Journal of Organization Behavior (KJOB)

Abstracts

Social Identification, Group Differentiation and the Nested Group Model (PDF 287 KB)
John Joseph
Northwestern University

Utilizing March and Simon’s (1958) targets for identification (organization-level, task-group level and sub-group level), the present study explores how organization’s can structure organizational life to influence commitment and behavior. Through the manipulation of the salience and perceived distinctiveness of the organization and its groups, firms can alter the level of identification employees have with any one group. The task-group which is the intermediate-level group will serve as the focal group for this study which explores the question: how is task-group identity is affected by looking “up” to organizational identity and “down” to sub-group identity? In this study, organizational and task-group identities are made salient in one condition and task-group and sub-group identity are made salient in the simultaneous condition. Inclusiveness of the larger of the two groups is manipulated in each pairing so it is possible to: 1) compare organizational and task-group identity under the conditions of a highly inclusive organization and a low inclusive organization; 2) compare task-group and sub-group identity under the conditions of a highly inclusive task-group and a low inclusive task-group and 3) compare the level and direction of task-group identity in the two conditions. It is anticipated that results will show that it is possible to reverse the task-group identity of the subjects and that identification with the task-group will increase with the organizational level of inclusiveness and decrease when the task-group becomes too inclusive and a sub-group is made salient.

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Interpersonal Trust and the Reversal of Attribution Error (PDF 283 KB)
James B. Oldroyd
Northwestern University

Attribution error occurs when an individual misperceives causality in a situation. Often outcomes are erroneously attributed to organizational or environmental causes (Ross, 1977). However, recently scholars have demonstrated that attribution error is not universal. Indeed, Menon, Morris, Chiu and Hong (1999) have demonstrated that people living under the rubric of more communal eastern cultures are more likely to attribute outcomes not to individuals but to organizations. Similarly, I hypothesize that attribution error is not universal but is affected by interpersonal trust. I explicate the affects of this reversal in the context of inter-organizational alliances wherein attribution errors can result in the premature deterioration or detrimental continuation of inter-organizational trust. This theory is tested with a lab experiment.

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Suspicious Minds: The Effect of Distrust in the Decision to Hire a Consulting Firm (PDF 314 KB)
Jo-Ellen Pozner
Northwestern University

Management consulting has recently undergone several changes and shocks that might lead the public to distrust it as an institution. The present study experimentally examines the effect of such distrust on the process of choosing a management consulting firm. Based on organizational behavior literature, when decision-makers are distrustful of the institution, they are expected to make hiring decisions based on cost rather than reputation. To test this hypothesis, MBA students read texts that manipulated their trust in the consulting industry and the perceived reputations of different consulting firms. They were then asked to select the consulting firm they would hire. The specific dependent measures were the determinants of choice – cost or reputation – that were involved in the decision-making process.

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Occupational & Gender Role Conflict: How is Role Incongruence Diminished? (PDF 384 KB)
Cynthia S. Wang
Northwestern University

The proclivity to stereotype individuals arises when there is a perception that social roles do not align with gender roles (Eagly, 2002). This experiment illustrates gender differences in the way individuals who experience this role incongruence will adjust their association with the two opposing roles. Females implicitly associated themselves less with their gender when thinking of themselves as leaders than when thinking of themselves as homemakers. Females in the leadership condition were also more likely to think of themselves as possessing more masculine oriented traits and greater leadership aspirations. Males did not show a change in association with their gender in the leadership or the homemaker condition, and subsequently did not show a difference in trait orientation and leadership aspirations.

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Service Response Efforts: The Cost of Making Exceptions for Customers
Katie Awerkamp
Northwestern University

Companies pour great resources into satisfying consumers because their economic success pivots on customer retention. However, customer satisfaction often fails to equate with customer loyalty. Although various factors can explain the tenuous link between customer satisfaction and loyalty, I offer one explanation in this paper by exploring a particular organizational practice—making exceptions to a company’s service policy—that can maximize customer satisfaction, yet compromise perceptions of procedural justice and ultimately discourage customer loyalty. In a two-by-two experimental design of customer service encounters, I manipulate outcome favorability and procedural justice (policy consistency) to test my argument that outcomes and perceptions of procedural justice differentially influence satisfaction and consumer loyalty.

This paper is not yet available from KTAG.

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Group Heterogeneity and Team Negotiation (PDF 375 KB)
Chenbo James Zhong
Northwestern University

Two-party negotiations in organizations are often carried out by teams. However, the influence of team composition on negotiation outcomes remains inadequately studied. Drawing from both the literature of team diversity and that of team negotiation, this study proposed that the presence of at least one heterogeneous group in the two-party team negotiation would help enhance the joint outcome. Both increased information exchange and enhanced creativity were hypothesized as underlying processes contributing to this heterogeneous group advantage. The advantage of the heterogeneous group in team negotiation was also thought to depend on process accountability. The difference in joint outcomes between negotiations with at least one heterogeneous group and those with only homogeneous groups was greater when negotiators were held accountable for their judgments and decisions made during the negotiation than when they were not held accountable.

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Women in Leadership: The Stereotyping of Women (PDF 103 KB)
Amanda L. Crawford
Communication Studies Department
Northwestern University

Combining research in leadership, gender roles, stereotyping and politeness, this study looks at expectations of how women in leadership positions utilize polite speech within the business world and how those expectations change when the job is no longer male oriented. We found women, in typically female jobs, are not held to the communal stereotype that would expect them to use democratic leadership style, indirect requests, and low status-modifiers, when speaking with subordinates. Women in typically female jobs are much more accepted when leading in an autocratic style than women in typically male jobs as found in Experiment 1. We also found that subordinate gender did effect perception of a female leader, even in typically female jobs. Male subordinates found women to be less polite than female subordinates in typically female settings as found in Experiment 2.

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Auctions and auction fever: Explanations from competitive arousal and framing (PDF 158 KB)
Gillian Ku
Northwestern University

The present study extends the work of Malhotra and Murnighan (2000) by experimentally examining competitive arousal and framing as explanations of auction fever. Auction fever is viewed as bidding over one’s pre-selected limit and is often accompanied by increased arousal. In addition to examining auction fever, this study tested the economic prediction of revenue equivalence in English and Dutch auctions. In Experiment 1, the components of competitive arousal (competition and time pressure) are studied in English and Dutch auctions. Experiment 2 tests competitive arousal and positive and negative frames as competing explanations of auction fever.

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Power Inside-Out: The Corresponding Increase in Private Self-Awareness and Decrease in Public Self-Awareness
Joe C. Magee

Structural and interpersonal effects of power are better understood than intrapersonal effects of power on power-holders. The psychological effects of power for power-holders’ attention and behavior will be investigated. Drawing on a recent theoretical model of power (Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2000) , I propose that power-holders are more focused on psychological states, more likely to notice those states, and more likely and quicker to act with disregard for others in their attempts to satisfy desires. The proposed experiment will examine attention and behavior of two types. First, I will measure attention to the internal state of hunger and eating behavior to satisfy the appetite in people with relative high- and low-power. Second, I will measure discomfort with an excessively strong fan and behavior to reduce the discomforting effects of this environmental stimulus.

This paper is not yet available from KTAG.

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Flexible Work Arrangements: A Study of Anticipation of Regret (PDF 126 KB)
Molly Freeman
Northwestern University

This research aims to highlight a component of the decision-making process that individuals face regularly: the anticipation of regret. Set in the context of dual-career families and their decisions regarding flexible work arrangements, the goal of this study is to investigate the impact of anticipation of regret on one’s ultimate decision to take advantage of a flexible work arrangement. Specifically, this paper examines how situational factors, such as the amount of feedback expected, in both the work and personal environments affect a person’s decision to take advantage of a FWA.

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Betting That I Will Fail, When Success is More Likely: A Test of Alternative Theoretical Explanations (PDF 129 KB)
Deepak Malhotra
November 30, 1998

In this study, I attempt to explain why people involved in meaningful tasks will often bet that they will fail, even when success is more likely. I present four theoretical frameworks that may explain this behavior, and then contrast the specific predictions provided by each. The Estimation Bias model argues that people simply miscalculate the probability of success. The Social Impression Management model states that people bet they will fail because they are trying to promote a positive (humble) social image. The Risk-Diversification model states that people are risk-averse and "hedge" their bets – by betting they will fail, they make sure that potential failure is offset by winnings from the gamble. The Defensive Pessimism model suggests outcome satisfaction is higher when expectations are low, and people bet that they will fail to lower outcome expectation. In two experiments, I test the predictions of each model.

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Modern Company Myths: The Influence of Organizational Stories on Creating Commitment (PDF 96 KB)
Peer Fiss
Northwestern University

Organizational stories have been found to increase commitment to organizations. However, what kind of stories achieve this effect remains unclear. This research links the increased-commitment-effect to two themes of "creation" and "overcoming a challenge." These themes are functionally similar to mythical themes found in anthropological research. I argue that organizational stories based on these themes are more effective in generating commitment than other stories. To test this prediction, groups of subjects participate in a bogus computer-based allocation game. After establishing a baseline level of group commitment, subjects are led to believe that they will represent a certain larger team for the remainder of the game. Information on this larger team is given in the form of four different organizational stories, three of which are based on the theme of creation, challenge, or both. The fourth story contains no mythical elements and is based on a different theme commonly found in organizations. After administering the four stories, commitment levels are measured. Groups then receive negative feedback on their performance and subjects are offered to leave the group in favor of an apparently more successful group. Responses to this offer are measured.

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The Illusion of Transparency in Transmittal (PDF 140 KB)
Gail Ann Berger
Northwestern University
December 13, 1998

Do not quote, cite, or reproduce without permission of the author

Managers can become disappointed, angry, and irritated when employees do not complete tasks appropriately. Poor performance is often mistakenly attributed to low effort and motivation on the part of the employee. I would argue that inappropriate task completion might stem from unclear communication of task expectations. Unfortunately, due to an illusion of transparency in transmittal, managers often think that they have made their expectations well known when they have not. Participants will be assigned the role of manager or employee in a performance appraisal scenario, and will participate in a performance appraisal meeting. After the meeting both managers and employees will complete questionnaires that include items about the general expectations as well as the task expectations that the manager has for the employee’s performance. The presence of the illusion of transparency is indicated if managers overestimate how clearly employees judge the interaction. In addition, observers will view videotapes of the meetings to examine whether part of the illusion of transparency phenomenon can be attributed to the curse of knowledge.

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Corporate Directors, Accountability, and Cognitive Complexity (PDF 135 KB)
Michael Jensen
J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management
Northwestern University
December 8, 1997

This paper focuses on boards of directors and how directors’ preparations for board meetings are influenced by the expectation that they are to interact with the CEO. The board is analyzed as a triadic decision situation in which shareholders, directors, and CEOs come together for decision-making purposes. It is argued here, that the level of cognitive complexity shown by directors in preparation for meetings depends on three things. (1) their accountability for participation in the meetings, (2) what form of accountability they face (split or non-split), and (3) who they expect to meet with (shareholders or CEOs). It is also argued, that directors preparing meeting using lower levels of cognitive complexity are more likely to vote with CEOs and are more likely to converge in their strategy recommendations with CEOs. These arguments are tested in a between-subjects 2x2x3 factorial experiment using MBA students as participants.

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The Social Context of Industrial Creativity: R&D Planning Using Roadmaps (PDF 151 KB)
Thomas A. Kappel
Northwestern University

Attempts to enhance creative performance can backfire. This paper presents the results of an administrative experiment involving teams working on a complex task. The task, part of an exercise called technology roadmapping, is increasingly being used by large industrial firms as a technology planning and integration process. Two treatments are hypothesized to diminish the creative output of roadmapping teams: instruction in particular forecasting techniques and external evaluation of creativity. Existing theories of creativity and extrinsic motivation are extended and a new mechanism explaining creative influence is presented.

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The Role of Identity and Familiarity in Risky Decisions (PDF 142 KB)
Mark T. Kennedy
December 8, 1997
Revised — May 1998

This paper begins by observing conflicts in influential decision making theories that seem almost symmetrical and systematic. After first reviewing key decision theory to identify and elaborate their conflicts, I propose an account for risky decisions in which an interaction between the anticipated impact on the decision maker's identity and the decision maker's familiarity with the domain are key determinants of risk behavior. Finally, the design for an experiment to test this identity-familiarity hypothesis is described.

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The Effect of Mood on Social Value Orientation: Positive Mood Induces Prosocial Behavior while Negative Mood Induces Individualistic and Competitive Behavior (PDF 123 KB)
Shirli Kopelman
Dec. 8, 1997

Prior research has demonstrated that there are individual differences in social value orientation, which dictate differential preferences for particular distributions of outcomes in situations of social interdependence. Prosocials (those motivated to maximize joint gains) exhibit more cooperation than individualists (who are motivated to maximize own gain, regardless of other) and competitors (motivated to maximize relative gain in relation to other). The assumption of this article is that these are not necessarily stable and fixed personality traits, but may be influenced by situational factors. We examine whether emotional states have differential effects on social value orientation. In this study we focus on the contrast between happy and sad moods compared to a control group, as a representation of a positive versus negative emotional state. Following a mood manipulation a measure of participants’ social value orientation will be assessed. We hypothesize that in the case of a negative mood a person will be more likely to exhibit individualistic and competitive preferences for distributions of outcomes in situations of social interdependence. On the other hand, in a positive mood, a person will be more likely to exhibit prosocial orientations.

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