How and when overqualification improves innovative work behaviour: the roles of creative self-confidence and psychological safety

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the influence of perceived overqualification on innovative behaviour in the workplace. By integrating self-efficacy and human capital theories, this study proposes that perceived overqualification improves innovative behaviour directly and indirectly by boosting employee creative self-confidence. It further investigates the boundary conditions imposed by perceived psychological safety in this process.Design/methodology/approachThe research utilises a quantitative research methodology through a two-wave survey of 335 employees and their 135 leaders. Moderated and mediated regression analyses were used to analyse the research data.FindingsThe results revealed that perceived overqualification promotes innovative behaviour at work directly and indirectly through its positive influence on creative self-confidence. The mediating effect of creative self-confidence in the relationship between perceived overqualification and innovative behaviour is moderated by perceived psychological safety at work, such that the relationship is stronger in a higher perceived psychological safety condition compared to when it is low.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has theoretical and practical implications for personnel management. From a theoretical perspective, it integrates human capital and self-efficacy theories to explain a mechanism through which perceived overqualification will lead to innovative behaviour in the workplace. From a managerial perspective, it mitigates the stigma associated with an overqualified workforce by suggesting that perceived overqualification can be a source of innovation at work.Originality/valueThis is the first study that examines the creative self-confidence-based mechanism in the relationship between perceived overqualification and innovative behaviour at work. It also explores the moderating role of psychological safety in this relationship.

Formalization and employee thriving at work: a moderated mediation model including work engagement and centralization

PurposeUntil recently, scholars have begun to examine the contextual antecedents of employees thriving at work. A recent study has shown that one aspect of organizational structure/context (i.e. formalization) can be an important antecedent of employee thriving at work. However, scholars have urged doing research examining how different aspects of organizational structure can combinedly influence employee work outcomes such as thriving at work. Given that, the present paper proposes a theoretical model to unravel the mechanisms of how two aspects of organizational structure (i.e. formalization and centralization) may operate as the antecedents of employees thriving at work. In particular, the author draws on the Conservation of Resources Theory (COR) to hypothesize that employees' work engagement mediates the relationship between their perception of formalization and thriving at work. The author further hypothesizes that the indirect relationship between formalization and employee thriving at work is moderated by employees' perception of centralization, such that the relationship is stronger in the presence of a lower level of centralization than higher.Design/methodology/approach The author gathered data by employing a time-lagged survey design involving 136 full-time employees from different organizations.FindingsResults show that employee work engagement mediates the relationship between formalization and employee thriving at work. Further, the indirect relationship between formalization and employee thriving at work is stronger when the level of centralization is relatively low.Research limitations/implicationsFormalization is able to enact employees' thriving at work, particularly when organization implements relatively less centralized structure.Originality/valueThis study first introduces work engagement as a mediator in the formalization–employee thriving at work relationship and centralization as a moderator along this mediating process.

Continuous learning and employee performance: a moderated examination of managers' coaching behavior in India

PurposeBy integrating organizational support theory (OST) and social cognitive theory, this study investigates types of managers' coaching behavior as experienced by the employees. Furthermore, the study examines whether employees would exhibit greater task and contextual performance when organizational learning is blended with a specific coaching behavior of their manager.Design/methodology/approachUsing primary data from 298 software engineers working in select information technology companies across India, the current study attempts to assess moderating effect of managers' coaching behavior in two relationships, including continuous learning and employees' task performance (CL-TP) and continuous learning and employees' contextual performance (CL-CP).FindingsResult of exploratory factor analysis suggests that managers of select organizations exhibit two major types of coaching behavior: inspiration-based coaching behavior and facilitation-based coaching behavior. On the moderating role of coaching behavior, it is documented that facilitation-based coaching behavior significantly positively moderates both stated (CL-TP and CL-CP) relationships, whereas inspiration-based coaching behavior of supervisors has positive significant effect on CL-TP relationship but negatively moderates the CL-CP relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe extent to which the findings of this study can be generalized is constrained by the limited sample and organizational context.Practical implicationsThe most important managerial implication for all learning organizations is that both kinds of coaching behaviors help improving the task performance of the employees, but managers should prefer facilitation-based coaching style in order to generate higher contextual performance of employees.Originality/valueThis study contributes to practitioners and existing literature by explaining how individual performance of employees is affected by the investment made by organizations in facilitating continuous learning.

Can HRM predict mental health crises? Using HR analytics to unpack the link between employment and suicidal thoughts and behaviors

PurposeThe aim of this research is to determine the extent to which the human resource (HR) function can screen and potentially predict suicidal employees and offer preventative mental health assistance.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from the 2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (N = 56,136), this paper employs multivariate binary logistic regression to model the work-related predictors of suicidal ideation, planning and attempts.FindingsThe results indicate that known periods of joblessness, the total number of sick days and absenteeism over the last 12 months are significantly associated with various suicidal outcomes while controlling for key psychosocial correlates. The results also indicate that employee assistance programs are associated with a significantly reduced likelihood of suicidal ideation. These findings are consistent with conservation of resources theory.Research limitations/implicationsThis research demonstrates preliminarily that the HR function can unobtrusively detect employee mental health crises by collecting data on key predictors.Originality/valueIn the era of COVID-19, employers have a duty of care to safeguard employee mental health. To this end, the authors offer an innovative way through which the HR function can employ predictive analytics to address mental health crises before they result in tragedy.

How and when does humble leadership enhance newcomer well-being

PurposeMany studies have examined the positive outcomes of humble leadership for employees. However, its impact on newcomers' well-being has been rarely investigated. In this paper, based on affective events theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, the authors proposed a moderated mediation model to explore the effect of humble leadership on newcomer well-being. In the model, we identified newcomers' pride as a mediating variable and newcomers' proactive personality as a moderating variable.Design/methodology/approachThe data were from a two-wave sample containing 213 newcomers. The hypothesized model was tested using partial least squares structural equational modeling.FindingsThe results demonstrated that humble leadership was positively related to newcomers' well-being, and newcomers' pride medicated this relationship. Additionally, newcomers' proactive personality moderated the relationship between humble leadership and newcomers' pride.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors adopted a cross-sectional research design, rendering it difficult to derive causal relationships between variables. In addition, all data were from self-reports of newcomers which would suffer from common method variance.Originality/valueThis research examined the role of humble leadership in promoting newcomers' pride and well-being.

A qualitative investigation of the work-nonwork experiences of dual-career professional couples without children

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the idiosyncratic relationships between work and nonwork among dual-career professional couples (DCPCs) intentionally without children, considering individual members' role salience, nonwork responsibilities and care or career orientation.Design/methodology/approachInterview data from 21 Canadian and American couples (42 individuals) was used to explore the research question: How do DCPCs without children perceive their work-nonwork balance?FindingsDCPCs without children are a heterogenous demographic. Some couples are career oriented, some care oriented, some exhibit both orientations, shaping their experience of work-nonwork balance. Unlike popular stereotypes, they do have nonwork responsibilities and interests outside of their thriving careers. Similar to their counterparts with children, they face conflicts managing work and nonwork domains.Originality/valueBased on theories of role salience, work-nonwork conflict, enrichment and balance, the authors suggest that analyses of work-nonwork balance should include nonwork activities other than child caring. The authors further propose that the experience of the work-nonwork interface varies according to whether couples are careerist, conventional, non-conventional or egalitarian. The study also demonstrates that work-nonwork experiences are relational in nature and should be explored beyond a strictly individual perspective.

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

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.

Understanding the development of a common social identity between expatriates and host country nationals

Purpose This article examines the impact of expatriates' interaction adjustment and conducive work environment (i.e. trust, shared vision and intercultural communication) on the development of a common social identity between expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs) using the social identity theory (SIT). It also investigates whether increased trust, shared vision and intercultural communication mediate the relationship between expatriates' interaction adjustment and development of a common social identity.Design/methodology/approach Dyadic data were collected from 93 Chinese expatriates and 239 Pakistani HCNs using a three-wave time-lag design. A multilevel model was estimated using Bayesian estimation technique in the Mplus software.Findings Empirical evidence suggests an inverse relationship between expatriates' interaction adjustment and the development of a common social identity between expatriates and HCNs. Further, trust and intercultural communication led to a positive impact on the group memberships between expatriates and HCNs. However, no support was found regarding the mediating role of trust, shared vision and intercultural communication in this empirical research.Originality/value The existing literature focuses mainly on change experiences of expatriates during international assignments. However, the current study goes beyond this and investigates the individualized change experiences of HCNs. Further, empirical evidence in this research found a negative relationship between expatriates' interaction adjustment and the development of a common social identity between expatriates and HCNs, which needs to be examined further.

Threat or opportunity: accelerated job demands during COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of accelerated job demands on employee outcomes during the COVID-19 crisis. An integrated model was developed to explore the relationships between different types of job demands (learning, decision-making, work intensification), employee turnover intention (TI) and burnout (BU).Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from professionals whose work conditions were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. An online survey was distributed anonymously. A total of 566 questionnaires were included in the analysis. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data.Findings The findings revealed that employees' perception of job demands impacts the significance and direction of the relationships between different forms of job demands and employee outcomes. Furthermore, the findings confirm that mediating role of perceived organizational support alleviates the adverse effects of job demands on employee outcomes. Finally, the present study supported the moderation effect of positive affectivity between work intensification and employee BU.Practical implications This study provides employers with insights about supporting employees to cope with increased job demands in conditions where rapid changes are inevitable.Originality/value The unique context of research (COVID-19) enabled this study to account for the acceleration of job demands that employees experience in rapidly changing situations. This study employed an instrument that allowed for the assessment of acceleration in job demands. Furthermore, the granular approach of the measurement model extended the perspectives of job demands and work intensification.

Neurodiversity and remote work in times of crisis: lessons for HR

PurposeThe rich qualitative study builds on 11 semi-structured interviews with nine neurodivergent employees and two business professionals supportive of neurodiversity to understand the lived experiences of dealing with crisis in a remote working environment.Design/methodology/approachThe purpose of the reported research is to understand how neurominorities experience remote working in the times of crisis and what the implications of this are for human resource (HR) professionals.FindingsMoving to remote work resulted in a lack of routine, distractions and working long hours, which can all be difficult for line managers to monitor. Further problems with communication in a virtual environment and lack of understanding by others were found to be particularly burdensome to neurodivergent individuals. On the positive note, remote working in the times of crisis allowed for avoiding sensory overwhelm and was seen as an important step in creating a healthy work–life balance (WLB).Practical implicationsThe findings of this study point HR practitioners' attention towards building a more neurodiversity friendly post-pandemic workplace and prompt employers to offer working arrangements, which better suit employees' domestic and personal circumstances.Originality/valueThis study addresses the lack of research on the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on neurominorities. In doing so, it answers recent calls to move away from universal HR as a route to positive employee outcomes and facilitates a more accurate reflection of organizational reality for disadvantaged members of society.