Search

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, managers and employees in many organizations suddenly are forced to work from home. Although working from home (WFH) is not a new phenomenon, it is new in its current scale and scope because of COVID-19. Against this background, we investigate the effect of WFH during the COVID-19 crisis on changes in leadership behaviors, and associated changes in perceived manager quality and productivity, at different hierarchical levels in organizations. Based on the literature, we develop two predictions in opposite directions. On the one hand, implementing WFH may force managers to show less direction and control and especially more delegation. On the other hand, research into the effects of exogenous shocks such as COVID-19, suggests that managers may become more controlling and delegate less. Consistent with the first prediction, we find that managers perceive they execute significantly less control and delegate more. Employees also perceive a significant decrease in control, however they perceive on average no change in delegation. Furthermore, and in line with the second prediction, employees of lower-level managers even report a significant decrease in delegation. Finally, our results show that increased delegation is associated with increased perceived productivity and higher manager quality. Together, these results suggest that in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the effectiveness of WFH might be hampered by the fact that required changes in leadership behaviors, in particular in delegation, are difficult to realize in times of crisis.

The ability of Top Management Teams (TMTs) to reflect critically on their own actions represents an important element of effective TMT decision making and governance effectiveness. This paper therefore examines how the TMT-board interface internal to the organization, as well as the TMT interface with the external supervisory authority, shape TMT reflexivity. Drawing from governance and psychological theories, we posit that cognitive conflict at the TMT-board interface can escalate by increasing levels of affective TMT-board conflict, and hereby, harm TMT reflexivity if not managed well. This proposition was tested in a multisource team-level data set collected in the field among TMTs (N = 111 TMT members) and their supervisory boards (N = 152 board members) of 56 Dutch insurance companies. The findings demonstrate that the link between cognitive and affective TMT-board conflict is mitigated by board membership influx. Yet in cases where conflict escalation does occur, its subsequent impact on TMT reflexivity hinges on the degree to which an external supervisory authority monitored TMT actions. The results illustrate that TMT decision making processes can be effectively influenced by internal and external TMT-governance interfaces, yet at different conflict stages, and through different governance actions.

We present a systematic review of the literature on power and its interpersonal consequences. Our review, comprising 339 studies published in 145 research articles, shows that this line of research has primarily examined how powerholders attend to and act towards powerless individuals, or others in general. We therefore know surprisingly little about how powerholders attend to and act towards other powerholders. To address this issue, we present a conceptual framework that outlines how an actor's power interacts with a target's power to influence prosocial and antisocial beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. We identify two routes in the literature detailing how powerholders respond to one another. First, building on rivalry literature, we present a competitive route suggesting that powerholders rival each other and engage in conflict. Second, building on social identity and social dominance literature, we present a harmonious route suggesting that powerful peers will show compassion and care for each other. Finally, we bring forth suggestions for how future research could test these two perspectives, by presenting moderators that determine when each of these two routes is activated. In doing so, we offer important implications for the power literature and open a new line of inquiry for future research.

Multisource feedback is important for leadership development and effectiveness. An important asset of such feedback is that it provides information about the self-other agreement between leaders and observers. Self-other agreement relates to several positive individual, dyadic, and organizational outcomes. Given the increasingly intercultural context in organizations, it is imperative to understand whether and how cultural distance between leaders and observers relates to self-other agreement. We hypothesize that cultural distance within leader-observer dyads is negatively associated with self-other agreement. Moreover, we expect that this relationship is stronger for leader-superior than leader-subordinate dyads. We use a unique multi-cultural dataset of 7,778 leaders (52 nationalities) rated by 22,997 subordinates (56 nationalities) and 10,132 superiors (54 nationalities) to test our hypotheses. Results confirm that cultural distance is negatively associated with self-other agreement; we show that this relationship is driven by increased self-ratings and by reduced other-ratings. In addition, we find that these results are more pronounced for leader–superior than for leader–subordinate dyads. Implications for the theory and practice of self-other agreement and multisource feedback are discussed.

Economic growth differences across regions and cities can only be partly explained by standard explanations in economic geography. One reason for this might be the neglect of the psychological make-up of cities and its citizens. To assess the value added of incorporating psychological factors alongside the more standard explanations, this paper tests the relevance of personality traits for economic growth for a sample of UK cities. We argue that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness, and the traits that make up entrepreneurship culture help to explain urban growth differences. The personality scores of >400,000 UK residents are combined with economic data for 63 UK cities from 1981 to 2011. We find that both Neuroticism and entrepreneurship culture matter for economic growth. Our main contribution is that geographically clustered personality traits help to understand economic growth differences, and add explanatory power over and above standard determinants, also when the recursive relationship between personality traits and economic growth is taken into account.

This paper presents the results of a multi-level event study of the effects of the 2008 financial crisis on leadership behavior. Following assumptions from the threat-rigidity hypothesis, we expect that across firms and countries, this crisis led to an increase in directive leadership. In line with this hypothesis, we also anticipate that this change is context-specific. The impact of the 2008 financial crisis on the change in directive leadership is analyzed for over 20,000 managers in 980 organizations across 36 countries. We find that the financial crisis went along with a significant increase in directive leadership, and that this effect was stronger in the manufacturing sector, and in countries with a high degree of power distance. Our results support the threat-rigidity hypothesis, and contribute to leadership research by showing that the context is not only a moderator but actually shapes leadership behavior. This opens up a new avenue of leadership research where context is an antecedent of leadership behavior more generally, and where the methodological set-up allows for causal inference.

The fields of leadership and economics have interacted very little until now. The aim of this special issue on “economics and leadership” is to demonstrate the potential benefits of paying attention to and incorporating economic perspectives and methods into leadership research. Specifically, we argue that the field of economics can advance leadership research on three main topics: concepts, causality and context. For each topic, we summarize the state-of-the-art literature and showcase important insights, tools and findings. We also discuss possible critiques of the economic perspective on leadership. The timeliness of this issue is evident from recent discussions on the three C's within the field of leadership research, not least within The Leadership Quarterly itself. Our paper as well as the other six papers in this issue demonstrates that narrowing the gap between economics and leadership is not only beneficial and feasible, but also crucial for the progress of leadership research.

Abstract. Does wearing glasses hurt or help politicians in elections? Although some research shows that glasses signal unattractiveness, glasses also increase perceptions of competence. In eight studies, participants voted for politicians wearing (photoshopped) glasses or not. Wearing glasses increased politicians’ electoral success in the US (Study 1), independent of their political orientation (Studies 2a and 2b). This positive effect was especially strong when intelligence was important (Study 3), and even occurred if glasses were used strategically (Study 4). However, it did not extend to India (Study 5) due to different cultural associations with glasses (Study 6). Furthermore, while intelligence mediated the effect, warmth did not (Study 7). In summary, wearing glasses can robustly boost electoral success, at least in Western cultures.

The World Management Survey (WMS) initiative has collected firm-level data in more than 35 countries for the cross-country measurement of management quality. Abundant research shows that management...

In a digital orientating survey of gender differences among 156 male and 98 female dentists in the Netherlands, many similarities were found between the two groups. Men and women generally report that they are in good health, experience comparable levels of burnout (about 10%) and are equally satisfied with their choice of profession. To a large extent, they perceive the same aspects of their work as attractive, with 'patient care' as by far the most attractive feature. According to the dentists as well as 122 assistants and dental hygienists (who were also questioned in this survey), they have comparable leadership styles, while the dentists, on average, rate their leadership behaviour more highly than the assistants and dental hygienists do. In addition, a limited number of significant gender differences were found in the sample. Women feel less competent in conducting complex interventions than men, and they find surgical interventions and complex restorative treatments less attractive aspects of their work. Women consult colleagues more often and their preference for working in a team is greater.In een verkennend onderzoek, door middel van digitale enquête, naar sekseverschillen onder 156 mannelijke en 98 vrouwelijke tandartsen in Nederland werden veel overeenkomsten tussen beide groepen gevonden. Mannen en vrouwen rapporteerden over het algemeen een goede gezondheid, gelijke percentages voor burn-out (circa 10%) en tevredenheid met hun beroepskeuze. Voor een groot deel ervaarden ze dezelfde onderdelen van hun werk als aantrekkelijk, waarbij de omgang met patiënten verreweg het hoogste scoorde. Ook gaven zij, zowel volgens zichzelf als volgens 122 assistenten en mondhygiënisten (die hierop in dit onderzoek ook werden bevraagd), op een vergelijkbare manier leiding en schatten hun leiderschapsgedrag gemiddeld hoger in dan assistenten en mondhygiënisten deden. Daarnaast was er een beperkt aantal binnen de steekproef significante sekseverschillen gevonden. Vrouwen voelden zich minder competent bij complexe ingrepen dan mannen en vonden chirurgische ingrepen en complexe restauratieve behandelingen minder aantrekkelijk. Zij consulteerden vaker collega’s en hun voorkeur voor werken in teamverband was groter.

This study examines the roles of power, stability, and social dominance orientation (SDO) for work stress. Initial laboratory research has demonstrated that power and the stability of one's power position interact to influence stress. Using a sample of Chinese managers, we replicate and extend this finding in an organisational field setting, illustrating that the interactive role of power and stability hinges on individuals' SDO. Individuals higher (but not lower) in SDO experienced more work stress in unstable high-power and stable low-power positions, compared to their counterparts in stable high-power and unstable low-power positions. These results underscore the role of stability for understanding the power-stress relationship and emphasise individual differences in needs and motivations as an important boundary condition.

The Leadership Quarterly has developed the reputation of being the custodian of the best multidisciplinary scientific research focusing on leadership. This reputation has been the result of the efforts of successive editorial teams who laid important foundations in building the journal (see joint article from former editors: Atwater, Mumford, Tosi, & Yammarino, 2014). We are passionate about scientific discovery and aspire to publish the best leadership research, on par with that of the top general journals. Thus, as current guardians of the journal's scientific record, we realize the enormous responsibility we have in shaping what is published and in signaling to the field what types of research we value. In this editorial, we discuss the importance afforded to leadership as a scientific discipline, take stock of the first two years of our term, explain the current editorial policy, and report on how the journal is doing and where it is heading.

The glass cliff refers to the tendency for women to be more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions that are risky and precarious. This paper reviews the first decade of research into the phenomenon and has three key aims: (a) to summarize and integrate evidence of the glass cliff, (b) to clarify the processes that have been shown to underlie the glass cliff, and (c) to explore the factors that may moderate the glass cliff phenomenon. We show that the glass cliff has had a significant impact on public discourse around women and leadership but is a complex, contextual, and multiply determined phenomenon. Crown Copyright (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Inc All rights reserved.

The current research explores why people desire power and how that desire can be satisfied. We propose that a position of power can be subjectively experienced as conferring influence over others or as offering autonomy from the influence of others. Conversely, a low-power position can be experienced as lacking influence or lacking autonomy. Nine studies show that subjectively experiencing one’s power as autonomy predicts the desire for power, whereas the experience of influence over others does not. Furthermore, gaining autonomy quenches the desire for power, but gaining influence does not. The studies demonstrated the primacy of autonomy across both experimental and correlational designs, across measured mediation and manipulated mediator approaches, and across three different continents (Europe, United States, India). Together, these studies offer evidence that people desire power not to be a master over others, but to be master of their own domain, to control their own fate.

This article adds a psychological perspective to help explain the regional Brexit vote. Based on an extensive dataset with personality traits, combined with socio-economic data, our findings suggest that the regional clustering of these personality traits contribute to an understanding of the regional dispersion of the Brexit vote. We find evidence that psychological ‘Openness’ is the personality trait that matters most and that modest changes in this trait could actually have swung the vote across UK districts. Moreover, the relevance of psychological Openness solves the puzzle that UK districts that are relatively dependent on trade with the EU predominantly voted for Leave. By including psychological factors, our results show how we can arrive at a better understanding of the geography of the discontent with globalisation.

Dit artikel beschrijft kenmerken van effectief leiderschapsgedrag en koppelt deze aan de specifieke context van een toezichthouder. Een toezichthouder is te typeren als een professionele organisatie, waarin hoogopgeleide medewerkers enerzijds consciëntieus en prudent moeten zijn, maar anderzijds ook flexibiliteit moeten kunnen tonen als de situatie daarom vraagt. Deze context stelt extra eisen aan leidinggevenden binnen toezichthouders. Een aantal belangrijke faalfactoren voor leiderschap worden beschreven: een overdaad aan laissez-faire en een tekort aan relatiegericht en verandergericht leiderschap, gecombineerd met te weinig kennis van de inhoud en te weinig ruimte voor tegenspraak. Dit leidt tot een aantal specifieke leiderschapslessen voor toezichthouders.

Using an interpersonal approach to self-perceptions, we broke down leaders' self-perceptions of their transformational leadership behaviour into three components: a target effect (i.e., how leaders are perceived by followers), a perceiver effect (i.e., how leaders perceive followers), and a self-enhancement effect (i.e., idiosyncratic positivity bias in how leaders perceive themselves), and then examined the relationships between these components and the quality of exchanges between leaders and followers (LMX). In a survey study among 60 leaders with 286 followers, we found the target effect in leaders' self-perceptions of their transformational leadership to be positively related to the quality of LMX, whereas the perceiver effect and self-enhancement effects were negatively associated with LMX. Follower extraversion intensified the positive role of the target effect and the negative role of the self-enhancement effect in the leader-follower exchanges.

Reflexivity can prevent Top Management Teams (TMTs) from using decision biases that harm sound strategic decision making of TMTs. To ensure reflexivity, TMTs are supervised internally by supervisory boards, and externally by independent supervisory authorities, but there is theoretical debate on their respective impact. We propose that frequent internal supervision is associated with Board-TMT relationship conflict, but this relationship will be less strong when TMTs are supervised by boards with an open board composition (including newer members). When such conflict occurs it can harm TMT reflexivity, but we expect that this relationship will be less strong when external supervision increases. These hypotheses were supported in a multisource team-level data set collected in the field among TMTs (N = 111 TMT members) and their supervisory boards (N = 152 board members) of 56 insurance companies. This study advances empirical and practical knowledge on the distinct and interdependent impact of internal and external supervision on TMT reflexivity.

The present study reveals how leadership effectiveness in project teams is dependent on the level of organizational tenure diversity. Data from 34 project teams showed that transformational leadership is related to organizational commitment, creative behavior, and job satisfaction, but only in teams with high organizational tenure diversity. By contrast, participative leadership has no impact on team innovativeness, team performance, and team conflict in teams with high organizational tenure diversity, yet is beneficial with respect to the same outcomes in teams that are low in organizational tenure diversity. Theoretical and practical implications for leading project teams and future research in this area are discussed.

John Antonakis and the editorial board of The Leadership Quarterly have a goal to expand the purview of leadership scholars in the management field beyond traditional management approaches. The pur...

Transformational leadership is seen as one of the most effective leadership styles from which the dynamic context of temporary work agencies may benefit. The current paper presents a theoretical framework that introduces participative leadership as an additional appropriate leadership style. The prediction is that transformational leadership and participative leadership both impact work outcomes via a climate for change. Data from 258 employees working for a large Dutch employment agency support these hypotheses. Results show that transformational leadership and participative leadership are both independently related to work outcomes. Moreover, results support an indirect process from participative leadership to work outcomes, via a climate for change.

How does power affect behavior? We posit that this depends on the type of power. We distinguish between social power (power over other people) and personal power (freedom from other people) and argue that these two types of power have opposite associations with independence and interdependence. We propose that when the distinction between independence and interdependence is relevant, social power and personal power will have opposite effects; however, they will have parallel effects when the distinction is irrelevant. In two studies (an experimental study and a large field study), we demonstrate this by showing that social power and personal power have opposite effects on stereotyping, but parallel effects on behavioral approach., How does power affect behavior? We posit that this depends on the type of power. We distinguish between social power (power over other people) and personal power (freedom from other people) and argue that these two types of power have opposite associations with independence and interdependence. We propose that when the distinction between independence and interdependence is relevant, social power and personal power will have opposite effects; however, they will have parallel effects when the distinction is irrelevant. In two studies (an experimental study and a large field study), we demonstrate this by showing that social power and personal power have opposite effects on stereotyping, but parallel effects on behavioral approach. How does power affect behavior? This is an important question in psychology, given that we live in a world with extremely salient power differentials. Presidents can decide on the economic fate of millions, CEOs can hire or fire thousands of employees, and generals can make decisions that determine whether thousands of soldiers live or die. If people's behavior is affected by their power, then it is crucial to know how and why. In the current research, we argue that to answer how power affects behavior, it is necessary to take a closer look at the concept of power itself. We propose that power can refer to different things, which in turn have different effects. In the relevant literature, however, power is traditionally treated as a single construct, and the difference between various aspects of power is ignored. The multitude of competing and diverging definitions of power already indicates that a monolithic power concept is too restrictive (Fiske & Berdahl, 2007). A close look at these many definitions of power suggests that there are two main types.

This chapter provides an overview of recent findings showing that stereotypical gendered beliefs about leadership underlie the glass cliff phenomenon. We summarise a series of studies demonstrating that the availability of social resources (i.e., social support from higher management and relevant stakeholders) during an organisational crisis impacts on the salience of these gendered leadership beliefs. In consequence, the availability of such resources contribute to the appointment of women into leadership positions, the precariousness of these positions, and the way men and women themselves evaluate the positions. Moreover, we review the literature on the appointment of women into precarious leadership positions across national cultures that differ in their endorsement of gendered leadership beliefs. This literature suggests that the glass cliff phenomenon is observed globally, yet is complex, subtle and multiple-determined.

Over the last few years, middle management has been subject to a lot of criticism and theoretical debate. This was the reason for the Dutch employer's federation to obtain more insight in what is happening with middle management in practice. Consequences of organisational changes for the tasks and behaviours of middle management were investigated. Results indicate that middle managers experienced a major shift in tasks, with an increase in tasks that concern employees. Also, organisational changes have lead to a focus on ‘soft' leadership behaviour, such as coaching. In practice however, the actual behaviour of middle managers could not be characterised as such. Furthermore, there is little evidence for the proclaimed effectiveness of coaching by middle management. The main implications for general managers are given here.

Women’s representation in senior leadership positions continues to be significantly lower than that of men, however, a small proportion of women do manage to break through the glass ceiling. This research summary provides a review of research into the glass cliff phenomenon whereby women who do break through the glass ceiling disproportionally occupy risky and precarious leadership positions. The summary explores multiple reasons for the glass cliff including an organizational desire to signal change and gender stereotypical leadership beliefs. We also question the explanation that women might be particularly drawn to risky leadership positions.

The current investigation examined the effects of internal and external supervisors (i.e., formally installed institutions that hold employees accountable for their actions) on employees’ self-serving decisions. In two studies, it was found that internal supervisors reduced self-serving decisions more strongly than external supervisors did because they hold more position power over employees. The findings further suggest that the presence of both supervisors did not provide additive advantages, as employees primarily responded to internal supervisors. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Research in the tradition of the threat-rigidity hypothesis links threats to organizational actions, arguing that an external threat like the global 2008 financial crisis leads to rigidity in organ...

Although studies have shown that inflated self-perceptions of transformational leadership behavior negatively affect leader performance, insight into the underlying processes explaining this relationship is lacking. The current study addresses this gap by identifying vertical conflict between leaders and subordinates as one such underlying process. Using a sample of 52 leaders supervising 259 subordinates, it was found that leader self-enhancement of transformational leadership behavior is significantly and positively related to vertical conflict about both task and relationship issues. Results further indicate that vertical task conflict rather than vertical relationship conflict mediates the negative relationship between leader self-enhancement and leader performance. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

This contribution focuses on the way in which employees and managers perceive themselves and each other. Based on two PhD-projects, one in which differences between self-ratings and supervisor ratings have been studied, and one in which the focus was the differences between team leaders' self-perception and the team members' perception, it was concluded that supervisors and employees have a different view on the competencies and behavior of one another. Some explanations for these results are given. Also, implications for competence development and appraisal of employees and managers will be described.

The main focus of this paper is the functioning of R&D teams, the role of the team leader and the characteristics of individual team members. After a brief overview of recent literature on leadership and innovation, some research results are presented from a study of leadership in self-managing teams; these teams have a number of characteristics in common with R&D teams, such as dependent tasks and job autonomy. The results lead to an integrated model for the effective functioning of R&D teams, with a focus on the relations between leadership behaviour, individual characteristics, team functioning and outcome variables.

This article reports on an exploratory multiple case-study (N=11) of companies with self-managing teams. We mention briefly the reasons for the introduction of self-managing teams, different team designs, and implementation strategies. We identify some implications of self-managing teams for the engineering and development function. The cooperation between the teams and process engineers and product developers becomes more intensive. The concept of the client-supplier relationship seems to be a suitable vehicle for this cooperation.

Economic research shows that candidates have a higher chance of getting (re-)elected when they have the luck that the world economy does well even though this is beyond their control and unrelated to their competence. Psychological research demonstrates that candidates increase their chances if they have the right looks, a facial characteristic that is also unrelated to a politician’s actual policies. We combine these two strands of literature by assessing the relative strength of luck and looks. Moreover, we take the moderating effect of the electoral system into account. Using a sample of 196 elections for 44 countries between 1979-1999, results show that looks matter only in majority systems whereas luck ceases to be relevant at all. Economic competence does matter in representative systems. These results hold after controlling for the interaction of luck, looks and competence with variables that proxy for the cross-country variation in the well-informedness of voters.

In two scenario-based studies, we found that women and men evaluate glass-cliff positions (i.e., precarious leadership positions at organizations in crisis) differently depending on the social and financial resources available. Female and male participants evaluated a hypothetical leadership position in which they would have both social and financial resources, financial resources but no social resources, or social resources but no financial resources. Women evaluated the position without social resources most negatively, whereas men evaluated the position without financial resources most negatively. In Study 2, we found that women and men considered different issues when evaluating these leadership positions. Women’s evaluations and expected levels of influence as leaders depended on the degree to which they expected to be accepted by subordinates. In contrast, men’s evaluations and expected levels of acceptance by subordinates depended on the degree to which they expected to be influential in the position. Our findings have implications for the understanding of the glass-cliff phenomenon and gendered leadership stereotypes.

Social and I&O psychologists working at business schools: A sin or sane? Social and I&O psychologists working at business schools: A sin or sane? Over the last years, more and more social and industrial and organizational psychologists in The Netherlands started to work at business schools. This article describes the causes of this trend. Moreover, it outlines the differences in research between social psychology, I&O psychology and organizational behavior (at the business schools). The paper concludes with two possible scenarios for the future. In a pessimistic scenario, driven by budget cuts and to some extent based on current trends in the United States, one of the three disciplines disappears. In a more optimistic scenario, the borders between the three fields fade away. In this scenario, interdisciplinarity is a key issue. This last scenario calls for a clear positioning of the three disciplines, and also for strong cooperation between them.

In the present paper, we raise the question whether CEO transformational leadership invariably makes a difference for team performance and change effectiveness. Since in general, CEOs are surrounded by a team of highly influential top managers, we argue that the effectiveness of CEO transformational leadership is contingent on the feedback seeking behavior of their top management team (TMT). Data from 38 TMTs and their CEOs demonstrated that transformational leadership was positively related to both TMT performance and effectiveness of organizational change, but only when the TMT engaged in low levels of feedback seeking behavior. As predicted, there was no relationship between CEO transformational leadership and performance and change effectiveness for teams exhibiting high levels of feedback seeking behavior. These findings suggest that for high-feedback seeking TMTs, organizational results can be achieved without a transformational CEO. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

PURPOSE: Several studies have shown that the traditional stereotype of a "good" manager being masculine and male still exists. The recent changes in the proportion of women and female managers in organizations could affect these two managerial stereotypes, leading to a stronger preference for feminine characteristics and female leaders. This study examines if the gender of an employee, the gender of the manager, and the management gender ratio in an organization are related to employees' managerial stereotypes. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: 3229 respondents working in various organizations completed an electronic questionnaire. FINDINGS: The results confirm our hypotheses that, although the general stereotype of a manager is masculine and although most prefer a man as a manager, female employees, employees with a female manager, and employees working in an organization with a high percentage of female managers, have a stronger preference for feminine characteristics of managers and for female managers. Moreover, we find that proximal variables are much stronger predictors of these preferences than more distal variables. IMPLICATIONS: Our study suggests that managerial stereotypes could change as a result of personal experiences and changes in the organizational context. The results imply that increasing the proportion of female managers is an effective way to overcome managerial stereotyping. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study examines the influence on managerial stereotypes of various proximal and distal factors derived from theory among a large group of employees (in contrast to students).

Data from a large survey of 1,561 professionals were used to examine the relationship between power and infidelity and the process underlying this relationship. Results showed that elevated power is positively associated with infidelity because power increases confidence in the ability to attract partners. This association was found for both actual infidelity and intentions to engage in infidelity in the future. Gender did not moderate these results: The relationship between power and infidelity was the same for women as for men, and for the same reason. These findings suggest that the common assumption (and often-found effect) that women are less likely than men to engage in infidelity is, at least partially, a reflection of traditional gender-based differences in power that exist in society.

A large number of authors have observed that the experience of power increases behavioral approach tendencies. There are however some important unresolved problems. Predominantly, the literature relies on lab manipulations, priming, and student populations. This has resulted in low face validity. Also, it is unclear what process underlies this effect. A large-scale survey (N = 3082) reliably measures power among real low- and high-power employees in existing organizations and finds strong support for the effect of power on behavioral approach. Consistent with expectations, this effect is mediated by increased access to resources. We also discuss findings that suggest the shape of this power-approach effect might be quadratic. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Several theories have been developed that prescribe the team development of self-managing work teams (SMWTs). Some of these have led to models with successive linear developmental phases. However, both the theory and the empirical data show little support for these models. Based on an extensive review of team development literature, we propose, instead of linear phases, describing team development in three general team processes. These processes, internal relations, task management, and external relations and improvement, were empirically explored in a longitudinal field-study of more than 150 blue-collar and white-collar SMWTs in a Volvo plant in Sweden. The three processes were found to be consistent over time and appeared to relate to one-year-later objective SMWT performance measures for product quality, the incidence of sick-leave and long-term sick-leave. Based on these findings, a result-oriented team development approach is proposed, in which the achieved results determine the processes followed to develop SMWTs further. Also, managers and HR practitioners are encouraged to monitor the three ongoing team processes and to relate these to the desired team performance. Such an analysis should be the starting point of a dialogue between manager and team to improve the functioning and performance of SMWTs.

PurposeThis study seeks to identify the relationship between leader behaviour and the effectiveness of the members of a self‐managing team (SMT) in terms of perceived individual performance and emotional exhaustion. In particular, it aims to examine the moderating role of individual team tenure.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire study was conducted involving 154 team members of 21 SMTs. Two leadership dimensions were measured, plus team tenure and effectiveness (in terms of perceived individual performance and emotional exhaustion) of the individuals involved.FindingsTeam members with a short team tenure reported higher levels of individual performance when their team leader demonstrated directive behaviour. Conversely, these relatively new team members reported lower levels of individual performance and experienced greater emotional exhaustion when their team leader adopted coaching behaviour. For team members with longer team tenure, however, individual performance was greater and emotional exhaustion less when their team leader exhibited a coaching style of behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were self‐reported and the cross‐sectional design of the study precludes conclusions about the direction of causality.Practical implicationsLeaders of SMTs can benefit from insights into how the team tenure of the individual team members affects their responses to their leadership behaviours. By adapting their leadership styles to suit the characteristics of individual team members, leaders may be able to increase the effectiveness of the individual team members.Originality/valueThis study has examined the effectiveness of different leadership styles within real‐life SMTs and shown the importance of attending to the moderating effect of individual team members' team tenure.