The scholarship on political skill documents that it is a social savvy, personal style construct, associated with positive personal and organizational outcomes. However, this study takes a counterintuitive view and demonstrates that despite being a positive resource, political skill also has the potential to be used as a self-serving device to achieve one's personal agendas in the form of self-serving counterproductive work behaviors. Borrowing insights from the trait activation theory, this study demonstrates that a context, high in political perceptions, acts as an incentivized condition for politically skilled people to execute its dark side. The results supported the hypothesis and revealed that under high perceptions of organizational politics, political skill will have a significant, positive relation with self-serving counterproductive work behaviors. The study discusses important theoretical and practical implications of these results and extends the domains of political skill and counterproductive work behaviors.

Drawing on social exchange and emotional regulation perspectives, this study investigates the role of emotional suppression in reducing the detrimental effects of workplace ostracism on organizational learning. Based on the responses of 162 participants from the financial industry, and with the application of moderated mediation analysis, the findings demonstrate that workplace ostracism is mediated by employee silence, which has a negative effect on organizational learning. Interestingly, however, the results exhibit that emotional suppression operates as a buffer between workplace ostracism, employee silence and organizational learning, which leads to the achievement of organizational learning motives. Therefore, the silent employees, who experience workplace ostracism, may still be contributing toward organizational learning, if they are proficient in suppressing their emotions. Given that, the study implies that emotional suppression is fundamentally important to reduce the injurious outcomes of workplace ostracism, in the contemporary organizational settings, particularly with regard to organizational learning.

Studies have shown that voice could be utilized as an effective method to improve organizational effectiveness. This study explores the relationship between ethical leadership and employee voice behavior by focusing on the mediating role of the error management climate and the moderating role of the employee's organizational commitment. Analysis of data collected in three phases in China indicates that the error management climate partly mediates the relationship between ethical leadership and voice behavior. Also, organizational commitment is found to moderate the relationship between the error management climate and voice behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

We extend charismatic leadership research by identifying conditions under which charismatic leadership reduces individual performance. Previous research found a positive impact of charismatic leadership, especially in crisis situations. However, we expect that followers with high self-determination reject charismatic leadership so that performance is reduced. In a laboratory experiment built as a brainstorming competition, 88 participants were randomly assigned to a condition with a team crisis or a control condition. Half of the participants received a charismatic leadership intervention after the crisis, which led to the ostentatious departure of a group member, while the other half was led laissez-faire. The results support our hypotheses. Although charismatic leadership was overall beneficial in a team crisis, our study provides experimental evidence of how charismatic leadership reduces the performance of certain team members in crises. Future research should investigate how leadership can best meet the specific needs of followers in different types of critical team situations.

The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of the relationship between coworkers' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and employees' work attitudes. In addition, we test if the two-situational factors – perceptions of organizational politics and task interdependence – moderate the relationship between coworkers' OCBs and focal employees' work attitudes. Using a sample of 411 employees, we found that coworkers' OCBs beneficial to organizations (OCBO) was positively related to focal employees' job satisfaction but negatively related to their turnover intention. The relationship between coworkers' OCBO and job satisfaction was stronger when perceptions of organizational politics were low. On the other hand, the relationship between coworkers' OCBs beneficial to other individuals and turnover intention was stronger when task interdependence was high. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.

Drawing from social exchange theory, this study proposes the effects of perceived leader narcissism on employees' voice behaviors (promotive voice and prohibitive voice) via organizational justice depending on the conditions of employees' trust in leader. Through investigating 257 employees and conducting a scenario study in China, this research shows that perceived leader narcissism is negatively related to prohibitive voice. The relationships between perceived leader narcissism and voice behaviors are moderated by trust in leader, and perceived leader narcissism is positively related to employees' voice behaviors when trust in leader is low. Results also show that organizational justice mediates the relationships between perceived leader narcissism and voice behaviors. The indirect effect of perceived leader narcissism on voice behaviors via organizational justice is moderated by trust in leader. This study has important implications for explaining the relationships between perceived leader narcissism and employees' voice behaviors and contributes to the social exchange theory by illustrating trust in the partner in exchange relationship as a boundary condition of norm reciprocity violation.

In two experiments, we examined the function of procedural justice in signaling individuals’ value to the group by arguing that individuals treated fairly are more likely to engage in proactive preventive behavior, a behavior that involves proactively revising or correcting the mistakes and intentional deceptions of coworkers. In addition, we extend Staw and Boettger’s (1990) work on task revision and demonstrate that procedural justice and goal setting have compensatory effects, such that procedural justice can be combined with performance goals to reap the valuable aspects of goal setting while minimizing some of the unintended side-effects. Our findings also contribute to the ongoing discussion of the mixed effects of goal setting, as well as the effects of multiple goal assignment.

We argue that social support can be helpful or hurtful in the context of performance outcomes for employees experiencing co-worker exclusion. We contend that employees' perceptions of co-worker exclusion are negatively associated with task performance and citizenship, and positively associated with interpersonal deviance. We further contend that whether social support strengthens or weakens the negative performance outcomes of co-worker exclusion depends on whether the source of social support is from co-workers or family and friends. Using data obtained from 135 supervisor–subordinate dyads across various occupational positions, we find that co-worker support is hurtful, whereas family and friends support is helpful. We also find a three-way interaction: task performance suffers most when employees who feel highly excluded also perceive higher co-worker support and lower family and friends support. These results suggest a need for a more nuanced view of social exchange/support, and build our knowledge about ambivalent relationships.

The accounting information of a firm is analogous to the characteristics of an organism that contain biological information that influences decisions; such characteristics result from organizational routines (genes). Organizational routines result from organizational learning, and learning from an associated company is an efficient approach for a new venture to establish routines. The study results revealed that the subsidiaries inherited routines from the parent companies related to financial ratios, so we suggest that people should judge the adequacy of a firm’s financial situation by not only referring to the standard of its industry but also to its parent company.

Sequential ambidexterity is a specific dynamic capability which can play an important role in the technological catch-up of latecomer firms with limited knowledge and resources. Through a longitudinal case study, the trajectory of a latecomer firm's transformation from a generic technology manufacturer to a world-class innovator is analysed. This paper finds that sequential ambidexterity can be the basis of building dynamic capability, which enabled a latecomer to become a market leader through three major transitions. It shows how the building of dynamic capability through sequential ambidexterity is dependent on four mechanisms: senior manager cognition of the environment; organization learning orientation; organization structure design; and process reconfiguration. Building dynamic capability is also dependent on alignment between these mechanisms within the firm. Theoretically, the paper enhances understanding of the micro-foundations of developing dynamic capability through sequential ambidexterity. It also suggests that three contingent dimensions in determining the optimal approach to ambidexterity are: (i) industry leading versus catch-up firms, (ii) the scale of the firm, and (iii) the diversity of the downstream market. Furthermore, the paper provides practical insights for latecomer firms seeking to catch-up with industry leaders.

Prior research has emphasized the importance of dynamic capabilities to organizational transformation. In this paper, we explore how dynamic capabilities can have varying roles in change, and only potentially create transformational outcomes. By conducting ethnographic phenomenon driven research and observing the interactions of specific customer data related capabilities over a long period of time, we relate the potential for change to the way in which capabilities' interact, and identify three different mechanisms for change. Transformation requires a disruption of existing operational capabilities, which may result from one of the three identified mechanisms. Introducing a more theoretically consistent and practical taxonomy for (dynamic) capabilities may help in resolving some of the criticisms for their unclear practical implications. Further, our findings underline the importance of studying capabilities in their networks within organizations and over time.

The purpose of this study was to examine contextual factors (empowerment, ownership, and accountability) that facilitate and promote exploration and exploitation behavior. Data were obtained from an American manufacturing company using employee and supervisor surveys (n = 297). Findings indicate that empowerment improved exploitation and that when employees perceived they would have to be accountable for their actions, employees who felt empowered showed lower gains in exploration behaviors compared with those who felt less empowered; in contrast, those having feelings of ownership exhibited higher gains in exploration behavior than those who scored low in ownership. Although ownership was theorized to have a positive effect on exploitative behavior, we found evidence for its negative effects instead. We contribute to the limited individual-level ambidexterity literature by providing empirical evidence on the effects of contextual factors on ambidextrous behavior. This knowledge could help firms better manage employee behavior and implement effective supervisory oversight.

Research worldwide reports low levels of employee engagement reflecting employee well-being. This observation spells dire consequences for enterprise performance, expressed as goal achievement, and attained via strategy. Strategy implementation failure adds to enterprise performance pressures, while reducing employee well-being. Research investigating employee engagement as driver of strategy implementation through dimensions of organisation is limited. This paper conceptually examines how employee engagement can be enhanced while driving strategy implementation through dimensions of organisation. The Nienaber and Martins (2015, Journal of Contemporary Management, 12(1), 401–425) survey results serve as illustration. The conclusions arrived at here show that all six factors – at individual, team/unit, and enterprise levels – can be classified according to the dimensions of organisation. Moreover, the dimensions of organisation are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but rather interrelated, and influence employee engagement in unexpected ways. The contribution of this paper stems from the promise that dimensions of organisation serve as mechanism to drive strategy implementation via employee engagement.

Local isomorphism constitutes the regulatory, cognitive and normative profile of a host country. The regulatory institutional setting reflects the rules and legislation governing collective bargaining agreements, trade unions, local content laws and employment relationships. The cultural or cognitive dimension supports the widely held cultural and social knowledge and the normative profile acknowledges the influences of social groups and organizations on acceptable normative behaviour. Earlier literature lends support to the importance of institutional profile and its influence on the design and implementation of multinational enterprises’ human resource management policies and practices. This paper seeks to advance the concept of local isomorphism and highlight the implications of local isomorphism for future research on the transfer of multinational enterprises’ human resource management practices across and between subsidiaries.

Although the potential of arts to promote social inclusion is recognised, barriers to social inclusion for disabled people in the arts is under-researched. Based on 34 semi-structured interviews with disabled people and those without disability from four arts organisations in Australia, the paper identifies barriers for social inclusion for disabled people within performing arts across four dimensions: access; participation; representation and empowerment. Findings highlight barriers are societal, being created with little awareness of needs of disabled people, supporting the social model of disability. Findings have implications beyond social inclusion of disabled people within the arts, demonstrating how the arts can empower disabled people and enable them to access, participate and represent themselves and have a voice. Our framework conceptualises these four barriers for social inclusion for disabled people for management to change.

Recent studies have increasingly suggested leadership as a major antecedent to corporate social responsibility (CSR), empirical studies, which investigated the influence of various leadership aspects such as style and ethics on CSR and unraveled the mechanism through which leadership exerts its impact on CSR were restricted. Thus, the purpose of this research was to study the relationship between CEO ethical leadership and CSR by focusing on the mediating role of ethical culture and the intellectual capital facets (human capital and social capital) of the organization. Data for current research were collected through personally administered questionnaire through survey. Based on a sample of 250 respondents, the current study instituted that CEO ethical leadership positively affected CSR. Intellectual capital facets (human and social) and organizational ethical culture were observed to have a mediating effect on CEO ethical leadership and CSR relationship. Practical implications of the results are also given in the current study. Moreover, study limitations and directions for future study have also been presented.

As part of comprehensive research on the ethical climate in the Serbian tourism industry, this study examines the effects of selected predictors (job department, individual values and employees’ perspective) on the perception of ethical climate types as well as the relationship between the type of ethical climate, and job satisfaction. Additionally, this study tests these goals for both managers and their subordinates. Research was conducted in 2013, on a sample of 258 employees in different small and medium tourism organizations in Serbia. The findings revealed new information on both ethical climate and job satisfaction-related factors in small and medium tourism enterprises in a non-Western, transitional economy, where ethical behavior is influenced by constant social and economic changes. Several theoretical and managerial implications and future research opportunities were derived from the findings.

Cyberbullying presents a new workplace issue with initial research demonstrating strong links to negative outcomes for individuals and organisations across a range of sectors. Yet, detailed accounts of target experiences of cyberbullying remain largely unexamined. To address this crucial research gap, this study explores nurses' experiences of workplace cyberbullying – a profession with high rates of workplace bullying. Adopting a work environment perspective, this paper provides an in-depth examination of eight cases of workplace cyberbullying that emphasise the practical and theoretical complexities associated with this emerging workplace hazard. Specifically, workplace cyberbullying is often experienced within a broader pattern of bullying behaviours, leading to a potentially wider scope of harm for those involved. A new typology of cyberbullying based on the source of perpetration is also presented that contributes to our growing understanding of the issue while extending the knowledge base for the effective management of workplace cyberbullying.

Drawing on the new institutional theory and the resources based view of the firm (RBV), this study tries to shed light upon the idea that isomorphic organizational changes seek legitimacy over efficiency. Using data from 102 Spanish companies and employing partial least squares, a variance-based structural equation modeling technique, this study concludes that both objectives are achievable simultaneously when firms implement total quality management (TQM) as an integrative stream of both theories. Furthermore, empirical results reveal that: (i) institutional pressures (IP) condition significantly the implementation of TQM, (ii) TQM exerts a double mediating role in the IP-legitimacy and IP-efficiency relationships, and (iii) both efficiency and legitimacy objectives are achieved by means of TQM. However, we observe a dual phenomenon: (i) while we find a significant positive effect of TQM on overall performance (OP) via efficiency and (ii) we failed to find support for the TQM-OP link via legitimacy.

Considerable attention has focused on tactics firms use when building their sustainability platforms. Less is known, however, about how sustainability goal setting varies globally, especially in developing economies. Accordingly, we examined sustainability goals of 21 of the 50 largest Indian firms and compared them with similar data from a published study that examined 22 of the 50 largest U.S. firms. In total, 679 sustainability goals were analyzed using a triple bottom line framework. We found U.S. firms set more sustainability goals than Indian firms. Firms from both samples set similar numbers of people goals but U.S. firms set more diversity goals. Indian firms were more inclined to set economic and community development goals. We also detected differences across the samples in planet goals associated with emissions and water. Especially significant, Indian firms were much more likely than U.S. firms to specify profit goals. Implications for research and practice are discussed.