Cheri Ostroff

Substantive and operational issues of response bias across levels of analysis: An example of climate-satisfaction relationships

Two studies tested whether method variance is present at multiple levels of analysis and whether methodological procedures can minimize its impact. In Study 1, 8,052 employees from 71 hotels completed measures of climate, work environment characteristics, and satisfaction. A comparison of correlations at the individual level, cross-level, cross-level split, aggregate level, and aggregate-split level of analysis revealed that response bias was present across multiple levels. Results suggest that samples should be split in half when cross-level and aggregate correlations are computed to ameliorate response bias problems that arise from individual-level method variance. In Study 2, results indicated that the temporal spacing of measures of climate and satisfaction influenced response bias. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Perspectives on organizational fit

In his essay commemorating the famous Hawthorne studies, Harold Leavitt (1975) suggested that people and organizations would be “better off” if groups, not individuals, were the basic building blocks of organizations (Hackman, 1987). Since his prophetic essay, the use of groups and teams in organizations has greatly expanded. As the focus of organizations shifted toward quality, innovation, and accountability, an emphasis on the use of work teams emerged (Kozlowski, Gully, Salas, & CannonBowers, 1996). As a result, organizations have restructured and are continuing to restructure work around teams rather than individual jobs (Ilgen, 1994). In parallel, the need and demand for theoretical and empirical research on team functioning have intensified. Past reviews of the literature on small groups and teams indicated considerable growth in the volume of team research over this same time horizon (Cohen & Bailey, 1997; Ilgen, Hollenbeck, Johnson, & Jundt, 2005; Kozlowski & Bell, 2003; McGrath, Arrow, & Berdahl, 2000). The increased focus on team research has helped develop convergence on many conceptual developments in the team literature. A recent example is the consensus that has developed regarding teams as complex systems (McGrath et al., 2000). Teams perform over time and within context, creating an environment that introduces a level of complexity not accounted for within traditional cause and effect perspectives on team functioning. For

Organizational climate configurations: relationships to collective attitudes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

Research on organizational climate has tended to focus on independent dimensions of climate rather than studying the total social context as configurations of multiple climate dimensions. The authors examined relationships between configurations of unit-level climate dimensions and organizational outcomes. Three profile characteristics represented climate configurations: (1) elevation, or the mean score across climate dimensions; (2) variability, or the extent to which scores across dimensions vary; and (3) shape, or the pattern of the dimensions. Across 2 studies (1,120 employees in 120 bank branches and 4,317 employees in 86 food distribution stores), results indicated that elevation was related to collective employee attitudes and service perceptions, while shape was related to customer satisfaction and financial performance. With respect to profile variability, results were mixed. The discussion focuses on future directions for taking a configural approach to organizational climate.

The role of within-group agreement in understanding transformational leadership

Theories of transformational leadership imply that effective leaders should engage in a constellation of appropriate behaviours. Further, since an important component of transformational leadership is the leaders ability to create a consensus or a similar mindset among subordinates, attributions that the leader is transformational are likely to depend on both the leaders behaviours and the extent to which subordinates perceive the leader similarly. In the present study, these notions were tested using a multi-source data set comprising 68 focal managers, 285 subordinates, 495 peers, and 68 supervisors. Results indicated that leaders who engage in higher levels of appropriate leader behaviours are more likely to have followers who agree in their perceptions of the leader. In addition, significant interactions were found between leader behaviours and agreement among subordinates, suggesting that agreement moderates the relationship between leader behaviours and attributions of transformational leadership style.

Organizational climate and culture: Reflections on the history of the constructs in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

We review the literature on organizational climate and culture paying specific attention to articles published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) since its first volume in 1917. The article traces the history of the 2 constructs though JAP has been far more important for climate than culture research. We distinguish 4 main periods: the pre-1971 era, with pioneering work on exploring conceptualization and operationalizations of the climate construct; the 1971–1985 era, with foundational work on aggregation issues, outcome-focused climates (on safety and service) and early writings on culture; the 1986–1999 era, characterized by solidification of a focused climate approach to understanding organizational processes (justice, discrimination) and outcomes (safety, service) and the beginnings of survey approaches to culture; and the 2000–2014 era, characterized by multilevel work on climate, climate strength, demonstrated validity for a climate approach to outcomes and processes, and the relationship between leadership and climate and culture. We summarize and comment on the major theory and research achievements in each period, showing trends observed in the literature and how JAP has contributed greatly to moving research on these constructs, especially climate, forward. We also recommend directions for future research given the current state of knowledge.

The Dual Effects of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Relationships to Research Productivity and Career Outcomes in Academe

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been shown to be important for organizational effectiveness, yet less is known about the relationship between OCB and objective outcomes for individuals. We investigate the relationship between OCB and both short-term and longer term outcomes within the context of an outcome-based reward system. We also investigate a type of OCB specific to professional occupations, namely, professional service OCB. Using resource allocation and social exchange theories, we hypothesize that OCB directed internally to the employing organization may have a negative impact on individuals’ productivity and career outcomes while engaging in professional service OCB would be positively related to these outcomes. Results from a survey of 622 faculty members in research universities provide support for these hypotheses. Future research directions are discussed.

Multi-level fit: an integrative framework for understanding hrm practices in cross-cultural contexts

In recent years, theory and research have been increasingly devoted to understanding organizational behavior in cross-cultural and global contexts, with particular attention being paid to the appropriateness of various human resources management (HRM) practices because practices that may be effective within one cultural context may not be effective in other cultural contexts. This chapter argues that a multi-level perspective is needed to explain the interplay between HRM practices and employee responses across cultural contexts. Specifically, the multi-level framework developed in this chapter elucidates the importance of fit between HRM practices, individual values, organizational values, and societal values. Societal values play a key role in the adoption of HRM practices, and the effectiveness of these HRM practices will depend largely on “fit” or alignment with the values of the societal culture in which the organization is operating. HRM practices also shape the collective responses of employees through organizational climate at the organizational level and through psychological climate at the individual level. For positive employee attitudes and responses to emerge, the climate created by the HRM practices must be aligned with societal and individual values. Building on these notions, the strength of the societal culture in which the organization is operating serves as a mechanism that links relationships between climate, value fit, and attitudes across levels of analysis. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for future research and implications for practice.

Trust in Direct Leaders and Top Leaders: A Trickle-Up Model.

Low levels of employee trust in top leaders pose challenges to organizations with respect to retention, performance, and profits. This research examines how trust in top leaders can be fostered through the relationships individuals have with their direct leaders. We propose a trickle-up model whereby trust in direct leaders exerts an upward influence on trust in top leaders. Drawing on the group value model, we predict that direct leaders’ procedural justice serves as the key mechanism in facilitating the trickle-up process. Further, this process should be particularly strong for employees high on vertical collectivism, and the trickled-up trust in top leaders should exert a stronger impact on employees’ overall performance in the organization than trust in direct leaders. Multiphase and multisource data from 336 individuals support these hypotheses. The findings advance our understanding of trust and leadership by highlighting that trust in leaders at different levels does not form independently and that trust in leaders trickles up across hierarchical levels.

Relational Demography: A Question of Measures

The relational demography literature uses a variety of measures to describe how overt human differences in two entities, such as a group and its individual members, influence individual and collective outcomes (Tsui & Gutek, 1999). Although there has been much debate on the relative suitability of these measures (e.g., Bedeian, Day, Edwards, Tisak, & Smith, 1994), the demography literature lacks within-sample comparisons of the measures that might help to settle the question. This study tests the relative efficacy of absolute squared difference scores, interactions, polynomial regression, and perceptions of differences in representing relational demography among members of a workgroup against affective and performance outcomes.

Multi-level fit: complexity, values, and climate

In this response, we address the thoughtful commentaries by Chen and Tsui, and Erez and highlight three overarching themes emerging from their contributions. First, we address the challenge of balancing complexity and parsimony in our model of values, HRM practices and fit in cross-cultural contexts. Second, we provide further explanations of the linkages between societal and organizational values. Third, we address the question of whether culture and climate should be treated as separate constructs in the model. In doing so, we hope to stimulate future progress in multi-level and cross-cultural perspectives of HRM and fit.