Wansi Chen

Summary: Peer voice endorsement is widespread in the workplace. Drawing on social information processing theory and sociofunctional view, this paper proposes that observers' (both negative and positive) psychological and behavioral responses to peer voice endorsement depend on their instrumental attribution for peer voice. Specifically, when observers have a higher level of instrumental attribution, peer voice endorsement is more positively associated with status threat, in turn affecting observers' negative gossip. When observers have a lower level of instrumental attribution, peer voice endorsement is more positively associated with perceived peer competence, which in turn affects observers' role modeling proactive behavior. These results are largely supported by data from a multi‐wave field study and two experimental designs. The theoretical and practical implications of this study and future research directions are presented.

We proposed and tested a conditional trickle-down model underpinned by social exchange theory and social information processing theory. Using a sample in China, we found that LLX and service-oriented HPWS were positively related to service leadership and competition climate, respectively. Additionally, we found that service leadership and competition climate enhanced the positive influences of each other on employee service performance. We then demonstrated the conditional trickle-down effects on employee service performance transmitted through the interaction between service leadership and collective competition climate. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we investigate the somatic, psychological, and behavioral effects of gossip on receivers when they hear positive and negative workplace gossip about the...

Drawing on recent advancement in behavioral decision-making theory and the escalation-of-commitment literature, we examine how managers’ perceptions of threats and opportunities in the external environment may shape their decision to escalate investment in a failing new product development (NPD) project. We test our theoretical model with two studies: first, a behavioral decision-making experimental study with a sample of 128 managers; and, second, an interview study with 12 managers. Our results show that managers’ perceptions of environmental opportunities and business threats significantly shape their decision to escalate commitment and that the impact of such managerial perceptions on escalating tendency is contingent on the stage of the innovation process.

Team reflexivity has gained popularity as a phenomenon of interest in team research, but mixed theorizing around the relationship between team reflexivity and team performance indicates that the relationship is not fully understood. In an effort to improve our understanding and explain why and when team reflexivity will be conducive to team performance, we examine the role of team diversity as a possible boundary condition and of team decision quality as an explanatory mechanism. Using survey data from 82 teams with 82 leaders and 194 team members, we find that team decision quality is a partial mediator of the relationship between team reflexivity and team performance and that team diversity strengthens this mediating relationship. We also find that team diversity moderates the relationship between team reflexivity and decision quality. Taken together, these findings suggest that reflexivity is most effective in conditions of informational richness, such as when teams have high diversity, as the reflective process allows team members to capitalize on their varied perspectives to improve the quality of their decisions and, thus, their performance.