Jing Qian

Social support moderates stress effects on depression

This study examined the moderator effect of social support on the relationship between stress and depression of university students. A total of 632 undergraduate students completed the measures of perceived stress, perceived social support, and depression. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that social support moderated the association between stress and depression. Undergraduate students with high stress reported higher scores in depression than those with low stress with low social support level. However, the impact of stress on depression was much smaller in the high social support group compared with that in the low social support group.

When workplace ostracism leads to burnout: the roles of job self-determination and future time orientation

Abstract Given that ostracism is a common occurrence in the workplace, scholars and practitioners alike have identified its range of negative effects. This study aims to examine the association between workplace ostracism and burnout level as well as the moderating effects of job self-determination and employees’ future time orientation, using a survey questionnaire. This was completed by a total of 248 employees from a hotel group. We hypothesized that: (a) workplace ostracism was positively associated with burnout; (b) this positive relationship was contingent upon job self-determination such that the relationship was weaker for higher, rather than lower, job self-determination; and (c) the positive relationship was also contingent upon employees’ future time orientation such that the relationship was weaker for employees who have higher, rather than lower future time orientation. Results confirm all three hypotheses.

Mental health risks among nurses under abusive supervision: the moderating roles of job role ambiguity and patients’ lack of reciprocity

BackgroundWhile the nursing profession has been associated with mental health problems and the research into the antecedents of mental health has steadily grown, the relationship between abusive supervision and mental health issues of anxiety and depression remains largely unknown.AimThis study aims to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and mental health problems. And we also aim to investigate whether this relationship is moderated by role ambiguity and the patients’ lack of reciprocity.MethodsA total of 227 frontline nurses from two public hospitals completed the survey questionnaire.Results(1) Abusive supervision was positively associated with poor mental health; (2) the positive relationship was moderated by nurses’ perceived role ambiguity in such a way that the relationship was stronger when the perceived role ambiguity is high; (3) the positive relationship was moderated by the patients’ lack of reciprocity in such a way that the relationship was stronger when patients’ lack of reciprocity was high.ConclusionsTo conclude, the present study showed that abusive supervision was positively associated with mental health problems of anxiety and depression among samples of Chinese nurses. Findings of this study also highlighted that this relationship was contingent upon perceived role ambiguity and patients’ reciprocity.

The presence of a feedback-seeking role model in promoting employee feedback seeking: a moderated mediation model

Abstract Despite an increasing number of studies that show a positive relationship between the supportiveness of a feedback source and feedback seeking, little is known about the impact of supervisors’ demonstration of feedback-seeking behavior on promoting employees seeking feedback from them. In addition, although previous studies have shown that feedback seeking is an interactive process and is emotionally charged, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the role that the source’s emotion regulation played in the feedback seeker’s seeking frequency. The present article developed a moderated mediation model to fill this void and tested it with data from a sample of 215 supervisor–subordinate dyads from China. We hypothesized and found that supervisors’ feedback seeking from subordinates were positively related to subordinates’ feedback seeking from supervisors, mediated by the perceived value and cost of the feedback seeking. The results also supported the moderating roles of supervisors’ emotion regulation in the mediation model.

Power distance and mentor-protégé relationship quality as moderators of the relationship between informal mentoring and burnout: evidence from China

BackgroundThe topic of how to prevent and reduce burnout has drawn great attention from researchers and practitioners in recent years. However, we know little about how mentoring as a form of social support exerts influence on employee burnout.AimThis study aims to examine the contingency side of the mentoring-burnout relationship by addressing the exploratory question of whether individual differences in power distance and relationship quality play important roles in mentoring effectiveness in terms of reducing a protégé’s burnout level.MethodsA total of 210 employees from a technology communications company completed the survey questionnaire.Results(1) A protégés’ power distance moderates the negative relationship between mentoring and burnout in such a way that the relationship is stronger for protégés who are lower rather than higher in power distance; (2) mentor-protégé relationship quality moderates the negative relationship between mentoring and burnout in such a way that the relationship is stronger when the relationship quality is higher rather than lower.ConclusionsIn sum, our results highlight the importance of studying the contingency side of mentoring effects on protégé burnout. Our findings suggest that the individuals’ different cultural values of power distance and mentor-protégé relationship quality are the boundary conditions for the mentoring-burnout relationship. We therefore suggest that research on mentoring-burnout will be advanced by considering the role of the moderating process.

Leaders’ Expressed Humility and Followers’ Feedback Seeking: The Mediating Effects of Perceived Image Cost and Moderating Effects of Power Distance Orientation

We developed and tested a model to identify the role of leaders’ expressed humility on employees’ feedback-seeking processes. The data used in our study was from a sample of 248 employees and 57 of their immediate supervisors. The results revealed that: (1) leader’s expressed humility positively related to employees’ feedback seeking mediated by employees’ perceived image cost; and (2) power distance orientation moderated the relationship between leader’s expressed humility and employees’ perceived image costs, such that the relationship was stronger when the power distance orientation was lower rather than higher. The results offer new insight into potential managerial practices that aim at stimulating feedback seeking. We conclude with a discussion for future research.

Linking Empowering Leadership to Task Performance, Taking Charge, and Voice: The Mediating Role of Feedback-Seeking

Drawing upon social exchange theory, the present study focuses on the role of feedback-seeking in linking empowering leadership to task performance, taking charge, and voice. We tested the hypothesized model using data from a sample of 32 supervisors and 197 their immediate subordinates. Performing CFA, SEM, and bootstrapping, the results revealed that: (1) empowering leadership was positively associated with followers’ feedback-seeking; (2) employees’ feedback-seeking was positively correlated with task performance, taking charge, and voice; and (3) employees’ feedback-seeking mediated the positive relationships between empowering leadership and task performance, taking charge, and voice. We make conclusions by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, alongside a discussion of the present limitations and directions for future studies.

A Role Theory Perspective on How and When Goal-Focused Leadership Influences Employee Voice Behavior

Despite an increasing number of studies that identify leaders’ role in promoting employees’ voice behavior, little is known about the role that supervisors’ goal-focused leadership plays in this. The current study aims to address this research gap by using the role theory to explain how supervisors’ goal-focused leadership influences employees’ voice behavior and the conditions under which supervisors’ have maximum impact on employee voice. A field study of 197 employees and their immediate supervisors offered support for our model. The results indicated a positive association between goal-focused leadership and employees’ voice behavior that was mediated by leaders’ omission of reward and punishments. We also found that perceived helping and support from coworkers positively moderated the relationship between leaders’ reward and punishment omission and employees’ voice behavior such that the relationship was weaker when coworker helping and support was higher. The findings provide more comprehensive picture of the process by which goal-focused leadership influences employee voice and highlight how coworkers can buffer the negative effect of ineffective managerial reward and punishment omission. The practical implications of this research, its limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

How does growth need strength influence employee outcomes? The roles of hope, leadership, and cultural value

Abstract Strong growth need is essential if an employee is to be motivated to complete complex and challenging jobs. It is important for organizations to attract employees with high growth need strength and help them achieve positive outcomes. However, limited research has been conducted to examine the mechanism underlying growth need strength’s positive effect on employee outcomes. Based on hope theory, we hypothesized that hope mediates the effect of growth need strength on job performance and affective commitment by transforming employees’ general desire for personal growth into goal-related cognitive thinking, comprising both ‘will’ and ‘ways’. We further hypothesized the moderating effect of transformational leadership, and the joint moderating effect of transformational leadership and individual power distance on the relationship between growth need strength and hope. We tested our hypotheses with data from a sample of 265 subordinate–supervisor dyads from China. Data analysis results supported the mediating role of hope. We found that growth need strength has a stronger effect on hope when transformational leadership is higher, and this effect is the strongest when both transformational leadership and individual power distance are simultaneously higher. The implications of these findings for human resource management research and practice are discussed.

The Role of Future Time Orientation in Promoting Employees’ Feedback- Seeking Behavior

Drawing upon psychological ownership theory, we hypothesized a positive influence of future time orientation on feedback seeking from various sources (i.e., supervisors and co-workers). We also hyp...