This study investigates the influence of perceived organizational support (POS) on employees’ intentions to recommend their employer or leave the organization. Based on social exchange theory, it explores how POS affects employee well-being and shapes behaviors such as loyalty and advocacy. An online survey gathered data from 604 French employees across various sectors, analyzing variables like POS, positive and negative well-being, and intentions to leave or recommend the employer. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships among these variables and to test the mediating role of well-being. Results show that POS positively influences employee well-being. High POS is associated with improved positive well-being, which decreases the intention to leave and increases the intention to recommend. Similarly, reduced negative well-being linked to high POS lowers the desire to leave and lessens negative effects on recommendation intentions. The study confirms the mediating role of well-being between POS and employee intentions. The study provides new insights into the impact of POS on employee intentions by highlighting the pathways of positive and negative well-being. For human resource practices, strengthening POS is essential to boost employee retention and encourage positive behaviors, thereby enhancing the organization’s reputation and attractiveness.

This study explores what kinds of moral potency profiles can be identified among three different samples: Top sports, Leaders, and Followers. Based on the social norm theory, we examine whether and how the experienced strength of ethical organizational culture is associated with the probability to be identified into different moral potency profiles. Based on ratings of 188 top sport representatives, 237 leaders and their 202 followers, a person-centered approach was used to identify three moral potency profiles: morally hesitant, moderate moral potency, and morally confident. A fourth profile was identified based on the followers’ evaluations of their leaders: morally void. Low evaluations of ethical culture increased the likelihood of being classified into the morally hesitant profile. As the followers were somewhat more critical in evaluating their leaders’ moral potency than the leaders themselves, our findings highlight the value of including other-rated indicators when examining moral actions within organizations.

Leader–member exchange (LMX), a well-researched leadership theory that focuses on the dyadic relationships between leaders and subordinates, is associated with positive subordinates’ outcomes. However, the contexts outside the LMX dyadic relationship might influence those favorable outcomes. In this study, we investigate the cross-level moderating effect of leader’s feelings of violation, as a contextual boundary, on LMX outcomes. Based on social exchange theory, crossover model, and the psychological contract literature, we discuss how the relationship between a subordinate’s perceived LMX and favorable subordinate attitudes and behaviors, such as performance, task-focused citizenship behaviors, and organizational commitment, is reduced when the leader experiences feelings of violation toward the organization. Using a three-wave time-lagged multilevel design with a sample of 226 subordinates and 39 leaders, we find that leader’s feelings of violation mitigate the positive association of perceived LMX on citizenship behavior and commitment but have no effect on performance. Research and practical implications are discussed.

Previous literature generally acknowledged that leader inclusiveness has positive effects on employee voice. However, emerging research and practice commentary highlight the importance of considering the potential dark side of leader inclusiveness on employee voice. This study examines the dual-path mechanism by which leader inclusiveness influences employee voice through perceived autonomy and cognitive dependence and investigates the moderating role of performance-prove goal orientation within this dynamic. Based on data from 286 independent leader–subordinate dyads working in China, we find that leader inclusiveness can promote employee voice by increasing perceived autonomy, and hinder employee voice by increasing cognitive dependence. Furthermore, performance-prove goal orientation weakens the positive indirect effect of leader inclusiveness on voice via perceived autonomy and strengthens the negative indirect effect of leader inclusiveness on voice via cognitive dependence. These findings contribute to a better understanding of how leader inclusiveness affects employee voice behavior through dual pathways and its boundary conditions.

Board of directors (BOD) bring valuable human and relational capital to firms but may act as self-interested agents by design. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the compensation of BOD members in high-technology sectors affects overall firm performance. We tested our specific hypotheses using panel regression methodology on data gathered from the CRSP, Compustat, BoardEx, and ExecuComp databases. Our final sample consisted of 9,127 firm years, and the companies in our sample were all high-tech publicly traded U.S. firms from 1992 to 2019. Our results showed that there is an association between BOD’s pay structure and firm performance (accounting-based return on assets and market-based Tobin’s Q). Our findings demonstrate originality and contribute to the literature since we empirically demonstrate that the level of variable BOD pay has a diminishing effect on return on assets and Tobin’s Q. This study advances our knowledge of executive compensation in the high technology sector.

This study provides a holistic approach to the potential drivers of corporate environmental policy. Institutional and/or stakeholder theories are used to explain any influence on this type of policy in situations with different characteristics. Specifically, the analysis considers country-, industry-, and firm-level determinants of an international sample of listed companies. Exploratory factor analysis was first applied to the variables at the country level because their underlying interrelationships were unknown. Using ordered probit models clustered at the firm level, we found that some environmental characteristics of a country and some macro-level variables considered together affect corporate environmental policy, along with pressure from industry peers. Moreover, we observed that companies with better policies for stakeholders, greater board independence, and greater gender diversity tended to develop better environmental policies. This study offers insight into fostering environmental responsibility through policy incentives and effective corporate governance structures.

Until now the research has mainly examined visible abusive supervision, like aggression and violence, but it’s unclear how subtle forms, such as gaslighting, impact victims. Gaslighting, an emotionally and psychologically manipulative form of abuse, is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in contemporary times. Based on the conservation of resources theory, we examined how supervisory gaslighting affects job embeddedness directly and indirectly through work motivation. We also explored how coworker support moderates the gaslighting-work motivation link. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the two-wave time-lagged data from 337 Chinese hotel employees. The results show the negative direct and indirect effects of gaslighting, and coworker support moderates the negative link between gaslighting and work motivation. Hotel organizations should exercise caution when hiring supervisors to prevent gaslighting, which can undermine employee motivation and job embeddedness. This study also recommends raising awareness among employees to speak out against supervisors’ gaslighting behavior.

Drawing on resource-based and agency theories, this study examines the effects of business concentration and ownership structure on business group performance. On the basis of panel data (2004–2018) from the top 100 Taiwanese business groups investing globally, this study finds an S-shaped relationship between business concentration and business group performance with the interaction of advantages and costs at different levels. Performance increases when there is little business concentration, decreases when there is a moderate amount and increases again when there is a high level of business concentration. In addition, this study hypothesizes that ownership structure has a different moderating effect on this relationship. The family business group has a positive moderating effect; however, outsider direct and manager ownership have no significant moderating role. These findings have important theoretical and managerial implications for business groups.

Fostering employees’ innovative work behavior (EIB) has become one of the most important tasks of leaders. Although numerous studies have investigated the relationship between leadership and EIB, it is still unclear which specific leader behaviors promote EIB. Previous research has focused on leadership in terms of broad, non-innovation-specific leadership styles. Behavioral sub-factors have been neglected, and prioritization according to the importance of individual behaviors is still lacking. To address these issues, we identify innovation-specific leader behaviors and analyze which behaviors are best suited to increase EIB. To explain the relationship between the respective leader behaviors and EIB, we rely on the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) framework and distinguish between ability-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity-enhancing leadership behaviors. Our empirical analyzes are based on data from 1214 German employees. Our findings reveal that motivation- and opportunity-enhancing leadership behaviors foster EIB, with certain innovation-specific behaviors being particularly important for EIB. Building on our results, we provide guidelines for innovation-specific leadership.

This study employs social cognitive theory to examine the dynamics of ethical climate, environmental passion, and low-carbon behaviours among Malaysian public servants based on data from 407 employees across 37 departments. Although ethical climate did not have a direct impact on low-carbon behaviour, a significant association with environmental passion was observed. Additionally, environmental passion exhibited a noteworthy relationship with low-carbon behaviour, and emerged as a mediator between ethical climate and low-carbon behaviour, with green mindfulness moderating this relationship. These findings underscore the importance of nurturing environmental passion and green mindfulness to promote low-carbon behaviour among employees and aid organisations in addressing environmental challenges. By addressing these empirical gaps, this study contributes to the literature on low-carbon behaviour and offers both theoretical insights and practical implications for sustainability initiatives.

The current study examined how happiness is affected by optimism, self-efficacy, and occupational compromise (OC), among young workers (aged 20–30 years) in the post-Covid-19 pandemic period. A sample of 211 young people (aged 20–30 years) who were currently or formerly employed participated in the study. The research findings indicate negative correlations between (a) the optimism and self-efficacy of the employees to their OC and (b) between their OC to their sense of happiness. In addition, as hypothesized, positive correlations were found between (a) feelings of optimism and self-efficacy to the degree of happiness and (b) between optimism and self-efficacy. Finally, the study tested a mediation model that indicated optimism as a mediating variable in the relationships of self-efficacy and OC with happiness. In light of these findings, several conclusions emerged from the study. First, according to general trends in the Israeli economy, even among young workers, who make up the new generation of workers in the post-Covid-19 period, there is a reduction in the degree of OC in order to achieve happiness. But this depends on several personality elements, such as their feelings of optimism and self-efficacy. Second, in accordance with the mediation model tested in the study, it seems that optimism has a central role in enhancing happiness among young workers in the post-Covid-19 era, at the beginning of their career path. Eventually, it appears that the reduced OC and elevated happiness among young workers in the post-pandemic period, has the potential to shape the future job market as filled with content employees that can also improve their organizations’ economic output.

Access to heterogeneous knowledge resources is suggested in the literature as an important explanation of firm innovation and performance. The exchange of knowledge, however, can be a complex managerial challenge, especially between different epistemic communities. Our research focuses on the concept of epistemic communities to illuminate the complexity of tensions that arise in heterogeneous knowledge exchange in alliances, thus filling a gap in the literature. Using the Straussian grounded theory case study approach, our research investigates the emergence of horizontal, vertical, and inter-organizational epistemic tensions and explores management controls as instruments to guide the knowledge exchange in intermediary-driven research and development alliances. We find that the source of multiple epistemic tensions is rooted in the natural social behaviors of epistemic community members and further shows how these behaviors influence the effective use of inter-organizational management controls in facilitating heterogeneous knowledge exchange.

Successful employment outcomes are often beyond the reach of people with disabilities, but relatively little is known about the factors that best enable the achievement of this goal. Using survey data from 803 people with and without disabilities, we examine the association of eight factors with successful employment outcomes. Using regression tree analysis, five factors emerged as statistically significant predictors of successful employment outcomes for people with disabilities: corporate culture and climate, job characteristics, government support, employer attitudes, and societal attitudes. Key interrelationships between factors include: (1) government support linking with corporate culture and climate; and (2) job characteristics linking with corporate culture and climate. Findings are relevant to organisations and governments to inform policy and practice to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.

In this special issue titled ‘Sustainability and SMEs: Opening the black box’, we compile eight articles that dissect the multifaceted relationship between small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and sustainability. This special issue promoted interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the design, management, organisation, and reporting of sustainable actions in the context of SMEs. Stemming from the need to apply different theoretical and analytical lenses to the study of sustainability in SMEs than in large corporations, each paper provides unique insights into the formal and informal approaches, drivers, barriers, and enablers of sustainable practices in SMEs. The collection not only furthers the dialogue on the role of SMEs in sustainable development but also paves the way for future research directions and practical applications in this dynamic and still underexplored field.

The attention-based view contends that executives possess limited attentional capabilities that must be carefully allocated across different strategic issues. Although many scholars contend that narrow strategic attention breadth leads to better performance, others argue that broad strategic attention breadth may be more beneficial due to better opportunity scanning. We posit that the relationship between strategic attention breadth and performance will be inverted U-shaped, where strategic attention breadth is positively related to firm performance up to an optimal point, after which firms will see declining benefits due to executive cognitive overload. Furthermore, we propose that executives’ assessment of strategic opportunities will be influenced by the firm’s corporate social responsibility perspective, as the firm’s environmental and ethical commitment may mitigate executive blind spots and enhance opportunity selection. We support our hypotheses with multiple measures of firm performance and a content analysis of annual reports corresponding to a 5-year longitudinal sample of 2,245 S&P 500 firms.

Learning orientation emphasizes the importance of learning from any experience. It is grounded on commitment to learn, shared vision, open‐mindedness, and knowledge sharing. Organizational knowledge management literature based on social complexity theory posits that learning orientation makes companies generate new knowledge through spontaneous multi-level iterations and self-organization. Challenges related to the current business environment requires companies to constantly adjust to remain competitive. Still, the mechanisms making learning-oriented companies more capable to develop innovative product have been scantly explored. Pertinent literature actually conjectures this relationship as spontaneous, directed, and unmediated. Moreover, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)rarely represent the context of analysis of research on this topic. Frequently lacking resources to systematically pursue product innovation, SMEs rely on solutions deriving from the combination of internal knowledge and external sources; thus, these companies depend on learning orientation principles to remain innovative. In this vein, the research aims to understand how learning orientation allows product innovation in SMEs through the achievement of strategic flexibility. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse data from 300 British SMEs. The results demonstrate the mediating role of strategic flexibility in the relationships between learning orientation and product innovation. The importance of innovation culture also emerged.

While employees actively seek out workplaces that offer meaningful work experiences, the concept of meaningful work remains notably underexplored within the turnover literature. The present study addresses this gap by examining the role of work meaningfulness among knowledge workers and its direct and indirect effects on turnover intentions and job satisfaction through the lens of self-determination theory. Our findings show significant effects on turnover intentions and job satisfaction, with work meaningfulness emerging as a stronger predictor of job satisfaction, while still contributing to reducing turnover intentions. Most extant literature focuses on sources and ways to enhance work meaningfulness. We contribute to more recent research on its relationship with its outcomes especially the link with turnover intentions, offering insight into a relationship that has produced few, but conflicting,results.

While unethical acts are common in the business world, we know little about how employees react when they observe coworkers caught engaging in unethical behavior. This is both theoretically and practically relevant, given that many supervisors take unethical behavior in the workplace very seriously. Drawing on appraisal theory, we argue that observing a coworker caught engaging in unethical behavior elicits feelings of schadenfreude. Then, this positive feeling spills over to a separate task and enhances performance. Finally, we suggest that trait empathy can weaken this effect because individuals with high trait empathy are more likely to understand the motivations of the person caught. Across two studies, our results showed that perpetrators getting caught increased schadenfreude among observers, which then increased their subsequent task performance. However, trait empathy did not significantly affect these results. Our work contributes to the literature on unethical behavior and emotions in the workplace.