“ENTER2008”: Report on the 15th International Conference on Information Technology and Travel and Tourism, 23–25 January 2008, Innsbruck,Austria

As the world's largest annual event on information and communication technologies (ICTs) and travel and tourism, ENTER2008 was held in Innsbruck, a small medieval town in Austria. Like previous ENTER conferences, delegates were able to participate personally in the discussion of the latest research findings and industrial innovations in the context of ICTs in travel and tourism. Delegates could also enjoy the hospitality and unique experiences offered by the conference host and organizer. Different from other ENTER conference proceedings, which always had front pages in silver, ENTER2008 proceedings used an attractive and bright cover page in a good mixture of yellow and red.     

Ethical leadership and its impact on service innovative behavior: The role of LMX and job autonomy

This study examined the effect of ethical leadership on service innovative behavior of employees at small and medium sized tourist hotels in Uttarakhand, India. It has forwarded an integrated model that highlights the relationship between ethical leadership and employees' service innovative behavior while interacting through leader-member exchange and job autonomy. Using a sample of 468 customer contact employees and their 117 supervisors, hierarchical regression was conducted to establish the relationship. Findings of the study revealed that ethical leadership promoted service innovative behavior of the hotel employees mediated through leader-member exchanges. Further, it was also found that the level of service innovative behavior was commensurate to the perception of employee job autonomy. Based on the study findings, implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Unique but integrated: The role of individuation and assimilation processes in teen opinion leadership

Opinion leaders propel the diffusion of innovation and exert a significant influence on the marketplace. This influence is especially pronounced during adolescence, a period marked by increasing reliance on peers and the emergence of a tension between two countervailing needs: assimilation and individuation. A survey of 1142 adolescents reveals that these developmental needs affect adolescent opinion leadership in the critical clothing market. Adolescent opinion leadership relies on a balance between desires for assimilation (i.e., centrality within the peer network) and individuation (i.e., need for uniqueness); adolescents' susceptibility to peers' normative influence and gender moderate these relationships. Adolescents who occupy central positions within their peer network tend to be opinion leaders, though only if they are not susceptible to normative influence. Position within the peer network is a key for girls, whereas need for uniqueness is a key for boys. These differences implicate different approaches for managers targeting adolescent males and females.     

团队异质性对团队效能的影响研究——以领导行为作为调节变量

团队成员异质性对团队效能的影响这一问题受到了许多学者的关注。本文以I-P-O模型为基础,以问卷调查的方法实证研究了团队异质性通过团队过程对团队效能产生影响的作用机制,同时引入了领导行为作为调节这种影响的变量。本文认为,团队成员异质性通过作用于团队过程而对团队效能产生了显著的负面影响,而关系型的领导行为则会有效地调节成员异质性对团队效能的负面作用。     

The effects of ethical leadership on manager job satisfaction,commitment, behavioral outcomes,and firm performance

This study investigates the effects of ethical leadership on a hotel middle manager's job satisfaction and affective commitment, which in turn influence that manager's behavioral outcomes (e.g., extra effort and turnover intention) that can also impact the hotel's performance. Mail surveys were distributed to 30 U.S. hotels, representing more than 8 different national and international brands, and 324 middle managers participated in the survey. This study demonstrates that executives’ ethical leadership is positively related to their middle managers’ job satisfaction and their affective organizational commitment. Middle managers’ job satisfaction is positively related to organizational commitment, but job satisfaction does not necessarily lead to their willingness to exert extra effort. The positive linkage between middle managers’ extra effort and the hotel's competitive performance is also confirmed.     

华人差序式领导对员工职场非伦理行为的影响——基于圈内人身份认知的视角

随着安然、文凭门等国内外伦理事件的相继发生,组织及其员工非伦理行为正逐渐成为组织管理理论界与实践界普遍关注的问题和焦点。但现有研究多集中于对非伦理行为本身及其个体诱因的探讨,却缺乏对领导风格与非伦理行为之间的关系与作用机制的研究。鉴于此,文章从带有中华文化特色的"差序式领导"和"圈内人身份认知"等角度入手,拟采取实验、问卷调查、案例等多种方法,通过对领导层面的影响机制、个体层面的影响机制和复合层面的影响机制等多个层面的实证研究,对员工职场非伦理行为进行深入探讨,并对其中直接效应模型、中介效应模型及调节效应模型进行检验分析,进一步优化相关领域所采用的研究方法。     

悖论式领导对亲组织不道德行为的影响机制研究

作为一种新型的领导风格,已有研究表明悖论式领导对个体、团队和组织层面均有正向影响,有必要进一步研究悖论式领导可能存在的“阴暗面”。文章基于社会信息加工理论,构建了悖论式领导、角色模糊、亲组织不道德行为及矛盾思维的被调节中介模型。通过对分时段收集的300份样本数据进行实证分析,结果发现：悖论式领导对员工亲组织不道德行为有显著正向影响;角色模糊在其中发挥中介作用;矛盾思维负向调节悖论式领导与角色模糊的关系;矛盾思维负向调节角色模糊对悖论式领导与亲组织不道德行为的中介作用。研究结论丰富了悖论式领导的影响后果,并且为组织有效地避免悖论式领导的负向作用等提供了实践参考。

     

Expatriate or local bosses? HCN subordinates' preferences in leadership behaviour

This article explores host-country national subordinates’ preferences in leadership behaviour comparing expatriate bosses and local bosses. From a sample of 240 middle managers in Hong Kong with experience with both local Chinese bosses and expatriate bosses from a broad spectrum of Western and Asian countries, it was found that the subordinate managers assessed the leadership behaviour of their expatriate bosses to be significantly closer to that of their perceived ideal boss. American leadership behaviour was the most preferred and Japanese leader style was the least preferred, with British leadership style comprising a middle group. Implications of these findings for international business firms and future academic research are discussed.     

Workplace isolation: salespeople and supervisors in USA

Virtual work is becoming the norm in sales organizations because it is cost effective for the firm and can benefit customers and salespeople. However, along with these benefits, virtual work brings new challenges to organizations. One critical issue is workplace isolation (WI). This study uses responses from a sample of 346 salespeoples in the pharmaceutical field to test a model that investigates the relationships among WI, self-efficacy, leadership style, extra-role performance (ERP), satisfaction with the supervisor, and turnover intentions. Salespersons perception of managers as considerate leaders are associated with lower WI levels. Salespeople with higher levels of self-efficacy are less likely to believe that they are isolated from the company and their colleagues. WI, in turn, is significantly related to satisfaction with the supervision and ERP. Managerial implications and future research directions are presented.     

Subordinates' perception of managers' transformational leadership style and satisfaction: a comparison of electronic manufacturing companies in Mainland China and Taiwan

Rapid economic growth has made leadership studies a significant subject in Asia. The present research compared subordinates' different perceptions of managers' transformational leadership style in Mainland China and Taiwan. Quantitative methodology was used in collecting 250 random samples from Shanghai and Taipei. Subordinates in Taiwan perceived that more managers had a transformational leadership style and also employees had higher satisfaction with managers' leadership style than those in Mainland China. The results of the present research would provide suggestions and directions for industrial managers seeking to display appropriate management behavior for an effective business environment.