Beyond choosing to leave: The interactive effects of on- and off-the-job embeddedness on involuntary turnover.

Job embeddedness is the net of influences in both work (on-the-job) and nonwork (off-the-job) domains that discourage employees from leaving their jobs. In this article, we argue that the entrenchment and increased investment associated with job embeddedness run parallel to the concept of role involvement from the work-family conflict literature. Drawing on this similarity, we extend theory and research regarding work-family conflict to develop and test predictions about the moderating role of off-the-job embeddedness on the effects of on-the-job embeddedness on involuntary turnover. Specifically, we predicted that being highly embedded on-the-job can reduce the likelihood of being fired because it increases job performance, but that these benefits are only accrued when employees are not also highly embedded off-the-job. We tested our predictions using a sample of 908 government employees from whom we collected performance and turnover data over time. Consistent with our predictions, among employees who were highly embedded on-the-job, those who were less embedded off-the-job were less likely to be terminated than those who were more embedded off-the-job. However, job performance did not explain this effect. In addition to providing a rare examination of involuntary turnover, we contribute to the job embeddedness literature by demonstrating the importance of distinguishing between, and simultaneously examining, on- and off-the-job embeddedness and their unique, multiplicative effects. We also demonstrate the utility of the WFC literature in advancing theory and research on job embeddedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the effects of turnover intentions on organizational citizenship behaviors and deviance behaviors: A psychological contract approach.

Although turnover intentions are considered the most proximal antecedent of organizational exit, there is often temporal separation between thinking about leaving and actual exit. Using field data from 2 diverse samples of working adults, we explore a causal model of the effects of turnover intentions on employee behavior while they remain with the organization, focusing specifically on organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and deviance behaviors (DBs). Utilizing expectancy theory as an explanatory framework, we argue that turnover intentions result in high levels of transactional contract orientation and low levels of relational contract orientation, which in turn lead to a decrease in the incidence of OCBs and an increase in the incidence of DBs. We first used a pilot study to investigate the direction of causality between turnover intentions and psychological contract orientations. Then, in Study 1, we tested our mediated model using a sample of employees from a large drug retailing chain. In Study 2, we expanded our model by arguing that the mediated effects are much stronger when the organization is deemed responsible for potential exit. We then tested our full model using a sample of employees from a large state-owned telecommunications corporation in China. Across both studies, results were generally consistent and supportive of our hypotheses. We discuss the implications of our findings for future theory, research, and practice regarding the management of both the turnover process and discretionary behaviors at work. (PsycINFO Database Record

When goal orientations collide: effects of learning and performance orientation on team adaptability in response to workload imbalance.

The authors draw on resource allocation theory (Kanfer & Ackerman, 1989) to develop hypotheses regarding the conditions under which collective learning and performance orientation have interactive effects and the nature of those effects on teams' ability to adapt to a sudden and dramatic change in workload. Consistent with the theory, results of a laboratory study in which teams worked on a computerized, decision-making task over 3 performance trials revealed that learning and performance orientation had independent effects on team adaptability when teams had slack resources available for managing their changed task. Time helped explain the independent effects of performance orientation. Results also revealed that learning and performance orientation had interactive effects when teams did not have slack resources. Finally, the results of this study indicate that teams lacking slack resources were better able to balance high levels of learning and performance orientation over time with practice on the changed task.

Goal orientation: effects on backing up behavior, performance, efficacy, and commitment in teams.

The author examined the predictive validity of goal orientation in teams on both team process and outcome variables. Results indicate that when mean goal orientation scores were used as a way of describing team members' inputs, learning orientation was related to backing up behavior, efficacy, and commitment. The relationships between performance orientation and efficacy and commitment, however, were more complex and were clarified when task performance was also taken into account. Performance orientation had a negative effect on efficacy when task performance was low and a positive effect on commitment when task performance was high. The implications of these findings for theory and research on goal orientation in teams and team staffing are discussed.

Team learning: collectively connecting the dots.

This article tests the degree to which personal and situational variables impact the acquisition of knowledge and skill within interactive project teams. On the basis of the literature regarding attentional capacity, constructive controversy, and truth-supported wins, the authors examined the effects of cognitive ability, workload distribution, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and structure on team learning. Results from 109 four-person project teams working on an interdependent command and control simulator indicated that teams learned more when composed of individuals who were high in cognitive ability and when the workload was distributed evenly. Conversely, team learning was negatively affected when teams were composed of individuals who were high in Agreeableness. Finally, teams using a paired structure learned more than teams structured either functionally or divisionally. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research.

Conscientiousness, autonomy fit, and development: a longitudinal study.

The authors examined employee development and its relationship with Conscientiousness and person-environment fit (in terms of needs and supplies of autonomy). They hypothesized that Conscientiousness would be positively associated with development but only when employees felt that the autonomy supplied by the organization did not fit their needs. In other words, whereas Conscientiousness could supply the dispositional resources for development, misfit was needed to create the need for development. The results supported the authors' predictions. Conscientiousness was positively related to development but only when employees were misfits with respect to autonomy. Employee involvement in development activities was then linked to subsequent fit.

Backing up behaviors in teams: the role of personality and legitimacy of need.

In this article, the authors developed several hypotheses regarding both the main and interactive effects of 2 types of team inputs on backing up behaviors in teams: (a) team composition characteristics in terms of the personality of the members of the team and (b) team task characteristics in terms of the extent to which the nature of the task is one that legitimately calls for some members of the team to back up other members of the team. Results from a study of 71 4-person teams performing a computerized tactical decision-making task suggest that the legitimacy of the need for back up has an important main effect on the extent to which team members provide assistance to and receive assistance from each other. In addition, the legitimacy of the need for back up also has important interactive effects with both the personality of the back up recipient and the personality of the back up providers on backing up behaviors in teams.

Structural contingency theory and individual differences: examination of external and internal person-team fit.

This article develops and tests a structurally based, integrated theory of person-team fit. The theory developed is an extension of structural contingency theory and considers issues of external fit simultaneously with its examination of internal fit at the team level. Results from 80 teams working on an interdependent team task indicate that divisional structures demand high levels of cognitive ability on the part of teammembers. However, the advantages of high cognitive ability in divisional structures are neutralized when there is poor external fit between the structure and the environment. Instead, emotional stability becomes a critical factor among teammembers when a divisional structure is out of alignment with its environment. Individual differences seem to play little or no role in functional structures, regardless of the degree of external fit.