Across two studies and five samples, we introduce the Chinese construct of moqi (a tacit understanding of another person’s expectations and intentions) as a key, but heretofore overlooked, aspect of supervisor–subordinate relationships. In Study 1, using qualitative and quantitative methods, we develop a subordinate-focused moqi scale and establish its discriminant and criterion-related validity. In Study 2, using three-wave data from three sources (subordinates, coworkers, and supervisors), we test an integrative, information-based model explicating (1) subordinates’ actions that are useful in acquiring the necessary information to develop moqi with their supervisor; (2) boundary conditions affecting subordinates’ sensitivity to information and, hence, their development of moqi with the supervisor; and (3) the informational process underlying subordinate moqi’s positive relationship with work effectiveness. Findings suggest that subordinates’ implicit and explicit feedback seeking positively predicted their subsequent perceptions of moqi with a supervisor and, moreover, that the relationship between implicit feedback seeking and subordinate moqi is enhanced by higher subordinate power distance orientation and face consciousness. Results also indicate that subordinate moqi influences task performance and reward recommendations for subordinates via the mediation of increased goal clarity, and the indirect effects is more pronounced for subordinates with higher power distance orientation. We offer an important discussion of moqi’s cultural nuances and make several suggestions for a robust future research agenda.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize, understand, and measure positive and negative aspects of supervisor developmental feedback (SDF) and investigate their relationships with task performance. Design/methodology/approach – In Study 1, common themes in SDF were identified and a set of SDF items were developed to capture the positive and negative SDF domain. Study 2 entailed the administration of the items to respondents to examine the dimensionality of the items through exploratory factor analysis. In Study 3, using confirmatory factor analysis we further examined the extent to which positive and negative developmental feedback (PSDF and NSDF) were conceptually distinct from each other and different from an existing general measure of supervisor feedback. Findings – Study 1 and Study 2 yielded evidence that positive and negative SDF are distinct yet related constructs. Positive SDF predicted employee task performance. The positive SDF by negative SDF interaction predicted task performance. Research limitations/implications – The authors provide criterion-related validity evidence by examining the predictive validity of positive and negative SDF on subordinate task performance (reported by supervisors). Future research should examine the role of positive and negative SDF in predicting job performance in other samples and cultural contexts and for other outcomes, including organizational citizenship. Originality/value – This research refines the SDF domain by identifying positive and negative domains of the SDF construct. The authors propose and test the joint influence of positive and negative SDF. The novel findings point to the importance of supervisors providing both positive and negative feedback to enhance performance.

Using a conservation of resources theoretical framework, we connect within‐team social resources with team‐level citizenship behaviours. In a sample of 385 employees situated in 70 teams from China, we confirm that team social support and team psychological safety interact to influence both affiliation‐oriented (AOCB) and challenge‐oriented (COCB) citizenship. Specifically, the two social resources substitute for one another, such that “either” team social support “or” psychological safety may be sufficient to increase AOCB. We find a consistent yet more complex pattern for COCB. Furthermore, drawing on the team prosocial motivation literature, we uncover team effort as a mediator to the effects of both social resources on AOCB. Our findings suggest that managers may enhance team citizenship by promoting team‐level social resources (social support and psychological safety), and they may only need to focus their energies on one of these resources, as exerting effort towards both may be redundant and inefficient.

Although knowledge-sharing, an important facet of knowledge management, has been encouraged for the sustainable development of organizations, this kind of behavior is still not prevalent among group members. To enrich the literature and contribute to its practical usage, this research proposed a model based on the fit theory to examine the roles of perceived insider status (PIS) and power distance orientation in subordinates’ Moqi with supervisors (SMS) and knowledge-sharing. Survey data from eight firms in China contained 196 samples and was analyzed by MPLUS software to justify the hypotheses. The results showed that: first, SMS predicted knowledge-sharing and perceived insider status; second, perceived insider status positively mediated the relationship between SMS and knowledge-sharing; third, power distance orientation not only positively moderated the relationship between SMS and perceived insider status, but also positively moderated the relationship between SMS and knowledge-sharing. This study enriched the literature on the antecedents of knowledge-sharing and application of SMS. Additionally, this study proposes a few suggestions to practitioners and researchers for establishing sustainable organizations.

Innovation, as the key concern of sustainable human resource management, is one of the motivators of the sustainable development of organizations. However, past literature believes that innovation may be hindered by the organizational political climate. Based on the self-determination theory, this study proposes a new perspective to transfer the effect of this climate on innovation through the mediating role of cynicism and the moderating role of personal trait regulatory focus. Findings from 341 seven-point Likert survey questionnaires of employees in a Chinese automobile enterprise revealed that: first, the organizational political climate (expect interpersonal relationships) negatively predicted radical creativity and incremental creativity; second, organizational cynicism mediates the negative relationship between the organizational political climate and radical creativity and incremental creativity; third, the mediating effect of the organizational cynicism relationship between the organizational political climate and dualistic creativity could be affected by the personal trait regulatory focus. This study fills the gap in the relationship between organizational political climate and innovation. Additionally, this study proposes several suggestions for the practitioners and further research.