It is not only what you do, but why you do it: The role of attribution in employees' emotional and behavioral responses to illegitimate tasks

IF 5.2 1区 心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED
Zhen Wang, Fubin Jiang
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

Illegitimate tasks are tasks that violate the norms governing what an employee can reasonably be expected to do. Although extant research has demonstrated the link between illegitimate tasks and negative emotions, little is known about why illegitimate tasks are associated with various emotions and subsequent behaviors in employees. Building on the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion and the attributional perspective, we proposed two negative attributions for illegitimate tasks (i.e., negative competence attribution and negative relationship attribution) and examined how they are differentially associated with employees' emotions and behaviors when asked to perform illegitimate tasks. The results of Study 1 (a scenario-based experiment using 400 employees) and Study 2 (a three-wave survey of 519 employees), which were both conducted in China, show that when faced with illegitimate tasks that employees attribute to the insufficiency of their competence (i.e., negative competence attribution), they are more likely to experience shame, and when employees attribute being assigned illegitimate tasks to undesirable relationships with their leader and colleagues (i.e., negative relationship attribution), they are more likely to feel angry. Shame and anger are further related to employees' work and social withdrawal behavior, respectively. This study showcases the role of attribution in employee responses to illegitimate tasks and provides an attribution perspective on why illegitimate tasks are associated with various emotions and behaviors among employees.

问题不仅在于你做了什么,还在于你为什么这么做:归因在员工对不合理任务的情绪和行为反应中的作用
非法任务是指违反规范的任务,这些规范规定了员工可以合理地期望他们做什么。虽然现有的研究已经证明了不合理的任务和负面情绪之间的联系,但对于为什么不合理的任务与员工的各种情绪和随后的行为有关,我们知之甚少。基于情绪认知评价理论和归因视角,我们提出了两种非正当任务的负性归因(负性能力归因和负性关系归因),并考察了它们在被要求执行非正当任务时与员工情绪和行为的差异关联。研究1(400名员工的场景实验)和研究2(519名员工的三波调查)都在中国进行,结果表明,当员工面临不合理的任务时,员工将其归因于自身能力不足(即负能力归因),他们更容易感到羞耻,当员工将被分配不合理的任务归因于与领导和同事的不良关系(即,消极关系归因),他们更容易感到愤怒。羞耻感和愤怒感分别与员工的工作退缩行为和社会退缩行为有进一步的关系。本研究展示了归因在员工对非法任务的反应中的作用,并从归因的角度解释了为什么非法任务与员工的各种情绪和行为有关。
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来源期刊
Journal of Vocational Behavior
Journal of Vocational Behavior PSYCHOLOGY, APPLIED-
CiteScore
13.10
自引率
5.40%
发文量
85
期刊介绍: The Journal of Vocational Behavior publishes original empirical and theoretical articles offering unique insights into the realms of career choice, career development, and work adjustment across the lifespan. These contributions are not only valuable for academic exploration but also find applications in counseling and career development programs across diverse sectors such as colleges, universities, business, industry, government, and the military. The primary focus of the journal centers on individual decision-making regarding work and careers, prioritizing investigations into personal career choices rather than organizational or employer-level variables. Example topics encompass a broad range, from initial career choices (e.g., choice of major, initial work or organization selection, organizational attraction) to the development of a career, work transitions, work-family management, and attitudes within the workplace (such as work commitment, multiple role management, and turnover).
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