Overcoming organizational politics with tenacity and passion for work: benefits for helping behaviors

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk De Clercq ◽  
Chengli Shu ◽  
Menglei Gu

PurposeThis study unpacks the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational politics and their helping behavior, by explicating a mediating role of employees' affective commitment and moderating roles of their tenacity and passion for work.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative survey data were collected from 476 employees, through Amazon Mechanical Turk.FindingsBeliefs that the organizational climate is predicated on self-serving behaviors diminish helping behaviors, and this effect arises because employees become less emotionally attached to their organization. This mediating role of affective commitment is less salient to the extent that employees persevere in the face of challenges and feel passionate about working hard.Practical implicationsFor human resource managers, this study pinpoints a lack of positive organization-oriented energy as a key mechanism by which perceptions about a negative political climate steer employees away from assisting organizational colleagues on a voluntary basis. They can contain this mechanism by ensuring that employees are equipped with energy-boosting personal resources.Originality/valueThis study addresses employees' highly salient emotional reactions to organizational politics and pinpoints the critical function of affective commitment for explaining the escalation of perceived organizational politics into diminished helping behavior. It also identifies buffering effects linked to two pertinent personal resources.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Ouyang ◽  
Kong Zhou ◽  
Yuan-Fang Zhan ◽  
Wen-Jun Yin

PurposeDrawing on the extended self-theory, this study explores the dynamic process through which reactive helping could influence proactive helping through self-investment and investigate the moderating role of task difficulty in affecting this process.Design/methodology/approachThis study, with a sample of 582 diary surveys from 66 employees, used experience sampling techniques to analyze the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results revealed that self-investment could mediate the positive relationship between reactive helping and proactive helping. Additionally, task difficulty acts as an essential role in facilitating the process raised by reactive helping. Further examination revealed that the moderated mediation effect in this model was also significant.Practical implicationsManagers should encourage help-seeking and positive responses to requests, especially in groups with difficult tasks, which could build helpers’ extended self at work and increase their proactive helping behaviors at the following episode.Originality/valueAs verifying the dynamic trajectory of reactive helping, this study enriches our understanding of whether and how helping behaviors are likely to grow over time. Besides, it complements current pieces of literature by exploring the potential positive implication of reactive helping with a helper-centric perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk De Clercq ◽  
Tasneem Fatima ◽  
Sadia Jahanzeb

PurposeThis study seeks to unpack the relationship between employees' exposure to workplace bullying and their turnover intentions, with a particular focus on the possible mediating role of perceived organizational politics and moderating role of creativity.Design/methodology/approachThe hypotheses are tested with multi-source, multi-wave data collected from employees and their peers in various organizations.FindingsWorkplace bullying spurs turnover intentions because employees believe they operate in strongly politicized organizational environments. This mediating role of perceived organizational politics is mitigated to the extent that employees can draw from their creative skills though.Practical implicationsFor managers, this study pinpoints a critical reason – employees perceive that they operate in an organizational climate that endorses dysfunctional politics – by which bullying behaviors stimulate desires to leave the organization. It also reveals how this process might be contained by spurring employees' creativity.Originality/valueThis study provides novel insights into the process that underlies the connection between workplace bullying and quitting intentions by revealing the hitherto overlooked roles of employees' beliefs about dysfunctional politics and their own creativity levels.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parul Malik ◽  
Pooja Garg

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change. Also, the paper examines the mediating effect of employee resilience on the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprised of responses from 510 employees’ working in information technology companies based in India. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to analyse the proposed measurement model and structural equation modelling was used to test the study hypotheses. Additionally, the study utilized mediation analyses proposed by Preacher and Hayes (2004) to investigate the mediating role of employee resilience. Findings The results show significant relationship between the study variables. Employee resilience was found to partially mediate the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change. Practical implications Examining the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and employee resilience can have significant implications for organizations. The proposed study framework can be utilized by the researchers and human resource practitioners to frame organizational practices and interventions to develop a pool of resilient and change committed workforce. Originality/value First, the general understanding of the relationship between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change is scant in literature. Second, the study extends the previous research by investigating the mediating role of employee resilience between learning culture, inquiry and dialogue, knowledge sharing structure and affective commitment to change.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelaziz Swalhi ◽  
Saloua Zgoulli ◽  
Mahrane Hofaidhllaoui

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose two models: the first examines the impact of different dimension of justice (distributive, procedural and interactional) on job performance taking into consideration the mediating role of affective commitment and the second model utilizes the notion of overall justice to predict job performance considering the mediating role of affective commitment. Design/methodology/approach This study was conducted with a sample group of 343 employees working within French small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Findings The results support the mediating role of affective commitment between organizational justice and job performance and demonstrate that overall justice has a greater effect on affective commitment than specific dimensions of justice. Originality/value The current study is the first to explore the relationship between JP and OJ, with the latter being measured in more than one focus, in the French SMEs. Therefore, this study contributes to bridge the gap in the understanding of the relationship between OJ and JP in the SMEs. In the French context of SMEs, the authors have stressed the relevance of the perception of organizational justice as a factor affecting the behavior and performance of employees which is then reflected in the success of these firms. In this paper the authors propose two models, with significant implications for researchers, managers, and HR departments. The first examines the impact of different dimension of justice (distributive, procedural and interactional) on job performance taking into consideration the mediating role of affective commitment. The second model utilizes the notion of overall justice to predict job performance considering the mediating role of affective commitment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Asim ◽  
Liu Zhiying ◽  
Muhammad Athar Nadeem ◽  
Usman Ghani ◽  
Mahwish Arshad ◽  
...  

Interpersonal helping behaviors, i.e., voluntarily assisting colleagues for their workplace related problems, have received immense amount of scholarly attention due to their significant impacts on organizational effectiveness. Among several other factors, authoritarian leadership style could influence helping behavior within organizations. Furthermore, this relationship could be mediated by workplace stressor such as rumination, known as a critical psychological health component leading to depressive symptoms, hopelessness and pessimism. In the meantime, less research attention has devoted to probe the crucial role of psychological ownership, which can buffer the adverse effects of authoritarian leadership upon rumination. Building on conservation of resources theory, this study investigates the adverse impacts of authoritarian leadership on employees' helping behaviors through mediating role of rumination, and also examines the moderating effect of psychological ownership between the relationship of authoritarian leadership and rumination. The data were collected from 264 employees in education and banking sectors and the results show: (i) authoritarian leadership has adverse impacts on helping behavior, (ii) rumination mediates the relationship between authoritarian leadership and employees' helping behaviors, and (iii) psychological ownership moderates the positive relationship between authoritarian leadership and rumination. This study concludes that authoritarian leadership has adverse impacts upon helping behavior, which needs to be controlled/minimized. The findings are of great significance for managers, employees, and organizations in terms of policy implications. The limitations and future research directions are also discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arun Aggarwal ◽  
Kamrunnisha Nobi ◽  
Amit Mittal ◽  
Sanjay Rastogi

PurposeThe personality of an individual plays a vital role in the way an individual perceives organizational politics and justice in the workplace. However, there is meager research on how an individual's personality affects the perceptions of organizational politics and justice. This study endeavors to fill this gap by analyzing the mediating role of organizational politics perceptions on the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and organizational justice by controlling various demographic variables. The study also proposes a benchmarking model that the policymakers can use to create positive organizational justice perceptions.Design/methodology/approachIn this cross-sectional research, the data were collected through a multi-stage random sampling technique from 493 faculty members working in four public universities of Punjab, India. Out of 493 employees, 76.9% of the employees were assistant professors, 12.0% were associate professors and 11.2% were assistant professors. 51.5% of the employees were female, and 48.5% of the employees were male. To test the proposed hypothesized relationships, a structural equation modeling technique was used.FindingsResults of the structural equation modeling showed that openness to experience, conscientiousness and extraversion have a negative relationship with perceptions of organizational politics. However, their relationship with perceptions of organizational justice is positive. Neuroticism has a positive relationship with perceptions of organizational politics, whereas it has a negative relationship with perceptions of organizational justice. Results also showed that high perceptions of organizational politics have a negative effect on employee's perceptions regarding organizational justice. The mediation analysis results showed that perceptions of organizational politics mediate the relationship between an individual's personality and perceptions of organizational justice.Originality/valueThere is a scant amount of research available that considers Big Five personality dimensions and organizational politics as the antecedents of organizational justice. Hence, the current study tries to fill this research gap by proposing a research model on antecedents and consequences of perceptions of organizational politics based on the cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS).


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1035-1052
Author(s):  
Ki Seok Jeon ◽  
Byoung Kwon Choi

PurposeThis study aims to examine the relationships between three dimensions – vision, hope/faith and altruistic love – of spiritual leadership and employees' creativity and to verify the mediating role of affective commitment in such relationships.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 462 South Korean employees in diverse industries through self-reported questionnaires, and hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe authors found that vision, hope/faith and altruistic love were positively related to employees' creativity, while their affective commitment mediated such relationships. The authors also verified that the multidimensional structure of spiritual leadership was valid in the context of South Korea.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that leaders need to understand the importance of vision, hope/faith and altruistic love toward employees in formulating employees' affective commitment and stimulating creativity. Thus, organizations need to establish and operate leadership training programs for promoting leaders' behaviors that are based on spirituality.Originality/valueThis study contributes to broadening the variety of spiritual leadership's outcomes by providing an initial evidence of how spiritual leadership is associated with employees' creativity. Extending the verification of multidimensional structure of spiritual leadership so that it can be applied in South Korea has also been considered.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 321-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anugamini Priya Srivastava ◽  
Rajib Lochan Dhar

Purpose This study aims to analyse the impact of authentic leadership (AL) on academic optimism (AO) through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC). As this study also examines the moderating role of training comprehensiveness (TC) in strengthening the relation between AC and AO. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from school teachers and their immediate principal and were further analysed through confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis. Findings Data analysis provided significant support to the hypotheses presented in the study. AC partially mediated the link between AL and AO, and TC moderated the linkage between AC and AO significantly. Originality/value This study provides novel basis to improve the overall functioning of schools and teachers’ performance. It provides ways to improve the overall AO in Indian schools.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk De Clercq ◽  
Renato Pereira

PurposeThis study seeks to unravel the relationship between employees' passion for work and their engagement in problem-focused voice behavior by identifying a mediating role of their efforts to promote work-related goal congruence and a moderating role of their perceptions of pandemic threats to the organization.Design/methodology/approachThe research hypotheses were tested with quantitative data collected through a survey instrument administered among 158 employees in a large Portuguese-based organization that operates in the food sector, in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The Process macro was applied to assess the moderated mediation dynamic that underpins the proposed theoretical framework.FindingsEmployees' positive work-related energy enhances their propensity to speak up about organizational failures because they seek to find common ground with their colleagues with respect to the organization's goals and future. The mediating role of such congruence-promoting efforts is particularly prominent to the extent that employees dwell on the threats that a pandemic holds for their organization.Practical implicationsThe study pinpoints how HR managers can leverage a negative situation—employees who cannot keep the harmful organizational impact of a life-threatening virus out of their minds—into productive outcomes, by channeling positive work energy, derived from their passion for work, toward activities that bring organizational problems into the open.Originality/valueThis study adds to HR management research by unveiling how employees' attempts to gather their coworkers around a shared work-related mindset can explain how their passion might spur reports of problem areas, as well as explicating how perceived pandemic-related threats activate this process.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Suzete Semedo ◽  
Arnaldo Coelho ◽  
Neuza Ribeiro

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how authentic leadership (AL) predicts creativity both directly and through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC) and job resourcefulness (JR). Design/methodology/approach Data collected from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 543 employees have been analyzed. The model was tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The findings show that AL predicts AC, JR and creativity. The findings also show that AC and JR predict creativity. In other words, leaders’ authenticity increases employees’ creative spirit and, thus, employees’ ability to overcome obstacles and meet challenges at work and their emotional bond play an important role (mediators) in this relationship. Practical implications The results of this study are conclusive and contribute to a better understanding of AL and its implication for employees’ emotional bond, their ability to overcome obstacles and their ability to introduce new and useful ideas. This study provides evidence that organizations should focus on training leaders with authentic characteristics. Originality/value This study considers both AC and JR as mediators of the relationship between AL and creativity. Therefore, the originality of this study lies in the integration of these four concepts in a single study to provide a model that depicts the chain of effects between AL, AC, JR and an employee’s creativity.


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