How Does Project Termination Impact Project Team Members? Rapid Termination, ‘Creeping Death’, and Learning from Failure

Although extant studies have increased our understanding of the decision of when to terminate a project and its organizational implications, they do not explore the contextual mechanisms underlying the link between the speed at which a project is terminated and the learning of those directly working on the project. This is surprising because perceptions of project failure likely differ between those who own the option (i.e., the decision maker) and those who are the option (i.e., project team members). In this multiple case study, we explored research and development (R&D) subsidiaries within a large multinational parent organization and generated several new insights: (1) rather than alleviate negative emotions, delayed termination was perceived as creeping death, thwarting new career opportunities and generating negative emotions; (2) rather than obstructing learning from project experience, negative emotions motivated sensemaking efforts; and (3) rather than emphasizing learning after project termination, in the context of rapid redeployment of team members after project termination, delayed termination provided employees the time to reflect on, articulate, and codify lessons learned. We discuss the implications of these findings.     

In the LEED: Racing to the Top in Environmental Self‐Regulation

Does voluntary participation in eco‐certification become more substantive over time, or less? Although past research on voluntary programs suggests that later participants are more likely to greenwash by only symbolically adopting voluntary standards, theories of regulatory competition suggest a possible “race to the top.” We argue that participation in voluntary programs can facilitate competition that enables a race, and we advance a theory of self‐regulatory competition to explain dynamics of participation in voluntary environmental programs. Under this perspective, environmental self‐regulation may facilitate a race to the top, despite possibilities for purely symbolic adoption. Analyzing data from a voluntary green building certification program in the United States, we introduce a methodology to distinguish propensities for symbolic certification from more substantive environmental performance. Data demonstrate that later adopters invest additional resources to attain higher certification, becoming greener and suggesting a race to the top in a voluntary greenbuilding certification program.     

Individual differences in implicit theories of leadership ability and self‐efficacy: Predicting responses to stereotype threat

Extending research on implicit theories to the leadership domain, we examined how individual differences in belief about the malleability of leadership ability influenced responses to stereotype threat. The study consisted of two time periods. At time 1, we assessed individual differences in implicit theories of leadership ability and self‐efficacy for leadership. At time 2, we activated a stereotype threat in a high‐stakes environment. Results revealed that women reported lower self‐evaluation after a stereotype threat when they had low self‐efficacy and believed leadership ability to be fixed (entity theory) rather than malleable (incremental theory). Results are discussed in terms of how implicit theories generate a network of allied cognitions and emotions that subsequently predict stable patterns of behavior.     

Going beyond self–other rating comparison to measure leader self‐awareness

Data were collected from leaders who rated their interpersonal competencies, were rated by their direct reports on the same competencies, and then were asked to predict as accurately as possible how their direct reports rated them. Leader self‐awareness was examined by analyzing self–other ratings and prediction–other ratings with a supervisor‐rated measure of leader effectiveness. Results showed that prediction–other ratings explained a greater percentage of the variance in leader effectiveness than did self–other ratings. These results suggest that prediction–other rating comparison may be a viable additional way to measure self‐awareness in organizational settings and may avoid some of the disadvantages when only using self‐ratings or self–other ratings.     

Work motivation and organizational citizenship behaviors

This study tested the relationship between employees' sources of work motivation and their display of organizational citizenship behaviors. Two hundred thirty‐nine employees from 38 locations of four companies in the agricultural industry completed the Motivation Sources Inventory and were rated by their leaders in organizational citizenship behaviors. Results showed significant positive relationships between individuals' self‐concept internal motivations and organizational citizenship behaviors. Results also showed significant negative relationships between instrumental and self‐concept external motivations and organizational citizenship behaviors. A hierarchical regression with each of the significant covariates accounted for 12% of the total variance in organizational citizenship behavior. These results indicate that employees' sources of motivation offer some explanation of their organizational citizenship behaviors. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Return Migration,Self‐selection and Entrepreneurship

Are return migrants more entrepreneurial? Existing literature has not addressed how estimating the impact of return migration on entrepreneurship is affected by double unobservable migrant self‐selection, both at the initial outward migration and at the final inward return migration stages. This paper exploits exogenous variation provided by the civil war and the incidence of agricultural plagues in Mozambique, as well as social unrest and other shocks in migrant destination countries. The results lend support to overall negative unobservable return migrant self‐selection, which results in an under‐estimation of the effects of return migration on entrepreneurial outcomes when using a ‘naïve’ estimator that does not control for self‐selection at both the initial migration and at the final return migration stages.     

Reactions to abusive supervision: examining the roles of emotions and gender in the USA

Abusive supervision leads to many detrimental outcomes, yet the role of gender and emotions has received little attention. We applied affective events theory to study emotions in a new context. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, we tested a conditional process model of the effects of abusive supervision on subordinate work and job withdrawal as mediated by negative emotions and moderated by gender. We found support for our proposed model. Specifically, abusive supervision increased work and job withdrawal via victims’ negative emotional reactions. When negative emotions are low, women are more likely to engage in work withdrawal; when negative emotions are high, men are more likely to do so. Additionally, men experiencing high negative emotions are likely to quit their job.     

Co‐Worker Exclusion and Employee Outcomes: An Investigation of the Moderating Roles of Perceived Organizational and Social Support

When does social support alleviate or exacerbate the effects of being excluded by colleagues in the workplace? This study integrates belongingness and social support theories to predict and demonstrate the differential effects of work‐related support (i.e., perceived organizational support; POS) and non‐work‐related support (i.e., family and social support; FSS) on employee reactions to co‐worker exclusion. Consistent with our predictions, we found that employees reporting high levels of co‐worker exclusion and high levels of perceived organizational support demonstrate higher levels of performance and increased levels of self‐worth than those reporting low levels of POS. Alternatively, support from family or friends intensified the negative relationship between co‐worker exclusion and self‐esteem and the positive relationship between co‐worker exclusion and job‐induced tension. Unexpectedly, FSS did not influence the supervisor‐rated task performance of excluded workers, nor did POS mitigate the relationship between co‐worker exclusion and job‐induced tension. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Picking the Measuring Stick: The Role of Leaders in Social Comparisons

Organizational members frequently evaluate how their abilities and standing compare with those of their colleagues. Although these comparisons can have a negative impact on organizations, little attention has been paid to the role of leaders in these processes. Drawing on interviews with individuals in leadership positions in business schools, we develop a framework to explain what triggers leaders’ attention to social comparisons among faculty and how they become involved in them. Central to this framework are leaders’ self‐schemas, which encompass their preferences about the criteria members should use in making comparisons. Leaders’ self‐schemas are activated by discrepancies between their own comparative judgements and those they perceive members to be making and impel them to act in ways consistent with their preferred bases of comparison. Our framework repositions social comparisons as a multi‐perspectival, political phenomenon in which leaders see themselves as playing a role in shaping members’ evaluations and workplace interactions.     

An Experimental Analysis of the Effects of Non‐audit Services on Auditor Independence in Appearance in the European Union: Evidence from Germany

The provision of non‐audit services by the statutory auditor may have a negative impact on auditor independence. Therefore, the European Union decided to prevent auditors from offering a significant extent of non‐audit services to audit clients. Prior research has revealed that different advisory services have different effects on perceived auditor independence. This could be caused by differences in number and intensity of independence threats (self‐interest, familiarity, self‐review, advocacy). Therefore, this experimental study investigates the effect of such threats on independence perceptions in the case of German individual investors. Multivariate analyses indicate that a high self‐interest and a high‐familiarity threat may impair auditor independence in appearance. On the other hand, our findings do not reveal a significant effect of an existing advocacy threat on investors’ trust in auditor independence. A negative effect of a self‐review threat is not directly confirmed. However, the provision of services with regard to internal controls, and thus the self‐review threat, interacts with the self‐interest threat. They potentially impact perceived auditor independence negatively when non‐audit fees are high. In contrast, no significant interactions with familiarity are found. Based on these findings, a general prohibition of non‐audit services does not seem to be necessary. On the other hand, a non‐audit fees cap might be reasonable.     

Do people trust more when they are happy or when they are sad? Evidence from an experiment

This paper deals with the role played by incidental emotions on trust decisions. Based on a laboratory experiment with monetary incentives, we explore the way positive and negative emotions impact transfers in a trust game. In addition, we investigate the mechanism through which risk intervenes in the relationship between emotions and trust. Our results suggest that negative emotions influence trust positively, whereas positive emotions decrease trust. This effect disappears once risk is included to the game. Furthermore, we found that transfer in the trust game is driven by other‐regarding preferences and by risk preferences.     

Linking Individual‐Level Knowledge Sourcing to Project‐Level Contributions in Large R&D‐Driven Product‐Development Projects

This paper focuses on the link between individuals’ knowledge sourcing and their creative contributions, such as new ideas and solutions in R&D‐driven product‐development projects; creative contributions were both self‐ and peer‐assessed. The paper reveals that, for individuals, knowledge sources internal to the organization were generally regarded as more important than external knowledge sources. However, external parties such as customers, partners, and suppliers constitute the knowledge source that best predicted creative contributions at the project level. Informal external contacts were deemed the least important knowledge source by individuals; however, this was positively related to self‐assessed creative contributions. The paper thus finds that there is a discrepancy between the knowledge sources deemed important by individuals and the sources that are associated with creative contributions at the project level.     

Confidence Management: On Interpersonal Comparisons in Teams

Organizations differ in the degree to which they differentiate employees by ability. We analyze how the effect of differentiation on employee morale may explain this variation. We characterize sufficient conditions for the manager to refrain from differentiation. She refrains from differentiation when employees are of similar ability, especially if absolute levels are high. Avoiding differentiation boosts the self‐image of employees. To limit the negative effects of differentiation, the manager's strategy often relies on the coarsest message set possible. The likelihood that the manager differentiates depends on the presence of synergies between employees and on the convexity of the cost of effort function. Finally, we show that in the absence of commitment no differentiation is chosen too often.     

Work Design–Related Antecedents of Turnover Intention: A Multilevel Approach

Previous research on employee‐turnover intention has focused mostly on a single level of analysis. This multilevel study of 1,149 employees and 144 managers from a 21‐store Taiwanese retail home improvement chain demonstrated that individual and store‐level factors were significantly associated with employee‐turnover intention. Job characteristics explain within‐store variance. In addition to age and tenure similarity among employees, transformational leadership and compensation explain between‐store variance. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are also discussed.     

Firm foundations? Contingent labour and employers' provision of training in the UK construction sector

Based on an original survey of the UK construction industry this article examines the training disadvantages faced by contingent labour. This article addresses two key questions: first, is the provision of training different for directly employed labour and different forms of contingent labour? Second, what structural and organisational factors shape the provision of training to different contingent labour forms? The article finds that fewer firms provide training for agency, self‐employed and subcontract labour, compared to directly employed workers. Training for subcontract labour seems to reflect a longer‐term perspective towards the use of this labour form, while decisions to train agency and self‐employed labour appears to be driven by more short‐term considerations.     

Doing it for themselves? Performance appraisal in project‐based organisations,the role of employees,and challenges to theory

We explore performance appraisal in project‐based organisations and provide novel insights into appraisal processes in this context. These include the central role of employees in orchestrating the appraisal process, the multiple actors that have input to appraisal including project managers, the distance between employees and their official line managers, and the weak coordinating role of human resource specialists in these systems. We draw attention to the drawbacks of current theorising on appraisal to predict and explain outcomes from appraisal systems that are not premised on stable line manager/employee dyads. Theorising based primarily on social exchange theories needs to be reconsidered in this context and new theories developed. We also question how human resource specialists can better support employees, and managers of all kinds, in their implementation roles in polyadic human resource management systems to ensure transparency, equity, and fairness of appraisal processes in a project‐based organisational context.     

Forecasting With the Standardized Self‐Perturbed Kalman Filter

We propose and study the finite‐sample properties of a modified version of the self‐perturbed Kalman filter of Park and Jun (Electronics Letters 1992; 28 : 558–559) for the online estimation of models subject to parameter instability. The perturbation term in the updating equation of the state covariance matrix is weighted by the estimate of the measurement error variance. This avoids the calibration of a design parameter as the perturbation term is scaled by the amount of uncertainty in the data. It is shown by Monte Carlo simulations that this perturbation method is associated with a good tracking of the dynamics of the parameters compared to other online algorithms and to classical and Bayesian methods. The standardized self‐perturbed Kalman filter is adopted to forecast the equity premium on the S&P 500 index under several model specifications, and determines the extent to which realized variance can be used to predict excess returns. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multi‐Level Efficacy Evidence of a Combined Interprofessional Collaboration and Project Management Training Program for Healthcare Project Teams

Project work is essential for the improvement of healthcare organizations; yet, project management and collaboration in the project context are not taught to healthcare professionals. Three half‐day training workshops integrating project management and collaboration were designed and delivered to 14 interprofessional healthcare project teams. Multivariate measures were taken over the course of 36 weeks. Individual, team, and project‐level results showed high satisfaction and perceptions of utility; improved self‐efficacy for project‐specific task work and teamwork; increased goal clarity and coordination; and a significant impact on the functional performance of projects. This study provides initial benchmark measures regarding the pertinence of project management and interprofessional collaboration training for healthcare project teams.     

Over the cliff edge and on to the rocks below

• ? If Brexit negotiations were to break down, the UK would face a significant increase in trade disruption from March 2019, even if it were able to put some basic trading arrangements in place. In a scenario where key sectors face extra friction, we find that the level of UK GDP would be 2.0% – or £16bn in cash terms – lower at the end of 2020 compared with our baseline. The impact on the remaining EU countries, including Ireland, would be much smaller .
• ? This article focuses on what a cliff‐edge Brexit means for trade costs and prices. This is only part of the equation – such a scenario would also influence supply chains and migration, while there is also potential for policymakers to mitigate some of the negative effects via looser policy.
• ? The notion that the UK could simply walk away from Brexit negotiations and rely on WTO rules to trade with the world is deeply flawed. The UK would need to re‐establish more than 750 very complex international arrangements just to maintain the status quo. We expect only the most critical issues – such as air travel – to be resolved by March 2019. Exporters also face a substantial increase in non‐tariff barriers.
• ? A breakdown in talks would also see both sides levying tariffs on imports from each other from March 2019, raising the cost of importing UK goods into the EU by 3.5% and by 3.1% for goods imported into the UK from the EU. For the UK, this will apply to roughly 60% of its goods exports and imports, but for all EU countries except Ireland the share would be less than 10%.
• ? The additional trade frictions would knock around 1pp a year off UK GDP growth in 2019 and 2020, resulting in a period of very weak growth. And the risks to this scenario are skewed to the downside – a slump in confidence or failure to establish the necessary customs infrastructure in time could easily generate a worse outcome