Knowledge that Transforms

ABSTRACT Drawing on research on political ideology and the HRM literature, we postulate that the degree to which CEOs are politically liberal will affect firms' use of employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and work‐family benefits in two distinct ways. First, political liberalism increases CEOs' motivation to practice egalitarianism (including more equal compensation). Second, liberalism steers CEOs to be open to practices that foster social changes. Hence, we contend that CEO political liberalism will increase the firm's likelihood of implementing ESOP and work‐family benefits. Further, we suggest that certain contingencies will moderate these associations. Results derived from a dataset of Fortune 500 firms based in the US from 2002 to 2018 ( n = 2,363) support our arguments. We measured ESOP by a binary variable indicating whether a firm implemented any stock ownership program in a year, while work‐family benefits was captured by a dummy suggesting whether a firm had a work‐life balance policy in a year. Our findings contribute to the literature on HRM practice implementation and political ideology.

ABSTRACT The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has dramatically impacted human decision‐making, productivity, and human agentic role delivery, thereby transforming HRM practices, particularly in recruitment and selection. Traditional recruitment and selection methods involve the dynamic interplay of structure and human agents. This interplay is changing with the emergence of human‐technology‐conjoined agencies that share task delivery and role performance responsibilities, thereby altering and creating new recruitment and selection routines. We conducted an exploratory qualitative study with 43 HR and talent acquisition leaders in a high‐growth emerging market context to understand the transformational role of discriminative and generative AI technology agencies in changing recruitment and selection practices. This study contributes to existing HRM literature by demonstrating the impact of discriminative and generative AI in recruitment and selection and the simultaneous human‐AI collaboration and algorithmic management of humans emerging as a consequence. Furthermore, we theorize the transformational changes in structures and processes across the entire recruitment and selection process emerging from conjoined agencies.

ABSTRACT In the gig economy, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in managing human resource functions such as task allocation and performance management is increasingly significant. However, there is limited understanding of how the reliability of these functions, as experienced by workers, impacts their trust and engagement. Grounded in the transactional model of stress and coping, this study examines the influence of experienced algorithmic reliability on gig workers' trust in their platforms and their subsequent work engagement. We further explore how occupational stigma consciousness moderates this mediated relationship. Through a time‐lagged survey of 332 gig workers, our findings indicate that reliable algorithmic management experiences significantly enhance trust and subsequently work engagement. Moreover, this relationship is complicated by occupational stigma consciousness, which can diminish the positive effects of algorithmic reliability on trust and engagement. This study deepens our understanding of technology‐mediated work environments, emphasizing the critical role of workers' experiences with AI‐driven HRM functions in enhancing engagement and well‐being.

ABSTRACT Quiet quitting (QQ) has emerged as a prominent topic in both popular press and academic research, reflecting shifts in employees' engagement, effort allocation, and responses to contemporary work pressures. This review synthesizes findings from 11 papers published in a recent Special Issue on The Disquiet of Quiet Quitting . We integrate conceptual, empirical, and methodological insights from these papers and other recent literature to clarify what QQ is and what it is not. We highlight the multidimensional nature of QQ, distinguishing deliberate and passive forms, reactive versus value‐driven motivations, and variations in scope and behavioral expression. We then propose a 2 × 2 typology of quiet quitters (Protesters, Faders, Boundary Setters, and Indifferent Drifters) constructed along two key dimensions, intentionality and motivational basis, to capture the heterogeneity of behaviors and underlying motives. Finally, we discuss implications for theory, measurement, and practice, emphasizing how QQ signals broader dynamics in employment relationships, including fairness, well‐being, and sustainable engagement, and we identify directions for future research, including longitudinal, multi‐level, and cross‐cultural investigations.

ABSTRACT Although formal accommodations are required by law across many jurisdictions, many employees seek informal adjustments to their work conditions. These individualized work arrangements are not rooted in legal compliance but are instead provided at managers' discretion. Employees without disabilities routinely ask for changes to their work conditions (e.g., flexible work arrangements), and these changes often mirror those requested by employees with disabilities. Using Social Exchange Theory as our conceptual lens, we examined the critical role of managers' decision‐making on informal accommodation requests through three policy‐capturing studies. As hypothesized, managers were more likely to grant informal accommodations to employees with longer tenure, stronger task performance, and more citizenship behaviors. Moreover, tenure consistently had the strongest influence on accommodation intentions. Managers were also more likely to grant informal accommodations for disability reasons than for family‐related reasons, contrary to our expectations. Our research offers novel insights into how managers view informal accommodation requests from employees with and without disabilities. This study provides crucial theoretical contributions to the human resource management literature and informs practical considerations on issues faced by managers and organizations.

ABSTRACT Quiet quitting first exploded in social media and has gained considerable traction in media, practitioner, and scholarly outlets. While much of this attention has been focused on why employees quiet quit, there has been less consideration about how it is perceived by their coworkers. Combining insights from relational climate and social networks scholarship, we develop a novel theory about its potential interpersonal consequences. Our theory elucidates how employee quiet quitting and coworker reactions will differ across market pricing, equality matching, and communal sharing climates. We propose that while harmonious relational climates will facilitate the most support from coworkers, these climates will also trigger the most harmful responses when quiet quitting does not eventually dissipate. We also theorize how the collective monitoring and reporting norms that typically develop within these climates will facilitate sanctions via collective forms of mistreatment, such as social undermining and ostracism. Not only does our theory extend the relevant consequences of quiet quitting to include interpersonal ones, but it also therefore explains how seemingly positive climates can inadvertently enable mistreatment. We outline the contributions of our theory to the growing literature on quiet quitting, suggest directions for future research, and offer implications for human resource management practitioners.

AbstractWe draw on job demands‐resources theory to develop and test a model that explores the direct and indirect (through relational energy) impact of inclusive leadership on workplace avoidance behaviors for neurodivergent employees. We also examine the moderating role of personal self‐control demands in the relationship between relational energy and workplace avoidance. We tested our model using partial least square ‐ structural equation modeling analysis with data collected using a time‐lagged data collection in a sample of 215 neurodiverse employees working in multinational companies across the Gulf Cooperation Council region (i.e., Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman). The findings demonstrate that inclusive leaders mitigate workplace avoidance behavior in neurodivergent employees. That is, inclusive leaders create an environment that contributes to the cultivation of employees' personal relational energy resources. Then, high levels of relational energy interact with employees' level of personal demands (i.e., impulse control, resisting distractions) to reduce workplace avoidance behaviors. Our work speaks to the integrated role of demands and resources in workplaces that can thwart avoidance behaviors for neurodivergent employees.

ABSTRACTBoard directors who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other identities (LGBTQ+) are now more visible at the corporate apex, as the attainment of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the upper echelons is a goal for many organizations, researchers, and policymakers worldwide. The visibility of LGBTQ+ directors implies the shift toward truly diverse boards that demonstrate commitment to the provision of equal career opportunities and empowerment for all types of individuals. However, we still lack knowledge regarding the relationship between LGBTQ+ board representation and firm outcomes. Drawing on upper echelons and signaling theories, we examine a sample of Fortune 500 companies to identify how LGBTQ+ directors influence their firm values. Our OLS regressions on an unbalanced panel dataset of 441 firms in 2021–2022 reveal that the visibility of LGBTQ+ directors is positively associated with enterprise value, and this relationship is mediated by environmental, social, and governance performance, which can be attributed to corporate social performance. Our research contributes to the literature by showing how the visibility of LGBTQ+ status in the boardroom can matter on firms.

ABSTRACTNeurodivergent employees (NDEs) are characterized by different neurological profiles, including but not limited to autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Tourette syndrome, face underrepresentation, and undervaluation at work. This review employs the technology affordance lens and a diversity and inclusion model to explore how social media (SM) can facilitate the inclusion of NDEs. We propose a technology‐inclusion framework as a foundation for future model testing by delineating the key variables and relationships at play. A narrative review is adopted to discuss our findings derived from a comprehensive search of relevant literature, which yielded 41 journal articles and five book chapters. We employed thematic analysis, facilitated by ATLAS.ti's artificial intelligence coding function, to critically review and analyze the shortlisted articles through a rigorous, iterative process. Our framework highlights three pathways (NDE‐related, leader‐related, and peer‐related) that discuss the combination of SM affordances enhancing and inhibiting the inclusion of NDEs. In particular, SM affordances can build inclusion by enhancing self‐efficacy and a sense of empowerment, facilitating accessible communication, and connection. However, privacy and personal safety concerns explain why SM affordances sometimes undermine inclusion. Likewise, pathways related to supervisory support, and increased interactions and support from peers highlight the role of leaders and peers in translating SM affordances to NDEs' inclusion. We emphasize that leveraging SM applications, understanding NDEs' specific needs, and fostering an inclusive culture starting from organizational leadership can significantly contribute to promoting inclusion and support for NDEs in the workplace.

ABSTRACT Research on corporate sociopolitical activism (CSA) is in its infancy, and more research is needed to examine its effects on employees. We draw from the tenets of Signaling Theory to develop and test a model of how organizations' antiracist signaling after a racial injustice event, as a form of CSA, communicates that racial justice is valued sincerely by organizations, and in turn, motivates employee commitment to diversity—both at work and in their personal lives. We also explore boundary conditions (i.e., climate for inclusion, employee race) of this relationship. We test our model with data collected from 367 employees (37.6% Black, 62.4% White) across 4‐time waves, each 1 month apart, using a mixed‐methods (quantitative and qualitative) approach. Results suggest that organizations are viewed as most sincere when they engage in signaling that includes both words (i.e., releasing a statement) and actions (e.g., hiring a diversity officer) relative to when they don't engage in these words and/or actions. Moreover, when organizations signaled a sincere commitment to antiracism with both words and actions, employees were more committed to diversity at work and in their personal lives, though actions taken by the organization were especially important. Moreover, a strong climate for inclusion reduced the need for actions, while a weak climate for inclusion increased the need for a statement. Theoretical, research, and practical implications are discussed.