Chak Fu Lam

Building a Sustainable Model of Human Energy in Organizations: Exploring the Critical Role of Resources

This article makes the critical role that the construct of energy plays in motivation research and reviews six literatures related to human energy in a work context: (1) conservation of resources, (2) attention restoration theory, (3) ego-depletion theory, (4) energetic activation, (5) interaction ritual chain, and (6) self-determination theory. We clarify definitions of human energy, show how they are related to constructs like flow, motivation, and resources, and show how ideas related to energy can be integrated across these literatures. We use the literatures to build and integrative model of human energy in organizations. The model captures the dynamics of human energy, demonstrates how energy can be both a scarce and an abundant resource, integrates resources and resourcing into the model, and how motivation needs to account for the creation of resources as well as the use of resources. We also use the model to provide insights into important future research in this area.

Leader–member exchange and guanxi are not the same: differential impact of dyadic relationships on fit perceptions, helping behavior, and turnover intention

Abstract Extant literature on person–environment fit has underlined the positive impact of leader–member exchange (LMX) on person–supervisor (PS) fit. We challenge this assumption and propose that LMX, which captures the working relationship between employees and their managers, is more strongly associated with person–organization (PO) fit, not PS fit. We further propose that the personal aspect of the relationship between employees and their managers, namely supervisor–subordinate guanxi, is more strongly associated with PS fit than LMX. Finally, we theorize that LMX and supervisor–subordinate guanxi will be associated with turnover intention and helping behavior targeting the supervisor, respectively, through their differential impact on PO and PS fit. Data collected from 267 leader–member dyads in 17 companies in China using a two-wave procedure supported our hypotheses. These results have implications for theories on the multi-dimensional nature of the person–environment fit as well as research differentiating LMX and supervisor–subordinate guanxi.

Toward a Social Interaction View of Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Current research on OCB has not paid sufficient attention to mutual exchange processes between actors and recipients. This symposium brings together five papers that shed light on how actors and recipients interact to exchange feedback and create favorable social environments in which OCB can thrive. Benefits of Receiving Gratitude for Helpers: Daily Investigation of Proactive and Reactive Helping Presenter: Hun Whee Lee; Michigan State U. Presenter: Jacob Cline Bradburn; Michigan State U. Presenter: Russell Eric Johnson; Michigan State U. Presenter: Chu-Hsiang Chang; Michigan State U. Help Not Wanted: The Role of Social-Loafing Concerns in Help Acceptance Presenter: Andrea L. Hetrick; U. of Georgia Presenter: Brian James Hoffman; U. of Georgia Say It as It Is: Key Determinants of Voice Endorsement Presenter: Chak Fu Lam; Suffolk U. Presenter: Cynthia K Lee; Northeastern U. Presenter: Yang Sui; U. of Science and Technology Beijing A Social Identity Perspective on Shared Leadership and Team OCB Presenter: ...

Task conflict and voice behavior: A curvilinear relationship

Research suggests that moderate levels of task conflict encourage team members to share ideas, generate creative insights, and voice recommendations to improve team performance. This line of reason...

A Moderated Mediation Model of Team Boundary Activities, Team Emotional Energy, and Team Innovation.

Past research on team boundary work has focused on a “cold,” information-exchange perspective to explain why boundary activities affect team innovation. Although the theory is widely accepted, empirical studies on the actual mechanism are scant and produce inconsistent results. Drawing from Interaction Ritual Theory (Collins, 2004), we propose a “warm,” affective perspective that emphasizes team emotional energy – a shared feeling of enthusiasm among team members – as a mechanism linking boundary work and team innovation. Moreover, we examine a theory-driven contextual factor –team role overload – that modifies the hypothesized mediated relationship. Based on field data from four different sources of 89 automotive research and development teams (comprising 724 employees, 89 direct supervisors and 18 managers), we found that both team boundary-spanning and boundary-buffering activities are associated with higher levels of team emotional energy, which, in turn, are related to greater levels of team innovation. Moreover, the mediated relationship of boundary-buffering activities, team emotional energy and team innovation is moderated by team role overload, such that the mediated relationship is stronger when team role overload is higher. Our study contributes to the literature by broadening our understanding of why boundary work is effective and when it matters most.