Olga Epitropaki

Implicating trust in the innovation process

In this paper we describe the development of two new measures of innovation trust, ‘trust that heard’ and ‘trust that benefit’. We report the findings from their use in a survey of design engineers in two large aerospace companies. We test a range of hypotheses covering different plausible roles for trust and confirm a ‘main effects’ model, whereby the variables predict the number of ideas suggested and the number of ideas implemented. In addition, we replicate earlier findings by Axtell et al. (2000), namely that personal and job variables predict idea suggestion, whilst organisational variables predict implementation.

The role of leader‐member exchanges in mediating the relationship between locus of control and work reactions

The relationship between locus of control, the quality of exchanges between subordinates and leaders (LMX), and a variety of work-related reactions (intrinsic/extrinsic job satisfaction, work-related well-being, and organizational commitment) are examined. It was predicted that people with an internal locus of control develop better quality relations with their manager and this, in turn, results in more favourable work-related reactions. Results from two different samples (N=404, and N=51) supported this prediction, and also showed that LMX either fully, or partially, mediated the relationship between locus of control and all the work-related reactions.

Effective Leadership in Salient Groups: Revisiting Leader-Member Exchange Theory From the Perspective of the Social Identity Theory of Leadership

Two studies compared leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and the social identity theory of leadership. Study 1 surveyed 439 employees of organizations in Wales, measuring work group salience, leader-member relations, and perceived leadership effectiveness. Study 2 surveyed 128 members of organizations in India, measuring identification not salience and also individualism/collectivism. Both studies provided good support for social identity predictions. Depersonalized leader-member relations were associated with greater leadership effectiveness among high-than low-salient groups (Study 1) and among high than low identifiers (Study 2). Personalized leadership effectiveness was less affected by salience (Study 1) and unaffected by identification (Study 2). Low-salience groups preferred personalized leadership more than did high-salience groups (Study 1). Low identifiers showed no preference but high identifiers preferred depersonalized leadership (Study 2). In Study 2, collectivists did not prefer depersonalized as opposed to personalized leadership, whereas individualists did, probably because collectivists focus more on the relational self.

Role of Organizational Identification on Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs), Transformational Leadership and Work Attitudes

This investigation explores the effects of organizational identification on employees’ Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs) and the perception of leader behaviors. The study involved a cross-sectional survey of 439 employees from seven companies based in South Wales. Respondents completed two questionnaires that measured their organizational identification, ILTs, recognition of ILTs in their manager, manager’s leadership behaviors (transactional and transformational), and psychological reactions (job satisfaction, well-being, and turnover intentions). The level of organizational identification did not affect the prototype of an ideal work-based leader. However, high organizational identification was associated with more positive ratings on the actual manager, the extent to which their manager displayed transactional and transformational behaviors, and with more positive psychological reactions to work. Employees high in organizational identification based their judgments of their leader’s transactional and transformational behaviors on the extent to which they recognized their leader as possessing leadership traits. However, those low on organizational identification allowed their prototype of their ideal leader to bias their judgment of their actual leader’s behavior. Finally, there was partial support for the augmenting hypothesis (that tranformational leadership would predict additional variance in psychological outcomes above that predicted by transactional leadership) for those high in organizational identification but not for those low in organizational identification.

Understanding learning strategies in the workplace: a factor analytic investigation

The aim of this study was to validate a scale of learning strategies, as derived from the educational literature, in an organizational context. Participants were 628 call centre employees. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that a six-factor structure most accurately represented the learning strategies examined. Specifically, three cognitive (extrinsic work reflection, intrinsic work reflection, reproduction) and three behavioural strategies (interpersonal help seeking, help seeking from written material, practical application) were found.

Employability and the psychological contract in European ICT sector SMEs

This article explores the employability of information and communication technology (ICT) professionals from the perspective of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The first stage of analysis, based on over 100 interviews with managers of ICT supplier companies in seven European countries (Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the UK), showed most SMEs to have a generally ad hoc approach to managing the employability of their ICT professionals. Assessment and development plans were used primarily to keep skills current to business needs; however, the more developed northern European markets showed greater awareness of the ‘high commitment’ benefits of a more sophisticated approach towards career management (e.g. through mentoring or career planning). A second stage of analysis based only on UK interviews builds on this to propose a model of positive employer influence on psychological contracts through career and employability management practices.

Creative Leadership: A Multi-Context Conceptualization

Various streams of organizational research have examined the relationship between creativity and leadership, albeit using slightly different names such as “creative leadership”, “leading for creativity and innovation”, and “managing creatives”. In this article, we review this dispersed body of knowledge and synthesize it under a global construct of creative leadership, which refers to leading others toward the attainment of a creative outcome. Under this unifying construct, we classify three more narrow conceptualizations that we observe in the literature: facilitating employee creativity; directing the materialization of a leaders creative vision; and integrating heterogeneous creative contributions. After examining the contextual characteristics associated with the three conceptualizations, we suggest that they represent three distinct collaborative contexts of creative leadership. We discuss the theoretical implications of a multi-context framework of creative leadership, especially in terms of resolving three persisting problems in the extant literature: lack of definitional clarity, shortage of nuanced theories, and low contextual sensitivity.

Employability management practices in the Polish ICT sector

This article examines current career thinking and employability management practices within the Polish Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. The aim of this contribution is to identify career management problems and to determine obstacles for implementing employability management practices at a company level. Semi-structured interviews aimed at establishing company needs were conducted with 18 managers of small and medium-sized ICT enterprises in Poland. These firms appear to apply various developmental approaches to stimulate competitive advantage. Faced with a more demanding environment, firms aim for versatility rather than adopting simplified solutions. Managing the careers and employability of ICT professionals is acknowledged as vitally important for the survival and development of ICT companies.

Supervisor-subordinate age dissimilarity and performance ratings: the buffering effects of supervisory relationship and practice.

Using 394 pairs of employees and their immediate supervisors working in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in three northern European countries, this study examined the effect of workplace moderators on the link between relational demography and supervisor ratings of performance. Directional age differences between superior and subordinate (i.e., status incongruence caused when the supervisor is older or younger than his/her subordinate) and non-directional age differences were used as predictors of supervisor ratings of occupational expertise. The quality of the supervisor-subordinate relationship and the existence of positive age-related supervisory practices were examined as moderators of this relationship. The results provide no support for a relationship between directional age differences and age-related stereotyping by supervisors in ratings of performance, neither for the effects of age-related supervisory practices. However, high quality supervisor-subordinate relationships did moderate the effects of age dissimilarity on supervisory ratings. The implications of these findings for performance appraisal methodologies and recommendations for further research are discussed.

Employability and job performance as links in the relationship between mentoring receipt and career success: a study in SMEs

This study developed and tested a model that posited employability and job performance as intervening variables in the relationship between receipt of mentoring and career success. Participants were 207 information technology (IT) professionals employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in three European countries. Mentoring receipt was related to both employability and job performance. Employability mediated the relationship of mentoring receipt with objective and subjective career success, as well as its relationship with job performance. The findings indicate that receipt of mentoring is connected to job performance, a link that has hitherto lacked empirical evidence. In addition, they suggest a pivotal role for employability in the relationship of mentoring receipt with job performance and career success. Overall, this study helps unveil the mechanism through which mentoring affects career outcomes. Moreover, it shows that the benefits of mentoring hold outside the context of large corporations.