Wayne H. Decker

Attributions Based on Managers' Self-Presentation, Sex, and Weight:

Attributions based on written accounts of self-presentations by hypothetical managers were studied. Contrary to prior research, college students did not rate managers sharing credit with subordinates less favorably than managers merely disclosing personal obstacles overcome. A critical difference between this study and the prior one seemed to be that performance was portrayed as strictly a team effort, whereas in the prior study the manager made a significant individual contribution. Credit-sharing, male managers, who were average in weight, were rated more favorably than other men or any women. The present and prior research seem to have confounded information disclosed and degree of modesty.

Sex Conflict and Impressions of Managers’ Aggressive Humor

Business students evaluated aggressive humor used by a hypothetical manager in an organizational case. In general, males judged the humor funnier and more appropriate in the context than did females. Some evidence supporting the intergroup-conflict theory of humor was obtained because funniness ratings were higher when victim sex and manager sex were opposite. Males rated the humor more appropriate when subordinate (audience) and victim sexes were opposite, while females did not. Males thus seemed to believe others held views consistent with sex-conflict theory. Males rated humor with a male aggressor more appropriate, suggesting males have a more traditional, sex-stereotyped view of aggressive humor than do females. Males and females agreed in rating the male manager and female subordinate as the manager sex-subordinate sex combination for which the humor was least appropriate. These findings may reflect the subjects’ tendencies to use humor when they assume managerial positions.

Affiliation motivation and interest in entrepreneurial careers

Purpose – The goal of this paper is to better understand affiliation motivation patterns among students interested in pursuing entrepreneurial/self‐employment careers as compared to students less interested in pursuing entrepreneurial careers.Design/methodology/approach – The study sample included 424 college students enrolled in upper‐division business courses in a public institution in the Mid‐Atlantic region of the USA. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the effects of four dimensions of affiliation motivation on entrepreneurial aspirations.Findings – Interest in entrepreneurial careers was negatively associated with the need for emotional support and positively associated with the need for positive stimulation from other persons. Therefore, persons with entrepreneurial interests enjoy interacting with other people, but they are not emotionally dependent upon them. Neither the need for social comparison nor the need for attention varied as a function of entrepreneurial aspirations.Researc...

Unethical Decisions and Attributions: Gains, Losses, and Concentration of Effects

74 MBA students and 82 graduates read a vignette describing a manager pressured to falsify information either to obtain or retain a sales contract. Unethical behavior was judged more unfavorably when intended to obtain a gain than to avoid a Joss. Also, unethical behavior was judged more unfavorably when a given total effect was concentrated among a few victims than when distributed more widely. Respondents attributed a managers lying more to situational forces and less to personality than they did refusing to lie. It is suggested that training in ethics and decision making go hand-in-hand.

Preference for group work in China and the US

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine whether Chinese and US students differ in preference for group work (PGW) and whether the factors contributing to PGW differ in the two countries. Design/methodology/approach – The sample included 412 Chinese and 423 US college students who completed a survey measuring cultural values and motives. Hierarchical regression and simple-slope analyses were used to examine main effects and interactions. Findings – Overall, the US and Chinese students did not differ in PGW. Although US men exceeded US women in PGW, no gender difference occurred in China. PGW was positively associated with others focus (concern for what others think) and helping others in both countries, but the association was stronger in China. In China, but not in the USA, PGW was positively associated with extrinsic motivation and need for achievement. Therefore, despite the general acceptance of group work in the USA, participation in groups is not seen as critical in attaining rewards as i...

ATTRIBUTIONS AS A FUNCTION OF MANAGERS' ASSIGNMENT OF CREDIT TO SELF, SUPERIORS, OR SUBORDINATES

21 college students evaluated an hypothetical managers statement assigning credit for success to himself, superiors, or subordinates. A subordinate-creditor received more favorable ratings than did a superior-creditor or self-creditor. The superior-creditor, like the self-creditor, may have been perceived as making a self-serving statement.

Culture in Shared Entrepreneurship Firms

“Organizational culture” has been defined as a system of shared, taken-for-granted assumptions that holds a group together and that determines how it reacts to its environment.1 More succinctly, it has been described as “the way we do things around here.”2 Organizations with healthy cultures are said to have enhanced employee morale and team cohesiveness, enhanced employee performance, and strengthened alignment toward goal achievement. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the cultural components most typically found in shared entrepreneurship (SE) firms, and to provide support for the benefits to be derived from such cultures in terms of organizational performance.