How the Pygmalion Effect operates in intra-family succession: Shared expectations in family SMEs

The Pygmalion Effect is a case of the self-fulfilling prophecy, whereby the expectations of leaders influence the performance of followers (Avolio, Walumbwa, & Weber, 2009; Rosenthal, 1993). Intra-family succession processes, which are hardly ever formalised in small- and medium-sized family enterprises, provide a natural context to explore the perceptions that predecessors have about their successors and where the Pygmalion Effect is expected to occur. However, little is known about how a predecessor’s expectations can affect intra-family firm succession processes. Based on qualitative interviews with key family and non-family members, expectations were analysed in four in-depth case studies of intra-family SME succession processes. The findings show that the Pygmalion Effect operates over time and embraces incumbent, successor, and key stakeholders’ expectations, which support the new leader when facing succession-related challenges.     

Up close and personal: Evidence that shared social identity is a basis for the ‘special’ relationship that binds followers to leaders

The present research extends prior work by proposing that followers' social identification with a group can translate into their relational identification with leaders. Study 1 demonstrates experimentally that compared to low-identified followers, highly identified followers perceive themselves to share relational identity with a leader when that leader is representative of their ingroup (but not if that leader is representative of an outgroup). Followers' relational identification, in turn, influences not only their experience of a personal bond with the leader but also perceptions of leader charisma. Study 2 replicates these findings in the context of Presidential candidates in the 2012 US election and extends them by examining leader prototypicality as a further moderating factor. Findings suggest that followers' experience of a ‘special’ and ‘personal’ bond with leaders arises from their social bond within a group that binds them together and provides a framework for their mutual relationship.     

The ties that lead: A social network approach to leadership

This article investigates, for leadership research, the implications of new directions in social network theory that emphasize networks as both cognitive structures in the minds of organizational members and opportunity structures that facilitate and constrain action. We introduce the four core ideas at the heart of the network research program: the importance of relations, actors' embeddedness, the social utility of connections, and the structural patterning of social life. Then we present a theoretical model of how network cognitions in the minds of leaders affect three types of networks: the direct ties surrounding leaders, the pattern of direct and indirect ties within which leaders are embedded in the whole organization and the interorganizational linkages formed by leaders as representatives of organizations. We suggest that these patterns of ties can contribute to leader effectiveness.     

How transformational leadership works during team interactions: A behavioral process analysis

Transformational leadership is generally considered helpful for team functioning. However, the social dynamics underlying the benefits of transformational leadership remain elusive to date. To understand how and why transformational leadership can foster team functioning, this study focuses on leader–follower communication dynamics during team interactions. From the perspective of leadership as social problem solving, we argue that transformational leadership is linked to functional team problem-solving processes because transformational leaders use solution-focused communication (mediator model). In a sample of 30 videotaped problem-solving team meetings from two organizations, we coded transformational leadership style and the verbal behavioral interactions of leaders and team members over the course of their entire meetings (30,128 behavioral units in total). Multilevel results showed that transformational leadership was positively linked to functional problem-solving communication by team members. This positive relationship was mediated by leaders' solution-focused communication. Moreover, at the micro-level of conversational dynamics within the meeting process, lag sequential analysis revealed that leaders' ideas and solutions triggered subsequent solution statements by team members and inhibited counterproductive communication by team members, such as running off topic, criticizing, or complaining. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications for conceptualizing dynamic leader–follower processes as well as managerial implications for leading effective meetings in organizations.     

All or nothing: International coalitions responding to competing pressures in challenges to IP rights

Foreign subsidiaries face ‘institutional duality’ from competing parent-firm and host-country conformity pressures. However, international coalitions of firms experience pressures to conform from multiple parents, resulting in ‘institutional multiplicity.’ We argue that coalition members bargain and satisfice to agree upon goals and responses to external pressures. As institutional multiplicity increases, coalition responses are increasingly framed around simple threshold-type goals all members can agree upon. We test this idea in the context of international coalitions challenging biotechnology and organic chemistry patents of competitors in the United States Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeals Board. Our analysis includes 946 observations, and finds that larger coalitions with greater variance in member home-country patent enforcement institutions are more likely to pursue strategies that have a simple performance goal all members can agree upon: having a competitor's patent invalidated instead of a settlement. This relationship is further enhanced when coalition members have diverse levels of strategic interest, captured by variance in portions of coalition members' overall patent portfolios belonging to the same patent family as the disputed patent.     

Claiming more than equality: Should leaders ask for forgiveness?

In organizations, leaders are often paid more than lower-level employees. Social dilemma research also shows that leaders feel entitled to earn more, and because of this, are more inclined to contribute less than an equal share to a public good, which may damage the collective. In two experiments, the social dilemma context is used to examine how group members react when either a leader or a follower violates the equality norm. Moreover, we demonstrate how asking for forgiveness sometimes mitigates people's reactions to equality norm violations. Results show that asking for forgiveness attenuates negative emotions, retribution, and non-cooperation—but more so if followers, relative to leaders, violated equality. In fact, leaders are less likely to be seen as even violating norms, suggesting that group members perceive leaders to be entitled.     

When leaders victimize: The role of charismatic leaders in facilitating group pressures

We present a conceptual model exploring the process by which employees seek out and process information from their social context in response to victimizing behaviors from their leader. In particular, we explore how charismatic leaders with personalized values can facilitate group processes whereby group members pressure the target into conforming. Followers of charismatic leaders have been found to ingratiate themselves with, and revere, their leader. This creates the potential for followers to prematurely comply with destructive behaviors from their leader. Research on social influence is drawn upon to theorize how targets who experience confusion about victimizing behaviors can become particularly susceptible to group pressures to conform. Through our theoretical model, we advance theory on the potential dark side of charismatic leadership, specifically how personalized charismatic leaders may trigger negative consequences for the target, group, and organization. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications and propose avenues for future research.     

Diabolical dictators or capable commanders? An investigation of the differential effects of autocratic leadership on team performance

Autocratic leader behavior is often seen as negative for team morale and performance. However, theories on social hierarchy suggest that autocratic leadership may also positively affect morale and performance through the creation of a psychologically appealing, hierarchically-ordered environment of predictability and security. We propose that autocratic leadership can foster team psychological safety when team members accept the hierarchy within the team. In contrast, when members challenge the hierarchy and engage in intrateam power struggles, autocratic leaders' centralizing power behaviors will clash with team members' competition for power and frustrate members, impairing psychological safety and performance. We find support for these ideas in a study of 60 retail outlets (225 employees and their managers) in the financial services industry. As expected, when team power struggles were low, autocratic leadership was positively related to team psychological safety, and thereby indirectly positively related to team performance. When team power struggles were high, autocratic leadership was negatively related to team psychological safety and thereby indirectly negatively related to team performance. These effects were also found when controlling for leader consideration.     

二分群体决策中领导的影响

本文研究了具有领导的二分群体决策中领导对决策收益的影响,得到的一个重要结论是:如果二分群体决策过程应用了独立投票过程下的最优规则,则领导对其他决策者施加影响不可能提高群体决策收益。然而当群体未能应用最优决策规则时,领导的影响有可能发挥积极作用,这主要是由于此时领导的决策能力高于其他决策成员,而决策规则分配给领导的权重相对过低而导致的。     

Fresh in the saddle: The influence of a new CEO's vision and origin,and CEO succession type on market actors' reactions

CEO succession is a critical event in the life of a company. How external stakeholders respond to it, can affect the company's valuation. This study investigates how securities analysts' and investors' reactions to CEO succession are affected by the interplay between the charisma of the new CEO's vision, the new CEO's origin (whether an insider or outsider), and the type of CEO succession (whether routine, dismissal or interim). Drawing on the literature on signaling, we suggest that because a charismatic vision emits a positive signal about the company's future performance, it will affect market actors' reactions by either weakening or strengthening the influence of the signals emitted by other succession context contingencies, namely, CEO origin and succession type. To test our predictions regarding analysts' and investors' reactions, we respectively analyze panel data and conduct an event study. The results support most of our predictions. We discuss the study's contributions and implications.     

Kinship ties and employee theft perceptions in family-owned businesses

Family business research typically views family firms using the frameworks developed for non-family businesses (e.g., agency theory, institutional theory). Thus, using an evolutionary perspective on family may help address gaps in the family business literature, particularly regarding deviance. In the current study, we use kin selection theory to predict that family members receive preferential treatment and this history of privileges can create entitlement and lead genetically-related employees to misuse company resources. Using an experimental vignette methodology and data from 161 people recruited from an online panel, we found that the participants’ purported genetic relatedness to the owner of a business increased their theft intentions and decreased their expected severity of sanctions and likelihood of being reported. Biological sex moderated the relationships between genetic relatedness and theft intentions, as well as between expectations of punishment and theft intentions. Specifically, when females expected higher severity of sanctions or likelihood of whistleblowing, they were less likely to report theft intentions, compared to males. The results of this study suggest that family business owners should protect against theft by all employees, including genetic relatives. Future research using field samples would help provide context for these findings.     

A neuroscience-based model of why and when CEO social values affect investments in corporate social responsibility

Why and when do CEOs invest in corporate social responsibility (CSR)? We theorize how CEOs' intrinsic motivations – their social values – and the incentivizing context interact to determine the utility they attach to generating collectively beneficial outcomes in decision-making, subsequently manifested in organizations' CSR investments. Based on a review of neuroscience evidence, indicating that social values are associated with distinct patterns of neural activation, we propose that these values are the compass by which CEOs navigate in complex decision environments. For CEOs with other-regarding values, generating collectively beneficial outcomes is part and parcel of their utility function. They are intrinsically motivated to invest in CSR, regardless of context. In contrast, CEOs with self-regarding values derive utility from generating collective benefits only when it is monetarily or socially incentivized. They are extrinsically motivated to invest in CSR when they stand to gain from it personally.     

CEO–TMT exchange,TMT personality composition,and decision quality: The mediating role of TMT psychological empowerment

This research draws on the upper-echelons perspective to examine the effects of CEO–top management team (TMT) exchange quality and TMT personality composition on decision quality through the mediation of TMT psychological empowerment. Using survey data from more than 700 executives in 210 firms in a Middle Eastern country and adopting a split-data approach, we find that CEO–TMT exchange quality can advance TMT psychological empowerment. We also find that TMT neuroticism has a negative effect on TMT psychological empowerment, while TMT conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and openness have positive effects. Moreover, TMT psychological empowerment plays a mediating role in linking CEO–TMT exchange quality and TMT personality composition with decision quality. Our research contributes to the upper-echelons, leader–member exchange (LMX), and decision-making literature by drawing attention to the social dynamics between CEO and TMT members, as well as the psychological characteristics and psychological states of TMT members, and their implications for strategic decisions.     

家族企业的权威系统与代际传承

从合约理论的视角提出家族企业领导人的权威是对以其为中心的不完全合约的有效治理结构;并进一步以盖尔西克的三环模式为基础,将其依赖的权威解析为来源于所有权的合法权威,来源于管理才能、人格特质的领袖魅力权威和来源于亲缘关系的家族权威3类.提出在家族企业代际传承过程中,合法权威可以通过股权转移和管理职位任命而直接继承;另外2类权威却只能重建,由此造成代际传承中的权威失落和传承失败.采用实证方法检验家族权威与领袖魅力权威差别的同时,运用权威系统分析红豆集团和海鑫集团2个典型案例,突出代际传承中权威重建的意义.     

Team incentives,task assignment,and performance: A field experiment

The performance of a work team commonly depends on the effort exerted by the team members as well as on the division of tasks among them. However, when leaders assign tasks to team members, performance is usually not the only consideration. Favouritism, employees' seniority, employees' preferences over tasks, and fairness considerations often play a role as well. Team incentives have the potential to curtail the role of these factors in favor of performance — in particular when the incentive plan includes both the leader and the team members. This paper presents the results of a field experiment designed to study the effects of such team incentives on task assignment and performance. We introduce team incentives in a random subsets of 108 stores of a Dutch retail chain. We find no effect of the incentive, neither on task assignment nor on performance.     

An Economic Model of Friendship: Homophily,Minorities, and Segregation

We develop a model of friendship formation that sheds light on segregation patterns observed in social and economic networks. Individuals have types and see type‐dependent benefits from friendships. We examine the properties of a steady‐state equilibrium of a matching process of friendship formation. We use the model to understand three empirical patterns of friendship formation: (i) larger groups tend to form more same‐type ties and fewer other‐type ties than small groups, (ii) larger groups form more ties per capita, and (iii) all groups are biased towards same‐type relative to demographics, with the most extreme bias coming from middle‐sized groups. We show how these empirical observations can be generated by biases in preferences and biases in meetings. We also illustrate some welfare implications of the model.     

家族企业接班人的胜任—绩效建模——基于越商代际传承的实证分析

接班人的选择与培养对于家族企业的生存发展至关重要。本文通过文献回顾、深度访谈和问卷调查方式,采用探索性和验证性因子分析方法构建了家族企业接班人的胜任—绩效模型。结果显示,模型具有较好的拟合度,家族企业接班人胜任能力包括社会网络、政府关系、发现机会、承担风险、资源整合、战略决策、学习创新和科学管理八个因子,其中,前四个因子和后四个因子可以分别归属于管理素质和管理技能两个一级因子;家族企业的继承绩效包括客观绩效和主观绩效两个因子,其中,客观绩效包括人才结构、产品技术、品牌形象、市场份额、利润增长和企业规模六个二级因子,而主观绩效主要包括家族满意和员工满意两个二级因子;社会网络、学习创新、政府关系、资源整合等因子对于家族企业的继承绩效具有更显著的相关性关系,而社会网络和政府关系对于企业继承的影响颇具中国特色。     

Psychodynamik von Geld und Besitz in mittelständischen Familienunternehmen

The author discusses experiences during a research project dealing with family businesses. In those businesses the individual psychodynamic of family members is closely confounded with the dynamics of necessary role behavior. One of the most critical situations is the successful succession of generations. Those processes are often subverted by an unconscious destructiveness resulting from unresolved, often gendered interpersonal conflicts and multiple insults. To support family businesses saving their future consultants have to be sensible not only for economical profit but for emotional gratification too, creating an atmosphere which allows all participants speaking freely about their hopes and fears. The article presents social configurations which a consultant must comprehend well if he wants to give reliable orientations to their clients.     

Cognitive and Motivational Biases in Decision and Risk Analysis

Behavioral decision research has demonstrated that judgments and decisions of ordinary people and experts are subject to numerous biases. Decision and risk analysis were designed to improve judgments and decisions and to overcome many of these biases. However, when eliciting model components and parameters from decisionmakers or experts, analysts often face the very biases they are trying to help overcome. When these inputs are biased they can seriously reduce the quality of the model and resulting analysis. Some of these biases are due to faulty cognitive processes; some are due to motivations for preferred analysis outcomes. This article identifies the cognitive and motivational biases that are relevant for decision and risk analysis because they can distort analysis inputs and are difficult to correct. We also review and provide guidance about the existing debiasing techniques to overcome these biases. In addition, we describe some biases that are less relevant because they can be corrected by using logic or decomposing the elicitation task. We conclude the article with an agenda for future research.     

Embodying who we are: Leader group prototypicality and leadership effectiveness

Leadership is a process enacted in the context of a shared group membership, and leadership effectiveness is contingent on followers' perceptions of the leader as a group member. Addressing this role of group membership, the social identity theory of leadership puts leader group prototypicality, the extent to which the leader is perceived to embody group identity, center-stage in leadership effectiveness. I review empirical research in leader group prototypicality, concluding there is a robust empirical basis for the key propositions of the social identity theory of leadership. I also identify newer developments that extend and enrich the social identity analysis of leadership, including attention to the roles of uncertainty, leader fairness, leader–follower relationship, leader self-perceived prototypicality, and leadership of creativity and innovation.