Knowledge that Transforms

Research on power often treats the recipients of powerholders' decisions (i.e., subordinates) as an undifferentiated group, overlooking how their responses to powerholders' decisions might vary and how those responses might affect powerholders' later decisions. In this article, we examine the role of lone dissenting subordinates (individuals whose feedback differs from that expressed by other group members) in shaping powerholders' allocation decisions, and explore the consequences those subordinates face for their dissent. In 3 experimental studies, we show that even as a lone voice, the feedback of a dissenting subordinate influences powerholders' decisions. Powerholders make more self-interested allocations when a lone subordinate provides consistently positive feedback, even when others provide mostly negative feedback. However, powerholders regulate their allocations when a lone subordinate provides candid feedback that points out the self-interested nature of their allocations, even when others provide consistently positive feedback. We further show that lone dissenting subordinates' influence is stronger when they share a salient group membership with the powerholder (e.g., their school or political affiliation). Finally, we find that powerholders reward lone subordinates who provide them with positive feedback, but only punish lone candid subordinates if they do not share a salient group membership with them. Overall, our results suggest that subordinates who risk putting their head above the parapet can improve outcomes for their group members, and can avoid being punished for doing so, as long as they share a salient group membership with the powerholder. (PsycINFO Database Record

Even though considerable work has demonstrated a robust positive relationship between general mental ability (GMA) and task performance, recent work indicates that the expected relationship may not hold in the context of adaptive performance. By integrating the concept of choking, or performing worse than expected, with goal theory, the present work advances a theoretical framework aimed at furthering our understanding of how and when GMA is most likely to meaningfully impact performance. Drawing on this perspective, we propose that the relationship between GMA and adaptive performance is uniquely dependent on the type of goal individuals are striving to achieve. Additionally, we note that the nature of this relationship may evolve as people gain experience dealing with unexpected changes. Results of a discontinuous growth model fit to data obtained from a stock market exercise generally indicate that compared with performance goals, do-your-best and learning goals strengthen the relationship between GMA and adaptive performance. Further, we find that performance goals seem to effectively neutralize the GMA-adaptive performance relationship by benefiting those lower on GMA while simultaneously hindering those with higher levels. In contrast, the relationship is largely positive when either a do-your-best or a learning goal is being pursued, particularly after individuals are exposed to a second change. (PsycINFO Database Record

= 191,648), we found evidence that various proxies of financial vulnerability are associated with a more zero-sum construal of success. In two subsequent face-to-face negotiation studies, we found that financial vulnerability, whether measured or induced experimentally, undermined integrative value generation. The final two-part study found evidence of the hypothesized psychological process. Taken together, our studies uncover a fundamental pathway through which the disadvantage of financially vulnerable people is reproduced through economic exchanges. (PsycINFO Database Record

Research has shown that anger can be both detrimental in negotiations (increasing the chance of impasse or conflict) and helpful to the angry person (by eliciting concessions from the other party). Much of this work has focused on a receiver's emotional response to anger. Yet little work has examined the influence of anger on information search, an important cognitive mechanism for joint value creation in integrative negotiations. We propose a cognitive approach: that negotiators facing an angry partner are more likely to seek out diagnostic information about their partner's preferences and priorities. In turn, this information should enable negotiators to reach higher joint gains. Across multiple studies, we find that negotiators facing an angry versus a happy counterpart seek out more information, which leads to increased value creation. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record

In this study, we investigate autonomic nervous system regulation during a regular workday and how coworker support relates to this allostatic system. We first examined the trajectory of the heart rate variability (HRV) as an indicator of autonomic nervous system activation throughout the workday. Furthermore, we proposed that coworker support is directly related to the typical autonomic regulation of the workday and facilitates a stable high parasympathetic and low sympathetic activation level during the workday. We conducted a 5-day daily diary study with 115 employees, measuring their coworker support at the end of the day and their HRV during work. We examined the effect of stable between-coworker support on the latent growth curve of HRV during work and found evidence for the stabilizing effect of general coworker support on HRV trajectory. Employees with higher coworker support, on average, had a high, stable parasympathetic and low, stable sympathetic level during work. Employees with low support showed an inverted, U-shape trajectory of the parasympathetic activation throughout the workday, with low parasympathetic activation at the beginning and end of the workday and a maximum in the middle of the workday during lunch break time. Thus, we offer initial evidence for a regulating effect of coworker support on allostasis in terms of a trajectory in actual working conditions. (PsycInfo Database Record

Job satisfaction researchers typically assume a tripartite model, suggesting evaluations of the job are explained by latent cognitive and affective factors. However, in the attitudes literature, connectionist theorists view attitudes as emergent structures resulting from the mutually reinforcing causal force of interacting cognitive evaluations. Recently, the causal attitudes network (CAN; Dalege et al., 2016) model was proposed as an integration of both these perspectives with network theory. Here, we describe the CAN model and its implications for understanding job satisfaction. We extend the existing literature by drawing from both attitude and network theory. Using multiple data sets and measures of job satisfaction, we test these ideas empirically. First, drawing on the functional approach to attitudes, we show the instrumental-symbolic distinction in attitude objects is evident in job satisfaction networks. Specifically, networks for more instrumental features (e.g., pay) show stable, high connectivity and form a single cluster, whereas networks regarding symbolic features (e.g., supervisor) increase in connectivity with exposure (i.e., job tenure) and form clusters based on valence and cognitive-affective distinction. We show these distinctions result in "small-world" networks for symbolic features wherein affective reactions are more central than cognitive reactions, consistent with the affective primacy hypothesis. We show the practical advantage of CAN by demonstrating in longitudinal data that items with high centrality are more likely to affect change throughout the attitude network, and that network models are better able to predict future voluntary turnover compared with structural equation models. Implications of this exciting new model for research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record

= 189, days = 627), we investigated whether the manner in which the unemployed craft their job search is similar to the way employees craft their job. We examined whether reemployment crafting was positively related to job search performance (i.e., environmental exploration and networking behavior) and reemployment chances. Moreover, we examined whether contingency factors (i.e., social support and subjective goal attainment) affected the effectiveness of reemployment crafting. Results from both samples confirmed that the way the unemployed craft their job searches is similar to the way that employees craft their jobs. Reemployment crafting was positively related to job search performance, both within a 3-month period and within days. Moreover, reemployment crafting was especially beneficial for environmental exploration on days when social support and goal attainment were low. Last, environmental exploration was related to networking behavior, which in turn was predictive of reemployment chances. Specifically, in the diary study networking quality was related to reemployment status, while within the 3-month period, networking intensity seemed more effective. We conclude that reemployment crafting seems a promising way to enhance job search performance and ultimately the chances of finding reemployment. (PsycINFO Database Record

Mischel's (1973, 1977) theory of situational strength has been used widely within the organizational sciences to help explain why contextual factors moderate predictor-criterion relationships. Situational strength interactions represent a particular type known as a restricted variance (RV) interaction (Cortina, Köhler, & Nielsen, 2015). The theory proposes that the strength of a given situation constrains or compresses the variance of the dependent variable, weakening its prediction from other variables. Other theories and models, such as self-determination theory and the job characteristics model, also make implicit references to variance compression based on the level of autonomy in a given situation and to the interactions that this compression creates. It is unclear, however, whether differences in strength (or degree of constraint) actually yield variance differences that are consistent with the theoretical framework. In this meta-analysis, we reviewed 132 articles that imply RV effects, 100 of which allowed for variance comparisons. We found that only a handful of authors explicitly connect their theoretical arguments and interaction hypotheses to changes in variance in the Introduction section of their articles. Moreover, our findings also reveal that, for the most part, variance differences between weak and strong situations are minimal. Where differences exist, they are often in the opposite of the expected direction (i.e., larger variance in "strong" situations). We discuss our findings and their theoretical and practical implications. We also provide recommendations for designing studies and testing for such interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record

This paper investigates how employers influence the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of potential talent as part of a process of Organizational Impression Management (OIM) during the recruitment process. Several studies were conducted seeking to address the lack of empirical research on what recruiters do to manage organizational images. Study 1 developed and validated an empirical measure of OIM. Study 2 demonstrated that OIM tactics were distinct from other phenomena encountered by job seekers as part of the recruitment process. Study 3 established predictive validity by investigating the impact of OIM on organizational images and attraction in a field experiment setting. Implications for future research in OIM, as well as recruiting organizations in the practice of OIM, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Although most work on abusive supervision has focused on consequences for the victim, this paper extends a small yet growing stream of research that aims to understand transgressors' reactions to their own wrongdoing. Specifically, we seek to explain behavioral responses of abusive supervisors, including whether they adjust their performance behaviors, as well as whether they halt any future abuse toward subordinates. Building on theories and research on social worth, we propose that perpetrated abuse impacts these supervisor outcomes via a diminished sense of social worth that results from harming others. We further suggest that these indirect effects are stronger for managers who possess lower levels of psychopathy, whereas supervisors with higher levels of the trait are said to be shielded from social repercussions and therefore less responsive in this process. Results from two field studies largely support our assertions, indicating that abusive bosses generally experience a reduced sense of social worth and corresponding poorer performance outcomes. These effects are stronger for less psychopathic supervisors. Findings also indicate that supervisors who are low on psychopathy might stop enacting abuse entirely, while those high on psychopathy might be more likely to continue the abusive behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record