James H. Dulebohn

A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents and Consequences of Leader-Member Exchange Integrating the Past With an Eye Toward the Future

Although leader-member exchange (LMX) was identified in the literature nearly 40 years ago, a comprehensive empirical examination of its antecedents and consequences has not been conducted. The authors’ examination included 247 studies, containing 290 samples, and 21 antecedents and 16 consequences of LMX quality. Results indicated that while leader behaviors and perceptions, follower characteristics, interpersonal relationship characteristics, and contextual variables represent significant groups of LMX antecedents, leader variables explained the most variance in LMX quality. Moderator analyses revealed that the particular LMX scale, country of participants, and work setting studied did not produce meaningful influences on the relationships in the meta-analysis. However, power distance and individualism did moderate some of these relationships. To provide continuity with the LMX meta-analyses and conceptual reviews that have focused on LMX consequences, the authors tested a number of mediation models. The results demonstrated that LMX frequently plays a mediating role in the relationships where mediation could be tested.

The Role of Influence Tactics in Perceptions of Performance Evaluations’ Fairness

The present study examined the impact of employees’ use of influence tactics on their evaluations of the fairness of the performance evaluation process. Results indicated that the use of supervisor...

Employee Perceptions of the Fairness of Work Group Incentive Pay Plans

A field study investigated 368 employees’ perceptions of the fair-ness of work group incentive pay plans. In particular, we studied therelationships between six antecedent variables (understanding of thepay plan, satisfaction with base pay, organizational commitment, beliefsin the pay plan eflectiveness, plan payout amount, and group identijication) and outcome variables, including fairness judgments of both theprocesses associated with the pay plan as well as the earned payoutamounts. The setting for this study was a major nonunion production facility of a Fortune 500 company that is involved in chemical produc-tion. The findings indicate that understanding of the pay plan, belief inthe pay plan effectiveness, and organizational commitment were relatedto perceptions of procedural justice. Moreover, pay satisfaction, under-standing, belief in the pay plan effectiveness, and organizational commitment were associated with perceptions of distributive justice.Further, we found significant effects of two control variables— job classification on perceptions of procedural justice, and organization altenure on both perceptions of procedural and distributive justice.

Organizational Politics and Employee Attendance

Organizational politics has been conceptualized as a source of stress and conflict in the work environment, with the potential for dysfunctional outcomes at both the individual and organizational level. One possible consequence of politics is the exercise by employees of withdrawal behaviors, particularly absenteeism. Further, the likelihood of negative outcomes may be substantially enhanced by the lack of understanding. The present study investigated the extent to which such understanding, measured as tenure working for supervisor, moderated the erceptions of politics-employee attendance relationship. Moderated regression results (after controlling for quality of supervisor-subordinate relationship) provided support for the hypothesis, demonstrating that under conditions of lower tenure working for supervisor, increases in perceptions of politics were associated with lower attendance, whereas no relationship was found between politics and attendance under conditions of higher tenure working for supervisor. Implications of the results are discussed.

An Investigation of the Determinants of Investment Risk Behavior in Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans

This paper presents the results of an investigation of the determinants of investment risk behavior in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Using a field survey of 795 college and university employees, I examined the significance of demographic and attitudinal/dispositional variables on employees’ risk behavior in selecting among investment allocation options provided by defined contribution pension plans. The results identified primary causes of risky investment behavior including income, age, other retirement plan participation, self-efficacy, knowledge of investment principles and general risk propensity.

Training and Effective Employee Information Technology Use

Using longitudinal survey data from a matched sample of 94 administrative employees across a range of job levels in an organization that was implementing a Web-based enterprise-wide resource planning software system, the authors examined the relationships between technology training and employees’ acceptance and preparation for mandated technology use. Structural equation analyses indicated that employees’ beliefs about resources to support use of new software mediated the relationship between technology training and intention to use new software outside of formal training and prior to mandated use. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Do Ethical, Authentic, and Servant Leadership Explain Variance Above and Beyond Transformational Leadership? A Meta-Analysis

This study compares three emerging forms of positive leadership that emphasize ethical and moral behavior (i.e., authentic leadership, ethical leadership, and servant leadership) with transformational leadership in their associations with a wide range of organizationally relevant measures. While scholars have noted conceptual overlap between transformational leadership and these newer leadership forms, there has been inadequate investigation of the empirical relationships with transformational leadership and the ability (or lack thereof) of these leadership forms to explain incremental variance beyond transformational leadership. In response, we conducted a series of meta-analyses to provide a comprehensive assessment of these emerging leadership forms’ relationships with variables evaluated in the extant literature. Second, we tested the relative performance of each of these leadership forms in explaining incremental variance, beyond transformational leadership, in nine outcomes. We also provide relative weights analyses to further evaluate the relative contributions of the emerging leadership forms versus transformational leadership. The high correlations between both authentic leadership and ethical leadership with transformational leadership coupled with their low amounts of incremental variance suggest that their utility is low unless they are being used to explore very specific outcomes. Servant leadership, however, showed more promise as a stand-alone leadership approach that is capable of helping leadership researchers and practitioners better explain a wide range of outcomes. Guidance regarding future research and the utility of these three ethical/moral values–based leadership forms is provided.

Optimal funding of state employee pension systems

Public pension funds are a significant, and rapidly growing, financial force in the United States. However, the lack of a consensus on an appropriate funding level is apparent from the wide diversity of funding levels currently maintained. This research proposes a financial standard for public pension plan funding that depends on the current pension obligation and the respective growth rates of pension expenses and the tax base, and then compares the optimal funding levels based on this standard with actual funding levels by state. Based on this approach, funding levels should vary by state based on economic conditions. However, many states are funding public pension plans at levels well below the optimal values, which creates the potential for serious problems in the future.

A Model of Employee Self-Service Technology Acceptance

We review the literature on individual acceptance of technology to show how organizations can improve the effective use of human resource web-based technologies. Integrating and expanding several theoretical models of technology acceptance, we develop a perceptual model of employee self-service (ESS) acceptance and usage. Based on this model, we propose several key individual, technological, and organizational factors relevant to individual intentions to use ESS technology. We summarize these in several testable propositions and also discuss implications for organizational researchers and practitioners.

Gender differences in justice evaluations: Evidence from fMRI

Justice research examining gender differences has yielded contrasting findings. This study enlists advanced techniques in cognitive neuroscience (fMRI) to examine gender differences in brain activation patterns in response to procedural and distributive justice manipulations. We integrate social role, information processing, justice, and neuroscience literature to posit and test for gender differences in 2 neural subsystems known to be involved in the appraisal of self-relevant events. Results indicate that the relationship between justice information processing and neural activity in areas representing these subsystems is significantly influenced by gender, with greater activation for females than males during consideration of both procedural and distributive justice information. In addition, we find evidence that gender and distributive injustice interact to influence bargaining behavior, with females rejecting ultimatum game offers more frequently than males. Results also demonstrate activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum brain regions during procedural justice evaluation is associated with offer rejection in females, but not in males. Managerial implications based on the studys support for gender differences in justice perceptions are discussed.