Samina Quratulain

Red Tape, Resigned Satisfaction, Public Service Motivation, and Negative Employee Attitudes and Behaviors Testing a Model of Moderated Mediation

We examine the effect of red tape on resigned satisfaction, Public Service Motivation (PSM), and negative employee attitudes and behaviors. Based on responses of 217 public servants, this study demonstrates the role of resigned satisfaction as a mediating mechanism for transferring the effect of red tape on negative employee outcomes. PSM was hypothesized as an individual difference variable that can either mitigate or exacerbate the indirect effect of red tape on employee attitudes and behaviors. Our study is among the first few that demonstrate the dark side of PSM. We found that PSM exacerbates the adverse effects of red tape on negative employee attitudes and behaviors and that these effects are transmitted through the mechanism of resigned satisfaction. These findings are at odds with the dominant conception that employees having higher levels of PSM tend to pursue their motivations of public service despite excessive formalization and procedural constraints.

How Does Employees’ Public Service Motivation Get Affected? A Conditional Process Analysis of the Effects of Person–Job Fit and Work Pressure:

Organizational experiences can affect employees’ public service motivation (PSM) in a myriad of ways. Drawing on the institutional perspective of PSM theory, we argue that an individual’s PSM gets affected due to feelings of personal fit with the job requirements and indirect effects of perceived fit on job satisfaction is mediated through PSM. We expect that the direct effect of job fit on job satisfaction is contingent on the experience of work pressure, such that the effect would be stronger in low pressure conditions. Similarly, the indirect effect of personal job fit on job satisfaction is also contingent on the experience of work pressures. In conditions of high workload, the strength of the effect of job fit on job satisfaction through PSM may be weaker as compared with low work pressure conditions. Analysis of a survey of 213 respondents supports our hypotheses. Implications of these findings and future research directions are also discussed.

When and How Subordinate Performance Leads to Abusive Supervision: A Social Dominance Perspective:

While we would typically expect poor performers to elicit abusive responses from their supervisors, we theorize that high performers may also be victims of abusive supervision. Specifically, we draw on social dominance theory to hypothesize and demonstrate that subordinate performance can have a positive, indirect effect on abusive supervision through the mediator of perceived threat to hierarchy. And this positive indirect effect prevails when the supervisor’s social dominance orientation is high. We found support for our theoretical model using data collected from supervisor–subordinate dyads.

The moderating impact of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions on the relationship between organisational justice and organisational citizenship behaviours: a study in Pakistani work context

The relationships among employee’s work related variables, cultural variables and OCBs are investigated in Pakistani work setting. The study sought to extend the literature by investigating whether individual differences in employees’ cultural value orientations effect the organisational justice-OCB relationships. Based on Hofstede’s (1980) cultural values framework the dimensions of individualism/collectivism and power distance were hypothesised as moderators of social exchange relationship between employee’s perception of organisational justice and OCB. Results demonstrate that organisational justice (distributive and interactional) is strongly related to citizenship behaviour for employees who endorse individualistic orientations. The moderating influence of power distance orientation was not found for the relationship between justice and citizenship behaviour. Findings of the study are discussed in terms of generalisability of citizenship behaviour and its relation to organisational justice and cultural context.

A study of employee affective organisational commitment and retention in Pakistan: the roles of psychological contract breach and norms of reciprocity

Abstract Social exchange theory and notions of reciprocity have long been assumed to explain the relationship between psychological contract breach and important employee outcomes. To date, however, there has been no explicit testing of these assumptions. This research, therefore, explores the mediating role of negative, generalized, and balanced reciprocity, in the relationships between psychological contract breach and employees’ affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions. A survey of 247 Pakistani employees of a large public university was analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping techniques, and provided excellent support for our model. As predicted, psychological contract breach was positively related to negative reciprocity norms and negatively related to generalized and balanced reciprocity norms. Negative and generalized (but not balanced) reciprocity were negatively and positively (respectively) related to employees’ affective organizational commitment and fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and affective organizational commitment. Moreover, affective organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between generalized and negative reciprocity and employees’ turnover intentions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Procedural Fairness, Public Service Motives, and Employee Work Outcomes: Evidence From Pakistani Public Service Organizations

Studies in public administration hypothesize the direct effect of public service motivation (PSM) on employee attitudes and behavior. We examine the relationship between public employees’ perceptions of procedural fairness on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and propose the moderating effect of PSM dimensions on the aforementioned relationships. Using a sample of 232 respondents drawn from multiple public service organizations, our findings indicate a positive relationship between procedural fairness perceptions and employee work outcomes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). PSM dimensions of attraction to policy making (rational motive) and public interest (normative motive) moderate the relationship between procedural fairness and employee outcomes. However, their effect was significant only for individuals who experienced low levels of these motivations. The moderating effect of compassion (affective motive) was significant for individuals possessing high level of compassion. The implications and future research directions are discussed.

The two faces of envy: perceived opportunity to perform as a moderator of envy manifestation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate, with a Pakistani sample, the destructive and constructive behavioral intentions associated with benign and malicious envy in the context of perceived opportunity to perform. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted two cross-sectional studies to test the hypotheses. In Study 1, data were obtained from students (n=90), whereas in Study 2, the authors used an executive sample (n=83). Findings The primary motivation of benign envy was to bring oneself up by improving performance on the comparison dimension, whereas the primary motive of malicious envy was to pull the envied other down. The relationship between malicious envy and behavioral “pulling down” intentions of derogating envied other was conditional on perceived opportunity on the comparison dimension. Consistent with a motive to improve self-evaluation, this study also found that perceived opportunity to perform interacted with benign envy to promote performance intentions on an alternative dimension. Furthermore, malicious envy was also associated with self-improving performance intentions on the comparison dimension, conditional upon perceived opportunity to perform. Practical implications Envy, depending on its nature, can become a positive or negative force in organizational life. The pattern of effects for opportunity structure differs from previous findings on control. The negative and positive effects of malicious envy may be managed by attention to opportunity structures. Originality/value This study supports the proposition that benign envy and malicious envy are linguistically and conceptually distinct phenomena, and it is the first to do so in a sample from Pakistan, a non-western and relatively more collectivistic culture. The authors also showed that negative and hostile envy-based behaviors are conditional upon the perceived characteristics of the context.

Emotional Reactions to Perceived Injustice

Organizational justice research has mainly focused on attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. Although the roles of emotions are often discussed in justice theories, they have been largely underresearched. The objective of current study was to examine the emotional reactions of employees to perceived injustice, in a field setting. The study analyzed the emotional responses of employees (N= 408) to decision of annu l bonus. The study, being conducted on employees of different sectors of Pakistan, measure d th employees’ perceptions of justice (distributive and procedural) and feeling of emotio ns (Anger, Envy, and Sadness) after the announcement of annual bonus. We found that sadness was more strongly related to perceptions of injustice as compared to anger and envy. General ly, the results found support for our hypotheses. We concluded with limitations and direc tions for future research.