Faculty Scholarship

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How do stressors lead to burnout? The mediating role of motivation
(American Psychological Association, 2009-07) Rubino, Cristina; Luksyte, Aleksandra; Perry, Sara J.; Volpone, Sabrina D.
We extend existing stressor-strain theoretical models by including intrinsic motivation as a mediator between well-established job stressors and burnout. Though the link between situational stressors and burnout is well established, little is known about mechanisms behind this relationship. With a sample of 284 self-employed individuals, we examined motivation as a mediator to explain why situational factors impact 3 dimensions of burnout: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy. Motivation is an explanatory mechanism that drives human behavior and thought, and thus may have an impact on important well-being outcomes. As expected, intrinsic motivation was a full mediator for the effect of perceived fit on the inefficacy dimension of burnout. Unexpectedly, neither perceived fit nor motivation was related to the other 2 dimensions of burnout, and role ambiguity had only a direct effect on the inefficacy dimension; it was also unrelated to exhaustion and cynicism. We discuss implications of these findings for researchers as well as for practitioners.
The downside of goal-focused leadership: The role of personality in subordinate exhaustion
(APA PsycNet, 2010) Perry, Sara J.; Witt, L. A.; Penney, Lisa M.; Atwater, Leanne
Exhaustion has a significant impact on employees and organizations, and leader behavior may affect it. We applied conservation of resources theory to test propositions regarding the joint effects of goal-focused leadership (GFL) and personality on employee exhaustion. We proposed that the relationship between GFL and exhaustion depends on employees' standing on both conscientiousness and emotional stability. Specifically, we expected that high-conscientiousness subordinates experience greater compatibility with a goal-focused leader because of their predisposition to direct resources toward achievement and goal setting, resulting in lower exhaustion under such a leader than among low-conscientiousness employees. Furthermore, high emotional stability may compensate for GFL incompatibility among low-conscientiousness employees by providing additional resources to manage GFL. In contrast, employees low on both traits likely experience greater exhaustion under a goal-focused leader compared with other employees. Results revealed a 3-way interaction in 2 independent samples and were generally supportive of our predictions. GFL was associated with heightened exhaustion among individuals in the low-emotional-stability, low-conscientiousness group but not among workers having any other trait combination.
The interactive effect of extraversion and extraversion dissimilarity on emotional exhaustion in customer service employees: A test of the asymmetry hypothesis
(Elsevier, 2010-04) Perry, Sara J.; Dubin, David F.; Witt, L. A.
Testing the asymmetry hypothesis with regard to personality and one indicator of employee well-being, we explored the interactive effects of extraversion dissimilarity and individual extraversion on customer-oriented exhaustion. We predicted that high-extraversion individuals would experience increased exhaustion when their coworkers were dissimilar on the trait of extraversion, whereas low-extraversion individuals would be unaffected by dissimilarity, because they generally avoid coworker interaction. In a sample of 313 call center employees, we found that high-extraversion individuals experienced increased exhaustion when their coworkers were lower in extraversion, but this relationship was nonsignificant for low-extraversion individuals. These findings may help managers understand risk factors and prevent customer-oriented exhaustion among their customer-service employees.
P = f (Conscientiousness × Ability): Examining the Facets of Conscientiousness
(Taylor & Francis Online, 2010-09-16) Perry, Sara J.; Hunter, Emily M.; Witt, L. A.; Harris, Kenneth J.
We posited that the form of the joint effects of motivation and ability in traditional performance models are interactive because motivation triggers the use of energy resources required to deploy ability at work. Moreover, we posited that achievement might best represent motivation compared to five other facets of Conscientiousness or global Conscientiousness. In two samples of customer service representatives, achievement interacted with general mental ability (GMA) in predicting task performance, whereas global Conscientiousness and the other five facets did not. This suggests that researchers examining the motivational aspects of Conscientiousness might uncover a more consistent pattern of results for task performance if they focus on the achievement facet. Furthermore, managers might see the highest levels of task performance in certain contexts when hiring individuals based on both achievement and GMA.
Linking team resources to work–family enrichment and satisfaction
(Elsevier, 2010-10) Hunter, Emily M.; Perry, Sara J.; Carlson, Dawn S.; Smith, Steven A.
Work–family scholars now recognize the potential positive effects of participation in one life domain (i.e., work or family) on performance in other life domains. We examined how employees might benefit from team resources, which are highly relevant to the modern workplace, in both work and nonwork domains via work–family enrichment. Using the Resource–Gain–Development model (Wayne, Grzywacz, Carlson, & Kacmar, 2007), we explored how team resources contribute to enrichment and resulting project and family satisfaction. Using multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) to analyze student data (N = 344) across multiple class projects, we demonstrated that individuals with team resources were more likely to experience both work-to-family and family-to-work enrichment. Further, enrichment mediated the relationship between team resources and satisfaction with the originating domain.
Service employees give as they get: Internal service as a moderator of the service climate-service outcomes link
(National Library of Medicine, 2011-03) Ehrhart, Karen H.; Witt, L. A.; Schneider, Benjamin; Perry, Sara J.
We lend theoretical insight to the service climate literature by exploring the joint effects of branch service climate and the internal service provided to the branch (the service received from corporate units to support external service delivery) on customer-rated service quality. We hypothesized that service climate is related to service quality most strongly when the internal service quality received is high, providing front-line employees with the capability to deliver what the service climate motivates them to do. We studied 619 employees and 1,973 customers in 36 retail branches of a bank. We aggregated employee perceptions of the internal service quality received from corporate units and the local service climate and external customer perceptions of service quality to the branch level of analysis. Findings were consistent with the hypothesis that high-quality internal service is necessary for branch service climate to yield superior external customer service quality.
General job performance of first-line supervisors: the role of conscientiousness in determining its effects on subordinate exhaustion
(Wiley Online Library, 2011-04) Perry, Sara J.; Rubino, Cristina; Witt, L. A.
In an integrated test of the job demands-resources model and trait activation theory, we predicted that the general job performance of employees who also hold supervisory roles may act as a demand to subordinates, depending on levels of subordinate conscientiousness. In a sample of 313 customer service call centre employees, we found that high-conscientiousness individuals were more likely to experience emotional exhaustion, and low-conscientiousness individuals were less likely as the general job performance of their supervisor improved. The results were curvilinear, such that high-conscientiousness individuals' exhaustion levelled off with very high supervisor performance (two standard deviations above the mean), and low-conscientiousness individuals' exhaustion levelled off as supervisor performance improved from moderate to high. These findings suggest high-conscientiousness employees may efficiently handle demands presented by a low-performing coworker who is their boss, but when performance expectations are high (i.e. high-performing boss), these achievement-oriented employees may direct their resources (i.e. energy and time) towards performance-related efforts at the expense of their well-being. Conversely, low-conscientiousness employees suffer when paired with a low-performing boss, but benefit from a supervisor who demonstrates at least moderate job performance.
Work–Family Enrichment and Satisfaction: Mediating Processes and Relative Impact of Originating and Receiving Domains
(SAGE Journals, 2011-07-19) Carlson, Dawn S.; Hunter, Emily M.; Ferguson, Meredith; Whitten, Dwayne
Previous research has been inconsistent in the prediction and empirical findings regarding work–family enrichment and satisfaction. The current research seeks to clarify this inconsistency by examining both directions of work–family enrichment (work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment) with both job satisfaction and family satisfaction to determine if their effects are similar or diverse. Building on the theoretical foundation of Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory, the authors explore the mediating roles of psychological distress and positive mood in this process. Using a sample of 310 working respondents, the authors found that psychological distress was a mediator to both job satisfaction and family satisfaction, while positive mood was a mediator to job satisfaction but not family satisfaction. Further, the authors found that the direct effect of work-to-family enrichment was on job satisfaction, the originating domain. In addition, the total effect of enrichment to satisfaction (through the mediation mechanisms of distress and mood) was again in the pattern of the originating domain such that work-to-family enrichment more strongly influenced job satisfaction. However, family-to-work enrichment did not directly impact family satisfaction, nor was it significantly stronger than work-to-family in its total effect on family satisfaction.
Inside multi-disciplinary science and engineering research centers: The impact of organizational climate on invention disclosures and patents
(Elsevier, 2011-11) Hunter, Emily M.; Perry, Sara J.; Currall, Steven C.
Much past research on commercialization activities by university scientists and engineers has focused on the role of resources in the extra-organizational commercialization environment, such as the availability of venture capital funding. By contrast, our theoretical and empirical interest was in intra-organizational dynamics impacting the context in which scientists and engineers work. Drawing upon organizational psychology literature on the construct of organizational climate, we posited that researchers working in an intra-organizational climate that supports commercialization and encourages intra-organizational boundary-spanning will be more likely to produce invention disclosures and patents. Our data from 218 respondents at 21 engineering research centers was both multi-method (i.e., qualitative data from interviews, longitudinal archival data, and survey data) and multi-level. Our results showed that an organizational climate characterized by support for commercialization predicted invention disclosures one year later and an organizational climate characterized by boundary-spanning predicted patent awards two years later.
An Exploratory Study of Factors that Relate to Burnout in Hobby-Jobs
(International Association of Applied Psychology, 2012-05-15) Volpone, Sabrina D.; Perry, Sara J.; Rubino, Cristina
Using the Job Demands-Resources model as a theoretical foundation, we explored the relationships among job demands, internal resources, and burnout in a unique population of workers—individuals with hobby-jobs (i.e. jobs created from a hobby). We examined four job demands (i.e. variety, constraints, time spent on hobby, hobby/job similarity) as antecedents of the three dimensions of burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, cynicism, professional efficacy) and moderating effects of internal resources (i.e. conscientiousness, emotional stability) on these relationships. We found that all four demands predicted emotional exhaustion. Further, variety and constraints related to cynicism and variety was associated with diminished professional efficacy. Conscientiousness and emotional stability moderated some of these relationships, indicating that these traits may indeed act as internal resources. Our findings suggest that individuals in hobby-jobs are affected by job demands as in other jobs, but may also face unique demands. Personality traits and behaviors consistent with those traits may help individuals pursuing hobby-jobs by protecting them from burnout.
Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human resource management to employee performance
(Elsevier, 2012-06) Jiang, Kaifeng; Lepak, David P.; Han, Kyongji; Hong, Ying; Kim, Andrea; Winkler, Anne-Laure
Strategic human resource management researchers have strongly advocated a system perspective and provided considerable evidence that certain systems of human resource practices have a significant impact on individual and organizational performance. Yet, challenges of understanding the construct of human resource systems still remain in the literature. Specifically, few efforts have been made to explicate the internal fit in human resource systems referring to how the practices in human resource systems work together. For the purpose of clarifying human resource systems construct, we review the components of human resource systems and delineate how the parts of human resource systems work together to influence employee performance. Theoretical and empirical implications for future research are also discussed.
All you need is … resources: The effects of justice and support on burnout and turnover
(SAGE Journals, 2013-02-04) Campbell, Nathanael S.; Perry, Sara J.; Maertz, Carl P. Jr; Allen, David G.; Griffeth, Rodger W.
We propose and test a comprehensive model of burnout, as influenced by justice and support, and as it impacts the turnover process. Deriving our conceptual model from conservation of resources theory, augmented by several domain-specific theories, we investigate three forms of justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice) and two sources of support (from organizations and supervisors) as they influence the development of three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished accomplishment) and subsequent forms of attitudinal withdrawal (organizational commitment and turnover intentions) and behavioral withdrawal (turnover). In a study of 343 social workers, our theoretical path model was well-supported, providing increased understanding of the distinct roles of each form of justice and support in the development of burnout and the subsequent turnover process. Theoretical contributions and implications in the areas of justice, burnout, and turnover are discussed.
When Does Virtuality Really “Work”? Examining the Role of Work–Family and Virtuality in Social Loafing
(SAGE Journals, 2013-02-19) Perry, Sara J.; Lorinkova, Natalia M.; Hunter, Emily M.; Hubbard, Abigail; McMahon, J. Timothy
We sought to clarify the relationship between virtuality and social loafing by exploring two work–family moderators—family responsibility and dissimilarity in terms of family responsibility—and two mediators—cohesion and psychological obligation—in two studies. We expected that “busy teams” (i.e., comprising similar individuals with many family responsibilities) would exhibit the strongest positive virtuality–social loafing relationship, and teams comprising similar individuals with few family responsibilities would experience a weaker virtuality–social loafing relationship. We expected that individuals working with dissimilar others would report consistently high levels of social loafing regardless of virtuality. Furthermore, we expected cohesion and psychological obligation to one’s teammates would mediate these effects. Similar individuals in teams indeed exhibited different virtuality–social loafing relationships in both studies, suggesting that the flexibility provided by virtuality might be more effective in teams comprising similar people with few family responsibilities. Study 2 further revealed that cohesion and obligation may mediate these effects, such that high levels of these mediators were associated with low levels of social loafing in similar teams comprising people with few family responsibilities. We discuss contributions to the virtual work and social loafing literatures, as well as the work–family and team literatures. We also suggest several specific actions managers can take on the basis of these findings, including for employees with few versus many family responsibilities.
A Mediated Moderation Model of Recruiting Socially and Environmentally Responsible Job Applicants
(Wiley Online Library, 2013-03-11) Gully, Stanley M.; Phillips, Jean M.; Castellano, William G.; Han, Kyongji; Kim, Andrea
Socially and environmentally responsible organizations must attend to the fit of employees with the values of the organization. Recruiting practices are a key tool for ensuring fit with an organization's culture and values. We develop and test a model of the process through which recruitment information about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values differentially affect job seeker perceived fit, attraction, and job pursuit intentions depending on job seekers’ desire to have a significant impact through work. Our model of mediated moderation is tested with a sample of 339 actual job seekers using conditional process modeling and nonlinear bootstrapping techniques. Results support expectations that advertisement messages about an organization's social and environmental responsibility values interact with applicants’ desire to have a significant impact through work to influence job pursuit intentions through the hypothesized mediational process. Implications of the model for research on recruitment and organizational social and environmental responsibility are discussed.
Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and outcomes for employees and the organization
(Elsevier, 2013-04) Hunter, Emily M.; Neubert, Mitchell J.; Perry, Sara J.; Witt, L. A.; Penney, Lisa M.; Weinberger, Evan
Despite widespread adoption of servant leadership, we are only beginning to understand its true utility across multiple organizational levels. Our purpose was to test the relationship between personality, servant leadership, and critical follower and organizational outcomes. Using a social influence framework, we proposed that leader agreeableness and extraversion affect follower perceptions of servant leadership. In turn, servant leaders ignite a cycle of service by role-modeling servant behavior that is then mirrored through coworker helping behavior and high-quality customer service, as well as reciprocated through decreased withdrawal. Using a multilevel, multi-source model, we surveyed 224 stores of a U.S. retail organization, including 425 followers, 110 store managers, and 40 regional managers. Leader agreeableness was positively and extraversion was negatively related to servant leadership, which was associated with decreased follower turnover intentions and disengagement. At the group-level, service climate mediated the effects of servant leadership on follower turnover intentions, helping and sales behavior.
Political skill as a moderator of the relationship between subordinate perceptions of interactional justice and supervisor ratings of interpersonal facilitation
(Emerald Insight, 2013-10-21) Treadway, Darren C.; Witt, L. A.; Stoner, Jason; Perry, Sara J.; Shaughnessy, Brooke A.
Purpose: Based on social exchange theory and the norm of reciprocity, interactional justice has been proposed to be an important construct in explaining individual performance. However, meta-analytic results have noted the relationship is modest at best. The present study extends the understanding of the justice-performance relationship by empirically examining how interactional justice and political skill interactively influence contextual job performance. Focusing on interpersonal aspects of justice and performance, the paper proposes that the existence of interactional justice will only lead to improvements in interpersonally facilitative behavior if employees recognize this situation as an opportunity to invest their skill-related assets into the organization. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: Integrating research on political skill with social exchange theory, the current study contends that interactional justice stemming from the supervisor will likely lead to employees feeling obligated and/or wanting to help, cooperate, and consider others in the workplace. However, only employees with political skill will be able to recognize the conditions and act appropriately on these conditions. As such, this paper investigates the moderating role of political skill in the interactional justice-performance relationship. The paper used multi-source survey methodology and applied hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses. Findings: Results from 189 respondents indicated that interactional justice was more strongly related to supervisor-rated interpersonal facilitation when employees possessed higher levels of political skill. This suggests that when both interactional justice and political skill are high, the potential for interpersonal facilitation is also high. Conversely, when one or both are low, interpersonal facilitation is less likely. Originality/value: Previous articulations and evaluations of the relationship between interactional justice, political skill, and interpersonal facilitation have omitted either situational determinants of motivation or individual differences in job-related skills. With the current study, the paper sought to address these omissions by exploring the interactive effects of interactional justice and political skill on interpersonal facilitation.
The Waiter Spit in My Soup! Antecedents of Customer-Directed Counterproductive Work Behavior
(Taylor & Francis Online, 2014-07-10) Penney, Lisa M.; Hunter, Emily M.
Although researchers have explored organizational and insider targets of counterproductive work behavior (CWB), no studies to date have examined customers as targets. The current study aimed to test a model of antecedents to CWB unique to service worker experiences, including customer stressors, emotional dissonance, and emotional exhaustion. We tested our model with 438 restaurant and bar employees. Results demonstrated that customer stressors were more strongly correlated with customer-directed CWB than with interpersonal or organizational CWB, and customer stressors had direct and indirect effects on customer-directed CWB through experiences of emotional dissonance and exhaustion.
The Team Descriptive Index (TDI): A Multidimensional Scaling Approach for Team Description
(Academy of Management, 2014-08-27) Lee, Stephanie M.; Koopman, Joel; Hollenbeck, John R.; Wang, Linda C.; Lanaj, Klodiana
The literature on teams is filled with many alternative team type taxonomies, and the persistence of so many conflicting taxonomies serves as evidence for the lack of consensus in the field about how to describe and differentiate teams in any standardized way. This paper presents the Team Descriptive Index (TDI) as an approach for rigorous team description based upon the Three-Dimensional Team Scaling Model (3DTSM) developed by Hollenbeck, Beersma, and Schouten (Academy of Management Review, 37, 92–106). The use of a continuous scaling approach to team description eliminates the need for researchers to force the teams they study into discrete categorical types that, more often than not, fail accurately to capture their nature in a precise way. We report the results of five different studies that provide construct validation evidence for a set of standardized measures for the 3DTSM with diverse samples that reflect the wide variety of contexts in which teams are studied.
Multilevel Influences on Voluntary Workplace Green Behavior: Individual Differences, Leader Behavior, and Coworker Advocacy
(SAGE Journals, 2014-09-02) Kim, Andrea; Kim, Youngsang; Han, Kyongji; Jackson, Susan E.; Ployhart, Robert E.
Drawing on a multilevel model of motivation in work groups and a functionalist perspective of citizenship and socially responsible behaviors, we developed and tested a multilevel model of voluntary workplace green behavior that explicates some of the reasons why employees voluntarily engage in green behavior at work. For a sample of 325 office workers organized into 80 work groups in three firms, we found that conscientiousness and moral reflectiveness were associated with the voluntary workplace green behavior of group leaders and individual group members. Furthermore, we found a direct relationship between leader green behavior and the green behavior of individual subordinates as well as an indirect relationship mediated by green advocacy within work groups. Our theory and findings shed new light on the psychological and social conditions and processes that shape voluntary workplace green behavior in organizational settings and suggest implications for organizations striving to improve their social responsibility and environmental sustainability.
When Is Empowerment Effective? The Role of Leader-Leader Exchange in Empowering Leadership, Cynicism, and Time Theft
(SAGE Journals, 2014-11-26) Lorinkova, Natalia M.; Perry, Sara J.
Applying arguments from social exchange theory, we theoretically derive and empirically test a multilevel model that informs theory on leadership, cynicism, and deviant withdrawal. Namely, we examine the moderating effect of the upward exchange relationship of a leader on empowering leadership behaviors as they affect subordinate psychological empowerment, cynicism, and time theft. In a sample of 161 employees across 37 direct supervisors, empowering leadership was associated with reduced employee cynicism both directly and indirectly through employee psychological empowerment. The positive relationship between empowering leadership and employee psychological empowerment, however, was significant only when the leader enjoyed a high-quality relationship with his or her own boss. In turn, cynicism was associated with increased time theft, suggesting that employees may reciprocate frustrating experiences by withdrawing in minor, yet impactful and deviant, ways in efforts to balance their exchange with the organization.

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