Construal Level Theory in Organizational Research

Wiesenfeld, Batia M.; Reyt, Jean Nicolas; Brockner, Joel; Trope, Yaacov

doi:10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-032516-113115

Cited by 162 publications

(207 citation statements)

References 140 publications

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“…Construal level theory distinguishes between concrete or lower‐level construal, that is “relatively unstructured, contextualized representations that include subordinate and incidental features” and higher‐level construal—“schematic, decontextualized representations that extract the gist from the available information” (Trope, Liberman, & Wakslak, : 83). Higher construal level feedback indicates a broader, more integrative perspective on market experiences as compared to the more specific, detailed, and narrowly focused evaluations associated with lower construal levels (Wiesenfeld et al, ). An advisor who provides higher level feedback is more likely to be regarded as an expert, which in turn increases the likelihood recipients will follow his advice (Reyt, Wiesenfeld, & Trope, ).…”

Section: Preliminary Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This measure ranges 0-0.89, with higher values indicating greater diversity in and evenness of mentions across preference dimensions (see Table C2, for the calculation of informational diversity for a sample review). Lastly, we examine whether the feedback provided by experientially diverse reviewers is higher in construal level relative to reviewers who lack experiential diversity (Wiesenfeld, Reyt, Brockner, & Trope, 2017). Construal level theory distinguishes between concrete or lower-level construal, that is "relatively unstructured, contextualized representations that include subordinate and incidental features" and higher-level construal-"schematic, decontextualized representations that extract the gist from the available information" (Trope, Liberman, & Wakslak, 2007: 83).…”

Section: Preliminary Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experientially diverse customers and organizational adaptation in changing demand landscapes: A study of US cannabis markets, 2014–2016

Hsu

Kovács

Koçak

2019

Strategic Management Journal

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Research Summary In this study, we contribute to strategy and organizational theories of organizational adaptation by developing theory about the kinds of customers that facilitate an organization's ability to adapt to changing demand‐side conditions. We propose that customers who have previously interacted with diverse types of organizations in the market convey informationally rich feedback that better enables organizations to understand and adapt to change—particularly in more rapidly changing contexts. We further expect that organizations that position themselves congruently with market preferences will be stronger market competitors. We test and find support for our arguments using a unique dataset of over 8,000 cannabis dispensaries operating in seven states that were listed on http://weedmaps.com between July 2014 and June 2016. Managerial Summary Performance of organizations in changing markets depends on their ability to adapt to evolving customer preferences. Such adaptation requires understanding how preferences evolve—not only among existing customers, but also in the broader market in which the organization competes. We propose that feedback from customers who have previously interacted with diverse types of organizations in the market enables organizations to understand customer expectations and adapt to changing demand landscapes by positioning themselves accordingly. We find support for these arguments in legalized cannabis markets within seven U.S. states. Dispensaries that get more feedback from experientially diverse customers position themselves in ways that are more congruent with the preferences of customers in their market. Furthermore, dispensaries who are more congruent with market preferences survive longer, bring in a greater number of new consumers, and are generally more appealing to those consumers.

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Section: Preliminary Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Preliminary Analysesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experientially diverse customers and organizational adaptation in changing demand landscapes: A study of US cannabis markets, 2014–2016

Hsu

Kovács

Koçak

2019

Strategic Management Journal

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“…For example, although some work suggests that powerlessness should result in affiliative behaviors with coworkers (Case et al., ; Copeland, ; van Kleef et al., ), other work indicates that powerlessness may instead motivate disengagement behaviors (Blackhart, Baumeister, & Twenge, ; Derfler‐Rozin, Pillutla, & Thau, ; Twenge, Baumeister, DeWall, Ciarocco, & Bartels, ; Twenge, Baumeister, Tice, & Stucke, ), particularly in organizational settings (Ashforth, ). Consequently, understanding how powerlessness affects social closeness and associated behaviors is important, particularly because social closeness is a critical determinant of people's perceptions, emotions, and behaviors toward others at work (Magee & Smith, ; Stephan, Liberman, & Trope, ; Wiesenfeld, Reyt, Brockner, & Trope, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's lonely at the bottom (too): The effects of experienced powerlessness on social closeness and disengagement

Foulk

Pater

Schaerer

et al. 2019

Personnel Psychology

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Although "powerlessness" is a pervasive experience for employees, prior social power research has predominantly focused on consequences of "powerfulness." This has led to contradictory predictions for how experienced powerlessness influences employees' social perceptions and behaviors. To resolve this theoretical tension, we build on Social Distance Theory (Magee & Smith) to develop a theoretical model suggesting that experienced powerlessness reduces social closeness and subsequently causes social disengagement behaviors both at work (reduced helping and increased interaction avoidance) and at home (increased withdrawal). Our model also elucidates the processes that cause powerlessness to reduce social closeness, demonstrating that employees' affiliation motive and their expectation of others' interest in affiliating explain this relationship. We further propose that the effect of powerlessness on social closeness will be stronger for employees high (vs. low) in political skill because these employees are more attuned to workplace power dynamics. We find support for our model in an experiencesampling field experiment and two experimental scenario studies.Our research clarifies the effects of powerlessness on social closeness and organizationally relevant downstream consequences, qualifies dominant assumptions that the powerless always behave in ways opposite those of the powerful, and demonstrates the importance of political skill as a moderator of power's effects. K E Y W O R D Sdisengagement, political skill, powerlessness, social distance Personnel Psychology. 2020;73:363-394.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/peps

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“…Second, we seek to advance construal-level theory by testing one of its core tenets in a dynamic and information-rich social interaction setting. Construal-level theory is highly applicable to this kind of setting as construal-level shapes social perceptions, including inferences about others, and social behavior such as communication (Wiesenfeld, Reyt, Brockner, & Trope, 2017). Yet, most research in the construal-level tradition has remained relatively restricted to scenario-based studies and the evaluation of short-lived, context-deprived stimuli, such as objects (e.g., course descriptions, Fujita, Eyal, Chaiken, Trope, & Liberman, 2008) and "paper people" (e.g., Kim, Rao, & Lee, 2009;Lammers, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Where to seat the applicant? How spatial distance influences the effect of self‐promotion on interviewer evaluations

Schreurs¹,

Hamstra

Segers

et al. 2018

J Applied Social Pyschol

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In high-stakes contexts such as job interviews, people seek to be evaluated favorably by others and they attempt to accomplish such favorable judgments particularly through self-promotional behaviors. We sought to examine the persuasiveness of job candidates' self-promotion by examining job applicants' subjective hireability from the perspective of construal-level theory. Construal-level theory states that perceptions occur from different levels of psychological distance (i.e., distal vs. proximal). This distance is created by other dimensions of distance (e.g., spatial or social distance) and affects how individuals construe incoming information. From a large distance, people more readily process abstract information, whereas from a close distance, people more readily process concrete information. Specifically, construal compatibility occurs when abstract versus concrete features of a stimulus match the psychological distance experienced by message-recipients. Construal compatibility (vs. incompatibility) makes evaluations (e.g., of messages) more favorable. To apply this principle to self-promotion, we created selfpromotional videos of a job interview, in which the applicant sat either far away from or close to the hiring manager (manipulating psychological distance); the applicant, then, used either direct or indirect self-promotion (manipulating message construal level). The results showed participants reported stronger intention to hire the applicant when distance matched (vs. did not match) the type of self-promotion the applicant used.

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Construal Level Theory in Organizational Research

Cited by 162 publications

References 140 publications

Experientially diverse customers and organizational adaptation in changing demand landscapes: A study of US cannabis markets, 2014–2016

Experientially diverse customers and organizational adaptation in changing demand landscapes: A study of US cannabis markets, 2014–2016

It's lonely at the bottom (too): The effects of experienced powerlessness on social closeness and disengagement

Where to seat the applicant? How spatial distance influences the effect of self‐promotion on interviewer evaluations

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