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Drawing on activation theory, this paper aims to examine the process through which abusive supervision influences job-oriented constructive deviance (JCD) in the hospitality industry.

Data are collected from 198 employees working with 34 supervisors, at three time points across four hotel groups in Macau. The instantaneous indirect effect and moderated curvilinear effect using established measures are tested.

First, abusive supervision was positively associated with hotel employees’ job dissatisfaction and their job dissatisfaction had an inverted curvilinear effect on JCD. Second, job dissatisfaction nonlinearly mediated the impact of abusive supervision on JCD. Third, high problem-focused coping decelerated the diminishing benefits of job dissatisfaction on JCD.

First, organizations should accept employees’ constructive deviance but suppress managers’ abusive supervision. Second, organizations need to improve employees’ problem-focused coping skills and channel job dissatisfaction into constructive and active behaviors.

Theoretically, the authors test a nonlinearly mediating and moderated curvilinear model and address the research concern on whether, why and how service employees decide to engage in positive deviant behaviors when encountering abusive supervision. Practically, the authors avoid concluding that moderate levels of abusive supervision can promote positive employee behaviors and refrain from justification of abusive supervision in the hospitality context.

Reports a study of female executives (n = 30) working in the public sector in Hong Kong. The research captures a set of organisational practices in transition: from a colonial to a post‐colonial setting, and from a bureaucracy that offered jobs for life to one that offers them on contract terms. The concept of career motivation is explored in the study through three dimensions of career resilience, career insight, and career identity. Overall, younger executives (n = 19) had higher levels of career motivation and were striving to attain additional responsibility and authority in work assignments, while senior executives (n = 11) were concerned with holding on to their previous accomplishments and competence in their occupational role. Moreover, the more ambiguity and uncertainty existing in the government office, the lesser the levels of career motivation. The results and their implications for future studies of career motivation are discussed.

This paper examines the career experience of Chinese male and female managers in an emerging socialist market economy. The paper is based on research carried out in a range of Chinese state‐owned enterprises. It explores managers’ attitudes toward their careers as a result of changes in enterprise governance, which limit promotion opportunities and reduce job security. In particular, this study investigates gender differences in coping strategies, when career expectations have been frustrated. The results and their implications for future studies of career experience are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of interpersonal conflict on team performance.

The paper takes the form of a qualitative study in which a total of 40 executives were interviewed who represented employees working in various Chinese organizations.

The paper finds causes of conflicts including a demanding boss, inconsistency between word and deed, and in‐group favouritism. The conflict‐resolving strategies were categorized as avoidance and cooperative. No competitive or confrontational strategies were adopted. Avoidance strategies involved deference to authority, giving face and maintaining harmony, whereas cooperative strategies involved building trust.

Avoidance strategies discourage open communication and clarification, which further suppresses hidden conflicts. This leads to forbearance and the suppression of personal goals in pursuit of a superficial harmonious yet conflicting relationship. In contrast, cooperative strategies have much to offer. However, adopting a cooperative strategy can have both a positive and a negative effect on a team's performance. On the positive side, trust is an essential component in cooperation that promotes synergistic relationships. On the negative side, it induces low conflict efficacy among employees, because they feel obliged to identify with the boss's goals and values, and be faithful.

On an individual level, failing to comply with differences and relational contracts can be perceived as a personal deficiency, and these attributions can adversely affect employees' short‐term career prospects and long‐term career development. On an organization level, interpersonal conflict can result in higher rates of turnover and absenteeism, and time can be lost owing to angry emotional reactions that in turn translate into financial losses.

The current study explored the dynamics of sexuality that are embodied in secretaries’ work experiences. The study found that sexuality infused the process for recruitment, selection, and personnel development in organisations, but it made a distinction between junior and senior secretaries. The study also revealed that the boss‐secretary relation was linked to Chinese cultural values and traditions, especially those associated with filial piety and respect for authority. The boss‐secretary relation remained personal, but the Confucian ethic governed and guided the behaviour within the relationships. Secretaries accepted the “patriarchal right” and were deferential and compliant to meet men’s professional and personal demands. In respect to the boss‐secretary relation, the male boss might be a soft father, a demanding master, or a peer‐like friend with some overlapping qualities. Father‐daughter discourse was the most visible aspect of structural domination. Limitations and implications for future study are discussed.

Male expatriate spouses represent a surprisingly under‐researched area, especially given the crucial importance of spousal support to ensure successful expatriate assignments and the increasing trends of both dual‐career couples and female business expatriates. To somewhat alleviate this deficiency, 46 Western female business expatriates assigned to Hong Kong responded to a mail survey. Almost half of them were married and accompanied by their husbands. The tentative results of this highly exploratory study seem to indicate that, although moderated somewhat by respondents’ perceived adequacy of the extent of corporate support, companies generally failed to support male expatriate spouses. Unfortunately, this main finding does not contradict results of what little previous research there is on the subject. This can be regarded as an early warning sign to international firms trying to globalize, since there is no reason to believe that the escalating trend of women assigned abroad will not continue, given the rising demand for business expatriates. Internationalizing firms need to introduce more corporate support for male expatriate spouses, before reluctance to act in this respect may block their global expansion.

This study examines the relationship between domain‐based life satisfaction (LS) and subjective well‐being (SWB) as well as the role of spiritual well‐being as a moderator. Domains of LS include family cohesion, social connectedness, career success, and self‐esteem.

A survey was completed by 145 full‐time Hong Kong Chinese employees working in a variety of jobs and organizations.

Multiple regression analyses show that career success, social connectedness, and self‐esteem are associated with both psychological and physical well‐being. Spiritual well‐being moderated the relationship between career success and psychological well‐being. The relationship is stronger for low than for high spirituality.

All data were self‐reported and collected at one point in time. Thus, common method variance may be an issue and causal inferences are not warranted.

Domain‐specific LS and spiritual well‐being appear to be related to employees' well‐being. Managers and human resources professionals may need to adopt a more holistic approach to staff development.

The current study indicates that domain‐specific LS improves the explanation of variations in well‐being. Implications of these findings, the limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore coping strategies of female business expatriates and to examine how these strategies are associated with the women's international adjustment.

Data were collected through mail surveys to western female business expatriates in Hong Kong regarding their coping strategies and adjustment.

As predicted, the results showed that the female expatriates more often used problem focused than symptom focused coping strategies. Surprisingly, there was no association between problem focused coping strategies and socio‐cultural adjustment. However, as expected, symptom focused coping strategies were negatively related to adjusting in socio‐cultural terms. As presumed, there was no relationship between any of the coping strategies and psychological adjustment.

The special contextual circumstances in Hong Kong could have contributed to the unanticipated findings that there was no association between problem focused coping strategies and any type of adjustment studied. Through cross‐cultural training, female business expatriates could benefit from being informed that applying symptom focused coping strategies may make them less well adjusted to a host location.

Women still represent a relatively untapped source for expatriation and the research on female business expatriates is still inadequate in many respects. An important issue examined by this study is how women cope with the stress of international assignments and how that may affect their international adjustment.

Few studies have delved into career management issues of women on foreign assignments, especially compared to male expatriates. Therefore, a large‐scale mail survey was directed towards Western female and male business expatriates in the same host location. Controlling for the effects of differences in the demographic background of the gender groups, we found that female business expatriates could less often meet their career goals within their corporation than their male counterparts. There was also a tentative indication that women may regard their expatriation as a less useful career move than men. Implications of these findings for globalizing firms, female executives and future research are discussed.

Despite an increasing demand for international executives, only the most determined women may get assigned abroad. Will this resolve for a career abroad also help them to become successful in their foreign assignment? To answer this question, Western female business expatriates in Hong Kong responded to a mail survey about their expatriate career intentions and their international adjustment. Controlling for the time they had been assigned to Hong Kong, the results show that the more determined the women are to pursue an expatriate career, the better is their interaction adjustment. This is a fundamental finding, as both the other two dimensions of sociocultural adjustment, general adjustment and work adjustment, are based on interpersonal interactions. Implications of these findings for globalizing firms as well as for their female employees are discussed.