TY - JOUR A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Weigelt, Oliver T1 - Time pressure and proactive work behaviour: A week-level study on intraindividual fluctuations and reciprocal relationships JF - Journal of occupational and organizational psychology N2 - Recent research on proactive work behaviours (PWBs) pointed out that these behaviours can have negative consequences for the proactive individual. We add to this perspective by showing that PWBs may be a source of strain at work and result in elevated time pressure. Challenging the view of time pressure as a challenge stressor, we hypothesize that over the course of work weeks, time pressure will result in less (rather than more) PWB. We investigate these reciprocal effects as within-person, week-level fluctuations of time pressure and PWB based on experience sampling data (N = 52 participants, k = 274 observations). Over the course of three consecutive work weeks, results show a positive lagged effect of PWB in the first week on experiencing time pressure in the second week; in turn, time pressure in the second week had a negative lagged effect on PWB in the third week. Results further suggest that PWB is lowest in work weeks of low time pressure when following a week of high time pressure, indicating a conservation of resources interpretation of the results. KW - cross-lagged effects KW - experience sampling method KW - proactive work behaviour KW - stress KW - time pressure KW - week-level study Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12269 SN - 0963-1798 SN - 2044-8325 VL - 92 IS - 4 SP - 931 EP - 952 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weigelt, Oliver A1 - Syrek, Christine J. A1 - Schmitt, Antje A1 - Urbach, Tina T1 - Finding peace of mind when there still is so much left undone BT - a diary study on how job stress, competence need satisfaction, and proactive work behavior contribute to work-related rumination during the weekend JF - Journal of occupational health psychology N2 - Unfinished work tasks have been identified as a significant job-related stressor in recent occupational stress research. Extending this research, we examine how and when not finishing one’s tasks by the end of the work week affects work-related rumination at the weekend. Drawing on control theory, we examined competence need satisfaction as a mediating mechanism that links unfinished tasks at the end of the work week to work-related rumination at the weekend. Furthermore, we scrutinized whether proactive work behavior within the work week may neutralize the detrimental effects of unfinished tasks on competence need satisfaction and rumination. Using diary methodology, we collected weekly observations from 58 employees at the beginning and at the end of the work week over a period of 12 consecutive weeks, yielding 377 matched observations. Multilevel modeling analyses provided evidence for the assumed indirect effect at the intraindividual level. Higher levels of unfinished tasks were associated with lower levels of competence need satisfaction during the weekend. Competence need satisfaction, in turn, was negatively related to work-related rumination. Proactive work behavior attenuated the detrimental effects of unfinished tasks on competence need satisfaction and rumination at the weekend. These results imply that proactive work behavior facilitates switching off mentally during the weekend as it may restore competence need satisfaction in the face of unfinished tasks. KW - unfinished tasks KW - competence need satisfaction KW - proactive work behavior KW - work-related rumination KW - diary study Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/ocp0000117 SN - 1076-8998 SN - 1939-1307 VL - 24 IS - 3 SP - 373 EP - 386 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington, DC ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pingel, Ruta A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Urbach, Tina T1 - A resources perspective on when and how proactive work behaviour leads to employee withdrawal JF - Journal of occupational and organizational psychology N2 - Previous organizational behaviour research has mainly focused on the benefits of proactivity while disregarding its possible drawbacks. The present study examines the ways in which proactive behaviour may foster counterproductive behaviour through increased emotional and cognitive strain. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we propose that proactive behaviour is a resource-consuming activity that causes irritability and work-related rumination, which, in turn, leads to instrumentally driven employee withdrawal. Further, we hypothesize that external motivation towards proactivity amplifies its strain-eliciting effects. We conducted a longitudinal three-wave questionnaire study (N = 231) and tested hypotheses using an autoregressive, time-lagged model with latent variables. Results showed that when external motivation for proactivity was high, proactivity led to increased irritability and rumination; irritability was, in turn, related to higher levels of withdrawal. The moderated mediation analysis revealed that when external motivation towards proactive behaviour was high, proactive behaviour had an indirect effect on withdrawal behaviour via irritability. The direct effect of proactivity on work-related rumination was in the expected direction, but failed to reach conventional levels of significance (beta = .09, p = .08). Our results indicate that proactivity is not without costs, most clearly if motivated by external reasons. KW - proactive work behavior KW - strain KW - employee withdrawal KW - external motivation KW - longitudinal research Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/joop.12254 SN - 0963-1798 SN - 2044-8325 VL - 92 IS - 2 SP - 410 EP - 435 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Fay, Doris T1 - When proactivity produces a power struggle BT - how supervisors’ power motivation affects their support for employees’ promotive voice JF - European journal of work and organizational psychology : the official journal of The European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology N2 - Previous research informs us about facilitators of employees’ promotive voice. Yet little is known about what determines whether a specific idea for constructive change brought up by an employee will be approved or rejected by a supervisor. Drawing on interactionist theories of motivation and personality, we propose that a supervisor will be least likely to support an idea when it threatens the supervisor’s power motive, and when it is perceived to serve the employee’s own striving for power. The prosocial versus egoistic intentions attributed to the idea presenter are proposed to mediate the latter effect. We conducted three scenario-based studies in which supervisors evaluated fictitious ideas voiced by employees that – if implemented – would have power-related consequences for them as a supervisor. Results show that the higher a supervisors’ explicit power motive was, the less likely they were to support a power-threatening idea (Study 1, N = 60). Moreover, idea support was less likely when this idea was proposed by an employee that was described as high (rather than low) on power motivation (Study 2, N = 79); attributed prosocial intentions mediated this effect. Study 3 (N = 260) replicates these results. KW - Promotive voice KW - idea support KW - power motive KW - supervisor support KW - proactivity Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2018.1435528 SN - 1359-432X SN - 1464-0643 VL - 27 IS - 2 SP - 280 EP - 295 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Selenko, Eva A1 - Berkers, Hannah A1 - Carter, Angela A1 - Woods, Stephen A. A1 - Otto, Kathleen A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - De Witte, Hans T1 - On the dynamics of work identity in atypical employment BT - setting out a research agenda JF - European journal of work and organizational psychology : the official journal of The European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology N2 - Starting from the notion that work is an important part of who we are, we extend existing theory making on the interplay of work and identity by applying them to (so called) atypical work situations. Without the contextual stability of a permanent organizational position, the question “who one is” will be more difficult to answer. At the same time, a stable occupational identity might provide an even more important orientation to one’s career attitudes and goals in atypical employment situations. So, although atypical employment might pose different challenges on identity, identity can still be a valid concept to assist the understanding of behaviour, attitudes, and well-being in these situations. Our analysis does not attempt to “reinvent” the concept of identity, but will elaborate how existing conceptualizations of identity as being a multiple (albeit perceived as singular), fluid (albeit perceived as stable), and actively forged (as well as passively influenced) construct that can be adapted to understand the effects of atypical employment contexts. Furthermore, we suggest three specific ways to understand the longitudinal dynamics of the interplay between atypical employment and identity over time: passive incremental, active incremental, and transformative change. We conclude with key learning points and outline a few practical recommendations for more research into identity as an explanatory mechanism for the effects of atypical employment situations. KW - Identity KW - identification KW - atypical work KW - non-normative employment Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2018.1444605 SN - 1359-432X SN - 1464-0643 VL - 27 IS - 3 SP - 324 EP - 334 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Bagotyriute, Ruta A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - West, Michael A. A1 - Dawson, Jeremy T1 - Differential effects of workplace stressors on innovation BT - an integrated perspective of cybernetics and coping JF - International Journal of Stress Management N2 - It is now consensus that engaging in innovative work behaviors is not restricted to traditional innovation jobs (e.g., research and development), but that they can be performed on a discretionary basis in most of today’s jobs. To date, our knowledge on the role of workplace stressors for discretionary innovative behavior, in particular for innovation implementation, is limited. We draw on a cybernetic view as well as on a transactional, coping-based perspective with stress to propose differential effects of stressors on innovation implementation. We propose that work demands have a positive effect on innovation implementation, whereas role-based stressors (i.e., role conflict, role ambiguity, and professional compromise) have a negative effect. We conducted a time-lagged, survey-based study in the health care sector (Study 1, United Kingdom: N = 235 nurses). Innovation implementation was measured 2 years after the assessment of the stressors. Supporting our hypotheses, work demands were positively related to subsequent innovation implementation, whereas role ambiguity and professional compromise were negatively related to subsequent innovation implementation. We also tested organizational commitment as a mediator, but there was only partial support for the mediation. To test the generalizability of the findings, we replicated the study (Study 2, Germany: employees from various professions, N = 138, time lag 2 weeks). Similar results to that in Study 1 were obtained. There was no support for strain as a mediator. Our results suggest differential effects of work demands and role stressors on innovation implementation, for which the underlying mechanism still needs to be uncovered. KW - innovation implementation KW - stressors KW - innovative work behavior KW - cybernetic stress theory Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000081 SN - 1072-5245 SN - 1573-3424 VL - 26 IS - 1 SP - 11 EP - 24 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - THES A1 - Urbach, Tina T1 - What makes or breaks proactivity at work : how personal motives affect the evaluation of improvement suggestions Y1 - 2012 CY - Potsdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Lauche, Kristina T1 - evaluation of innovative ideas JF - European journal of work and organizational psychology : the official journal of The European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology N2 - Workplace innovations often take the form of making suggestions about small-range improvements, for example, of processes and work procedures. Research on innovation suggests that people holding a novel idea will often consult their peers first in order to gauge their potential approval and support before proposing the idea to formal decision makers. We argue that peer evaluators’ intentions to support an innovative idea depend on the idea’s capacity to satisfy or threaten the evaluator’s achievement motive. Support intentions will be higher if the idea satisfies the evaluators’ achievement motive (idea-motive congruence), and lower if it threatens their achievement motive (idea-motive incongruence); evaluators’ affective response is proposed to mediate this effect. Moreover, the intentions attributed to the idea presenter are proposed to affect peers’ support intentions. The results of two scenario-based experiments (N = 153 and 123) confirm that motive-incongruent implications of an innovative idea, in particular regarding their fear of failure, reduce the likelihood for peers’ support intentions. Results on affective responses were inconsistent across studies, whereas perceiving the idea presenter to hold prosocial intentions was positively related to idea support. Implications for the evaluation of ideas are discussed. KW - idea evaluation KW - innovation KW - co-worker support KW - achievement motive KW - proactivity Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/1359432X.2016.1176558 SN - 1359-432X SN - 1464-0643 VL - 25 SP - 540 EP - 560 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wollny, Anna A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Urbach, Tina T1 - Personal initiative in middle childhood: Conceptualization and measurement development JF - Learning and individual differences N2 - Drawing on research on personal initiative in adults, this paper present the conceptualization of personal initiative in the middle childhood, and the development and validation of an eight-item teacher and parent rating scale of children's and adolescents' personal initiative. The psychometric properties and construct validity of the measure were tested in two samples of children in middle childhood (N = 1069–1657) and middle childhood to adolescence (N = 1533). Both the teacher and parent rating scale showed good item characteristics. Results of confirmatory factor analyses supported their hypothesized factorial structure. The agreement of teacher and parent ratings was satisfactory. Evidence on the construct validity of the scale was further derived from a nomological network comprising control cognitions, motivational orientations, and cognitive ability. The measures proved to be invariant across school years and raters. We discuss several avenues for future research on personal initiative in the fields of development and education. KW - Personal initiative KW - Proactivity KW - Childhood and adolescence KW - Scale development Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.05.004 SN - 1041-6080 SN - 1873-3425 VL - 49 SP - 59 EP - 73 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Scheithauer, Linda T1 - What motivates you right now? BT - Development of a measure of momentary-chronic regulatory focus JF - Measurement Instruments for the Social Sciences N2 - Regulatory focus is a motivational construct that describes humans’ motivational orientation during goal pursuit. It is conceptualized as a chronic, trait-like, as well as a momentary, state-like orientation. Whereas there is a large number of measures to capture chronic regulatory focus, measures for its momentary assessment are only just emerging. This paper presents the development and validation of a measure of Momentary–Chronic Regulatory Focus. Our development incorporates the distinction between self-guide and reference-point definitions of regulatory focus. Ideals and ought striving are the promotion and prevention dimension in the self-guide system; gain and non-loss regulatory focus are the respective dimensions within the reference-point system. Three-survey-based studies test the structure, psychometric properties, and validity of the measure in its version to assess chronic regulatory focus (two samples of working participants, N = 389, N = 672; one student sample [time 1, N = 105; time 2, n = 91]). In two further studies, an experience sampling study with students (N = 84, k = 1649) and a daily-diary study with working individuals (N = 129, k = 1766), the measure was applied to assess momentary regulatory focus. Multilevel analyses test the momentary measure’s factorial structure, provide support for its sensitivity to capture within-person fluctuations, and provide evidence for concurrent construct validity. KW - Regulatory focus KW - State and trait measurement KW - Scale development KW - Diary study KW - Experience sampling method Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s42409-019-0007-7 SN - 2523-8930 VL - 2 IS - 5 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fay, Doris A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Scheithauer, Linda T1 - What motivates you right now? BT - Development of a measure of momentary-chronic regulatory focus T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Regulatory focus is a motivational construct that describes humans’ motivational orientation during goal pursuit. It is conceptualized as a chronic, trait-like, as well as a momentary, state-like orientation. Whereas there is a large number of measures to capture chronic regulatory focus, measures for its momentary assessment are only just emerging. This paper presents the development and validation of a measure of Momentary–Chronic Regulatory Focus. Our development incorporates the distinction between self-guide and reference-point definitions of regulatory focus. Ideals and ought striving are the promotion and prevention dimension in the self-guide system; gain and non-loss regulatory focus are the respective dimensions within the reference-point system. Three-survey-based studies test the structure, psychometric properties, and validity of the measure in its version to assess chronic regulatory focus (two samples of working participants, N = 389, N = 672; one student sample [time 1, N = 105; time 2, n = 91]). In two further studies, an experience sampling study with students (N = 84, k = 1649) and a daily-diary study with working individuals (N = 129, k = 1766), the measure was applied to assess momentary regulatory focus. Multilevel analyses test the momentary measure’s factorial structure, provide support for its sensitivity to capture within-person fluctuations, and provide evidence for concurrent construct validity. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 545 KW - Regulatory focus KW - State and trait measurement KW - Scale development KW - Diary study KW - Experience sampling method Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-427350 SN - 1866-8364 IS - 545 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Fay, Doris T1 - When proactivity produces a power struggle BT - how supervisors’ power motivation affects their support for employees’ promotive voice T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Previous research informs us about facilitators of employees’ promotive voice. Yet little is known about what determines whether a specific idea for constructive change brought up by an employee will be approved or rejected by a supervisor. Drawing on interactionist theories of motivation and personality, we propose that a supervisor will be least likely to support an idea when it threatens the supervisor’s power motive, and when it is perceived to serve the employee’s own striving for power. The prosocial versus egoistic intentions attributed to the idea presenter are proposed to mediate the latter effect. We conducted three scenario-based studies in which supervisors evaluated fictitious ideas voiced by employees that – if implemented – would have power-related consequences for them as a supervisor. Results show that the higher a supervisors’ explicit power motive was, the less likely they were to support a power-threatening idea (Study 1, N = 60). Moreover, idea support was less likely when this idea was proposed by an employee that was described as high (rather than low) on power motivation (Study 2, N = 79); attributed prosocial intentions mediated this effect. Study 3 (N = 260) replicates these results. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 447 KW - promotive voice KW - idea support KW - power motive KW - supervisor support KW - proactivity Y1 - 2018 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412968 IS - 447 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Urbach, Tina A1 - Fay, Doris T1 - Leader member exchange in leaders’ support for voice BT - good relationships matter in situations of power threat JF - Applied psychology : an international review JF - Psychologie appliquée N2 - While previous research underscores the role of leaders in stimulating employee voice behaviour, comparatively little is known about what affects leaders' support for such constructive but potentially threatening employee behaviours. We introduce leader member exchange quality (LMX) as a central predictor of leaders' support for employees' ideas for constructive change. Apart from a general benefit of high LMX for leaders' idea support, we propose that high LMX is particularly critical to leaders' idea support if the idea voiced by an employee constitutes a power threat to the leader. We investigate leaders' attribution of prosocial and egoistic employee intentions as mediators of these effects. Hypotheses were tested in a quasi-experimental vignette study (N = 160), in which leaders evaluated a simulated employee idea, and a field study (N = 133), in which leaders evaluated an idea that had been voiced to them at work. Results show an indirect effect of LMX on leaders' idea support via attributed prosocial intentions but not via attributed egoistic intentions, and a buffering effect of high LMX on the negative effect of power threat on leaders' idea support. Results differed across studies with regard to the main effect of LMX on idea support. KW - proactive personality KW - antecedents KW - behavior KW - consequences KW - metaanalysis KW - model KW - performance KW - supervisors KW - trust KW - work Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12245 SN - 0269-994X SN - 1464-0597 VL - 70 IS - 2 SP - 674 EP - 708 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER -