Knowledge that Transforms

Yao and Ma (2023) recently reviewed and reanalyzed 31 studies published in top-tier journals utilizing polynomial regression and response surface methods. Their work offers a useful holistic framework for how to test and categorize various forms of congruence; however, they ultimately advance cautionary conclusions about the extent to which 28 of the 31 studies provide "evidence of congruence" and call into question whether the practical implications of these studies are valid (p. 446). In this commentary, we clarify this inference stems largely from theoretical and empirical oversights made in Yao and Ma (2023). We bring to light issues surrounding (a) proposals that exact correspondence is the theoretical goal (despite 26 of the 31 studies explicitly hypothesizing deviation from that form) and (b) suggestions that authors did not adequately consider empirics they did report. Most critically, Yao and Ma suggested their reanalysis provides conclusions that differ from the reviewed studies in 28 (of 31) instances. We demonstrate that, when one accounts for the form of congruence the authors explicitly theorized, the type of congruence supported as well as the inferences discussed in the studies differ from those in Yao and Ma's reanalysis in only nine of 31 studies (rather than 28). This commentary seeks to rectify the theoretical, empirical, and inferential misconceptions in Yao and Ma (2023) that may lead readers to inaccurately assess past work and threaten future work in this vein. We outline a path for scholars interested in applying this method moving forward. (PsycInfo Database Record

The predominant view in the employee proactivity literature highlights the importance of personality as well as a trio of agentic forces-namely, "can do," "reason to," and "energized to" motivation-that drive employee proactive behavior. Complementing existing theoretical frameworks, we introduce the concept of proactivity permission, defined as an employee's tacit perception of the extent to which they are "allowed to" perform proactive behaviors at work. In this article, we investigate the psychological experience of proactivity permission. Directly drawn from the dominance theory of deontic reasoning, we model a set of individual (employee status, psychological entitlement), relational (leader-member exchange), and group-level predictors (organizational rule consistency, normative tightness) of proactivity permission and demonstrate the construct's value in predicting proactive behavior over and above many well-established antecedents from the literature. In a field study of 388 employees and 110 supervisors in 35 organizations, we found support for our predictions. We discuss implications of our work for the literature on employee behavior and proactive work behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record

Many employees lament that their inability to stop ruminating about work during nonwork time is one of their most significant work-related challenges, yet limited research has articulated actionable strategies to address this issue on a day-to-day basis. Integrating goal shielding theory with rumination theory, our model introduces nonwork goal reflection as a deliberate behavioral intervention employees can engage in to curtail work-related rumination, in a way that facilitates well-being during nonwork time. Specifically, we argue that engaging in nonwork goal reflection-where employees intentionally reflect on nonwork goals to be completed during their nonwork time-can curtail work-related rumination and is associated with enhanced well-being. Additionally, our model identifies employee workaholism as a boundary condition: The benefits of nonwork goal reflection for rumination (and well-being) are weaker (vs. stronger) for employees higher (vs. lower) in workaholism. We conducted a field experimental experience sampling study that supports our theoretical model. Additionally, we conducted several supplemental studies that enhance theoretical rigor and precision by examining the underlying assumptions of our model. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record

are relevant to the job. Implications for improving diversity through hiring on vocational interests and vocational disinterests, while simultaneously optimizing on job performance, are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record

Integrating theory and evidence about Machiavellianism (Mach) into executive pay-setting research, we theorize about how chief executive officers (CEOs) higher in Mach may be both more motivated to initiate negotiations and more effective in utilizing social influence tactics in the pay-setting process, thus positively relating to their own pay outcomes. Specifically, we first theorize that CEO Mach positively associates with a CEO's total pay and severance pay. Moreover, because paying top management team (TMT) members more is also in CEOs' interests-such as to help build TMT loyalty and cooperation, aid hiring, and ease retention while also narrowing the CEO-TMT pay differential to thus provide an impetus for a CEO pay raise-we argue that CEO Mach positively relates to TMT pay as well. Using a longitudinal sample of S&P 500 firms and clinical psychologists trained to assess CEO Mach from publicly available data, we find evidence supporting our theorizing. (PsycInfo Database Record

Connections to exceptionally high-performing industry stars facilitate individuals' job attainment. But what are the career consequences for people who benefit initially from star connections? Using balance theory, we integrate social network and basking-in-reflected glory research to examine how high expectations resulting from the persistence of reflected glory affect the evaluation of star-connected employees' performance long after their work associations with stars have ceased. To preserve cognitive balance, evaluators may discount the poor performances of the star-connected. Good performances, on the other hand, affirm positive cognitive associations in the minds of evaluators between stars and those who once worked with them. Using the career trajectories of assistant and head coaches in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1976 to 2015, we found that star-connected head coaches, relative to their nonconnected peers, were protected from being fired when underperforming but benefited less when overperforming. Study 2 showed experimentally that a star-connected employee, relative to a nonconnected peer, was buffered from the effects of work performance because of the high work performance expectations held by evaluators. We contribute new evidence concerning the effects of star performers on colleagues and move research beyond the fleeting impressions that have occupied prior basking-in-reflected glory work. Further, we contribute to integrating the social network emphasis on advantageous network connections with research on merit-based advancement. The overall conclusion from these two studies is that the reflected glory of star connections influences careers long beyond the hiring stage in ways that buffer individuals from their own performance outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record

Y of job performance ratings, a critical input in implementing Case V correction (by doing so, mixing Cases IV and V). The premise for this mixed approach hinges upon prior findings that Case IV yields the same unbiased estimates as does Case V as long as its "full mediation" assumption is met. The accuracy of the approach is then tested and compared to those of existing RR correction approaches (Cases II, IV, and V) using Monte Carlo simulations covering a wide range of conditions researchers may realistically encounter in their research. We discuss the present study's implications for personnel selection research and practice, along with study limitations and future research directions. (PsycInfo Database Record

Leadership and historical narrative studies suggest that leaders strategically use history as a source of narratives to facilitate change. Yet the dynamic microprocess of how leaders craft and recraft their historical narratives to shift the organizational members' understanding of current reality and thereby facilitate change remains unexplored. Using the case of a Korean Buddhist temple that confronts significant societal change and financial shortage, this study investigates how the head monk-the leader of the temple-strategically creates and modifies historical narratives to achieve change and how the organizational members respond to the leader's narratives. To deeply immerse myself in the context, I engaged in 4 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a Korean Buddhist temple where the tension between tradition and change was most salient. The findings show that some narratives effectively reshaped the members' understanding of the need for change while others unexpectedly failed. By theorizing this sensegiving and sensemaking process, this study reveals that crafting effective historical narratives is a messy process, which manifests as an evolving trial-and-error process of leaders' sensegiving and members' sensemaking. (PsycInfo Database Record

The covariance index method, the idiosyncratic item response method, and the machine learning method are the three primary response-pattern-based (RPB) approaches to detect faking on personality tests. However, less is known about how their performance is affected by different practical factors (e.g., scale length, training sample size, proportion of faking participants) and when they perform optimally. In the present study, we systematically compared the three RPB faking detection methods across different conditions in three empirical-data-based resampling studies. Overall, we found that the machine learning method outperforms the other two RPB faking detection methods in most simulation conditions. It was also found that the faking probabilities produced by all three RPB faking detection methods had moderate to strong positive correlations with true personality scores, suggesting that these RPB faking detection methods are likely to misclassify honest respondents with truly high personality trait scores as fakers. Fortunately, we found that the benefit of removing suspicious fakers still outweighs the consequences of misclassification. Finally, we provided practical guidance to researchers and practitioners to optimally implement the machine learning method and offered step-by-step code. (PsycInfo Database Record

= 871 participants of an entrepreneurship training intervention. We find that training increases the level of self-efficacy in the short term and that the stability of self-efficacy develops over time during the transfer process. Furthermore, the level of self-efficacy becomes a stronger predictor of transfer performance over time as it becomes more stable. Our results suggest that both properties of self-efficacy develop over time, and the joint consideration of both properties better explains training transfer. (PsycInfo Database Record