Research on sharing positives at work-including workplace capitalization, self-promotion, and pride displays-has converged on important insights about the benefits and detriments of supervisors sharing their successes, abilities, and other performance-related attainments. Beyond this realm of capitalizing on their performance excellence, supervisors also have interests in capitalizing on their moral excellence. However, sharing their personal involvement in facilitating positive moral events at work-supervisor self-focused moral capitalization-has the distinct potential to morally elevate their employees but also make uniquely distasteful impressions. Indeed, calling attention to one's own morality can convey a holier-than-thou image, marred by self-superiority, virtue signaling, and disingenuousness. Accordingly, we theorize how and why supervisors' self-focused moral capitalization may invite employee moral elevation-feeling uplifted by a supervisor's moral purity-but also its oppositional counterpart, employee disgust, feeling repulsed by a supervisor's moral impurity. Drawing on theory regarding moral emotions, we unpack this tension and important countervailing implications for employee citizenship behavior. We also theorize that supervisors can tip employee outcomes toward moral elevation and improved citizenship-and away from disgust and diminished citizenship-by sharing the spotlight, specifically as they capitalize on others' involvement in positive moral events. In a field study of 254 supervisor-employee dyads and an experiment involving 233 employees, we found that supervisor self-focused moral capitalization was positively related to employee moral elevation and, in turn, increased citizenship. However, for supervisors who engaged in less other-focused moral capitalization, supervisor self-focused moral capitalization instead triggered employee disgust and decreased citizenship behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Employment selection is a significant contributor to poorer employment outcomes for autistic individuals. However, the impact of conventional employment selection tools on autistic applicants is poorly understood, including the preemployment personality test. Drawing upon the realistic accuracy model and the HEXACO model of personality, we investigated contributors to measurement bias (i.e., noninvariance) and adverse impact (i.e., mean differences) against autistic individuals in self-report personality measures, which preemployment personality tests typically use. Participants in a multinational sample (N = 49,912) completed one of several language versions of the HEXACO-100. We then created a matched subsample (N = 2,898) equally comprised of formally diagnosed autistic individuals, self-identified autistic individuals, and allistic (i.e., nonautistic) individuals matched across several individual differences. Our findings suggested that preemployment personality tests may disadvantage both formally diagnosed and self-identified autistic individuals, not due to measurement noninvariance, but because of substantial mean trait differences likely leading to adverse impact, particularly with the traits of extraversion and conscientiousness. We largely replicated these findings across subsamples by regions of residence and a supplemental sample from the same platform, which also linked extraversion and conscientiousness with employment status. While we are not calling for a stoppage in the use of these tests, there is a need to evaluate how they are used in selection contexts to ensure fairness for autistic individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Many organizations express concern over the gender composition of their workforce. Interventions designed to encourage gender parity are, however, more common than they are successful. We argue that one of the reasons for continued gender disparity is greater male variability. The notion that males of many species, including humans, have more variance in many characteristics than do females is well-known among biologists and ecologists, but its importance for the gender makeup of the workforce is not appreciated. In the present article, we use simulation to show that when variables with greater male variability are used as selection tools, women end up being underrepresented. Moreover, selection systems with particular (and not uncommon) attributes result in a workforce that is not only mostly male but also inferior with regard to expected job performance. We suggest solutions that lessen the impact of greater male variability on selection-related decisions. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for gender disparities in promotion and career progression, the gender wage gap, and other related topics. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
During organizational entry, informal communication plays a critical role in newcomer socialization. One common yet underexamined form of informal communication is the receipt of workplace gossip from coworkers. Existing evidence, though limited, has highlighted the null or detrimental effects of receiving gossip on newcomers. In contrast, our research challenges this view by proposing that receiving gossip can also play a functional role in socialization but uncovering this potential requires moving beyond the predominant focus on gossip frequency to consider the content of the gossip itself. To this end, we develop a content-based functional perspective, proposing that the qualitative attributes of received gossip-specifically, work-relatedness, truthfulness, and interestingness-underpin its informational and relational functions during socialization. We tested our theoretical model using a 12-week experience-sampling study conducted over newcomers' first 3 months of organizational entry, involving 168 newcomers and 1,741 weekly observations. The results largely supported our hypotheses, showing that, above and beyond the frequency of gossip received, the three attributes of gossip content enhanced newcomers' norm clarity and social integration. In turn, norm clarity increased task proficiency, while social integration improved affective commitment. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
In contrast to prior research demonstrating that blue light filtering glasses worn at night improve employee sleep and work outcomes, we build from circadian theory to examine whether morning blue light exposure may provide complementary benefits. A within-person field experiment prompted 182 full-time employees to wear blue light emitting glasses for 30 min each morning over two work weeks. Participants were randomly assigned to a treatment-first or control-first condition, with glasses programmed to emit either 100% (treatment) or 1% (control) blue light intensity. Results showed that morning blue light exposure improved sleep outcomes later that night, which enhanced next-day alertness, reduced depletion, and ultimately improved outcomes at work. Exploratory moderation analyses showed that employees with preexisting sleep problems and younger employees experienced greater benefits from blue light exposure in the morning, translating to meaningful improvements in work outcomes. This study provides evidence for a comprehensive 24-hr approach to light-dependent circadian regulation in workplace contexts. Additionally, it suggests that using blue light emitting glasses represents a simple, cost-effective intervention that organizations can implement to support employee performance, particularly for younger workers and those with existing sleep difficulties. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
We revisit MacKenzie et al.'s (2005) influential work on bias in path estimates arising from the misspecification of formative latent variable models as reflective ones. Using simulations, we demonstrate that the bias in unstandardized path coefficients reported by MacKenzie et al. is due to scaling differences rather than model misspecification. When these differences are taken into account, the bias nearly disappears. Building on their work, we also demonstrate that the formative indicators in their model are unnecessary. This is because the formative latent variables derive their identity from the reflective indicators added for model identification. Removing one or even all formative indicators is inconsequential for estimating the paths between latent variables. Our study reveals a fundamental problem with this approach: Formative latent variables (whether first or higher order) cannot represent psychological concepts as intended because their identity derives from downstream reflective indicators rather than the formative indicators. We conclude by discussing the implications for measurement and index construction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Organizations are increasingly leveraging internal mobility, the transfer of employees across teams within the organization, to enhance workforce flexibility and meet staffing demands. While prior research highlights the organizational benefits of internal mobility, knowledge remains limited about the process through which transferred employees (i.e., internal movers) successfully integrate into their new context, a critical step for realizing those benefits. Drawing on social and human capital theory, we examine how movers' preexisting new team social capital (preentry relationships), accumulated firm human capital (prior internal mobility experience), and transferable former team human capital (prominence in the former team) shape the integration process. Using longitudinal email communication data and internal mobility records from a health care company, we find that movers with preentry relationships in their new teams exhibit higher initial levels of integration, whereas those with more internal mobility experience or greater prominence in their former teams integrate more rapidly over time. Our findings underscore the importance of considering both pre- and postentry dynamics over time to adequately manage how different forms of capital support the successful integration of internal movers into a new team. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Temporal focus is the degree to which individuals' attention is directed toward the past, present, or future. Although prior research has underscored the importance of these dimensions, two areas require further exploration: the nature of temporal focus from a state perspective and how the dimensions of state temporal focus operate as an integrated set (Levasseur et al., 2020; Shipp, 2020; Shipp et al., 2022). Our research addresses both these issues by providing new insights into the dynamic nature of state-level temporal focus profiles and their implications for workplace behaviors. Utilizing multilevel latent profile analysis, we conducted two multiweek daily experience sampling methodology studies with full-time employees. In Study 1 (n = 162), we identify six distinct latent profiles and show that employees' membership in these profiles fluctuates across workdays. In Study 2 (n = 263), we replicate these results and identify one additional profile. Further, in Study 2, we find that daily fluctuation in profile membership is shaped by morning expectations about time affluence, time control, and economic mindsets. We also show that profile membership is associated with daily workplace outcomes, including task performance, collaboration, and withdrawal behavior. By demonstrating the variability and impact of state-level temporal focus profiles, this research advances our understanding of temporal focus in organizational contexts and sets the stage for future research in this area. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
While prior research has established that negative gossip can reinforce behavioral norms by deterring inappropriate conduct, these findings have largely been limited to the individual level. Accordingly, it remains unclear how gossip influences team norms at the team level-specifically, whether it continues to reinforce team norms against inappropriate conduct, as suggested by individual-level findings, or instead may backfire to erode such norms. Integrating the social network perspective with behavioral regulation theory, we propose competing hypotheses about how team-level gossip shapes proscriptive team norms, which serve to deter harmful behaviors that team members should not engage in: a norm-reinforcing effect and a norm-eroding effect. We conceptualize team-level gossip through both its prevalence (network density) and its distribution (network reciprocity and centralization). We further propose that gossip prevalence and distribution interact in predicting proscriptive team norms. We conducted a multiwave, multisource, round-robin study of 104 work teams with 1,344 team members and 104 supervisors. Contrary to the norm-reinforcing effect commonly shown in individual-level studies, our findings support a norm-eroding effect at the team level. Specifically, gossip density was associated with weakened proscriptive team norms, which in turn predicted increased proscription-based behavior-namely, team counterproductive work behavior. Furthermore, this norm-eroding effect of gossip density on team norms and counterproductive work behavior was amplified in teams with higher levels of gossip reciprocity or lower levels of gossip centralization. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
The Israel-Hamas war is a protracted high-strength event, marked by peaks of conflict and sustained tension, that tests how leaders function in a context with competing national interests, moral strain, and wide-reaching human and political consequences. Guided by event system theory and ethics of care leadership (ECL), we track how members of the Israeli Knesset express their leadership during this conflict. We analyze 5.2 million words spoken by 152 legislators across 140 Knesset plenary sessions over 16 months. Using natural language processing, we score and classify 4,143 discursive policy suggestions as constructive (repair oriented) or combative (zero sum). We find that (a) expression of ECL is associated with a higher likelihood of constructive suggestions, (b) women express more ECL than men, and (c) men's care expression rises during peak-strength months, narrowing-but not eliminating-the gender gap in ECL. These findings position ECL expression as both a stable orientation and a context-responsive discursive behavior, clarifying who is most likely to express ECL and when constructive suggestions are likely to emerge as event strength fluctuates. Results advance event system theory by specifying a morally grounded ECL response in high-strength contexts, and they inform practice by identifying care-led discourse as a lever for constructive policy during volatile times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Prevailing theories suggest that workplace needs are allocated by matching specific problems to specific coworkers-either by approaching those best suited to address a given issue or by approaching others based on interpersonal relationships and affect. Yet, in most workplaces, coworkers can identify a particular employee who seems to function as the "go-to" person across people and problems, a pattern that is difficult to explain through careful matching alone. Our work addresses this puzzle by examining how such roles can heuristically emerge and become concentrated on certain employees. Drawing on qualitative data, we argue that workplace go-tos can be a byproduct of repeated, everyday help-seeking decisions in which reliance on decision shortcuts leads some employees to become the disproportionate answer when coworkers ask themselves, "Who can help me with this?" Integrating research on heuristics in decision making, we propose that coworkers often rely on an imitate-the-successful shortcut, substituting the complex judgment of who is best positioned to help with the simpler question, "Who does the boss go to?" Over repeated decisions, this process may bias selection toward employees with strong leader-member exchange relationships, inadvertently casting them as go-tos. We argue that while this concentration of reliance should facilitate performance, it also creates conditions that wear employees down. We test these predictions across three studies-an experiment, a vignette-based decision task, and a field study with employee-coworker-supervisor triads. Our work introduces a new lens for understanding how important roles may emerge through cue-based, heuristic processes and complicates assumptions about the uniformly positive consequences of high-leader-member exchange relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Drawing on role transition theory, we examine the effects of project success-failure experiences on the development of leader mindsets and subsequent team performance outcomes, comparing different career transition and nontransition periods: (a) the transition from education to work, (b) the transition into a first formal leadership role, and (c) the nontransition period between these transitions. Using a decade-long field study of 132 team leaders in an East Asian fashion design company, we find that project success-failure experiences during the transition from education to work strongly predict the development of leaders' regulatory focus mindsets. Specifically, project success fosters a promotion focus mindset, while project failure fosters a prevention focus mindset. These mindsets, in turn, predict team outcomes: a promotion focus mindset enhances team creativity, while a prevention focus mindset improves routine performance. However, project success-failure experiences during the transition into a first leadership role do not exhibit similar effects. We discuss contributions to the leader development literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Despite growing evidence that family life spills over into the workplace, little is known about how family rituals relate to employee behaviors at work. Drawing on interaction ritual chains theory, we develop a dual pathway-moderated mediation model linking family rituals to employee change-oriented behaviors. We propose that family rituals are positively associated with employee change-oriented behaviors via the resource pathway (emotional resources and vigor at work) but negatively associated with them via the motivation pathway (family identity salience and family motivation). Additionally, employees' need for social inclusion strengthened both mediation pathways. Results from a multisource, time-lagged survey of 465 employees and 240 supervisors supported our model. We discussed theoretical implications for the literature on family rituals and change-oriented behaviors, as well as practical implications for organizations and managers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Relational demography research focuses on how status differences among dissimilar team members influence their interactions. Team diversity research focuses on the performance of diverse teams. We integrate these two bodies of work to change the way in which team diversity is conceptualized by explicitly considering the relative status of members of diverse teams as well as the attributes of the status hierarchy within those teams. Team members' social identity management strategies-their ways of dealing with status differences-affect the likelihood that team processes engender information elaboration, thus affecting team performance. We elucidate why status has an impact on team processes (a) due to the implications of the strategies team members use to gain and maintain status and (b) as a consequence of the proportion of lower and higher status members in the team. In conjunction with explicating our model, we discuss the efficacy of moderators of the relationship between team diversity and performance as well as implications for research on faultlines. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Paid sick and family leave policies provide employees the right to request paid time-off for personal illness or family demands. Yet, they can be underutilized, and their effects show mixed results. Research has underaddressed the disconnect between formal and informal work-family support, clarifying the role of supervisors as contextual resources supporting paid leave. Integrating research on job demands-resources theory, family supportive supervisory behaviors, and work-family policies, we evaluated training designed to increase supervisors' leave supportive supervisor behaviors (LSSB), defined as supervisor behaviors perceived as encouraging employees to access, use, and value paid leave as a resource for managing nonwork time-off demands. We conducted a 6-month field study at two U.S. universities, with random assignment to training (N = 293 managers, 630 employees), and wait-list control conditions (N = 252 managers, 293 employees). The intervention included voluntary online training, behavior self-monitoring, and a webinar. Compared to the control organization, employees in the trained organization reported higher LSSB, greater family leave use, higher job satisfaction, and stronger organizational commitment. Results showed that the intervention was more beneficial for women (higher commitment), employees with childcare demands (higher job satisfaction, improved general health, higher sick leave use), and sandwiched (both child and older adult/elder) caregivers (higher job satisfaction). Post hoc longitudinal analyses identified that the intervention increased supervisors' role modeling behaviors, which predicted higher employee job satisfaction and LSSB. We provide future implications on the criticality of pairing supervisor training with paid leave to strengthen supervisor support as a contextual resource to improve policy use, health, and work outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Despite the expansion of research on leadership behaviors (LBs) over the past decades, this field faces challenges related to construct redundancy, which impedes theoretical integration and empirical accumulation. To address this issue, we conducted two complementary studies to systematically examine a six-category taxonomy of LBs (i.e., task-oriented, relational-oriented, change-oriented, value-based and moral, passive, and destructive LBs, collectively referred to as the TRCVPD taxonomy), which maps diverse LBs onto a unified framework. In Study 1, we compiled a database comprising measurement items from 48 LBs scales and leveraged large language models and subject-matter experts to assess whether measurement items of previously unclassified LBs semantically corresponded to the theoretical definitions of the TRCVPD taxonomy of LBs. Specifically, we were able to semantically match 41 of the 48 LBs to the TRCVPD taxonomy. Based on the findings of Study 1, Study 2 conducted a comprehensive second-order meta-analysis, synthesizing 109 meta-analyses based on more than 6 million participants. In particular, we evaluated the nomological network of the six LBs by meta-analytically estimating their relations with antecedents and outcomes. In addition, we used dominance analyses to further compare the relative importance of each LB category in explaining leadership outcomes. Together, these two studies present integrative findings that offer an overarching theoretical framework and empirical foundation for understanding the taxonomy and nomological structure of LBs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Applicant faking on self-report personality measures has long been a concern. One method that might be more resistant to faking is open-ended personality assessments. Guided by a new framework of open-ended faking behavior, we investigated how faking emerges in open-ended personality assessments. Additionally, we examined an alternative form of faking: artificial intelligence (AI)-generated responses. Results showed that elaborate responding (i.e., effortful crafting of narratives, Cohen's d = .29) and selective information management (i.e., promoting positive information while withholding negative information, d = .72) were higher in faked than honest conditions and that individuals with higher trait levels were more capable of producing elaborate responses and providing favorable information under motivated conditions. When faking, scores increased more on Likert self-reports (d¯ = .65) than on open-ended personality scores (d¯ = .26) derived via natural language processing, though when trained to predict human ratings rather than honest Likert scores natural language processing scores were more susceptible to faking (d¯ = .63). Training sample configuration also influenced psychometric properties, such that training on a mixed sample of honest and motivated responses yielded the best results. Finally, AI-generated responses (fully synthetic and human-AI hybrid) received scores that varied considerably across models, though they typically were higher than human scores. However, a customized algorithm accurately differentiated human from AI responses with near-perfect accuracy (across seven large language models and for humans using AI), with only a 1% false positive rate. Collectively, these findings suggest that open-ended personality assessments, when paired with natural language processing scoring, have potential to offer a scalable, more faking-resistant approach to personality assessment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Leader gratitude expressions are widely viewed as a powerful tool to build relationships with and foster the well-being of followers. The present research moves beyond the impact of that gratitude to address whether and how leader gratitude spreads beyond immediate subordinates to influence others throughout the organizational hierarchy. Existing perspectives suggest that leader behaviors may spread via behavioral imitation or emotional contagion, yet gratitude-an appraisal-dependent emotion-likely requires distinct cognitive processes to propagate. Integrating gratitude research with social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978), we propose a novel pathway of gratitude trickle-down effects, grateful attention, defined as the allocation of attention toward gratitude-inducing stimuli in the workplace, including interpersonal and environmental cues. We argue that witnessing leader gratitude expressions shapes followers' attentional deployment, increasing followers' recognition of benefaction events and promoting their own gratitude expressions, which subsequently improves the quality of their relationships with coworkers. Across two preregistered field studies and a preregistered yoked experimental causal chain study, we competitively test grateful attention alongside social learning (leader emulation) and emotional contagion (felt gratitude). Results consistently demonstrate that grateful attention uniquely transmits the cascading effects of leader gratitude expressions beyond traditional behavioral and emotional explanations. These findings advance theory by identifying an information processing function of gratitude and clarify how leader gratitude expressions can catalyze the spread of gratitude throughout organizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Recently, supervised machine learning models served as alternatives to humans for scoring open-ended assessments, including employment interviews. More recently, large language models (LLMs) emerged as alternative raters that do not require task-specific training data. However, interview evaluation design considerations have predominantly been conceptualized for human raters, and thus, it is unclear whether the psychometric benefits of interview evaluation best practices generalize to LLM raters. Additionally, LLM raters introduce novel evaluation design decisions that could be psychometrically consequential. We investigated the effects of several LLM rater evaluation practices-specifically, prompt design, model selection, hyperparameters, and number of interviewers-on the LLM interview scores' psychometric properties in two interview data sets. In the first, interviewee Big Five personality traits were evaluated (N = 954). In the second, interviewees' question responses were evaluated on the targeted construct on Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (N = 144). We then investigated the LLM scores' intrarater reliabilities, test-retest correlations, convergent, discriminant, and criterion evidence of validity, group differences, and measurement bias. We compared this evidence, when possible, to the same evidence for human raters and supervised machine learning models. The results suggest that ensembles of larger, newer LLMs using prompts with detailed construct information hold potential for scoring employment interviews with psychometric properties comparable to or superior to supervised machine learning models and single human raters. We detail the reasons that organizations may want to be cautious in adopting LLMs for scoring high-stakes open-ended assessments, but since organizations have already begun adopting them, we also offer best practice recommendations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Research on interpersonal emotion regulation has illuminated how leaders can use four interpersonal emotion management (IEM) strategies-situation modification, cognitive change, attentional deployment, and modulating the emotional response-to help regulate subordinates' emotions and manage their work outcomes. However, this literature remains theoretically incomplete, because it has largely examined these strategies in isolation, overlooking the extent to which they coexist and interact in shaping subordinates' attributions and behaviors. To address this limitation, we adopt a person-centered approach to examine how leaders combine IEM strategies in distinct dyadic patterns (i.e., profiles) within leader-subordinate relationships. Drawing on the social role framework of interpersonal affect regulation and attribution theory, we further investigate the antecedents and outcomes of these patterns. Across four studies, we identify five stable dyadic IEM patterns-adaptive, moderate, inactive, pragmatic, and moderate-pragmatic-with the first four patterns emerging consistently across all four studies, and all five patterns emerging in three of the studies. We find these patterns are distinguished by dyadic-level leader IEM motives (i.e., coaching, compassion, and instrumentality motives) and are associated with distinct subordinate behavioral responses, such as organizational citizenship behavior and interaction avoidance toward the leader. Given the widely acknowledged prevalence and significance of emotions in the workplace, these findings have vital implications for theory and practice on IEM within organizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
