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In this study we make a shift from research examining factors that influence supervisors’ resource depletion to exploring how supervisors’ energy may be increased. Building from work on appreciation in interpersonal relationships, we examine if feeling appreciated by subordinates positively influences supervisors’ energy resources. We complement research on the supervisor-subordinate dyad that focuses on subordinates’ outcomes by making supervisors’ work experiences our central focus. Using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we hypothesize feeling appreciated is positively related to supervisors’ energy and positively affects their personal and work-related outcomes. Further, we predict supervisors’ core self-evaluations (CSE) will moderate this indirect relationship. In a daily diary study of supervisors, we find support for these hypotheses. Supervisors’ felt appreciation was resource enhancing and an indirect influence on supervisors’ life satisfaction, optimism, job satisfaction, withdrawal, and helping behavior. Further, supervisors’ CSE moderated this indirect relationship.

Research on trickle effects has proliferated in the past decade. However, the literature has grown in a largely disorganized and fragmented fashion, with the different types of trickle effects (trickle-down, trickle-out, trickle-up, trickle-in, and trickle-around) often examined as independent phenomena. To better understand and integrate this research, we provide a comprehensive review of the empirical literature of trickle effects. In particular, drawing on an indirect social influence perspective, we clarify the definition of trickle effects as a process whereby perceptions, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors of a source affect perceptions, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors of a transmitter, which in turn affect perceptions, feelings, attitudes, or behaviors of a recipient. We then review the works collectively, cataloging them by trickle type. Next, we examine boundary conditions (moderators) of the effects, methodologies utilized, and the theoretical accounts proposed to explain the effects. Finally, we introduce a conceptual framework that allows us to organize trickle-effects research and identify paths for future trickle-effects research.

Considerable discussion stresses the importance of implementing employee monitoring systems in ways that enhance perceived fairness. Less attention focuses on the organizational context in which such systems are implemented. A longitudinal field experiment examined the effects of advance notice, justification, and trust on employee reactions to Internet monitoring. Results indicate that formal characteristics of monitoring implementation were less important than organizational climate in determining employee reactions. Neither advance notice nor justification significantly affected perceptions of monitoring fairness. In contrast, trust significantly influenced these perceptions, which in turn positively affected employees' job attitudes.

Research in selection examines how organizational justice principles may influence applicants’ reactions to selection procedures. This article extends this research by examining how two aspects of procedures—interpersonal treatment and social comparison information—affect reactions to a personality testing. The results of two studies demonstrate that interpersonal treatment (expression of concern for applicants’ feelings) and social comparison information (description of testing as either typical or experimental) interact to affect test-takers’ reactions. When concern was expressed and personality testing was described as typical, individuals responded less positively. However, when no concern was expressed, evaluations were more positive when testing was described as typical. The implications for organizational justice research and selection research are discussed.

This article reports the principal findings of over 200 studies of work motivation published between January 1990 and December 1997. We examined research relevant to seven traditional motivational theories (Motives and Needs, Expectancy Theory, Equity Theory, Goal-Setting, Cognitive Evaluation Theory, Work Design, and Reinforcement Theory) and three emerging topic areas (Creativity, Groups, and Culture). For each area, we summarize the research, identify trends and discuss issues that deserve further research attention. We conclude by examining trends in research in the field overall and considering the implications of these trends for the future role of motivation in organizational behavior research.

This study examines the impact of workgroup membership on individuals' perceptions of equity and choice of referent. Subjects indicated who they compared themselves to on four job facets (compensation, job complexity, supervisory behavior, and security) and whether or not they felt equitably treated relative to their referent. For security comparisons, results show that workgroup membership is related to perceptions of equity and referent choice. For compensation comparisons, workgroup membership is related to referent choice. Workgroup membership does not influence either equity evaluations or referent choice for job complexity or supervisory behavior. Implications of these results for future research on comparative referents are discussed.