EXPRESS: Dynamic relationships between LMX and employee role-making behaviours: The moderating role of employee emotional ambivalence

We set out to understand how role-making works and what roles employees and leaders play in this process. Employees often make changes to their work roles, such as by negotiating their job responsibilities and seeking challenging tasks. In this study, we suggest that role-making behaviours influence and are influenced by the dyadic relationship between leaders and employees, otherwise known as leader–member exchange (LMX). We collected three waves of survey data from a sample of Chinese employees who were recent college graduates (n = 203). The results from cross-lagged panel analyses showed that 1) LMX and job-change negotiation were reciprocally related to each other and 2) initial LMX was associated with increased challenge-seeking behaviours, although these behaviours did not lead to greater LMX later on. In addition, we found evidence that when employees experienced a high level of emotional ambivalence (a conflicting, mixed, and complex emotional state), the direct and reciprocal relationships between LMX and role-making behaviours were weakened. Our findings advance the understanding of the development of leader–employee relationships in the workplace and have implications for strengthening employee perceptions of high-quality relationships with their leaders by making changes to their workplace roles.

Feeling Positive, Negative, or Both? Examining the Self-Regulatory Benefits of Emotional Ambivalence

According to self-regulation theories, affect plays a crucial role in driving goal-directed behaviors throughout employees’ work lives. Yet past work presents inconsistent results regarding the effects of positive and negative affect with theory heavily relying on understanding the separate, unique effects of each affective experience. In the current research, we integrate tenets of emotional ambivalence with self-regulation theories to examine how the conjoint experience of positive and negative affect yields benefits for behavioral regulation. We test these ideas within a self-regulatory context that has frequently studied the benefits of affect and has implications for all employees at one point in their careers: the job search. Adopting a person-centered (i.e., profile-based) perspective across two within-person investigations, we explore how emotional ambivalence relates to job search success (i.e., interview invitations, job offers) via job search self-regulatory processes (i.e., metacognitive strategies, effort). Results illustrate that the subsequent week (i.e., at time t + 1; Study 1) and month (Study 2) after job seekers experience emotional ambivalence (i.e., positive and negative affect experienced jointly at similar levels at time t), they receive more job offers via increased job search effort and interview invitations. Theoretical and practical implications for studying emotional ambivalence in organizational scholarship are discussed.

The Determinants for Shopping Cart Abandonment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the determinant that leads to shopping cart abandonment. In this research determinant that writer use are perceived cost (PC), complicated checkout (CC), Entertainment Motivation (EM), Emotional Ambivalence (EA), Information Overload over the Product (IA). Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative study was conducted, using a sample of 117 respondent consist of men and women who have ever done shopping cart abandonement. The hypotheses were tested by applying the Smart-PLS 3.2 software. Findings – The findings Perceived Cost (PC) has a positive and insignificant effect on shopping cart abandonment, Complicated Checkout (CC) has a positive and insignificant effect on shopping cart abandonment, Entertainment Motivation (EM) has a positive and significant effect on shopping cart abandonment, Emotional ambivalence (EA) has a positive and insignificant effect on shopping cart abandonment, meanwhile Information Overload (IO) has a positive and insignificant effect on shopping cart abandonment. From all the variable tested that has the most significant influence on shopping cart abandonment comes from Entertainment Motivation (EM).

When is Ambivalence Good for Family Firms? Understanding the Impact of Family Managers’ Emotional Ambivalence on Decision Making

It has been suggested in the family business literature that the pursuit of socioemotional wealth (SEW) has both a bright and dark side and these conflicting priorities can have a negative impact on the quality of decisions made by family managers. This paper presents a model which recognizes that ambivalence emanating from socioemotional wealth may also lead to high calibre decision-making under certain contexts. In particular, we explain how emotional ambivalence can affect the decision-making abilities of family managers. Although emotional complexity and the resulting ambivalence is seen as an undesirable situation, we argue that this could also result in positive outcomes under certain circumstances. More specifically, emotional ambivalence prompts leaders to adopt a broader perspective and consider several alternatives before reaching a decision, hence enhancing decision-making quality. However, we acknowledge that emotional ambivalence may also lead to an overly restrictive focus on the family’s interests occasionally leading to inferior family-centric decisions.

Transforming technology-mediated health-care services through strategic sense-giving

Purpose Service research has previously documented service providers’ role in addressing the barriers of technology mediation, mostly at the service delivery level. The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding about the role of service providers who hold strategic and operational roles, as well as investigate the impact of coordinated, organization-wide initiatives in dealing with the demands and associated emotional ambivalence of technology-mediated services. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative study draws from a series of in-depth interviews with health-care service providers who hold strategic and operational roles in health-care organizations along with participant observation to develop an understanding of the broader organizational context of telehealth services. Findings This paper outlines the strategic sense-giving process and highlights how health-care service providers who hold strategic and operational roles enact the sense-giver role. This study illustrates that strategic sense-giving involves the recognition of sense-making gaps; identification of sense-giving opportunities; and provision of templates of action. Originality/value This study illustrates that sense-giving can be performed by a number of organizational members in a more formalized way which extends informal sense-giving efforts at the peer-to-peer level. The importance of strategic sense-giving in providing templates of action for service providers and consumers is highlighted. This study also shows how strategic sense-giving safeguards against confusion and errors by communicating appropriate ways of using technology. Finally, the role of strategic sense-giving in helping service providers and consumers cope with the emotional ambivalence of technology-mediated service interactions are demonstarted.

Post-dissolution ambivalence, breakup adjustment, and relationship reconciliation

Relational ambivalence is conceptualized as having conflicting thoughts and feelings toward one’s partner or relationship. The current study explored how ambivalence about an ex-partner in a post-dissolution stage was associated with breakup distress as well as reconciliation. The moderating role of whether the relationship had previously cycled through breakups and renewals (on-off) or not (non-cyclical) was also examined. The 275 participants completed an initial survey following their most recent breakup (within the past 30 days) and up to five monthly surveys. Analyses showed cognitive and emotional ambivalence were associated with greater breakup distress and a greater likelihood of relationship renewal. Additionally, although cyclical partners had slightly greater emotional, but not cognitive, ambivalence toward their former partners, relationship type did not moderate the associations between ambivalence and breakup distress or reconciliation. The findings provide insights on how ambivalence could be incorporated into research on post-dissolution experiences.