Devasheesh P. Bhave

Within-Person Variability in Job Performance: A Theoretical Review and Research Agenda

Although both researchers and practitioners know that an employee’s performance varies over time within a job, this within-person performance variability is not well understood and in fact is often treated as error. In the current paper, we first identify the importance of a within-person approach to job performance and then review several extant theories of within-person performance variability that, despite vastly different foci, converge on the contention that job performance is dynamic rather than static. We compare and contrast the theories along several common metrics and thereby facilitate a discussion of commonalities, differences, and theory elaboration. In so doing, we identify important future research questions on within-person performance variability and methodological challenges in addressing these research questions. Finally, we highlight how the conventional practical implications articulated on the basis of a static, between-person perspective on job performance may need to be modified to account for the dynamic, within-person nature of performance.

Within-Person Variability in Job Performance

Although both researchers and practitioners know that an employee’s performance varies over time within a job, this within-person performance variability is not well understood and in fact is often treated as error. In the current paper, we first identify the importance of a within-person approach to job performance and then review several extant theories of within-person performance variability that, despite vastly different foci, converge on the contention that job performance is dynamic rather than static. We compare and contrast the theories along several common metrics and thereby facilitate a discussion of commonalities, differences, and theory elaboration. In so doing, we identify important future research questions on within-person performance variability and methodological challenges in addressing these research questions. Finally, we highlight how the conventional practical implications articulated on the basis of a static, between-person perspective on job performance may need to be modified to account for the dynamic, within-person nature of performance.

Autonomy in the Workplace: An Essential Ingredient to Employee Engagement and Well-Being in Every Culture

The nature of organizational life requires questioning the role of worker autonomy. An impressive amount of management research has been devoted to autonomy issues in organizations. Autonomy is at the forefront of research on job design and the management of employees. Therefore, we review evidence in the area of job design and management practices that deeply affect worker autonomy. Throughout this discussion, we evaluate the cross-cultural applicability of research and practice and offer future directions based on self-determination theory.

Emotional labour demands, wages and gender: A within-person, between-jobs study

Although research suggests the important role of gender in emotional labour, its effect on the relationship between emotional labour demands and wages has not been examined explicitly. The current study investigates this relationship by testing hypotheses derived from theories of vocational choice and labour market supply and demand. Hypotheses are tested using a unique within-person, between-jobs longitudinal dataset with information on two jobs for each worker in a national sample of U.S. workers (N = 5,488). After controlling for relevant variables related to wages, results suggest men incur wage penalties of approximately 6% when moving to occupations with higher emotional labour demands. Women do not experience statistically significant wage effects from moving to an occupation with higher emotional labour demands. These findings are discussed and interpreted based on the theoretical frameworks.

The Role of Occupational Emotional Labor Requirements on the Surface Acting–Job Satisfaction Relationship

In this study we employ two distinct lenses of emotional labor—EL as occupational requirements and EL as intrapsychic processes of surface acting—and examine their relationship with job satisfaction. In a large, occupationally diverse sample, results indicate that occupational EL requirements are positively related to job satisfaction, whereas surface acting is negatively related to job satisfaction. Additionally, occupational EL requirements have a cross-level moderation effect on the relationship between surface acting and job satisfaction. Nonlinear effects are also observed for surface acting: the initial negative relationship of surface acting with job satisfaction is exacerbated at high levels of surface acting. Overall, this study enriches current research findings by incorporating the role of the occupational context, and provides insight into alternative evaluations of EL.

Are you my mentor? Informal mentoring mutual identification

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which potential mentors and proteges agree that an informal mentoring relationship exists. Because these relationships are generally tacitly understood, either the mentor or protege could perceive that there is a mentoring relationship when the other person does not agree. Whether gender affects this is also to be examined.Design/methodology/approach – Individuals were asked to identify their mentoring partners. Each report of a partner was then compared to the partners list to determine whether there was a match (i.e. both reported the relationship as an informal mentoring relationship) or a mismatch (i.e. where one partner reported the relationship as an informal mentoring relationship but the other did not). This pattern of matches and mismatches was then analyzed to determine level of matching and gender differences.Findings – There is little agreement between mentoring partners: neither potential proteges nor potential mentors were v...

Why victims of undermining at work become perpetrators of undermining: An integrative model

We develop and test an integrative model explaining why victims of workplace social undermining become perpetrators of undermining. Conceptualizing social undermining as a norm-violating and a resource-depleting experience, we theorize that undermining victimization lowers interpersonal justice perceptions and depletes self-regulatory resources, and these 2 mechanisms in tandem trigger a moral disengagement process that influences subsequent undermining behaviors. We further theorize that moral identity functions as a boundary condition: high moral identity attenuates whether interpersonal injustice and resource depletion shape moral disengagement and whether moral disengagement translates to subsequent undermining. A field study of bank employees provides empirical support for the mediating mechanisms, and shows that employees who have high moral identity are less likely to respond to interpersonal injustice by morally disengaging and to translate moral disengagement to undermining. (PsycINFO Database Record

The differential impact of interactions outside the organization on employee well-being

The differential impact of interactions outside the organization on employee well-being Devasheesh P. Bhave* , Freyr Halld orsson, Eugene Kim and Alexandru M. Lefter Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University, Singapore Implexa Consulting, Reykjav ık, Iceland Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, USA John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Occupational Interactional Requirements and Work-Home Enrichment

We examine how occupational interactional requirements influence work-home enrichment. We identify two manifestations of work-home enrichment: through objective indicators of how employees allocate their time at home, and through perceptual reflections of employees on their work-home enrichment. We conceptualize occupational interactional requirements as restorative properties of jobs that provide employees with resources that they transfer to the home domain. In terms of objective indicators, our results indicate that employees transfer these resources by spending more time in resource depleting activities of caring for household members, and less time in resource replenishing activities of socializing and relaxing. This suggests that occupational interactional requirements facilitate reallocating time in the home domain. In terms of perceptual reflections, we observe that occupational interactional requirements spark employees’ vitality, which enriches their life at home. Our results attest to consideri...

PAY SATISFACTION AND WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT ACROSS TIME.

The article examines the relationship between pay satisfaction and work-family conflict (WFC), which is shown to be moderated by the number of dependents and educational attainment. Changes in glob...