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Some popular press books such as The One Minute Manager (Blanchard and Johnson, 2003) recommend supervisors use touch to enhance relationships with subordinates. However, there is very little research to support this perspective and even less research incorporating gender into the discussion. Using Emotions as Social Information theory, subordinate reactions to supervisor touch are hypothesized to depend upon supervisor gender. In a sample of 120 supervisor-subordinate dyads, results indicate that supervisor touch and subordinate perceptions of supervisor support were negative for male supervisors and not statistically significant for female supervisors. Findings, practical implications for human resource policy, and ideas for future research are discussed, Physically touching another individual is considered to be a particularly effective way of communicating various feelings and emotions (Hertenstein et al., 2006; Richmond and McCroskey, 2004). Humans use touch throughout [...]

In order to gain insight into the psychology of positive tactile interaction in the workplace, this article proposes individual and contextual factors are both necessary to understand managers' touching behavior. Study 1 examines the extent to which a cognitive motivational variable (i.e., workplace touch self-efficacy) interacts with tactile interaction norms to predict managers' use of touch with subordinates. While both workplace touch self-efficacy and tactile interaction norms are found to be positively related to use of touch, the interaction of these variables accounts for additional variance in touching behavior beyond main effects. In Study 2, data from a separate sample of employees demonstrated that the relationship between supervisors' use of touch and positive workplace outcomes (i.e., perceived supervisor support and perceptions of a supportive culture) is mediated by organizational norms for touch in the workplace. The results are discussed in relation to tactile intelligence and future research., 'Why are people at work always touching me?' Elizabeth Bernstein, The Wall Street Journal, 2009 A common phenomenon that remains curiously unexplored is the use of physical touch among individuals [...]

This study suggests that transformational leadership influences union citizenship behavior by fostering a covenantal relationship between the union and the union member. A framework for covenantal relationships is developed from social exchange and social identity theories. Transformational leadership behavior was found to be strongly related to perceived union support, a social exchange construct. The results also indicated that there are positive and significant relationships between other social exchange constructs such as felt obligation and trust. Social identity theory is used to augment social exchange theory in explaining the process by which transformational leadership behaviors relate to union citizenship behaviors through union-based self-esteem. Limitations of the study, implications for union management, and directions for future research issues are discussed. Keywords Transformational leadership- Labor organizations. Union citizenship

According to Social Identity Theory (cf., J. G. March & H. A. Simon, 1958), individuals tend to identify with prestigious or high-status groups. Researchers (J. E. Dutton, J. M. Dukerich, & C. V. Harquail, 1994) have revealed that organizational members also identify with organizations that have attractive public images. To gain a better understanding of the theoretical reasons underlying the relationship between image and identification in organizations, the authors examined this relationship in a healthcare setting. In addition, they investigated need for esteem as a moderator of the relationship between construed external image and organizational identification. Consistent with previous findings, the present results indicated that construed external image is positively related to organizational identification. Perhaps it is more important that the present findings also supported need for esteem as a moderator of the relationship between construed external image and organizational identification. Key words: construed external image, need for self-esteem, organizational identification, ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION has emerged as an important variable in organizational-behavior research over the past decade (Kreiner & Ashforth, 2004). Organizational identification is 'a perceived oneness with an organization and the [...]

The present article introduces a social-exchange model of organizational attachment incorporating both direct exchange and indirect exchange. Participants were 325 university employees. The present results indicated that perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived external prestige (PEP) both contribute to organizational attachment. Further, the results showed that the extent to which POS and PEP are related to organizational attachment is moderated by occupational proxies of cosmopolitan-local role orientation. POS was more strongly related to the affective commitment and withdrawal cognitions of staff and administrators than to those of faculty. PEP was more strongly related to affective commitment and withdrawal cognitions of university faculty than to those of university staff and administrators. The authors discussed the need to incorporate relational variables such as PEP into other social-exchange frameworks. Key words: attitudes, organizational commitment, organizational prestige, organizational support, personality, ORGANIZATIONAL ATTACHMENT is most commonly understood through the theoretical framework of social-exchange theory, which indicates that people enter into relationships to acquire valuable resources. These resources consist not only of [...]

The effect of labor union member attitudes and behaviors have produced inconsistent results for key relationships in models of union participation. Social information processing theory suggests that a contextual variable, labor relations climate, should systematically influence the attitudinal variables in these models. Our meta-analysis shows that labor relations climate moderates four or five key relationships. Consequently, theory on union member participation should be altered to reflect the recent emergence of less adversarial union-management relationships. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Two meta-analytic procedures are used to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and selected withdrawal cognitions. Moderating influences not found in previous integrative research were identified by controlling for the influence of a large sample-size outlier and a target of behavioral intention, i.e., intention to stay versus intention to leave. Findings for 49 studies indicate previous integrative models of turnover by Hom, Caranikas-Walker, Prussia, and Griffeth, and of Tett and Meyer should be altered to reflect context (civilian versus military) and intention target (staying versus leaving) moderators but not an intention to turnover or a moderator of withdrawal cognition as indicated by Tett and Meyer in 1993. The adequacy of measures of current intention to leave is discussed regarding their consistency with recent intention theory. General implications for meta-analytic research are discussed with regard to accounting for sample-size outliers.

This study used meta-analysis to explore the relationship between charismatic leadership and satisfaction with the leader, perceived leader's effectiveness, and performance. To maintain construct consistency Bass' 1985 conceptualization of charisma was used. Results indicate potential moderating effects for two moderators of research design (objective/subjective performance and percept-percept/multisource study design) and for two theoretically predicted moderators (organizational level of focal leader and organizational context). The results are discussed in relation to implicit leadership theory and cognitive classification theory.

RESEARCHERS HAVE CONSISTENTLY FOUND perceived organizational support (POS) to be positively related to organizational commitment (e.g., Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996). POS is defined as people's 'global beliefs about the [...]

Studies done by researchers in Canada on the perceived instrumentality of unions suggests that family socialization plays a vital part in its development. This model puts forward two predictors of general union attitudes, the perceived attitudes of the parents towards unions and their perceived union activity participation. Influence based on perceived parent union participation on a person's general attitude towards a union is modified by the individual's perception of general union attitudes by the parents., The Fulcrum of the unionization process is widely considered to be the perceived instrumentality of unions (Barling, Fullagar, & Kelloway, 1992; DeCotiis & LeLouarn, 1981). Perceived union instrumentality is defined [...]

Psychological empowerment has been determined to be capable of enhancing the relationship between job satisfaction and transformational leadership. A study conducted on 230 nurses at a US regional medical facility indicates that psychological empowerment is capable of explaining job satisfaction in terms of idealized influence, inspiration and individualized consideration. A follow-up regression line analysis revealed the accuracy of the earlier findings., Bryman (1992) found that transformational leadership behaviors are positively related to a number of important organizational outcomes including perceived extra effort, organizational citizenship behaviors, and job satisfaction. However, the 'substitutes [...]