In Labor
Work group rituals enhance the meaning of work
Tami Kim et al.
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, July 2021, Pages 197-212
Abstract:
The many benefits of finding meaning in work suggest the importance of identifying activities that increase job meaningfulness. The current paper identifies one such activity: engaging in rituals with workgroups. Five studies (N = 1,099) provide evidence that performing group rituals can enhance the meaningfulness of work, and that in turn this meaning can enhance organizational citizenship behaviors (to the benefit of those groups). We first define group rituals both conceptually and empirically, identifying three types of features associated with group rituals -- physical actions, psychological import, and communality -- and differentiating group rituals from the related concept of group norms (Pilot Studies A and B). We then examine -- correlationally in a survey of employed individuals (Study 1a) and experimentally in a study that manipulates the presence or absence of the three types of ritualistic features (Study 1b) -- whether performing an activity at work with ritualistic physical, psychological, and communal features (versus an activity with none or just one of these features) is associated with more meaningful work experiences. We test whether this enhanced meaning predicts the extent to which individuals are willing to engage in behaviors enacted on behalf of that group, even without the promise of reward, using organizational citizenship behaviors in Studies 1a-1b and performance on a brainstorming task in Study 2. Taken together, these studies offer a framework for understanding group ritual and offer novel insight into the downstream consequences of employing group rituals in organizational contexts.
Mitigating Gig and Remote Worker Misconduct: Evidence from a Real Effort Experiment
Vanessa Burbano & Bennett Chiles
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Employee misconduct is costly to organizations and has the potential to be even more common in gig and remote work contexts, where workers are physically distant from their employers. There is thus a need for scholars to better understand what employers can do to mitigate misconduct in these non-traditional work environments, particularly as the prevalence of such work environments is increasing. We combine an agency perspective with a behavioral relationship-based perspective to consider two avenues through which gig employers can potentially mitigate misconduct: 1) through the communication of organizational values and 2) through the credible threat of monitoring. We implement a real effort experiment in a gig work context that enables us to cleanly observe misconduct. Consistent with our theory, we present causal evidence that communication of organizational values, both externally-facing in the form of social/environmental responsibility and internally-facing in the form of an employee ethics code, decreases misconduct. This effect, however, is largely negated when workers are informed that they are being monitored. We provide suggestive evidence that this crowding-out is due to a decrease in perceived trust that results from the threat of monitoring. Our results have important theoretical implications for research on employee misconduct, and shed light on the tradeoffs associated with various potential policy solutions.
Wage Inequality: Its Impact on Customer Satisfaction and Firm Performance
Boas Bamberger, Christian Homburg & Dominik Wielgos
Journal of Marketing, forthcoming
Abstract:
This article adopts a marketing perspective to examine how wage inequality between top managers and their employees may have customer-related consequences (i.e., customer-directed effort, customer-directed opportunism, and customer-oriented culture) that affect customer satisfaction and firm performance. Surprisingly, marketing scholars and practitioners have largely neglected this pressing societal issue. The authors collect a cross-industry, multisource data set, including responses by top-level managers and objective data on wage inequality and firm performance from 106 business-to-business-focused firms (Study 1). In addition, they analyze multisource longitudinal panel data covering 521 firm-year observations for business-to-consumer-focused firms (Study 2). The results consistently reveal that wage inequality harms customer satisfaction. This relationship is mediated by customer-directed opportunism and customer-oriented culture but not customer-directed effort. Moreover, while wage inequality has a positive direct effect on short-term firm profitability, this effect is dampened by the negative indirect effect through customer-related consequences and customer satisfaction. Importantly, the positive direct effect of wage inequality on short-term profitability vanishes in the long run, whereas the adverse effect through customer satisfaction persists, leading to a nonsignificant total effect on long-term profitability. These findings may guide researchers, managers, shareholders, and policy makers in addressing the challenge of rising wage inequality.
Global Leaders for Global Teams: Leaders with Multicultural Experiences Communicate and Lead More Effectively, Especially in Multinational Teams
Jackson Lu, Roderick Swaab & Adam Galinsky
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
In an era of globalization, it is commonly assumed that multicultural experiences foster leadership effectiveness. However, little research has systematically tested this assumption. We develop a theoretical perspective that articulates how and when multicultural experiences increase leadership effectiveness. We hypothesize that broad multicultural experiences increase individuals' leadership effectiveness by developing their communication competence. Because communication competence is particularly important for leading teams that are more multinational, we further hypothesize that individuals with broader multicultural experiences are particularly effective when leading more versus less multinational teams. Four studies test our theory using mixed methods (field survey, archival panel, field experiments) and diverse populations (corporate managers, soccer managers, hackathon leaders) in different countries (Australia, Britain, China, America). In Study 1, corporate managers with broader multicultural experiences were rated as more effective leaders, an effect mediated by communication competence. Analyzing a 25-year archival panel of English Premier League soccer managers, Study 2 replicates the positive effect of broad multicultural experiences using a team performance measure of leadership effectiveness. Importantly, this effect was moderated by team national diversity: soccer managers with broader multicultural experiences were particularly effective when leading teams with greater national diversity. Study 3 (digital health hackathon) and Study 4 (COVID-19 policy hackathon) replicate these effects in two field experiments, in which individuals with varying levels of multicultural experiences were randomly assigned to lead hackathon teams that naturally varied in national diversity. Overall, our research suggests that broad multicultural experiences help leaders communicate more competently and lead more effectively, especially when leading multinational teams.
Propagation and Amplification of Local Productivity Spillovers
Xavier Giroud et al.
NBER Working Paper, July 2021
Abstract:
This paper shows that local productivity spillovers propagate throughout the economy through the plant-level networks of multi-region firms. Using confidential Census plant-level data, we show that large manufacturing plant openings not only raise the productivity of local plants but also of distant plants hundreds of miles away, which belong to multi-region firms that are exposed to the local productivity spillover through one of their plants. To quantify the significance of plant-level networks for the propagation and amplification of local productivity shocks, we develop and estimate a quantitative spatial model in which plants of multi-region firms are linked through shared knowledge. Our model features heterogeneous regions, which interact through goods trade and labor markets, as well as within-location, across-plant heterogeneity in productivity, wages, and employment. Counterfactual exercises show that while knowledge sharing through plant-level networks amplifies the aggregate effects of local productivity shocks, it widens economic disparities between individual workers and regions in the economy.
Can two wrongs make a right? The buffering effect of retaliation on subordinate well-being following abusive supervision
Lindie Liang et al.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Subordinates who are abused by a supervisor tend to experience violated perceptions of interpersonal justice and deteriorated well-being. One way in which they may seek to cope with these consequences is by engaging in retaliatory behaviors intended to "get back" at their supervisor and even the score. Based on research suggesting that acts of retaliation can restore perceptions of justice, we propose a model whereby retaliation alleviates the effect of abusive supervision on subordinate well-being by restoring subordinates' interpersonal justice perceptions. In two studies, using multiwave (Study 1) and time-lagged (Study 2) designs, we found general support for our predictions, even when controlling for the alternative mechanism of victim identity and subordinates' baseline well-being. These results suggest that retaliation reduces the harmful consequences of supervisory abuse on well-being not only in the short term but also in the long run. Theoretical and practical implications surrounding this increased understanding of the effectiveness of retaliation as a strategy for coping with the effects of abusive supervision over time are discussed.
Communication within Firms: Evidence from CEO Turnovers
Stephen Michael Impink, Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun
NBER Working Paper, July 2021
Abstract:
This paper uses novel, firm-level measures derived from communications metadata before and after a CEO transition in 102 firms to study if CEO turnover impacts employees' communication flows. We find that CEO turnover leads to an initial decrease in intra-firm communication, followed by a significant increase approximately five months after the CEO change. The increase is driven primarily by vertical (i.e. manager to employee) communication. Greater increases in communication after CEO change are associated with greater increases in firm market returns.
Using Stretch Goals for Idea Generation Among Employees: One Size Does Not Fit All!
Saeedeh Ahmadi, Justin Jansen & J.P. Eggers
Organization Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study explores heterogeneity in the efficacy of stretch goals for engaging employees in innovation, as stretch goals may both boost norm-breaking creativity and hamper fruitful ideation by overwhelming employees. Through a multilevel perspective, we demonstrate that stretch goals motivate more capable employees (successful, experienced, senior) to submit useful innovative ideas by combining the motivation of stretch goals with these employees' ability to discern fruitful from futile ideas. Other employees, meanwhile, may "spin their wheels" and submit lower-quality ideas based on their inability to apply useful knowledge. Empirically, we leverage idea generation data from a Fortune 500 firm. We contribute to stretch goals research by demonstrating both the intended and the unintended consequences that shape employee behavior and to the innovation literature by articulating when stretch goals can and cannot motivate valuable innovation from employees.
Career concerns and personnel investment in the Major League Baseball player draft
Michael Roach
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming
Abstract:
This study examines the relationship between career concerns of organizational decision-makers and their investments by analyzing data from Major League Baseball's (MLB) annual player draft. Career concerns for MLB general managers (GMs) can create incentives to prioritize near-term success and thus spend fewer draft resources on high school players (who, being younger than college players, are less likely to provide near-term benefit to an MLB team). Findings are consistent with this: underperforming expectations in the prior season leads teams to spend significantly smaller proportions of signing bonus dollars on high school players, an effect driven by GMs with relatively short tenures.
When does managerial experience matter? Evidence from Major League Baseball
Paul Crosby
Applied Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
In the world of professional sports, a manager's ability to influence team success is often questioned. This study exploits a unique feature of Major League Baseball (MLB), which has different rules of play depending on what league a team is in, to examine whether managerial impact is driven by the level of responsibility they are given over in-game decision making. Using 47 seasons of MLB data, we find evidence that the development of human capital in the form of on-the-job experience and exposure to prior success is only beneficial when managers are employed in more complex decision-making environments. The results of this study have ramifications on the hiring decisions, both in terms of personnel choice and remuneration, of professional sports organizations.