No abstract

Procrastination is among the most common of motivational failures, putting off despite expecting to be worse off. We examine this dynamic phenomenon in a detailed and realistic longitudinal design (Study 1) as well as in a large correlational data set (N = 7400; Study 2). The results are largely consistent with temporal motivation theory. People’s pacing style reflects a hyperbolic curve, with the steepness of the curve predicted by self-reported procrastination. Procrastination is related to intention-action gaps, but not intentions. Procrastinators are susceptible to proximity of temptation and to the temporal separation between their intention and the planned act; the more distal, the greater the gap. Critical self-regulatory skills in explaining procrastination are attention control, energy regulation and automaticity, accounting for 74% of the variance. Future research using this design is recommended, as it provides an almost ideal blend of realism and detailed longitudinal assessment.

Cynicism about organizational change is often considered an important factor that influences employee acceptance of change initiatives. However, cynicism has been compared with several similar constructs with little conceptual or empirical differentiation. To provide a deeper understanding of change cynicism, we compare and contrast it with similar—yet distinct—constructs: organizational trust, resistance to change, and organizational cynicism. We begin with a narrative review of the conceptual distinctions and similarities among these constructs, followed by meta-analysis of the nomological network of change cynicism. In addition, we compare the nomological network of change cynicism with those of organizational cynicism and trust. We discuss the need for a refined conceptualization of cynicism and suggest new areas for future research.

The preponderance of organizational socialization research has focused on the perceptions and interests of newcomers. Yet, insiders—particularly immediate supervisors—are central to newcomers’ adjustment, primarily in providing newcomers help. To facilitate such behavior, however, it is necessary to understand supervisors’ helping motivations. Beginning from a new theoretically grounded taxonomy, we examined how supervisor reports of their own self-oriented, other-oriented, and normative motives predicted newcomer-rated received help and subsequent adjustment/socialization outcomes. We also examined the moderating role of newcomer motive perceptions on whether help was reciprocated to supervisors. Our model was tested with multiwave data from newcomers and supervisors during the first 3 months of starting a job. Newcomers reported receiving greater help from supervisors who described themselves as being motivated by self-oriented tangible gains and other-orientation, whereas supervisors who described themselves as being motivated by self-oriented enhancement were seen as less helpful. Further, when newcomers perceived that supervisors were more motivated by other-orientation and less by self-oriented tangible gains, newcomers reciprocated more help to the supervisor later on. Our results advance theory about the role of interpersonal helping during socialization, revealing that not all provided help is interpreted similarly by newcomers, and that differing supervisor motivations should also be factored into account.

Summary Embeddedness theory has been invoked to describe factors that constrain employee turnover, such as fit with the environment, interpersonal links, and potentially sacrificed benefits. In contrast with previous assumptions that embeddedness requires considerable time to develop on the job, we extend theory by demonstrating how biographical characteristics (i.e., biodata), assessed at or before the point of hire, are related to individual's propensity to be embedded, while also showing how such characteristics predict one's future turnover likelihood. Beyond voluntary turnover, we also build embeddedness‐based theoretical explanations for involuntary turnover (i.e., terminations). To test these ideas, we conducted two studies at and before employees' point of hire, respectively: Study 1 examined how assessed biodata items of new employees relate to established embeddedness measures, whereas Study 2 linked the same biodata items assessed during the application process to employees' future involuntary, avoidable voluntary, and unavoidable voluntary turnover. Study 1 results revealed various biodata items predicted embeddedness in two distinct samples. In Study 2, results showed that biodata predicted turnover forms in unique ways. Our study highlights the utility of point‐of‐hire embeddedness propensity as a means to explain organizational exit, thereby demonstrating how organizations can use embeddedness tenets for employee recruitment and selection purposes.