Existing research assumes that supervisors invariably feel bad after engaging in abusive behaviors. We challenge this assumption by proposing that supervisors’ motives of abusive supervision shape their post-abuse experiences. Drawing on the social interactionist theory of aggression and theories of self-regulation, we suggest that instrumental (or goal-driven) abusive behaviors provide a temporary sense of fulfillment, whereas spontaneous (or reactive, emotionally-driven) abusive behaviors diminish need satisfaction and foster negative outcomes. Using an exploratory study and an event-contingent experiencing sampling study, we found that supervisors may justify their abuse with effecting compliance motives when subordinates perform poorly, which fulfills task achievement needs and increases next-day work engagement. Similarly, supervisors may also justify their abuse with identity maintenance motives when subordinates are disrespectful, thus enhancing social identity needs and next-day organizational-based self-esteem. We also found that when supervisors justify their abusive behaviors with spontaneous motives (i.e., depletion and negative affect), it has negative implications for need satisfaction and outcomes. Lastly, we highlight supervisor’s psychological power as a boundary condition of these effects. All told, our findings indicate that, at the within-person level, supervisors’ daily motives for abusive behaviors matter, given that certain motives actually yield short-term benefits for supervisors.

Drawing from the affect theory of social exchange (Lawler, 2001) and regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 2012), we theorized when and how challenge and hindrance stressors, representing favorable and unfavorable social exchanges between employees and the organization, respectively, relate to employee performance. In Study 1, we used a weekly experience sampling methodology to collect 12-week diary data from 107 North American workers. Results showed that "emotional uplifts"-upshifts in positive affect (PA) coupled with downshifts in negative affect (NA)-mediated the relationship between challenge stressors and task performance, whereas "emotional downs"-downshifts in PA coupled with upshifts in NA-mediated the relationship between hindrance stressors and task performance, but not the relationship between hindrance stressors and instigated incivility. In Study 2, we collected 3-week, twice-daily experience sampling methodology data from 78 Chinese employees, and our results replicated and expanded Study 1 findings. Further, we found that employees' state promotion focus strengthened the relationship between challenge stressors and PA upshift-NA downshift and the indirect relationships of challenge stressors with task performance and interpersonal helping via PA upshift-NA downshift. Our findings contribute to the understanding of employees' dynamic affect and behavioral regulation during daily and weekly encounters with work stressors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

To date, studies of supervisor depletion have predominantly examined its negative effects on supervisor- and subordinate-related outcomes. However, not all supervisors necessarily respond to feeling depleted in the same way. Scenically, we suggest that supervisors with varying power distance orientations will respond to depletion differently, such that low power distance-oriented supervisors will exhibit participative leadership when depleted whereas high power distance-oriented supervisors will exhibit laissez-faire leadership when depleted. Increases in supervisors' daily participative leadership will in turn be associated with increases in subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior, whereas increases in supervisors' daily laissezfaire leadership will be associated with increases in subordinates' counterproductive work behavior. We tested our predictions via an experience sampling study of supervisor-subordinate dyads who completed daily morning and afternoon surveys over a two-week period.

Who is perceived as a leader? Traditional theories of leader categorization have primarily emphasized observable behaviors as the key basis for making this judgment. However, a growing body of research shows that perceivers rely on a broader set of cues-beyond behavior alone-that differentially shape leadership attributions. To integrate these perspectives, we present a comprehensive review of how multiple-and sometimes competing-cues are perceived, interpreted, and activated as traits in the leader categorization process. To explain when and why certain cues are attended to while others are overlooked, we draw on a previously overlooked body of research on cue properties, illustrating how characteristics such as cue availability, discriminability, salience, and accessibility influence leadership perceptions. We further demonstrate how cue properties can shift over time by distinguishing cues in terms of their dynamism, with important implications for leader re-categorization. We conclude by offering directions for future research, practical recommendations for individuals seeking to be perceived as leaders, and suggestions for improving leader selection. Our review suggests that recognizing differences among cues and unpacking the process of cue integration is critical for the advancement of leader categorization research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Previous research has highlighted the benefits followers gain from their leaders' initiating structure and consideration. Adopting a leader-centric perspective, we propose that leaders' gender influences the impact of these behaviors for leaders themselves. Drawing from conservation of resources and gender role theories, we explain why gender-role-inconsistent leader behaviors (behaviors that go against gender stereotypes, such as initiating structure for women and consideration for men) is detrimental, while engaging in gender-role-consistent leader behaviors (such as initiating structure for men and consideration for women) is beneficial. We further theorize that follower support mitigates the negative effects of gender-role-inconsistent behaviors. We tested our hypotheses across four studies-an experience sampling field study (Study 1) and three experiments (Studies 2 through 4). Study 1 revealed initiating structure for women leaders elicited gender stereotype threat, which depleted women leaders. This resulted in increased work withdrawal and reduced initiating structure and consideration the next day. Study 1 also showed that initiating structure and consideration increased both men and women leaders' perceived leader effectiveness, which, in turn, increased their work engagement, further increasing their initiating structure and consideration the next day. Study 2 replicated these results, and Studies 3 and 4 showed that follower support mitigated the depletion effects of gender stereotype threat by initiating structure for women leaders. Our research highlights the benefits and detriments of leader behaviors and identifies how followers can alleviate the costs associated with initiating structure for women leaders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

The PCMT model of organizational support conceptualizes organizational support as consisting of four forms that differ in terms of their perceived target and ascribed motive. Across six studies (n = 1,853), we create and validate a psychometrically reliable scale that captures these four forms of organizational support, as well as offer a theoretical advancement to the organizational support literature. In particular, the first five studies involve content validation; assessment of factor analytic structure; tests of test-retest reliability and measurement invariance; and establishment of discriminant, convergent, and predictive validity. The final study involves deployment of the validated, 24-item scale in the field and illustrates that the four different forms of organizational support differentially predict the discrete dimensions of job burnout, the effects of which spillover and crossover into the home domain. This investigation thus offers both empirical and theoretical contributions. Empirically, we provide applied psychologists with an instrument for measuring the four forms of organizational support, enabling the emergence of new lines of research. Theoretically, we illustrate that the content and characteristics associated with the different forms of organizational support are important considerations as conceptual alignment between the type of organizational support perceived and the well-being outcome under study enhances the support's predictive validity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The power to ignite change in organizations does not rest solely with managers—it can also stem from employees. Employee voice, the upward communication of change-related information, can be a powerful catalyst for inspiring managers to be transformational. To examine how this process unfolds, we utilize the transmission model of inspiration as a theoretical foundation for identifying when and for whom employee voice inspires managers to exhibit change-oriented behavior. Using experience sampling (Study 1) and critical incident (Study 2) methods, we find that employee promotive voice evokes manager inspiration, which in turn motivates managers to enact transformational behavior. In contrast, prohibitive voice, by itself, is not associated with managers’ inspiration and transformational behavior. However, manager trait construal level serves as a critical boundary condition. Managers with a higher-level construal are more likely to be inspired by prohibitive voice because they are more likely to recognize the potential value of such voice, approach it with great interest, and link it to organizational goals. Our study extends knowledge on the consequences of voice by elucidating its impact on managers’ transformational behavior and addresses a critical gap in leadership research by spotlighting the influence that followers have on leaders.

Extant research demonstrates the destructive nature of authoritarian leadership in the workplace, yet its widespread use suggests that a more balanced view of this leadership style may be needed to identify whether this form of leadership engenders favorable reactions in specific circumstances. Integrating insights from appraisal theory and the compensatory control model, we posit that authoritarian leadership can evoke anxiety among employees in less disruptive settings, whereas it evokes feelings of awe in highly disruptive contexts. These anxiety and awe reactions then influence employees' downstream leader-focused behaviors (i.e., leader-directed avoidance and affiliation) and general work behaviors (i.e., counterproductive behavior and job performance). Thus, whether reactions to authoritarian leadership are dysfunctional or functional is contingent on event disruption as a key boundary condition. Results from an experience sampling study (Study 1), a multiwave and multisource field study (Study 2), and laboratory experiments (Studies 3a and 3b) largely confirm these predictions. The findings underscore the importance of event disruption for predicting employee reactions to authoritarian styles of leadership. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Research on managerial voice endorsement has primarily focused on the processes and conditions through which voicers receive their managers' endorsement. We shift this focus away from the voicers, focusing instead on the dual reactions that endorsement generates for observing employees. Drawing from an approach-avoidance framework, we propose that managerial endorsement of coworker voice could be perceived as a positive and negative stimulus for observers, prompting them to approach opportunities and avoid threats, respectively. Results from a preregistered experiment and a multiwave, multisource field study revealed that managerial endorsement of coworker voice was positively related to observers' voice instrumentality, thus prompting them to engage in approach behaviors (i.e., voice). We also found that managerial endorsement of coworker voice was positively related to observers' voice threat, triggering avoidant behaviors (i.e., avoidance-oriented counterproductive work behaviors). Further, we found that the avoidant reactions more pronounced for observers with higher (vs. lower) neuroticism. Overall, our research extends theory by demonstrating the rippling effects that voice endorsement can ignite throughout the workgroup. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

How do leaders lead in a complex environment? Leaders often rely on help from others. However, not all help is necessarily beneficial to leaders, especially when it is offered without being asked (i.e., proactive helping). Unfortunately, theory to date has failed to understand the consequences associated with leaders’ receipt of proactive helping at work. To address this shortcoming, we integrate theories of approach–avoidance and challenge–hindrance to unravel how leaders respond to receipt of proactive helping at work, which enabled us to capture both favorable and unfavorable responses to receipt of proactive helping. Our results demonstrated that leaders with higher levels of approach-oriented characteristics were likely to perceive the receipt of proactive helping as more challenging and less hindering. We further found that leaders’ challenge and hindrance appraisals prompt them to engage in transformational and laissez-faire leadership behaviors, respectively. Our work provides an answer to the question of why and under what conditions leaders’ receipt of proactive helping results in constructive leadership.

The majority of research on voice has focused on how employee voice influences voicers and targets of voice (e.g. supervisors and organizations). We advance theory on voice by examining how third-party observers react to expressions of voice behavior by coworkers. Drawing from affective events theory (AET), we examine the potential benefits and detriments of coworker voice behaviours. Results from an experience sampling study and an experiment revealed that coworker voice was associated with an increase in third-party observers' inspiration, prompting third-party observers to engage in their own voice behaviours. Although coworker voice did not have a significant main effect on third-party observers' distress, this relation was moderated by third-party observers' zero-sum beliefs. Specifically, daily coworker voice behaviour was more positively related to third-party observers' distress when third-party observers' zero-sum beliefs were higher (vs. lower). Third-party observers' distress, in turn, was associated with an increase in interpersonal deviance behaviours. Overall, our theorizing and model answer why, when and for whom the bright versus dark side of coworker voice is likely to occur for third-party observers.

Music listening has proliferated in the workplace, yet its effects have been overlooked, and classic investigations offer conflicting results. To advance our understanding, we draw from self-regulation and resource allocation theories to suggest that listening to music has curvilinear effects on attentional focus and performance on work tasks and that willpower belief is a key boundary condition. We test these hypotheses across three studies: a pilot study of 108 employees from a software company who took part in a 2-week experience-sampling methodology study and self-rated their music listening and performance, a laboratory study (Study 1) of 252 undergraduate students in which task attentional focus and objective performance on proofreading tasks were captured across repeated trials while listening to music, and a 3-week experience-sampling methodology study (Study 2) of 247 employees that included a within-person manipulation of music listening (little to no music vs. 1 hr longer than usual vs. 3 hr longer than usual), daily self-ratings of task attentional focus and task performance, and weekly coworker ratings of task performance. We find mixed support for our hypotheses. Time spent listening to music exhibited an inverted, U-shaped relationship with self-rated (pilot study) and objective (Study 1) task performance. Individuals with higher willpower belief maintained higher levels of task attentional focus regardless of the amount of music they listened to (Studies 1 and 2), and the curvilinear relationship of reported music listening with self-rated task performance was more pronounced for individuals who believe that willpower is limited (pilot study and Study 2). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Social exchange- and social identity-based mechanisms have been commonly juxtaposed as two pivotal proxies of the relational approach for studying organizational justice. Despite their distinct theoretical roots, less is known about whether and how these two proximal mechanisms complement one another in accounting for justice effects on key outcomes. Tracing back to their disparate fundamental premises-"reciprocity" underpinning social exchanges and "oneness" underpinning identity construction-we attempt to disentangle the relative mediating effects of these two mechanisms. Our empirical testing hinges on one meta-analytic study with 105 independent samples (N = 29,868), coupled with one preregistered experience-sampling study with 1,941 cross-day observations over 3 weeks from 147 subordinate-supervisor pairs. Overall, we find that exchange-based mechanisms account for more of the indirect effect of justice on task performance, whereas identity-based mechanisms (particularly interdependent identity) account for more of the indirect effect of justice on counterproductive work behavior. Regarding the indirect effect on organizational citizenship behavior, identity-based mechanisms (particularly positive self-evaluations) and exchange-based mechanisms respectively present great utility between the two studies. By providing nuanced insight into the complementary yet distinct nature of these two prominent mechanisms, our research encourages a more granular theoretical approach for studying organizational justice effects.

Although emerging actor-centric research has revealed that performing morally laden behaviors shapes how employees behave subsequently, less is known about what work behaviors may emerge following employees' unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB)-a unique behavior with competing moral connotations. We integrate the moral self-regulation literature with research on micro corporate social responsibility (CSR) to develop and test a theoretical framework articulating how perceived CSR initiatives reconcile the morally paradoxical nature of UPB and how people respond to such behavior. We propose that, given its dual moral nature, performing UPB simultaneously increases feelings of moral deficit (which triggers moral cleansing) and psychological entitlement (which triggers moral licensing). Importantly, perceived CSR initiatives moderate these countervailing psychological experiences by strengthening feelings of moral deficit while weakening psychological entitlement, which respectively result in increased service-oriented helping behavior and decreased deviant behavior. Results from a scenario-based lab study, an online experiment, and two field studies largely corroborate our propositions. This research provides a finer-grained understanding of the complex moral self-regulation processes that employees experience at work and highlights why and how organizations' CSR initiatives affect employees' moral mindsets and behaviors.

The extant leader-member exchange (LMX) literature holds that LMX and LMX differentiation have various consequences on the focal employees’ work-related outcomes. Since the levels of LMX might change as a result of exchanges in work interactions, scholars recently have raised the importance of adopting a more dynamic view in this literature. With the present research, we aim to examine the relationship between the change of LMX, the change of relative LMX (RLMX), and work-related effort. In particular, we focus on the concurrent effects of LMX-and-RLMX changes on the focal employees’ work-related efforts. Drawing on self-regulation theories, we propose that LMX trajectories and RLMX trajectories serve as two independent feedback loop forms regarding the attainability of achieving favorable LMX within teams, which jointly affect the focal employee work efforts. We collected multi-wave and multisource data from 328 employees in 42 workgroups and archival records from an insurance call center. The results indicated that negative LMX change was correlated with higher effort (i.e., the number of calls). Moreover, polynomial regression and response surface analyses revealed a positive relationship between follower LMX–RLMX change incompatibility and work effort. Our dual-dynamic model indicates the importance of considering concurrent changes in both LMX and RLMX to understand better the dynamic processes and outcomes of LMX in work teams.

We bring together leading scholars in the field of hierarchy – experts in research on power and status in organizations – to present five innovative projects that explore ways in which individuals in organizations perceive hierarchy, and the downstream organizational implications of these perceptions. Altogether, the research presented here provides state-of-the-art theoretical and methodological advances to enhance and refine our understanding of hierarchy, which is a defining feature of organizations and a key research topic for our field. As well as filling conceptual gaps in the literatures on power and status, this research hopes to inspire future scholarship into hierarchy. How the Psychology of Structural Rank is Shaped by the Relative Salience of Power versus Status Author: Nicholas Hays; Michigan State U. Author: Zhiya Guo; Utah State U. Author: Russell Eric Johnson; Broad College of Business, Michigan State Moderating Effects of Status Portfolio Variance on Within-Group Responses to Status Author: Rebecca Mitchell; U. of Colorado, Boulder Author: Catarina Fernandes; Emory U., Goizueta Business School Author: Jo K. Oh; U. of Connecticut Beyond Consensus: A Dyadic Perspective on Extraversion Congruence and Status Perception in Groups Author: William Fawson; IESE Business School Author: Sebastien Brion; IESE Business School Author: Anneloes M. L. Raes; IESE Business School How Leader Gender and Subordinate Age Difference Explain Feedback Delivery and Acceptance Author: Julian Pfrombeck; Columbia Business School Author: Adam Galinsky; Columbia U. Team Hierarchical Elasticity: Benefits for Psychological Safety and Team Performance Author: Nicole Abi-Esber; Harvard Business School Author: Lindred L. Greer; U. of Michigan, Ross School of Business Author: Francesca Gino; Harvard U. Author: Annebel H.B. De Hoogh; U. of Amsterdam