Elizabeth Solberg

Human Resource Management Journal p. 1-18 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12478

Drawing from mindset theory, we predict that managers' fixed mindset about technological ability (FM-TA) will negatively influence the developmental support they provide to their employees and, in turn, their employees' engagement in digitalisation initiatives. Further, we predict that managers' FM-TA will have a disproportionate negative influence on female employees for whom negative stereotypes about technological ability exist. We test our hypotheses with two-wave field study data collected from 88 managers and 185 employees working in a Nordic banking institution. We find that managers' FM-TA relates negatively to their employees' experienced developmental support, and, in turn, their employees' efforts to approach new technology. Furthermore, our findings indicate that this negative, indirect relationship is more pronounced for female employees (estimate = −0.116, standard error [SE] = 0.052, p = 0.026) than male employees (estimate = −0.048, SE = 0.027, p = 0.071), although the interaction term (managers' FM-TA × employee gender) was not significant at the 95 percent confidence level (estimate = −0.266, SE = 0.0141, p = 0.058). Our study provides greater insight into the human resource management issues managers might have fostering employee engagement and inclusion in the digitalised workplace.

Safety Science 158 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105965

Information Technology and People Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-04-2021-0310

Purpose The present study investigates whether individuals having a fixed digital mindset (comprises fundamental beliefs about technological ability and organizational resources as work becomes more digitalized) experience greater helplessness working in virtual teamwork environments. The authors examine how perceived internal human resource management (HRM) alignment moderates the positive relationship expected between individuals' fixed digital mindset and feelings of helplessness. Together, the paper aims to contribute to a greater understanding of the personal and contextual factors that influence an individual's experience of helplessness in virtual team settings. Design/methodology/approach The authors test the hypotheses using time-lagged survey data collected from 153 information technology (IT) engineers working in virtual teams in Europe. Findings The authors find that individuals with higher levels of fixed digital mindset experience greater helplessness in virtual teamwork environments than individuals with lower levels. Furthermore, the authors find that having higher-fixed beliefs about organizational resources is positively related to helplessness when individuals perceive that the broader HRM system is misaligned with the virtual teamwork environment. Research limitations/implications The data were obtained from IT engineers in Europe, which is potentially limiting the generalizability of the authors' findings to other work contexts and cultures. Practical implications The authors' study helps leaders in virtual teamwork environments to better understand and manage the personal and contextual factors that could affect individuals' well-being and effective functioning in such settings. Originality/value The authors' research contributes to the scant literature investigating the personal characteristics important in virtual teamwork environments and the contextual factors important for aligning virtual teamwork designs with the organizational system. The authors extend this research by looking at personal and contextual factors together in a single model.

Group & Organization Management 47(2) p. 187-222 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/10596011221081238

Proceedings of the 32nd European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2022) p. 1196-1203 Doi: https://doi.org/10.3850/978-981-18-5183-4_R21-06-407-cd

Human Relations p. 1-26 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267211042538

The employee flexibility desired in changing and uncertain business environments is amplified in small business settings. How can small business leaders facilitate the employee flexibility needed in this context? In the present study, we proposed that mastery goal-oriented leaders who are concerned with learning and competence development would create a work climate that promoted employee flexibility in their firms. We tested our hypotheses with multi-wave, multi-level data collected from leaders and employees in 141 small accounting firms in Norway. Findings revealed that leaders’ mastery goal orientation (MGO) was positively related to employee flexibility through a work climate that encouraged learning and development (a mastery climate). Yet, we also found that leaders’ MGO was negatively related to employee flexibility through a work climate that emphasized the expectations to be adaptive and flexible (an adaptability climate). Taken together, our study suggests that leaders’ mastery goal orientation may fuel employee flexibility when encouraging flexible-related behavior yet backfire when they signal that the same behavior is expected.

Journal of Managerial Psychology 36(2) p. 156-169 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-02-2020-0107

Intrinsic motivation is held as critical for employees’ willingness to be flexible (WTBF). Yet empirical research suggests that employees who find work intrinsically satisfying could resist work changes. In this study, we predict that the relationship between intrinsic motivation and employees’ WTBF will become more positive as intrinsic motivation advances beyond moderate levels. We also examine the role developmental supervisor support plays in generating the critical threshold of intrinsic motivation needed for it to be positively related with WTBF. Our study provides insight into how and when intrinsic motivation increases employees’ WTBF and into the degree of developmental support needed to facilitate a positive relationship between these variables.

International Journal of Human Resource Management 31(9) p. 1157-1179 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2020.1737832

For this study, we adopted a psychological contract-based perspective to investigate whether the fulfillment of perceived developmental promises made to employees is positively related to their willingness to accept internal job-related changes when needed by the organization, a construct we refer to as the willingness to be internally employable. We also examined the role played by line managers in facilitating employees’ willingness to be internally employable by fulfilling perceived developmental promises. We tested our conceptual model with data collected from ninety-eight recently hired employees in a Norwegian organization under an initiative emphasizing employee development. We found that developmental promise fulfillment is more important for employees’ willingness to be internally employable in this context than any perceived provision of developmental inducements in isolation. Further, we found that employee perceptions of the developmental support provided by their line manager related positively to their willingness to be internally employable by way of developmental promise fulfillment; however, this was not the case with perceived developmental inducements. Our findings support the importance of developmental promise fulfillment in fostering employee willingness to be internally employable and the critical role played by line managers in fulfilling developmental promises that employees believe have been made by their organization.

California Management Review 62(4) p. 105-124 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0008125620931839

Employees’ beliefs about technological change, their “digital mindsets,” are likely to influence their engagement in, or withdrawal from, their company’s digital transformation initiatives. Employees’ beliefs regarding the malleability of personal ability (fixed/growth mindset) and their beliefs about the availability of situational resources (zero-sum/expandable-sum mindset) influence the extent to which they see new technologies as providing opportunities for professional growth or as encroaching on their ability to display competency. This article examines the implications for managing digital transformation.

Mergers and Acquisitions in Practice p. 138-161

Leadership Quarterly 27(5) p. 713-725 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.03.001

The present study investigates employees' job crafting behavior in the context of perceived role overload, and identifies employees' perceived ability to deal with work change (i.e., “perceived adaptivity”) and leaders' need for structure as moderators positively influencing this relationship. A two-wave panel field study of 47 leaders and 143 employees in a Norwegian manufacturing firm found that perceived role overload related negatively to employees' job crafting, as hypothesized. Employees' perceived adaptivity alone did not increase job crafting in role overload situations, as predicted. Rather, the relationship between perceived role overload and job crafting was only positive when employees' perceived adaptivity was high and their leaders' need for structure was low. Thus, employees' job crafting in role overload situations depends on the interactive fit between employees' and leaders' adaptive capabilities. Implications for the socially embedded theory of job crafting and leadership practice are discussed.

International Journal of Human Resource Management 27(9) p. 909-927 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2015.1045008

Human Resource Management 52(5) p. 771-792 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21560