Antje Schmitt

The affective shift model of work engagement

On the basis of self-regulation theories, the authors develop an affective shift model of work engagement according to which work engagement emerges from the dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect. The affective shift model posits that negative affect is positively related to work engagement if negative affect is followed by positive affect. The authors applied experience sampling methodology to test the model. Data on affective events, mood, and work engagement was collected twice a day over 9 working days among 55 software developers. In support of the affective shift model, negative mood and negative events experienced in the morning of a working day were positively related to work engagement in the afternoon if positive mood in the time interval between morning and afternoon was high. Individual differences in positive affectivity moderated within-person relationships. The authors discuss how work engagement can be fostered through affect regulation.

Happy and Proactive? The Role of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well‐Being in Business Owners' Personal Initiative

This two–year study with 122 business owners examined the link between affective well–being and task–oriented as well as relationship–oriented personal initiative (PI). We tested two complementary models explaining the link between well–being and PI: (1) broaden–and–build theory and (2) self–regulation as limited resource approach. In line with current research on well–being, we differentiated between hedonic and eudaimonic well–being using life satisfaction and vigor as indicators. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that only vigor predicted both forms of PI. Our results support the self–regulation approach and indicate that eudaimonic well–being is the relevant affective well–being dimension for proactive behavior.

Focus on opportunities as a boundary condition of the relationship between job control and work engagement: A multi-sample, multi-method study.

The concept of focus on opportunities describes how many new goals, options, and possibilities employees believe to have in their personal future at work. In this multi-sample, multi-method study, the authors investigated relationships between focus on opportunities and general and daily work engagement and the moderating role of focus on opportunities on between- and within-person relationships between job control and work engagement. Based on a social cognitive theory framework on the motivating potential of a future temporal focus, it was hypothesized that focus on opportunities is positively related to work engagement. Further, consistent with the notion of compensatory resources, it was expected that job control is not related to work engagement among employees with a high focus on opportunities, whereas job control, as an external resource of the work environment, is positively related to work engagement among employees with a low focus on opportunities. Both a cross-sectional survey study (N=174) and a daily diary study (N=64) supported the hypotheses. The study contributes to research on the job demands-resources model as it emphasizes the role of focus on opportunities as a motivational factor in the relationship between job control and work engagement.

The motivational benefits of specific versus general optimism

This study addresses the question whether a specific, work-related form of optimistic thinking has motivational consequences in terms of work engagement above and beyond general optimism over time. A specific form of optimistic thinking is focus on opportunities. Focus on opportunities is a future-oriented belief that describes how many plans, goals, and possibilities people expect to have in their future at work. Based on a cross-lagged panel design with a two-year time lag and data from a sample of 124 German business owners, results of structural equation modeling showed that focus on opportunities positively predicted changes in work engagement over time, even when controlling for general optimism. This finding supports propositions of social cognition and self-regulation theories that emphasize the importance of a specific form of optimism that has motivating potential by referring to future work goals and opportunities.

How Small Business Managers’ Age and Focus on Opportunities Affect Business Growth: A Mediated Moderation Growth Model

Research on business growth has been criticized for methodological weaknesses. We present a mediated moderation growth model as a new methodological approach. We hypothesized that small business managers’ age negatively affects business growth through focus on opportunities. We sampled 201 small business managers and obtained firm performance data over 5 years, resulting in 836 observations. Growth modeling showed systematic differences in firm performance trajectories. These differences could be explained by modeling focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationship between small business managers’ age and business growth. The study illustrates how mediation models can be tested using growth modeling.

How small business managers’ age and focus on opportunities affect business growth

Research on business growth has been criticized for methodological weaknesses. We present a mediated moderation growth model as a new methodological approach. We hypothesized that small business managers’ age negatively affects business growth through focus on opportunities. We sampled 201 small business managers and obtained firm performance data over 5 years, resulting in 836 observations. Growth modeling showed systematic differences in firm performance trajectories. These differences could be explained by modeling focus on opportunities as a mediator of the relationship between small business managers’ age and business growth. The study illustrates how mediation models can be tested using growth modeling.

Feeling Vital After a Good Night's Sleep: The Interplay of Energetic Resources and Self-Efficacy for Daily Proactivity.

This study aims to investigate the role of daily vitality as an energy-based mechanism through which sleep quantity and quality relate to proactive behavior. In addition, we propose that daily self-efficacy forms a contingency condition in that self-efficacy facilitates the translation of vitality into proactive behavior. We conducted a 7-day diary study based on a sample of 66 employees who completed surveys 3 times daily. We used multilevel regression analyses to test the hypotheses while controlling for the 1-day lagged measures of vitality and proactivity. The results provide evidence for a model of moderated mediation. Sleep quality but not quantity predicted an increase in daily vitality. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between vitality and daily proactivity such that this relationship was stronger when self-efficacy was reported to be high rather than low. The conditional effect mediated by vitality was significant for sleep quality but not for sleep quantity and occurred at the within-person level of analysis. These results suggest that organizations aiming to boost daily proactivity in employees can benefit from increasing employees’ self-efficacy and supporting them in developing strategies to ensure sufficient vitality. One such strategy is improving sleep quality. This study extends the literature on dynamics in proactive work behavior and its well-being-related antecedents by exploring both vitality as an underlying energetic mechanism and daily self-efficacy as a boundary condition.

Family Involvement In Chinese And German Small Businesses

The goal of this study was to examine cultural differences in the value of family involvement in German and Chinese small businesses due to their differences in collectivism/individualism. Our analyses, based on a sample of 562 Chinese and German owners, showed that family involvement — measured as the number of family members that work in the business — is higher in China than in Germany. Compared to German business owners, Chinese owners received most of their start-up capital from family members. Moreover, we were interested in whether family involvement is related to the business owners ability to make use of start-up capital to turn it into business outcomes. Building on existing literature and based on the match hypothesis we hypothesized that the effects of family involvement on business outcomes depend on the cultural values underlying a business. Our analyses revealed that family involvement negatively affected relationships of start-up capital with business outcomes both in China and in Germany. Our study contributes by showing that a negative effect of family involvement on the ability to make use of start-up capital is not only evident in individualistic cultures such as Germany but does also apply to collectivistic Chinese businesses. Practically, owners in both cultures are suggested to develop strategies in order to prevent and overcome negative effects of family involvement on business outcomes. Our results suggest fruitful avenues for future research.

Balancing the Online Life: Mobile Usage Scenarios and Strategies for a New Communication Paradigm

Mobile technology, with both its ever-improving connectivity and the capabilities of mobile terminals, has revolutionized the way we can work (and lead our private lives). Basically, connectivity through mobile devices and the ability they provide to work at any place and any time can be a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it can open up important advantages, such as increased flexibility, efficiency, and effectiveness; on the other hand, working individuals may increasingly struggle to balance their work and life domains.

A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Uncertainty and Business Opportunity Identification: Exploration as a Mediator and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy as a Moderator:

This study focuses on the identification of business opportunities when entrepreneurs’ perceived level of environmental uncertainty changes. We suggest that within persons, exploration mediates this relationship and entrepreneurial self-efficacy moderates whether entrepreneurs explore more or less with increasing uncertainty. To test our moderated mediation model we conducted a monthly field study with 121 early-stage entrepreneurs. Multilevel regression analyses reveal that an increase in the level of perceived uncertainty within entrepreneurs predicted the identification of opportunities through exploration for entrepreneurs high in self-efficacy, but not for those low in self-efficacy. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy acts as a personal resource that helps entrepreneurs to transform increasing perceptions of uncertainty into exploration and opportunity identification.