【公开学术报告】Navigating Work Lives: The Role of Status in Work Effort Allocation toward Company-led Initiatives and its Downstream Consequences

Navigating Work Lives: The Role of Status in Work Effort Allocation toward Company-led Initiatives and its Downstream Consequences

Guest Speaker: PEI Dong (SMU)

Date & Time: Tuesday, October 15, 2024, 9:30 - 11:00 am (Beijing Time) 

Zoom Meeting ID: 893 468 96069 (Password: 221818)

Join via the Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89346896069

ABSTRACT

Contemporary organizations have increasingly recognized the importance of motivating employees to expend more effort on company-led initiatives, such as corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability initiatives. However, previous research has primarily focused on senior executives and managers in driving such initiatives, often neglecting the role of non-managerial employees. Yet, for these initiatives to succeed, it is crucial to identify which employees are willing to expend more effort and why. Drawing on psychological empowerment theory and the status literature, we examine whether and why employee’s status is associated with work effort allocation toward company-led initiatives. Across three studies, we find progressive support that high-status individuals are more likely to feel psychologically empowered, and in turn more likely to allocate efforts toward company-led initiatives. Although high-status employees’ engagement in such company-led activities ultimately benefit the organization and the broader community, such actions may be negatively perceived by supervisors. Building on the functionalist account of status, we show that high-status (versus low-status) individuals who allocate more (versus less) efforts toward company-led initiatives are perceived to be overambitious, and subsequently deemed to be less promotable and ostracized by supervisors. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Keywords: company-led initiatives, status, effort allocation, psychological empowerment, perceived overambition, promotability, ostracism.