Multiple salary comparisons, distributive justice, and employee withdrawal.

Salary comparison has well-established implications for employees' attitudes and behaviors at work. Yet how employees process information about simultaneous comparisons, particularly when internal and external comparison information is incongruent, remains controversial. In this article, we draw from the model of dispositional attribution and equity theory to predict how the incongruence of internal and external salary comparisons affects perceptions of distributive justice and subsequent employee withdrawal behavior. We hypothesized that the effect of salary comparisons on perceived distributive justice follows a hierarchically restrictive schema in which a lower salary in comparison to a referent has a greater effect than a higher salary. This further affects employee withdrawal (neglect, turnover intention, and voluntary turnover). We also propose that the effects of salary comparisons are bounded by employees' zero-sum construal of success. Three studies were conducted to test our hypotheses: a quasi-experimental study and two time-lagged field studies. Consistent with our hypotheses, we observed that, when comparison information was incongruent, underpayment compared with others more strongly affected perceived distributive justice than overpayment did. The subsequent impact on perceived distributive justice was negatively related to employee withdrawal. As expected, the effect of incongruent salary comparison information was stronger for employees with lower zero-sum construal of success. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Humane orientation, work-family conflict, and positive spillover across cultures.

Although cross-national work-family research has made great strides in recent decades, knowledge accumulation on the impact of culture on the work-family interface has been hampered by a limited geographical and cultural scope that has excluded countries where cultural expectations regarding work, family, and support may differ. We advance this literature by investigating work-family relationships in a broad range of cultures, including understudied regions of the world (i.e., Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia). We focus on humane orientation (HO), an overlooked cultural dimension that is however central to the study of social support and higher in those regions. We explore its moderating effect on relationships between work and family social support, work-family conflict, and work-family positive spillover. Building on the congruence and compensation perspectives of fit theory, we test alternative hypotheses on a sample of 10,307 participants from 30 countries/territories. We find HO has mostly a compensatory role in the relationships between workplace support and work-to-family conflict. Specifically, supervisor and coworker supports were most strongly and negatively related to conflict in cultures in which support is most needed (i.e., lower HO cultures). Regarding positive spillover, HO has mostly an amplifying role. Coworker (but not supervisor) support was most strongly and positively related to work-to-family positive spillover in higher HO cultures, where providing social support at work is consistent with the societal practice of providing support to one another. Likewise, instrumental (but not emotional) family support was most strongly and positively related to family-to-work positive spillover in higher HO cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Justice change matters: Approach and avoidance mechanisms underlying the regulation of justice over time.

The experience of justice is a dynamic phenomenon that changes over time, yet few studies have directly examined justice change. In this article, we integrate theories of self-regulation and group engagement to derive predictions about the consequences of justice change. We posit that justice change is an important factor because, as suggested by self-regulation theory, people are particularly sensitive to change. Also consistent with self-regulation, we posit that experiencing justice change will influence behavior via separate approach and avoidance systems. Across three multiwave and multisource field studies, we found that justice change predicts employees' engagement in work via perceived insider status along an approach path, whereas it predicts employees' withdrawal from work via exhaustion along an avoidance path, after controlling for the effects of static justice level. Moreover, these approach and avoidance effects are bounded by employees' perception of their employment situation, consistent with a regulatory fit pattern. As expected, employees' perceptions of employment opportunity, which correspond to gains, strengthen the effects along the approach path. Meanwhile, their perceptions of threat of job continuity, which correspond to losses, strengthen the effects along the avoidance path. Importantly, our set of studies highlight the unique influence of justice change incremental to static justice level. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Abusive supervision, thwarted belongingness, and workplace safety: A group engagement perspective.

Drawing from the group engagement model of justice, we examine how and when higher abusive supervision relates to fewer safety behaviors and worse safety performance. In Study 1, a 2-wave survey study of 468 manufacturing technicians, we found that belongingness need satisfaction mediated the negative relationship between abusive supervision and safety behavior. In Study 2, a multiwave survey study of 589 airline pilots, we found that safety behavior mediated the adverse relationship between abusive supervision and downstream objective safety performance. Higher trait social standing uncertainty was associated with a stronger adverse relationship between abusive supervision and safety. Indirect relationships of abusive supervision with safety behavior (Study 1) and safety performance (Study 2) were stronger among individuals with higher social standing uncertainty. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings for managing abusive supervision and safety at work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

What Differentiates Employees' Job Performance Under Stressful Situations: The Role of General Self-Efficacy.

The aim of this research is to verify the two-dimensional challenge-hindrance stressor framework in the Chinese context, and investigate the moderating effect of general self-efficacy in the stress process. Data were collected from 164 Chinese employee-supervisor dyads. The results demonstrated that challenge stressors were positively related to job performance while hindrance stressors were negatively related to job performance. Furthermore, general self-efficacy strengthened the positive relationship between challenge stressors and job performance, whereas the attenuating effect of general self-efficacy on the negative relationship between hindrance stressors and job performance was nonsignificant. These findings qualify the two-dimensional challenge-hindrance stressor framework, and support the notion that employees with high self-efficacy benefit more from the positive effect of challenge stressors in the workplace. By investigating the role of an individual difference variable in the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, this research provides a more accurate picture of the nature of job stress, and enhances our understanding of the job stressor-job performance relationship.

A Three-wave Study of Antecedents of Work-Family Enrichment: The Roles of Social Resources and Affect.

On the basis of conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, ) and the resource-gain-development perspective (Wayne, Grzywacz, Carlson, & Kacmar, ), this paper examines the differential impact of specific social resources (supervisory support and family support) on specific types of affect (job satisfaction and family satisfaction, respectively), which, in turn, influence work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment, respectively. A sample of 276 Chinese workers completed questionnaires in a three-wave survey. The model was tested with structural equation modelling. Job satisfaction at time 2 partially mediated the relationship between time 1 supervisory support and time 3 work-to-family enrichment (capital), and the effect of supervisory support on work-to-family enrichment (affect) was fully mediated by job satisfaction. Family satisfaction at time 2 fully mediated the relationship between time 1 family support and time 3 family-to-work enrichment (affect, efficiency). Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed.

Job insecurity and job performance: The moderating role of organizational justice and the mediating role of work engagement.

Organizational justice has been shown to play an important role in employees' affective and performance outcomes particularly in uncertain contexts. In this study, we investigated the interaction effect of job insecurity and organizational justice on employees' performance, and examined the mediating role of work engagement from the perspective of uncertainty management theory. We used 2-wave data (Study 1) from a sample of 140 Chinese employees and 3-wave data (Study 2) from a sample of 125 Chinese employees to test our hypotheses. In Study 1, we found that when employees perceived low levels of organizational justice, job insecurity was significantly negatively related to job performance. In contrast, we found that job insecurity was not related to job performance when there were high levels of organizational justice. Study 2 again supported the interaction of job insecurity and organizational justice on job performance. Furthermore, it was found that work engagement mediated the interaction effect. The results of the mediated moderation analysis revealed that job insecurity was negatively associated with job performance through work engagement when organizational justice was low.

Family mastery enhances work engagement in Chinese nurses: A cross-lagged analysis.

Based on Greenhaus and Powell's (2006) theory of work-family enrichment and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model of work engagement (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008), this study focused on the family-to-work enrichment process by investigating the effect of family mastery on work engagement in a Chinese context. A sample of 279 Chinese female nurses completed questionnaires in a two-wave longitudinal survey. With a cross-lagged analysis, the results indicated that family mastery at Time 1 had a significant positive effect on work engagement at Time 2. Furthermore, the relationship between family mastery and work engagement was stronger in a context of high (vs. low) job demand. These findings suggested that resource generated in family could directly help people stay engaged in the workplace, particularly under stressful working conditions. Our findings have expanded the JD-R model of work engagement and bridged it with theory of work-family enrichment. Implications for theory and practices are discussed.

Work stress, Chinese work values, and work well-being in the Greater China.

Work values influence our attitudes and behavior at work, but they have rarely been explored in the context of work stress. The aim of this research was thus to test direct and moderating effects of Chinese work values (CWV) on relationships between work stressors and work well-being among employees in the Greater China region. A self-administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei (N = 380). Work stressors were negatively related to work well-being, whereas CWV were positively related to work well-being. In addition, CWV also demonstrated moderating effects in some of the stressor-job satisfaction relationships.

Work stressors, Chinese coping strategies, and job performance in Greater China.

The aim of this research was to jointly test effects of work stressors and coping strategies on job performance among employees in the Greater China region. A self-administered survey was conducted to collect data from three major cities in the region, namely Beijing, Hong Kong, and Taipei (N = 380). Four important work stressors were assessed: heavy workload, organizational constraints, lack of work autonomy, and interpersonal conflict. We used a four-factor model of Chinese coping strategies composed of hobbies/relaxation, active action, seeking social support, and passive adaptation. Job performance was indicated by both task performance (quantity of work, quality of work, job knowledge) and contextual performance (attendance, getting along with others). We found that: (1) work stressors were related to job performance. Specifically, workload had a positive relation with quantity of work, whereas organizational constraints had negative relations with quantity of work and attendance. In addition, interpersonal conflict had a negative relation with getting along with others. (2) Chinese positive coping strategies were positively related to job performance. Specifically, seeking social support had positive relations with quantity of work and getting along with others, whereas active action had positive relations with attendance and job knowledge. (3) Chinese passive adaptation coping behaviors were negatively related to job performance. Specifically, passive adaptation had negative relations with quantity of work, quality of work, and getting along with others. The present study thus found joint effects of work stressors and coping behaviors among Chinese employees in the Greater China region, encompassing three sub-societies of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Differential effects of Chinese positive and passive coping strategies were also noted. Most importantly, all these effects were demonstrated on multiple indicators of job performance, a rarely studied but important strain variable from the organizational point of view.