Elizabeth Solberg

Solberg, Elizabeth; Sverdrup, Therese E., Sandvik, Alexander Madsen & Schei, Vidar (2021)

Encouraging or expecting flexibility? How small business leaders’ mastery goal orientation influences employee flexibility through different work climate perceptions

Human Relations, s. 1- 26. Doi: 10.1177/00187267211042538 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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.

Solberg, Elizabeth; Lai, Linda & Dysvik, Anders (2021)

When Midway Won’t Do: The Curvilinear Relationship Between Intrinsic Motivation and Willingness to be Flexible

Journal of Managerial Psychology, 36(2), s. 156- 169. Doi: 10.1108/JMP-02-2020-0107 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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.

Solberg, Elizabeth; Traavik, Laura E. Mercer & Wong, Sut I (2020)

Digital Mindsets: Recognizing and Leveraging Individual Beliefs for Digital Transformation

California Management Review, 62(4), s. 105- 124. Doi: 10.1177/0008125620931839 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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.

Solberg, Elizabeth; Lapointe, Émilie & Dysvik, Anders (2020)

You care about me, but can I count on you? Applying a psychological contract perspective to investigate what makes employees willing to be internally employable

International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(9), s. 1157- 1179. Doi: 10.1080/09585192.2020.1737832 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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.

Wong, Sut I; Solberg, Elizabeth, Junni, Paulina & Giessner, Steffen Robert (2017)

The role of human resource management practices in mergers & acquisitions

Tarba, Shlomo Y.; Cooper, Cary L., Sarala, Riikka M. & Ahammad, Mohammad F. (red.). Mergers and Acquisitions in Practice

Solberg, Elizabeth & Wong, Sut I (2016)

Crafting one's job to take charge of role overload: When proactivity requires adaptivity across levels

Leadership Quarterly, 27(5), s. 713- 725. Doi: 10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.03.001 - Fulltekst i vitenarkiv

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.

Solberg, Elizabeth & Dysvik, Anders (2015)

Employees’ Perceptions of HR Investment and Their Efforts to Remain Internally Employable: Testing the Exchange-Based Mechanisms of the ‘New Psychological Contract’

International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(9), s. 909- 927. Doi: 10.1080/09585192.2015.1045008

Redmond, Elizabeth (2013)

Competency models at work: the value of perceived relevance and fair rewards for employee outcomes

Human Resource Management, 52(5), s. 771- 792. Doi: 10.1002/hrm.21560

Solberg, Elizabeth (2018)

Developing adaptive performers

[Popular scientific article]. BI Leadership Magazine

Solberg, Elizabeth & Wong, Sut I (2017)

Dealing with excessive job demands

[Popular scientific article]. BI Leadership Magazine

Solberg, Elizabeth (2017)

Coping with changing job demands: How learning goal orientation and developmental supervisor support enhance adaptive performance

[Academic lecture]. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Solberg, Elizabeth (2017)

Learning to adapt: Examining a developmental process of adaptive performance and for whom it is more relevant

[Academic lecture]. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Solberg, Elizabeth & Lai, Linda (2016)

When midway won’t do: the consequences of mediocre development support on employee flexibility

[Academic lecture]. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Solberg, Elizabeth & Wong, Sut I (2015)

Crafting one’s job to cope with role overload: when proactivity requires adaptivity across levels. Presented in the symposium, “Proactivity at work: novel perspectives on effectiveness and social context,” chaired by K. Strauss and C. Uri

[Academic lecture]. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.

Solberg, Elizabeth & Dysvik, Anders (2015)

Mastery support and employee flexibility: A goal-orientated perspective. Presented in the symposium, “Quality of motivation matters: on the importance of promoting autonomous and mastery oriented motivation in the workplace,” chaired by M. Gagné

[Academic lecture]. European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology 2015 Congress.

Solberg, Elizabeth (2014)

Competency models at work

[Popular scientific article]. BI Leadership Magazine

Solberg, Elizabeth (2012)

Competency models at work: the value of perceived relevance and fair rewards for employee outcomes

[Academic lecture]. Academy of Management Annual Meeting.