Jeffery A. Thompson

Proactive personality and job performance: a social capital perspective.

This study of 126 employee-supervisor dyads examined a mediated model of the relationship between proactive personality and job performance. The model, informed by the social capital perspective, suggests that proactive employees reap performance benefits by means of developing social networks that provide them the resources and latitude to pursue high-level initiatives. Structural equation modeling suggested that the relationship between proactive personality and job performance is mediated by network building and initiative taking on the part of the employee.

The Call of the Wild: Zookeepers, Callings, and the Double-edged Sword of Deeply Meaningful Work

A qualitative examination of work meaning in the zoo-keeping profession pointed to the centrality of the notion of work as a personal calling. The view of calling expressed by zookeepers, however, was closer in basic structure to the classical conceptualization of the Protestant reformers than it was to more recent formulations. We used qualitative data from interviews with U.S. zookeepers to develop hypotheses about the implications of this neoclassical conceptualization of calling for the relationship between individuals and their work. We found that a neoclassical calling is both binding and ennobling. On one hand, zookeepers with a sense of calling strongly identified with and found broader meaning and significance in their work and occupation. On the other hand, they were more likely to see their work as a moral duty, to sacrifice pay, personal time, and comfort for their work, and to hold their zoo to a higher standard. Results of a survey of zookeepers from 157 different zoos in the U.S. and Canada supported the hypotheses from our emergent theory. These results reveal the ways in which deeply meaningful work can become a double-edged sword.

Work-nonwork conflict and the phenomenology of time: Beyond the balance metaphor

Most research on work-nonwork conflict emphasizes time allocation, evoking the metaphor of “balancing” time. Balance imagery is restrictive because it neglects the perceptual experience of time and the subjective meanings people assign to it. We propose an alternative metaphor of time as a “container of meaning.” Drawing upon role-identity and self-discrepancy theories, we develop a model and propositions relating meanings derived from work and nonwork time to the experience of work-nonwork conflict. We argue that work-nonwork conflict is shaped not only by times quantitative aspect but also by the extent to which work and nonwork time is identity affirming versus identity discrepant.

Status and the True Believer: The Impact of Psychological Contracts on Social Status Attributions of Friendship and Influence

This article examines how the fulfillment of obligations viewed as essential to an individual’s relationship with his or her employer (i.e., the psychological contract) affects attributions of friendship and influence within the organization. Drawing on social exchange theory and self-categorization theory, we hypothesize that individuals who fulfill relational obligations will receive more friendship nominations from others in the organization, whereas individuals who fulfill ideological obligations will receive more influence nominations. In contrast, we hypothesize that those who fulfill transactional obligations will receive fewer friendship and influence nominations. We also predict that individuals who hold similar beliefs about their relationship with the organization will be more likely to nominate similar coworkers as friends or as influential in the organization, and that ideological contract similarity may provide a more compelling rationale for influence nomination than transactional or relational contract similarity. We tested our framework in two samples and find support for these general hypotheses. Our findings suggest that positions of status and influence in ideologically oriented organizations may accrue to “true believers,” i.e., those whose contracts with the organization are construed in ideological terms. Accordingly, this study has important implications for research on psychological contracts and social influence.

Productivity and Prestige in Business Ethics Research A Report and Commentary on the State of the Field

This article provides a report and commentary on productivity and prestige in business ethics research. Based on a survey that was administered to 320 business ethics scholars worldwide, the authors report a ranking of 15 business schools that are perceived to be leaders in the field of business ethics. Based on these same survey results, the authors investigate which factors may have the strongest relationship to individual publication productivity and perceptions of institutional prestige within business ethics research. The results provide several surprising findings that suggest the business ethics field may be anomalous in academe in terms of the emergence of productivity and prestige.

Beyond "What's in It for Me?": Employee-Level Outcomes of an Organization-Sponsored Cause

In the race to attract and retain a generation of employees increasingly looking for meaningful work, organizations are taking explicit action to be good corporate citizens, for instance by implementing sustainability initiatives, CSR efforts, or socially- oriented programs. But key questions remain about how organizations’ sponsorship of and contribution to ideological causes impacts employees and the employee-organization relationship. This symposium highlights new research on the links between organization- sponsored causes, the employee-organization relationship, and organizationally relevant outcomes, such as organizational identification and job performance. We bring together scholars whose research explores the impact and implementation of organizational cause efforts in a variety of contexts across for-profit and non-profit companies. Scholars will also discuss new findings around ideological psychological contracts and the implications of including cause sponsorship as an important inducement for...