Based on proactivity literature, feedback seeking behavior is generally used throughout an individual’s career to enable better adaptation to the work environment. However, it has recently been shown that declining levels of feedback seeking behavior may result in decreased psychological attachment over time. This study aims to explore whether individual adaptivity represents a mechanism through which feed-back seeking affects psychological attachment (i.e., well-being involvement and withdrawal). In addition, the interaction effect of organizational obstruction between individual adaptivity and psychological attachment was examined. Based on three-wave survey data obtained from 273 participants from French organizations, a moderated mediation model was tested using structural equation modeling. Results confirmed that adaptive performance mediated positively the relationship between feedback-seeking and well-being involvement and negatively with withdrawal. Moreover, perceived organizational obstruction moderated negatively the relationship between adaptive performance and withdrawal, and positively that with well-being. These results shed new light on the relationship between proactivity (i.e., feedback seeking behavior) and adaptive performance, but also on the positive short-term contribution of successful adaptation in a perceived obstructive organizational context. Theoretical contributions and practical implications for human resource management are discussed.

This multi-wave, multi-source study focuses on the benefits of work engagement for employee adaptation to organizational change. The change entailed the implementation of a flexible office design in an engineering firm, which caused radical change for employees. Building on conservation of resources (COR) theory and change transition models, we predict that work engagement trajectories during change are crucial for successful adaptation. The hypothesized process was that initial employee meaning-making will facilitate work engagement, which, in turn, predicts supervisor-rated adaptive performance (i.e. adaptive work-role performance and extra-role performance) via attitude-to-change. Attitude-to-change was modeled as reciprocally related to work engagement at different points in time. Weekly questionnaires were completed by 71 employees during the first five weeks of the change (296 observations). Latent growth trajectories using weekly engagement measures showed no overall growth, but did show significant variance around the slope of work engagement. Meaning-making and attitude-to-change at the onset were positively related to initial levels, but not to growth of work engagement. Meaning-making was indirectly related to short-term attitude-to-change via work engagement. Short-term attitude-to-change was predictive of supervisor-rated adaptive performance and long-term attitude-to-change. Finally, work engagement (slope) predicted long-term attitude-to-change and supervisor-rated extra-role performance via short-term attitude-to-change. Taken together, the study contributes to knowledge about micro-level transition processes of employee adaptation and the benefits of work engagement during change.

Indigenous Chinese management research has attracted much academic attention in recent years. This study examines the mechanism through which Zhong Yong thinking influences employee adaptive performance from a self-regulation perspective. Using two-wave data of 361 subordinates in 62 teams from Chinese firms, job complexity was found to moderate the direct effect of Zhong Yong thinking on cognitive adaptability and emotional control, and the indirect effect on adaptive performance (via cognitive adaptability and emotional control). The direct and indirect effects of Zhong Yong thinking were found to be stronger with a higher level of job complexity. The study explores an important Chinese indigenous construct and its association with adaptive performance, and adds value to the indigenous management literature.