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The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between three conflict types, cognitive task conflict, emotional relationship conflict and emotional task conflict, and team effectiveness (team performance and team job satisfaction).

The authors conducted a group-level ordinary least square regression analysis of 61 working teams to investigate the study variables, and possible interaction effects among them. In an auxiliary analysis (36 teams), they analyzed the role of mood dimensions (hedonic valence and general conflict activation) as mediators to the relationship between cognitive task conflict and team effectiveness.

Cognitive task conflict was negatively related to team performance, emotional relationship conflict was negatively related to team job satisfaction and emotional task conflict was positively related to team performance, all controlled for the effect of each other. The relationship between cognitive task conflict and team job satisfaction was negatively moderated by team size. Mood valence mediated the relationship between cognitive task conflict and team performance, and between cognitive task conflict and team job satisfaction.

Several possible research lines emanate from the current field study. First of all, the authors suggest that emotional task conflict may be of particular interest, as this is hypothesized and found to be incrementally positively related to team performance. Second, their auxiliary study of the mediating effect of mood valence on the relationship between cognitive task conflict and performance may spur curiosity concerning the role of mood as a mediator of the relationship between task or cognitive conflicts and team effectiveness.

The practitioner should be advised to try to facilitate the distribution of intragroup conflict in their teams in the direction of an increased level of emotional task conflict (positive for performance) at the expense of cognitive task conflict (negative for performance) and emotional relationship conflict (negative for satisfaction). The practitioner should allow intragroup conflicts to be highly activated (intense), as long as the interactions are strictly directed to the task in hand, and not being personal. In addition, a positive mood in teams may significantly strengthen the team's resilience against adverse consequences of conflicts.

The three conflict types in this three-dimensional intragroup conflict model (3IC) have never been tested before, and the findings open for a conflict type – emotional task conflict – that may generally be conducive for the teams’ performance, evaluated by the teams’ supervisors. This is a conflict type where people simultaneously are emotional and yet task oriented. To the authors’ knowledge, this is a novelty, and they hope that it may encourage further research on this conflict type.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether leader self-efficacy and leader role ambiguity are related to follower leader-member exchange (LMX). In addition, the authors examine whether the relationship between follower LMX and turnover intention will be mediated by need satisfaction.

Data were collected using an electronic survey tool filled out by 109 leaders and 696 followers.

Leader role ambiguity was positively related to an economic LMX relationship and negatively related to a social LMX relationship. Furthermore, the links between social and economic LMX relationships and turnover intention were mediated by satisfaction of the needs for autonomy and relatedness.

The main limitation of the study is the cross-sectional nature of the data from the followers.

Provided that the findings are generalizable organizations should provide role clarification initiatives to leaders with high role ambiguity.

Despite the centrality of role theory in the development of LMX theory, prior research has not investigated whether the extent to which leaders perceive that they meet the expectations of their leadership roles affects followers’ perception of LMX relationships.

In this paper, the authors aim to present a novel methodological tool – necessary condition analysis (NCA) to aid managerial psychology researchers in properly testing necessity statements.

The authors employ NCA to analyze whether three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are necessary for work engagement.

The authors illustrate the value and application of NCA by revealing that basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness are necessary for work engagement, as proposed by self-determination theory (SDT).

The authors illustrate the importance of the sufficiency-necessity distinction and the relevance of a necessity logic in managerial psychology. They also discuss NCA's methodological implications for managerial psychology research, theory and practice.

Research has demonstrated that political skill is associated with leadership effectiveness. However, the field still lacks understanding of how political skill makes leaders more effective. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the political skill literature by investigating a specific mechanism through which political skill may relate to follower commitment.

The study population was drawn from 148 supervisors and 988 subordinates from top, middle and operational levels in the business organizations.

Structural equation model analysis showed that political skill was positively related to Participation in decision making (PDM) and PDM was positively related to organizational commitment (OC). Furthermore, political skill indirectly predicted OC via PDM. In addition, the direct relationship between political skill and OC was not significant, suggesting “full” mediation. Finally, politically skilled leaders’ desire to encourage followers to participate in decision making was amplified by their ability to build strong, beneficial alliances and coalitions, resulting in increased social capital and even greater influence.

Involving subordinates in decision processes is likely to inspire trust and confidence, promote credibility, help develop a favorable relationship with the leader and enhance pride of participation in the organization.

The findings in the present study are of great importance for future research on political skill. It may change the approach for testing the validity of the theory by focusing on influence tactics. This approach will, in the authors’ view, constitute the future research avenue for research on political skill.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize social leader-member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader-member exchange (ELMX) as two separate dimensions of leader-member exchange, and examines how intrinsic work motivation moderates their relationship with follower work effort.

Data were obtained from 352 employee-leader dyads from the public health sector in Norway (response rate=61.9 percent). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test the relationship between subordinate rated SLMX and ELMX relationships and leader ratings of work effort.

This study replicates prior research showing that SLMX is positively related and ELMX negatively related to followers’ work effort. A significant interaction between SLMX and intrinsic motivation is also revealed, suggesting that SLMX relationships are important with respect to work effort for followers who exhibit lower levels of intrinsic work motivation.

The data were cross-sectional, thus prohibiting causal inferences.

SLMX relationships may be particularly important for the work effort of followers low in intrinsic motivation. Leaders may draw on this finding and seek to aid the development of the relationship by means of relationship-oriented behaviors.

Given the importance of maximizing the performance of all the followers, a better understanding of the conditions under which SLMX and ELMX relationships relate to work effort is particularly important. The present study advances knowledge on SLMX and ELMX relationships by demonstrating how intrinsic motivation moderates how SLMX and ELMX relationships relate to follower work effort.

The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between performance appraisal (PA) reactions and employee outcomes in terms of affective organizational commitment and work performance.

The paper presents the results of a cross‐sectional survey of 803 employees from three organizations located in Norway. The survey was conducted in 2005.

The findings reveal that perceived helpfulness of PA was directly related to affective commitment. The relationship between perceived helpfulness of PA and work performance was significant only for employees reporting high levels of perceived regular feedback.

The two most important limitations, which are discussed in more detail at the end of the paper, are the cross‐sectional nature of the study and the reliance on self‐reported questionnaire data.

The positive relationship between PA reactions and affective organizational commitment highlights the importance of positive PA reactions. At the same time, the relationship between PA reactions and work performance was moderated by regular feedback, which suggests that formal PA cannot compensate for low levels of regular feedback.

Future studies could apply longitudinal research designs and supervisor‐ or peer‐ratings of work performance.

The finding of a positive relationship between PA reactions and work performance only for employees who experience that they receive high levels of regular or day‐to‐day feedback.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting is moderated by social leader-member exchange (SLMX) and economic leader-member exchange (ELMX).

Data were obtained from 227 employee-leader dyads from four Norwegian organizations. Hierarchical moderated regression was used to test the hypotheses.

Even though the authors observed a positive relationship between employees’ knowledge donating and managers’ knowledge collecting, the moderation analysis revealed a positive relationship only for high levels of SLMX relationships.

The data were cross-sectional, thus prohibiting causal inferences.

SLMX relationships may be particularly important for the facilitation of knowledge exchange. Managers may draw on this finding to develop their relationships with employees by means of relationship-oriented behaviors.

Given the importance of knowledge-sharing processes, a better understanding of the conditions under which knowledge donating related to knowledge collecting is particularly important. The present study advances knowledge on SLMX and ELMX relationships by demonstrating how SLMX moderates the association between knowledge donating and knowledge collecting.

The purpose of this study was to test the relationship between intrinsic motivation and work performance among individuals from a broad cross‐section of job types among public employees with the objectives of contributing to self‐determination theory and assisting public management practice and research.

Respondents were drawn from three municipalities located in Norway. A questionnaire was distributed to 2,015 employees through a web‐based tool (Questback), which resulted in complete data from 779 workers, representing a response rate of approximately 39 per cent.

The findings suggest that the relationships between job autonomy and work performance and task interdependence and work performance are partly mediated by intrinsic motivation, while the relationship between supervisor support for autonomy, competence, and development and work performance is fully mediated by intrinsic motivation.

The two most important limitations, which are discussed in more detail at the end of the paper, are the cross‐sectional nature of the study and the reliance on self‐reported questionnaire data.

The results support self‐determination theory and suggest that public and private sector managers should pay more attention to autonomy‐supportive work environments.

First, a recent review of self‐determination theory casts doubt on the performance implications of intrinsic motivation for less complex or interesting tasks. Thus, in order to increase our knowledge of the quality of self‐determination theory as a work motivation theory, empirical research that spans a broad cross‐section of jobs and functions in organisations is needed. Second, and despite the importance of motivation among public employees in an era of transformation to a more business‐oriented approach, there is little empirical research on public sector employee motivation.

This is a special issue introduction on cross-cultural and comparative diversity management (DM). The purpose of this paper is to present five articles that explore and examine some of the complexities of equality and DM in various countries around the world.

In this introductory paper, the authors provide an overview and the current state of literature on comparative research on equality and diversity. The authors also gathered a list of indices that is helpful as secondary data for informing comparative and cross-national research in this domain.

To date, comparative work involving two or more countries is scarce with Canada/USA comparisons first appearing in the 1990s, followed by other groupings of countries a decade later. Existing comparative work has started to uncover the dialectics of voluntary and mandated action: both complement each other, although the order in which they appear vary from context to context. This work also acknowledges that there are varying degrees of intensity in the way that legislations may constrain employer action in encouraging a more diverse workforce, and that there is more than a binary choice between blind equality of rights (identity blind) and quota-based policies (affirmative action) available to decision makers.

The comparative nature of these papers allows the reader to compare and contrast the different approaches to the adoption and implementation of DM. The authors also draw attention to several areas in cross-cultural DM research that have been understudied and deserve attention.

Mastery goals and intrinsic motivation have separately been found to predict employee turnover and turnover intention, respectively. The purpose of the present study was to examine their relative and combined influence on turnover intention in terms of a direct model and a moderated model.

A cross‐sectional survey was conducted among employees representing more than 400 organizations from a wide range of industrial sectors. The theoretical or subject scope of the paper was to integrate motivational antecedents for employee turnover.

When assessed jointly, intrinsic motivation was the strongest predictor of turnover intention. Mastery‐approach goals were positively related to turnover intention, but this relationship was moderated by intrinsic motivation. The relationship between mastery‐approach goals and turnover intention was only positive for employees low in intrinsic motivation.

The two most important limitations are the cross‐sectional nature of the study and the reliance on self‐reported questionnaire data. Consequently, experimental and/or longitudinal studies are needed to examine causality issues.

The results suggest that intrinsic motivation holds a salient role for predicting turnover intention. For managers and organizations, then, emphasis should be placed on facilitating work environments supportive of intrinsic motivation in order to maintain employees' turnover intention at low levels.

The most interesting finding is that intrinsic motivation held a substantially stronger relationship with turnover intention than that of mastery‐approach goals. In addition, support for the buffering role of intrinsic motivation was found, as mastery‐approach goals were unrelated to turnover intention when intrinsic motivation was high.