Juncheng Zhang, Wendelien van Eerde, Josette M.P. Gevers and Weichun Zhu
The purpose of this paper is to examine how temporal leadership relates to employee innovative job performance through pro-social rule breaking for efficiency (PSRB_E) and vigor…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how temporal leadership relates to employee innovative job performance through pro-social rule breaking for efficiency (PSRB_E) and vigor. As such, it draws from both motivational and affective perspectives to investigate the way in which leaders manage employees' time to boost employee innovation at work.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a two-source survey with coworker dyads from multiple organizations in China. Two hundred and three focal employees rated temporal leadership, time pressure and vigor. Each focal employee was rated by a coworker on PSRB_E and innovative job performance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping techniques are used to examine the hypothesized relationships with the R package for latent variable analysis (i.e. lavaan).
Findings
The results suggest that temporal leadership positively relates to employees' innovative job performance through the mediations of their PRSB_E and vigor, respectively.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first that sought to understand the effect of temporal leadership on employee innovative job performance. It also casts light upon the motivational and affective mechanisms underlying such a linkage.
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Keywords
H.J. Christian van der Krift, Arjan J. van Weele and Josette M.P. Gevers
This study aims to propose a tool for conceptualizing and operationalizing perceptual distance in client-contractor collaborations: the perceptual distance monitor (PDM). This…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a tool for conceptualizing and operationalizing perceptual distance in client-contractor collaborations: the perceptual distance monitor (PDM). This paper explains how this monitor was developed and used to examine the impact of perceptual distance on project outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper developed the PDM by gathering quantitative survey data from client and contractor representatives. Structural equation modeling tested the predictive validity of perceptual distance on project outcomes.
Findings
The PDM enables a valid and reliable assessment of the perceptual distance between client and contractor in projects. Moreover, the PDM shows that project outcomes suffer if parties have different perceptions of project objectives, project managers’ competences and the level of trust in the collaboration. These findings confirm the predictive validity of the PDM.
Research limitations/implications
The study builds on survey data representing dyadic perceptions from 38 measurements in collaborative projects. This paper may not have identified all the effects of perceptual distance on project outcomes, as the analyses were conducted at the project level. This research underlines the importance of gathering dyadic data for studies in interorganizational settings.
Practical implications
Perceptual distance can be expected between clients and contractors, and higher perceptual distance is generally associated with lower project outcomes. Using the PDM, project managers can concretize, discuss and monitor this perceptual distance over time. The PDM provides project managers with a useful tool to prevent the escalation of conflicts and project failure.
Originality/value
Based on agency theory and social identity theory, this study provides a unique and validated conceptualization and operationalization of perceptual distance between client and contractor in interorganizational collaborations and supply chains.
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Josette M.P. Gevers and Evangelia Demerouti
This study aims to examine supervisors' temporal reminders and subordinates' pacing style as they relate to employees' absorption in work tasks, and subsequently creativity.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine supervisors' temporal reminders and subordinates' pacing style as they relate to employees' absorption in work tasks, and subsequently creativity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved a weekly diary study among 32 employees of an IT‐development department of a large multinational. An initial questionnaire measured employees' pacing style and their perceptions of supervisors' temporal reminders, after which participants completed a weekly survey for four consecutive weeks to report on their levels of task absorption and creativity.
Findings
Whereas supervisors' temporal reminders related positively with task absorption for individuals who scored high rather than low on the deadline action pacing style, they related negatively to task absorption for those high rather than low on the steady action and the U‐shaped action pacing styles. Moreover, task absorption fluctuated consistently with individual creativity.
Research limitations/implications
The way individuals allocate efforts over time is not only related to the resources they invest in activities but also to their creativity.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that creativity requires that employees find the time and space to fully immerse in their work. Supervisors can facilitate this process by customizing their leadership practices to individual differences in time use.
Social implications
In an increasingly time‐pressured corporate society, an effective management of temporal strategies is important to ensure sustained employee well‐being as well as the quality of products in terms of creative solutions.
Originality/value
This study is the first to show that supervisors' temporal reminders relate positively to task absorption, and subsequent creativity levels, but only for specific pacing styles.
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Josette M. P. Gevers, Boudewijn A. Driedonks, Mariann Jelinek and Arjan J. van Weele
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceptions of team performance and teamwork processes relate to functional diversity appropriateness perceptions (FDAP), that is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how perceptions of team performance and teamwork processes relate to functional diversity appropriateness perceptions (FDAP), that is, whether one believes that the right functions are represented in a team. Thereby, the authors distinguish between perceptions of team managers and team members.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involved a cross-sectional survey study among 48 sourcing teams from 12 multinational companies, all from different industries.
Findings
Members’ and managers’ congruent perceptions of performance showed differential relationships with their perceptions of the team’s functional diversity appropriateness. For managers, perceptions of team performance and functional diversity appropriateness were directly and positively related. For team members, this relationship was moderated by teamwork behavior. Moreover, unlike team members, purchasing managers did not consider functionally diverse teams to be more suitable for executing sourcing tasks.
Research limitations/implications
This study identified teamwork behavior as a critical element for explaining the differences in FDAP of members and managers of sourcing teams.
Practical implications
Rather than homogenizing team structures, managers should stimulate good teamwork behavior that allows for an the integration of interests and insights from different functional areas.
Originality/value
This study adds to functional diversity literature as well as perceptual distance literature by revealing how different team effectiveness criteria shape managers’ and members’ perceptions of functional diversity appropriateness.
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Josette M.P Gevers, Christel G Rutte and Wendelien van Eerde
This chapter addresses how project teams achieve coordinated action, given the diversity in how team members may perceive and value time. Although synchronization of task…
Abstract
This chapter addresses how project teams achieve coordinated action, given the diversity in how team members may perceive and value time. Although synchronization of task activities may occur spontaneously through the nonconscious process of entrainment, some work conditions demand that team members pay greater conscious attention to time to coordinate their efforts. We propose that shared cognitions on time – the agreement among team members on the appropriate temporal approach to their collective task – will contribute to the coordination of team members’ actions, particularly in circumstances where nonconscious synchronization of action patterns is unlikely. We suggest that project teams may establish shared cognitions on time through goal setting, temporal planning, and temporal reflexivity.