relatively short period. Burnout was also found to be associated with intensification of preexisting depressive symptoms in employees suffering from different chronic medical conditions (other than cancer), independent of medical comorbidities and other potent confounding variables. Conclusions: Among employees, coexistence of burnout and at least one CMI predicts an increase in depressive symptoms with time. Health care professionals should be made aware of such at-risk employees and follow and manage them closely.
Family role performance: Scale development and validation, Applied Psychology: An International Review, 63(1), 190-218, 2014; DOI: 10.1111/apps.12005
Y.-P. Chen, M. Shaffer, M. Westman, S. Chen, M. Lazarova and S. Reiche
(Reprint No. 284)
We conducted five interlocking studies to develop and validate a family role performance scale that can be used across cultures. In Study 1, we generated scale items based on interviews with individuals representing various family and work structures in the United States and Israel. In Study 2, we surveyed both US and Israeli participants to assess measurement equivalence, dimensionality, and reliability. In Study 3, we refined the items and repeated the exploratory analyses. In Studies 4 and 5, with samples from the United States and Europe, we confirmed the scale dimensionality and established convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. We contribute to the work-family literature by providing a valid instrument for assessing performance within the family domain.
Signaling in secret: Pay for performance and the incentive and sorting effects of pay secrecy, Academy of Management Journal, 57(6), 1706-1733, 2014; http://amj.aom.org/content/57/6/1706.full.pdf+html
E. Belogolovsky and P.A. Bamberger
(Reprint No. 289)
Although the vast majority of U.S. firms follow a policy of pay secrecy, research provides a limited understanding of its overall utility to organizations. Building on signaling theory, we develop and test a model of the incentive and sorting effects of pay secrecy—a pay communication policy that limits employees’ access to pay-related information and discourages the discussion of pay issues—under varying pay-for-performance (PFP) system characteristics. Results of a multiround laboratory simulation largely support the proposed moderated-mediation model. They indicate that pay secrecy has an adverse impact on individual task performance that is mediated by PFP perceptions, amplified when pay determination criteria are relative (as opposed to absolute), and attenuated when performance assessment is objective (as opposed to subjective). Results also indicate that pay secrecy has a similar adverse effect on participant continuation intentions (mediated through PFP perceptions, amplified when pay determination criteria are relative, and attenuated when performance assessment is objective), particularly among high performers. These findings suggest that weak signals associated with a particular managerial practice may become salient when interpreted in the context of other practice-based signals and that, under such conditions, even weak signals may drive negative-oriented inferences, having important behavioral implications.
Getting to the “COR”: Understanding the role of resources in conservation of resources theory, Journal of Management, 40(5), 1334-1364, July 2014.
J.R B. Halbesleben, J.-P. Neveu, S.C.Paustian-Underdahl and M. Westman
(Reprint No. 290)
Proposed as a theory of motivation, the basic tenet of conservation of resources (COR) theory is that humans are motivated to protect their current resources and acquire new resources. Despite its recent popularity in the organizational behavior literature, several criticisms of the theory have emerged, primarily related to the central concept of resources. In this review, we address concerns regarding the conceptualization, conservation, acquisition, fluctuation, and measurement of resources. We highlight gaps in the COR literature that can be addressed by integrating research from other areas of psychology and management. In this manner, we hope to push the COR literature forward by resolving several concerns and providing suggestions for future research that might address other concerns.
Expanding opportunities by opening your mind: Multicultural engagement predicts job market success through longitudinal increases in integrative complexity, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 5(5), 608-615, 2014.
W.W. Maddux, E. Bivolaru, A.C. Hafenbrack, C.T. Tadmor and A.D. Galinsky
(Reprint No. 291)
A longitudinal study found that the psychological approach individuals take when immersed in a general multicultural environment can predict subsequent career success. Using a culturally diverse sample, we found that “multicultural engagement”—the extent to which students adapted to and learned about new cultures—during a highly international 10-month master of business administration (MBA) program predicted the number of job offers students received after the program, even when controlling for important personality/demographic variables. Furthermore, multicultural engagement predicted an increase in integrative complexity over the course of the 10-month program, and this increase in integrative complexity mediated the effect of multicultural engagement on job market success. This study demonstrates that even when individuals are exposed to the same multicultural environment, it is their psychological approach and engagement with different cultures that determines growth in integrative complexity and tangible increases in professional opportunities.
Relational underpinning of strategic adaptability: The power of caring and generativity, Proceedings of the 2014 Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 1-5 August 2014.
A. Carmeli, C.D. Jones and G. Binyamin
(Reprint No. 293)
In this study, we integrate relational theory and the upper echelon perspective to explore how and why caring and generative relationships in top management teams (TMT) can be a source for building strategic adaptability. We argue that when TMT members care for each other’s inner needs, a generative psychological space (which allows individuals to experience positivity and produce enduring transformative outcomes) is nurtured. This generative psychological space, in turn, helps to build a capacity to respond proactively to the external environment and adapt well to environmental jolts. The results lend support to our hypothesized model in which caring among TMT members nurtures generativity, which in turn enhances strategic adaptability. In so doing, we aim to further cultivate discussion on the micro-foundations of strategic management in general and increase interest in the micro-relational foundations of strategic capabilities in particular.
Boosting consumers’ self-efficacy by repositioning the self, European Journal of Marketing, 48(11/12), 1914-1938, 2014.
M. Ben-Ami, J. Hornik, D. Eden and O. Kaplan
(Reprint No. 301)
Purpose – This article aims to lend insight into the consumption situation wherein consumers are unmotivated to try new products or behaviors that they perceive as too difficult to adopt as a result of low self-efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach – Two experiments were introduced to test hypotheses. In Studies 1 and 2, we demonstrated that enhancing specific self-efficacy (SSE) by repositioning the self, through marketing messages, increased participants’ behavioral intentions toward difficult to adopt (DTA) products.
Findings – In this research, an important issue is elucidated in consumer behavior: a phenomenon wherein consumers lack the motivation, as a result of low self-efficacy (i.e. assessing the disparity between their current situation and some desired goals as too wide to bridge over), to try a product that would benefit them. Thus, the marketer’s role in this case is to convince the consumers that they are able to achieve these goals.
Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on health and fitness products and on the effectiveness of messages targeted at raising SSE among undergraduate students through verbal persuasion. For better generalizability, it is recommended that future research focus on other product categories (e.g. do-it-yourself products, technological products) aimed at other segments (e.g. elderly consumers) and use other means of boosting consumers’ self-efficacy.
Practical implications – The practical importance of the findings is especially relevant in DTA situations in which marketers aim to motivate consumers to engage in effortful consumption tasks.
Originality/value – The uniqueness of our approach is, in addition to introducing the theoretical concepts, to demonstrate that marketers can boost individuals’ self-efficacy by means of marketing messages that emphasize their ability to face challenges and, consequently, increase their preferences, behavioral intentions and financial commitments toward a DTA product.
Keywords Specific self-efficacy, General self-efficacy, External efficacy, Positive framing, Negative framing, Threat arousal, Fear appeals
Paper type Research paper
