Mitchell J. Neubert

Regulatory focus as a mediator of the influence of initiating structure and servant leadership on employee behavior.

In this research, the authors test a model in which the regulatory focus of employees at work mediates the influence of leadership on employee behavior. In a nationally representative sample of 250 workers who responded over 2 time periods, prevention focus mediated the relationship of initiating structure to in-role performance and deviant behavior, whereas promotion focus mediated the relationship of servant leadership to helping and creative behavior. The results indicate that even though initiating structure and servant leadership share some variance in explaining other variables, each leadership style incrementally predicts disparate outcomes after controlling for the other style and dispositional tendencies. A new regulatory focus scale, the Work Regulatory Focus (WRF) Scale, also was developed and initially validated for this study. Implications for the results and the WRF Scale are discussed.

An investigation of the generalizability of the Houghton and Neck Revised Self‐Leadership Questionnaire to a Chinese context

Purpose – Seeks to examine the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Houghton and Neck Revised Self‐Leadership Questionnaire (RSLQ) in a Chinese context.Design/methodology/approach – The RSLQ was administered to 559 Chinese employees of a large petroleum transportation company. Analyses included reliability assessments, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and tests of association with creativity and performance.Findings – The RSLQ did not uniformly generalize to a Chinese context. The best fitting model included the self‐leadership dimensions of goal‐setting, visualizing successful performance, self‐talk, self‐reward, and self‐punishment. The modified RSLQ was positively associated with creativity and in‐role performance.Research limitations/implications – Although this study supports some components of self‐leadership generalizing to a Chinese context, the results suggest that further validation work is required on the RSLQ.Practical implications – Managers will be well served t...

The management development needs of front‐line managers: voices from the field

In the global marketplace of the twenty‐first century, we know that managers are being called upon to lead their organization forward in new and creative ways and that improving their performance is no longer optional, but rather an imperative. Unfortunately, most management development activity has continued to emphasize a traditional organization‐oriented approach that is inconsistent with the emerging employer‐employee psychological contract. We propose that management development decisions should include the voice of practicing managers. To that end, 524 front‐line managers from the USA were surveyed to identify what they considered to be the most important factors/practices for improving their performance in the context of rapidly changing organizations. A discussion of the practical implications are offered for organizations and individual managers seeking to improve performance through management development.

The role of conscientiousness and extraversion in affecting the relationship between perceptions of group potency and volunteer group member selling behavior: An interactionist perspective:

We studied 284 volunteers, loosely coupled in groups (i.e. low task interdependence, high outcome interdependence), selling memberships in a non-profit organization. Consistent with economic models of altruism, we found individual perceptions of group potency to be negatively related to individual selling behavior (i.e. making telephone calls and customer visits). Furthermore, individual members’ perceptions of group potency were found to interact with two personality traits (conscientiousness and extraversion) to influence individual selling behavior.

The Role of Spiritual Capital in Innovation and Performance: Evidence from Developing Economies

Forms of capital play a significant role in the innovation and performance of start–up firms. Current entrepreneurial research has focused on the role of financial, human, and social forms of capit...

Christian Perspectives on Faith at Work: An Empirical Exploration of Faith and Work Associations Across Christian Religious Traditions

While personal experiences and family socialization are likely to influence beliefs and behaviors linking faith to work, religious congregations also are likely to play a prominent role in shaping faith-work connections. Our purpose in this chapter is to draw upon a nationally representative sample of over a thousand working adults to describe the role of Christian congregations in making faith relevant to the workplace. Two variables that have particular relevance to the association of faith and work are the Congregational Entrepreneurial Orientation Scale (CEOS) and the Congregational Faith at Work Scale (CFWS). The CEOS variable assesses the behavior of congregational leaders related to being innovative and demonstrating a willingness to take risks, whereas the CFWS variable assesses the extent to which specific beliefs about faith and work integration are emphasized within a congregation. This chapter reports on the association of these congregational variables, across religious traditions, with work attitudes and behaviors and offers recommendations for future research.

Religious Orthodoxy and Entrepreneurial Risk-Taking

The relationship between entrepreneurship and religion is complex (Dana 2010), and religion can help or hamper the entrepreneurial process, depending on the context and culture (Dana 2009; Dodd and Gotsis 2007). This article examines religious orthodoxy and its connection to one aspect of the entrepreneurial process—risk-taking within existing organizations. Using multinomial logistic regression to analyze data from the 2010 Baylor Religion Survey, the researchers find that religious orthodoxy is negatively associated with entrepreneurial risk-taking, even after controlling for traditional variables associated with entrepreneurism. It supports the idea that beliefs—and not just adherence or behaviors—are important to understanding the connection between entrepreneurial processes and religion.

Developing sustainable management theory: goal-setting theory based in virtue

Purpose – This paper responds to ongoing calls to develop alternative management theory to guide management practice. In particular, the purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the merit of developing sustainable management theory and organizational practices that parallel conventional management theory and practices. Sustainable theory is based on a variation of virtue theory that seeks to achieve multiple forms of well-being for multiple stakeholders in the immediate as well as distant future. To illustrate the approach, the authors develop a sustainable variation of goal setting theory. Design/methodology/approach – The paper includes three parts. First, the authors establish the need for developing sustainable management theory (based on virtue theory) that parallels conventional management theory. Second, the authors identify and briefly review the main tenets of goal setting theory and then describe a Sustainable variation of this theory. Finally, the authors discuss the implications of the paper for...

Multilevel performance probability: a meta-analytic integration of expectancy and self-efficacy.

A meta-analysis of one approach to measuring expectancy and self-efficacy was conducted. Although used for over 25 years, this measure has yet to be named or integrated across the two theoretical domains. We proposed to label this measure a Multilevel Performance Probability and conducted a meta-analysis. The search for empirical tests of expectancy and self-efficacy using this procedure yielded 16 studies with ratings which could be subjected to meta-analysis. Five studies with 8 tests were taken from expectancy studies and 11 studies with 47 tests from studies of self-efficacy. In total, the analyses involved 7,444 subjects across 55 tests of the Multilevel Performance Probability to performance relationship. Examination of the measure as a predictor of performance gave a mean r of .51 (p < .001) which is in the same direction and larger than values from other meta-analyses conducted within each of the two theoretical domains (rs of .21 and .38).

Work, Occupations, and Entrepreneurship

This chapter provides an overview of research on the relationship between religion and work, occupations, and entrepreneurship. It begins with a review of Max Weber’s well-known Protestant Work Ethic thesis and problematizes it using extant research from sociology, psychology, and business. The relationship of religion to workplace outcomes is complex, neither always positive nor always negative. We highlight various dimensions of religion and their implications from job satisfaction to work-life balance strategies. We review growing scholarship on the role of religious stratification in the workplace as well. We introduce new research examining the impact of religion on entrepreneurship and close with suggestions for future research.