Search

Purpose One of the goals of various European Union (EU) organizations (i.e. Roma and non-Roma nonprofits) is the integration of Roma into the educational system. A challenge for the educational systems of EU countries, therefore, is to determine how to support the academic performance of Roma. Understanding the positive and negative factors related to Roma’s academic performance and achievement is an important first step in increasing academic success among this minority group. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative experimental design was used both online and face-to-face to examine whether stereotype threat had an influence on the academic performance of Roma in Slovakia and second, whether such threat was moderated by social identification and academic self-efficacy. Findings The results showed that stereotype threat does influence Roma in Slovakia and there were direct effects of social identity and academic self-efficacy on academic performance of the face-to-face participants. Originality/value Consistent with stereotype threat theory, to the best of authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to show that a stereotype threat did harm the academic performance of the face-to-face Roma sampled. Further, although many studies have examined stereotype threat effects on academic performance, little is known regarding whether social identification and academic self-efficacy have an influence on such threats. The results of the study show that social identification and academic self-efficacy had a significant direct influence on academic performance.

Purpose Although green management has gained legitimacy as a sustainable business practice, little is known about the elements that will lead to the long-term success of the movement. To identify these elements, this study aims to review the existing literature on social movements and analyzes archival data from a specific social undertaking, the Hispanic Civil Rights movement in the USA. Design/methodology/approach A historiographical approach was used in which systematic combining used abductive logic to developed a provisional framework based on the interpretation of secondary sources of data concerning the Hispanic Civil Rights movement. Subsequently, an ethnomethodologically informed interpretation of primary data based on the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) archives refined the provisional framework. Findings The authors identified common elements that are critical to the success of social movements, as supported by both secondary data on the Hispanic Civil Rights movement and primary data based on the LULAC archives. These elements consist of: ideology, identity, mobilization, goals, leadership and integration. Using these results, a pseudo-gap analysis approach was completed by systematically comparing the interpretive data with current knowledge of the green management movement to identify the missing gaps and to offer guidance for further development of green management as a contemporary movement. Social implications Applying the lessons learned from social movements will help the development and prosperity of the green movement in current business organizations. Such applications are important, given that local and global environmental crises can have profound implications on ecosystems, economics and social systems. Originality/value Social movements are an important means by which societal concerns such as injustices are addressed. By identifying the important elements needed for the green management movement to be successful in the long term, managers will know where to put their efforts. Such actions may help environmental awareness in business organizations to become more than a fad or marketing tool.

Scholars have begun calling for broader conceptualisations of moral disengagement processes that reflect the interaction of dispositional and situational antecedents to a predilection to morally disengage. The authors argue that collective leadership may be one such contingent antecedent. While researching leaders from the Gilded Age of American business history, the authors encountered a compelling historical case that facilitates theory elaboration within these intersecting domains. Interpreting evidence from the embittered leader dyad of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, the authors show how leader egoism can permeate moral identity to promote symbolic moral self-regard and moral licensing, which augment a propensity to morally disengage. The authors use insights developed from our analysis to illustrate a process conceptualisation that reflects a dispositional and situational interaction as a precursor to moral disengagement and explains how collective leadership can function as a moral disengagement trigger/tool to reduce cognitive dissonance and support the cognitive, behavioural, and rhetorical processes utilised to justify unethical behaviour.

Human capital attributes, such as political skill, motivate employees and relate to their success. While political skill is associated with greater objective (i.e. salary) and subjective (i.e. career satisfaction) career success, the strength of these relationships has been inconsistent. Grounded in social identity theory, therefore, we propose and test the hypothesis that in certain types of contexts, political skill may be more strongly associated with subjective career success than objective career success. The sample ( N = 856) was taken from a large family-controlled financial services firm in Ecuador. Using Smart Partial Least Squares (PLS) structural equation modeling, our results showed that, in the unique Ecuadorian context, political skill is more strongly related to career satisfaction than to performance evaluations or salary. In addition, the relationship between political skill and career satisfaction is partially mediated by affective commitment. Theoretical explanations of how political skill operates in non-Western contexts have not been addressed in the extant literature. As such, our single-culture context provides an elaboration-type advancement in political skill theory by testing the boundaries of the theory in very specific contexts. This work contributes to cross-cultural management research by providing a reason for why specific employee skill sets may be developed in different ways depending on cultural specifics. As such, excelling at certain work skills may be much more socially complex when cultural dynamics are taken into consideration.

Research teams face complex leadership and coordination challenges. We propose shared authentic leadership (SAL) as a timely approach to addressing these challenges. Drawing from authentic and functional leadership theories, we posit a multiple mediation model that suggests three mechanisms whereby SAL influences team effectiveness: shared mental models (SMM), team trust, and team coordination. To test our hypotheses, we collected survey data on leadership and teamwork within 142 research teams that recently published an article in a peer-reviewed management journal. The results indicate team coordination represents the primary mediating mechanism accounting for the relationship between SAL and research team effectiveness. While teams with high trust and SMM felt more successful and were more satisfied, they were less successful in publishing in high-impact journals. We also found the four SAL dimensions (i.e., self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) to associate differently with team effectiveness.

We examined the direct and interactive effects of respondents’ implicit leadership theories (ILTs), attribution styles, and performance cues on leadership perceptions. After first assessing respondents’ implicit leadership theories and attribution styles, the participants were randomly assigned to one of nine performance cue conditions ([leader performance: low vs. average vs. high] × [follower performance: low vs. average vs. high]), observed the same leader’s behavior via video, and rated the leader by completing three leadership questionnaires. The results supported the notion that these three components of information have both direct and interactive effects on leadership perceptions as measured by the questionnaires. The three components of information accounted for about 10% of the variance in the three questionnaires. The results contribute to theories of information processing by demonstrating how ILTs, attribution styles, and performance cues interact to predict leadership perceptions. Implicatio...

We extend attribution and stakeholder theory in the context of crisis reputation management by examining differences in stakeholder perceptions in the form of organization-related blame. We presented eight stakeholder groups with factual information surrounding the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and asked them to indicate the extent to which they blamed the leaders and organizations associated with the event. Stakeholders also completed a survey assessing their attribution styles. Results indicated that perceptions of blame were affected by the interaction of stakeholder role (i.e., active vs. passive) with attribution style (i.e., optimistic vs. pessimistic). Our results suggest that organizational leaders’ understanding of their stakeholders may be an important aspect in managing stakeholders’ sensemaking during crises.

Purpose – The workforce is becoming increasingly diverse and yet leadership research has lagged behind this trend. In particular, theory links leader-member exchange (LMX) to the development of racially diverse leaders (e.g. Scandura and Lankau, 1996). Yet, there remains a need for empirical evaluation of this premise. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, results of two studies of the effects of leader-member diversity on the LMX dimensions of professional respect, affect, loyalty, and contributions were examined. In the first study, supervisor-subordinate dyads in an applied work setting were examined, while in the second study a laboratory study was used. Findings – Results in Study 1 indicated that cross-race and minority dyads reported different LMX attributes of professional respect, affect, loyalty and contributions compared with dyads where both members were of the racial majority. In Study 2, racial compositions of dyads was not associated with reported differences in LMX relationships, but was associated with differences in task performance. Originality/value – This research provides the first systematic examination of the influence of racial diversity on LMX in a leader-follower dyad. As such, this work provides an important reference point in which future research on LMX and diversity can build. Such efforts will help future organizational leaders better navigate the increasingly diverse workplace.

Research has typically explained the positive intrapsychic influence of political skill using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. However, research explaining the possible negative intrapsychic consequences of high levels of political skill is lacking. Therefore, we introduce Cognitive Activation Theory (CAT) to the political skill literature to explain possible negative outcomes of political skill. In testing this theory, we used two hierarchical moderated multiple regressions to examine the relationship between affective and continuance commitment, life satisfaction, and political skill in a large, privately owned, financial services firm in Ecuador. Aligned with prior research, affective commitment positively affected life satisfaction; however, contrary to our hypothesis, continuance commitment also positively affected life satisfaction. Furthermore, consistent with both Conservation of Resources and Cognitive Activation Theory, results indicated that political skill strengthened the relationship between affective commitment and life satisfaction. However, contrary to Cognitive Activation Theory, political skill did not significantly weaken the relationship between continuance commitment and life satisfaction.

In this article, we refine and extend the conceptualization of collective leadership by examining how institutional work can play a central role in the emergence of collective leadership success or failure through conflict. Specifically, based on historical traces collected from the first African American town in Mississippi, Mound Bayou, which was founded and led by a group of ex-slaves, we conceptualize collective leadership as a compilational process and elucidate the development of collective leadership amid the relational and inspirational aspects of conflict that arose among this cadre of historical collective leaders. We selected the case of Mound Bayou because the specifics of the case allowed us to explore how collective leadership emerged, and over time, led to conflict engendered by issues that arose within the institutional processes of formation, maintenance, and transformation of the town. We used interpretivist epistemology into which we incorporated and utilized historiometric methodology to code and interpret salient archival data. Based on this analysis, we inductively theorize the process by which the leaders of Mound Bayou collectively forged and led, in both cooperative and conflicting manner, the first African American community in the Mississippi Delta.

Although organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is widely known to have a positive ethical impact in work organizations, the causal antecedents that influence the likelihood of such behaviors among employees is understudied. We addressed this gap by examining the influence of visual images of people on relevant work-related behavior in a work-like setting using the theoretical frame of the social identity perspective. We found that students in a university setting, who were exposed to religious-themed student images, exhibited slower helping behaviors toward the organization than those who were exposed to organizational-themed student images. The results of the current study provide the first-known experimental confirmation of organizational identity as a causal antecedent of OCB.

People experience pleasantness when they act toward a stimulus in an affectively coherent (e.g., approaching positive stimuli and avoiding negative stimuli) versus incoherent manner. Nevertheless, it is unclear how misattributing this pleasantness resulting from affective coherence can impact human judgment. To this end, we examined the impact of misattributing the pleasantness of affective coherence to a subsequent target (Study 1), depending on the saliency of the target (Study 2). We found that experiencing affective coherence led to more positive impressions of subsequently encountered targets than did experiencing affective incoherence. These results expand our understanding of the role affect can play in human judgment. We discuss some limitations and implications of these findings.

In a synthesis of the relevant social cognition, human resources, stakeholder, and entrepreneurship literatures, this article explores how perceptions about entrepreneurship affect entrepreneurial behavior and job security seeking. Definitions and reasons for the apparent incompatibility of entrepreneurship and job security are analyzed, with the impact of cognitions about the two terms being addressed. Next, a model of when and how entrepreneurship vs. traditional job seeking may be the chosen method of economic security is proposed. This Steady State Model of Security Seeking in an Imperfect Economy describes a cyclical process in which individuals make three fundamental decisions concerning their economic security. Finally, arguments are presented in support of the conclusion that entrepreneurship can reliably provide an alternative to the traditional job seeking means of obtaining economic security.

Extant theory suggests that paternalistic leadership is not a unified construct and that benevolent paternalistic and exploitative paternalistic leader styles are independent. However, this representation ignores the emerging concept of libertarian paternalism. In order to explore this prospective style of leader paternalism, we performed a historiographically informed examination of prominent paternal capitalists from the era of industrial paternalism in the United States. We discovered that the paternalistic leadership of H. J. Heinz lacked the degree of coercion and intrusion found in other paternalistic leaders of the period, even when compared with those motivated by benevolence. As this resonated well with current notions of libertarian paternalism, we analyzed the paternalistic leadership style of Heinz alongside contemporaneous archetypical exploitative (George Pullman) and benevolent (Henry Ford) paternalistic leaders. We interpret the historical evidence to integrate the emergent idea of libertarian paternalistic choice architecture into a more comprehensive typology of paternalistic leadership.

Authentic leadership theory posits that the authenticity of leaders and followers is influenced by their personal histories. Attachment theory states that individuals have internal working models that are influenced by both early developmental experiences and relationships later in life. These models guide how people interact with close others and tend toward three styles of attachment: secure, insecure-ambivalent, and insecure-avoidant. We argue that securely attached persons are most likely to exhibit authentic leadership/followership. We review empirical work which suggests that secure attachment is positively related to each of the four components of authentic leadership/followership (self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective). We then develop an attachment-based typology for variations in authentic leader–follower relationships, with emphasis on relationships that include an insecurely attached party. Finally, we draw from the attachment and authentic leadership literatures to suggest interventions to foster the development of authentic leadership/followership, thereby enhancing authentic leader–follower relationships.

Graphic novels have been increasingly incorporated into business communication forums. Despite potential benefits, little research has examined the merits of the graphic novel approach. In response, we engage in a two-study approach. Study 1 explores the potential of graphic novels to affect learning outcomes and finds that the graphic novel was related to high levels of learning experiences. Study 2 compares the impact of graphic novels with that of traditional textbooks and finds that verbatim recognition was superior with graphic novel texts. Overall, we provide the first comprehensive examination of the graphic novel as a tool for effective business communication.

Using a student sample in a lab setting, we examined the relationships between explicit and implicit self-esteem and two measures of leader authenticity: self-reported authentic leadership as measured by the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) and perceived leader authenticity as reflected in leadership speeches. In addition, we explored the influence of situational cues for an internal versus external focus on measures of leadership authenticity. Explicit and implicit self-esteem related to authentic leadership in predicted directions, but not perceived leader authenticity. ALQ scores were also positively related to perceived leader authenticity and were significantly affected by the situational cues. Results provide support for the construct validity of the ALQ, while also showing that ALQ scores can be influenced by situational cues promoting an internal versus external focus.

Recent research has demonstrated that the self is subject to a variety of subtle influences. To date, however, little research has examined nonconscious factors that influence one's social identity. Unlike most self-conceptions, a person's social identity can be determined not only by the presence of one's own group, but also by the presence of a relevant outgroup. Across two studies, we explored whether the nonconscious presence of ingroup and outgroup stimuli, presented alone and in combination, would lead to increases in conscious social identification with one's ingroup. Consistent with our predictions, we found that the highest level of ingroup identification resulted from the subliminal presentation of both ingroup and outgroup symbols, compared with presentation of either type of symbol in isolation. Results are discussed with respect to social identity perspectives and nonconscious influences on self-conceptions and behavior.

Using a socio-cognitive view on the relationship between action and mind, and current work on goal contagion, we explore the mechanisms that link team processes and shared cognitions to team action...

Two studies are reported in which participants’ reports of altered states of consciousness (ASC) were manipulated using priming methods. Study 1 used both subtle and blunt supraliminal priming methods, while Study 2 used a subliminal priming method. Across the two studies, two different methods for inducing ASC were used. In both studies a direct and an indirect measure of ASC was employed in order to separate the more nonconscious and spontaneous (indirect) from the more conscious and directive (direct) reports of ASC. As predicted, results indicated that the indirect measures of ASC were consistent with the ASC primes participants received. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Human stem cell research has revived long-standing debates regarding the sanctity and beginning of life. The current study addresses the issue by examining the ability of selected religiosity and personality variables to predict attitudes regarding stem cell research. Participants were given questionnaires measuring attitudes regarding stem cell research, along with the Need for Closure scale, the Internal Control Index, the Need for Uniqueness scale, religious orientation scales, and the Literal-Antiliteral-Mythological scale. Results indicate that those who hold more traditional religious beliefs are likely to oppose stem cell research for moral reasons, whereas those who have a more open-ended approach to religion are likely to be in favor of such research. Results also showed that personality variables were helpful in predicting people's confidence in institutions' ability to manage the ethical questions surrounding such research.

Although researchers have noted differences in the role of religiosity in the lives of people from different ethnic backgrounds, the components of religion’s influence (i.e., membership and orthodoxy) on mental health have not been previously examined. In the current study, Christian participants’ Christian Orthodox Scale (COS) scores were used to predict scores on mental health. As hypothesized, African Americans with higher COS scores exhibited fewer mental-health problems than did all ethnicities studied with lower COS scores. Implications and future directions for understanding the cultural influence of religion on African Americans are discussed.

Shariff and Norenzayan (2007) recently reported in the journal Psychological Science that covertly priming participants with “God concepts” increased prosocial behavior regardless of self-reported ...

Most demonstrations of the automatic activation of mental representations and resulting behavioral effects have been conducted in the context of specific stereotypes. The main purpose of these studies was to test whether primed religious representations can have automatic influences on relevant (prosocial) behavior (Study 1) regardless of prior religious belief (Study 2). Study 1 found that participants primed with religious representations (religious words) cheated significantly less on a subsequent task. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 with subliminal presentations of religious words and further found that participant's intrinsic religiosity had no influence on rates of cheating with the prime received. These results provide the first known demonstration of religious representations automatically influencing behavior. Implications for the psychology of religion are discussed.