Your search

Purpose – Studies are rare in operations management literature showcasing how leaders ethically influence their employees to perceive safety performance through motivating them to participate in the quality management (QM) program. To bridge this research gap, this study has been carried out (1) to investigate the relationship between ethical leadership and incentives for participating in QM program to predict perceived safety performance and (2) to examine the relationship between ethical leadership and incentives for QM implementation to predict job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Responses of 185 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration employees who participated in the Office of Personnel Management's Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey 2019, taken from public release data file, were used to test the proposed hypotheses using structural equation modelling. Findings – Results show that ethical leaders motivate their employees to participate in the QM program. Such motivation for QM implementation supports public sector employees to perceive high safety performance and attain job satisfaction with their work agency. Further, employees attain high satisfaction with their job when they work under ethical leaders. Theoretical and practical implications were also offered in this study. Originality/value – This study is the first of its kind to contribute providing evidence that ethical leaders working in a hazardous environment motivate employees to get involved in QM implementation. Another contribution of this study, encouraging employees to participate in the QM initiatives leads employees to attain a high level of job satisfaction and safety performance, also adds value to the QM literature. © 2026 Emerald Publishing Limited

This innovative book examines the controversial relationship between motivation and rewards from multiple theoretical and practical perspectives. It analyzes cutting-edge research on work motivation and reward management's economic and psychological roots and identifies future directions for advancement in the field. © Zheni Wang 2025.

Managers often need to stay motivated and effectively motivate others. Therefore, they should rely on evidence-based interventions to effectively motivate and self-motivate. This research investigated how self-determination theory-based interventions affect employees’ motivation dynamics and motivational consequences within short time frames (i.e., within an hour, within a few weeks or months) in two empirical studies. Study one focused on assessing the effectiveness of a one-day training workshop in helping to improve managers’ work motivation, basic psychological needs satisfaction/frustration, subordinates’ motivation, and perceptions of managers’ needs-supportive/thwarting behaviors within a few weeks. Results support the effectiveness of the training, as managers were rated by their direct subordinates as having fewer needs-thwarting behaviors and reported self-improvement in needs satisfaction and frustration six weeks after completing the training program. Study two used the mean and covariance structure analysis and tested the impact of three types of basic psychological needs-supportive/thwarting and control conditions (3 × 2 × 1 factorial design) on participants’ situational motivation, vitality, and general self-efficacy for playing online word games within 30 min. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed the scalar measurement invariance, then latent group mean comparison results show consistently lower controlled motivation across the experimental conditions. During a quick online working scenario, the theory-based momentary intervention effectively changed situational extrinsic self-regulation in participants. Supplementary structural equation modeling (SEM; cross-sectional) analyses using experience samples supported the indirect dual-path model from basic needs satisfaction to vitality and general efficacy via situational motivation. We discussed the theoretical implications of the temporal properties of work motivation, the practical implications for employee training, and the limitations. © 2025 by the authors.

The purpose of this research is to explore the decision processes that underlie the gender gap in entrepreneurial investments. The present research explores how gender congruence with a sex-typed business opportunity influences anticipated reactions from others who may provide or withhold support and resources, how these affect the assessed probability of venture success and the amount the entrepreneur is willing to invest (WTI) in the opportunity.,A theoretical model is presented and empirically tested via path analysis. A pilot and an experimental study model explore how gender congruence influences entrepreneurial investment decisions. The experimental study uses a repeated measures design examining the experimental effects two sex-typed business opportunities crossed with participant gender (gender congruence) on anticipated others’ reactions, assessed probability of venture success and investment amount (WTI).,Gender congruence of a business opportunity influences anticipated others’ reactions, whether they will be supportive or not, of pursuing the opportunity. This in turn influences the estimated probability of success of the venture and the amount the prospective entrepreneur is willing to invest in it. These socio-cognitive decision processes reinforce the gender gap in entrepreneurship since participants anticipate less access to others’ support for gender incongruent opportunities. Although the mediational model indicates most proposed relationships and paths are invariant across genders, the exception was that women did not report higher WTI for the gender congruent venture.,The research applies the latest thinking in social psychology on gender norm violations to entrepreneurship, measuring how anticipated reactions from others are a factor in predicting estimates of venture success probability and self-investments.

Social and behavioral science researchers who use survey data are vigilant about data quality, with an increasing emphasis on avoiding common method variance (CMV) and insufficient effort responding (IER). Each of these errors can inflate and deflate substantive relationships, and there are both a priori and post hoc means to address them. Yet, little research has investigated how both IER and CMV are affected with the use of these different procedural or statistical techniques used to address them. More specifically, if interventions to reduce IER are used, does this affect CMV in data? In an experiment conducted both in and out of the laboratory, we investigate the impact of attentiveness interventions, such as a Factual Manipulation Check (FMC) on both IER and CMV in same-source survey data. In addition to typical IER measures, we also track whether respondents play the instructional video and their mouse movement. The results show that while interventions have some impact on the level of participant attentiveness, these interventions do not appear to lead to differing levels of CMV.