Threat from peers: The effect of leaders' voice endorsement on coworkers' self-improvement motivation.

Existing studies mainly explore the antecedents of voice endorsement and its distal outcomes on voicers themselves. However, few have examined the mechanism of leaders' voice endorsement on the voicers' coworkers. Drawing on the self-evaluation maintenance theory, this paper uses perceived status threat as the mediator and trait competitiveness as the moderator to construct a conceptual model to explore the effect of leaders' voice endorsement on coworkers' self-improvement motivation. Through an empirical study with 279 sets of questionnaires from a manufacturing enterprise in China, the results show that leaders' voice endorsement has a positive effect on coworkers' self-improvement motivation through coworkers' perceived status threat and that coworkers' trait competitiveness can strengthen the positive relationship between leaders' voice endorsement and coworkers' perceived status threat. In addition, coworkers' trait competitiveness can strengthen the indirect effect of leaders' voice endorsement on coworkers' self-improvement motivation via coworkers' perceived status threat. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The Idea Is Mine! An Empirical Examination on the Effect of Leaders' Credit Claiming on Employees' Work Outcomes.

Existing studies mainly explored the detrimental effect of employee credit claiming, and little is known about how leader credit claiming can affect employees. Based on affective events theory and relative deprivation theory, we explore how leader credit claiming affects employee work outcomes (i.e., voice behavior and job performance) by the research methods of literature review, interview, and empirical questionnaire. With a sample of 418 matched leader-employee pairs from a large manufacturing company, we find that leader credit claiming influences employee work outcomes through the mediating role of employee anger and perceived unfairness. Additionally, we determine that leader credit-claiming attribution (i.e., to protect employees) has a moderating influence on the relationship between credit claiming and anger and between credit claiming and perceived unfairness. The results support all hypotheses. Furthermore, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

I will speak up if I feel energetic: Effects of supervisor humor on employee voice.

Extant literature on supervisor humor predominantly documents its beneficial effects on the organization, but its dark side receives little attention. Drawing on ego depletion theory, we proposed a conceptual model to examine the effects of two interpersonal types of supervisor humor (i.e., affiliative humor and aggressive humor) on employee voice. An empirical study with a sample covering 257 employees in China indicated that supervisor aggressive humor was negatively related to voice behaviors via depleting employees' resource. In contrast, supervisor affiliative humor was positively related to voice behaviors owing to less depletion of employees. Contrary to prediction, emotional intelligence enhanced the positive effect of supervisor aggressive humor on employees' depletion. Important theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

Thanks for Your Recognition, Boss! a Study of How and When Voice Endorsement Promotes Job Performance and Voice.

Existing studies mainly explore the antecedents and distal outcomes of voice behavior of employees. Less is known about what may occur after supervisors endorse ideas of employees. Based on the conservation of resources theory, we explored how and when voice endorsement affects job performance and voice behavior of employees. With the sample of 444 matched supervisor-subordinate pairs from a large organization, we found that voice endorsement of supervisors positively influences voice behavior and job performance of employees through the mediating effects of positive mood and work engagement. Additionally, we found that the voice commitment of employees strengthens the influence of voice endorsement of supervisors on positive mood of employees. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Introduction of stereocomplex crystallites of PLA for the solid and microcellular poly(lactide)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) blends.

Solid and microcellular poly(l-lactide)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLLA/PBAT) blends with or without poly(d-lactide) (PDLA) were prepared via melt blending and batch foaming process with supercritical carbon dioxide, respectively. The introduction of PDLA on the rheological properties, crystallization behavior and dynamic mechanical properties of the PLLA matrix were investigated. The formed PLA stereocomplex between PLLA and PDLA enhanced the storage modulus and complex viscosity of PLLA/PBAT blends efficiently. Interestingly, the addition of 5 wt% or 10 wt% PDLA in the PLLA/PBAT blends was unfavorable for the PLLA crystallization behavior. The potential reason can be sc-PLA crystallites acting as the physical crosslinking points, which constrained the molecular mobility of the PLLA matrix and even blocked the nucleating effect of PBAT domains. Both the enhanced melt strength and decreased crystallinity of the PLLA matrix are favorable for the cell nucleation and growth and the gas adsorption, respectively. The designed partially foaming of PLLA/PBAT with or without PDLA was carried out to investigate the foaming mechanism. The final cell morphology of PLLA/PBAT foams exhibited typical open-cell structure mainly attributed to the soft immiscible PBAT phase as separated domains. With further addition of PDLA in the PLLA/PBAT blends, the microcellular morphology exhibited decreased average cell size and increased cell density. The sc-PLA crystallites networks in the PLLA matrix acted as cell nucleating agents, which meanwhile resisted the force of cell growth and then prevented the cell collapse.