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The impact of future time orientation on employees’ feedback-seeking behavior from supervisors and co-workers: The mediating role of psychological ownership

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2015

Jing Qian ,
Xiaosong Lin ,
Zhuo R. Han ,
Bowen Tian ,
George Z. Chen  and
Haiwan Wang
Jing Qian
Affiliation:
Department of Human Resource Management, Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Xiaosong Lin*
Affiliation:
School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
Zhuo R. Han
Affiliation:
Beijing Key Lab of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Bowen Tian
Affiliation:
Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
George Z. Chen
Affiliation:
Research School of Management, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Haiwan Wang
Affiliation:
Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
*
Corresponding author: xiaosong.lin@xmu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Future time orientation is essential if an employee is to be motivated to conduct activities that generate long-term rather than immediate gain, and which may involve risk. Given that feedback seeking requires the employee to slow down and seek input, it is surprising that little is known about the relationship between future time orientation and feedback seeking. Drawing upon psychological ownership theory and construal-level theory, we hypothesized a positive influence of future time orientation on feedback seeking from various sources (i.e., supervisors and co-workers). We also hypothesized job-based psychological ownership as a newly identified motive of feedback seeking and employed it to explain how future time orientation exerts influences. Tested with data from a sample of 228 subordinate–supervisor dyads from China, the results revealed that (1) future time orientation was positively related to feedback seeking from supervisors and co-workers and (2) job-based psychology ownership mediated the relationship between future time orientation and feedback seeking.

Keywords

feedback seekingfeedback sourcefuture time orientationpsychological ownership
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , May 2015 , pp. 336 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2015 

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