The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. - Jonas Salk
What I-O Nerds Are Reading
Selections from published articles, articles in press, and other academic resources.
Turnover Among Volunteers
Amongst the strongest predictors of volunteer turnover were attitudinal variables, in particular, job satisfaction (ρ = −.58), affective commitment (ρ = −.58), engagement (ρ = −.54) and organizational commitment (ρ = −.54). Contextual variables that showed the largest effects included communication (ρ = .62), organizational support (ρ = −.61) and the quality of the relationship between volunteers and their leader (leader-member exchange, ρ = −.55).
Predictors of Turnover Amongst Volunteers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
Hit the Ground Running, Make Enemies & Friends
Supporting our hypotheses, when leaders and peers are less competent, newcomer proactive behaviors…result in lower quality relationships with leaders and peers. These cascading effects positively correlate with newcomer voluntary turnover. Conversely, opposite effects arise for more competent leaders and peers.
How are Newcomer Proactive Behaviors Received by Leaders and Peers? A Relational Perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology.
Knowledge Sharing & Creativity
Does receiving knowledge necessarily catalyze the recipient's creativity?…Results based on three samples from various settings show that receiving tacit knowledge from a partner leads a recipient to elaborate the received knowledge, and this relationship is stronger when the recipient's psychological closeness to the partner is higher. This dyadic-level knowledge elaboration in turn boosts the recipient's catalytic creativity. In contrast, receiving explicit knowledge from a partner generally has a much weaker effect on the recipient's elaboration of the knowledge, regardless of whether the recipient's psychological closeness to the partner is high or low.
Does Receiving Knowledge Catalyze Creativity? A Dyadic-Level Contingency Model of Knowledge Type and Psychological Closeness on Knowledge Elaboration. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
What Everyone Else is Reading
Articles, books, and resources from the popular business press.
Advice for New Managers
…whether you’re leading one person or many, you’re likely feeling the weight of responsibility in an entirely new way. The good news is that it can be extremely satisfying to inspire a team to achieve great things. The reality, though, is that many new managers fail within the first two years, due largely to the fact that they weren’t properly trained to be people leaders in the first place.
A Simple Playbook for New Managers (or Anyone Who Wants to Improve Their Leadership). Fast Company.
The Speed of Customer Service
It’s one thing to deliver an excellent customer experience. When you combine it with speed—in delivery, follow up and return messages, short hold times and more—you elevate the experience to an even higher level.
A Book About Speed In Business Should Be A Speedy Read. Forbes.
AI & Disabilities
While trust is taking top billing in many discussions about generative AI’s design and uses, it’s also important to bring inclusivity and accessibility into the thick of things early on. That means ensuring that individuals with disabilities themselves play an active role in shaping the technology’s evolution, particularly as it pertains to opening job opportunities and carrying out tasks. The benefits of doing so will lift your company and society.
Designing Generative AI to Work for People with Disabilities. Harvard Business Review.
New York Times’ Bestselling Business Books
Links lead to short summaries.
Atomic Habits, James Clear
The Creative Act, Rick Rubin with Neil Strauss
I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Ramit Sethi
Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman
Dare to Lead, Brené Brown
Construct of the Week
A psychological construct relevant to work psychology.
Face Validity: The degree to which a measure, assessment, or test appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure. Whether a measure seems relevant and appropriate for what it’s assessing on the surface.
The Research Quiz
Test your intuition against this research finding.
Are generous employees more or less likely to be exploited by their bosses? Researchers conducted five studies to assess managers' attitudes and actions toward employees with a reputation for generosity. What do you think they found?
Are generous employees more or less likely to be exploited by their managers compared to non-generous employees?