http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/5721/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37720/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract. By integrating an intergroup perspective on mergers with discrepancy theories, we argue that merger partners aim for merger patterns that best benefit their group’s standing. Importantly, we hypothesize and show that the discrepancy between what merger partners want and what they actually get affects outcomes essential to merger success. Specifically, we demonstrate that perceived fit between the implemented and the desired merger pattern predicts support for the merger.We further show that this effect is mediated by perceived fairness (Study 1) and emotional reactions to the merger (Study 2). Our findings are generalized across a field study that investigate a real merger between two institutions of higher education (Study 1) and an experiment (Study 2). http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37767/ 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Building on uncertainty-identity theory and the social identity theory of leadership we hypothesized that self-uncertainty would be associated with greater support for autocratic leaders, and less support for non-autocratic leaders. We surveyed organizational employees (N ¼ 215); assessing the effect of self-uncertainty and how autocratic they perceived their organizational leader to be on measures of leader support. As predicted, less self-uncertain participants were more supportive of a non-autocratic than autocratic leader, whereas the opposite was the case for more self-uncertain participants—they were more supportive of an autocratic than non-autocratic leader. The effect was mediated by perceived group prototypicality of the leader. Implications for uncertainty-identity theory and for a wider analysis of the role of uncertainty in leadership are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/37702/ 2012-05-14T00:00:00Z The present paper gives a review of empirical research on ethical leadership and shows that still little is known known about the contextual antecedents of ethical leadership. To address this important issue, a conceptual framework is developed that analyzes the embeddedness of organizational ethical leadership. This framework identifies manifest and latent contextual factors on three different levels of analysis - society, industry, and organization - which can affect the development and maintenance of ethical leadership. In particular, propositions are offered about how (1) societal characteristics, notably the implementation and the spirit of human rights in a society and societal cultural values of responsibility, justice, humanity, and transparency; (2) industry characteristics such as environmental complexity, the content of the organizational mandate, and the interests of stakeholder networks; and (3) intra-organizational characteristics, including the organizational ethical infrastructure and the ethical leadership behavior of a leader's peer group, influence the development and maintenance of ethical leadership in organizations. This list of factors is not exhaustive, but illustrates how the three levels may impact ethical leadership. Implications for managerial practice and future research are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32618/ 2012-02-01T00:00:00Z Thinking about the abstract concept power may automatically activate the spatial up-down image schema (powerful up; powerless down) and consequently direct spatial attention to the image schema-congruent location. Participants indicated whether a word represented a powerful or powerless person (e.g. 'king' or 'servant'). Following each decision, they identified a target at the top or bottom of the visual field. In Experiment 1 participants identified the target faster when their spatial position was congruent with the perceived power of the preceding word than when it was incongruent. In Experiment 2 ERPs showed a higher N1 amplitude for congruent spatial positions. These results support the view that attention is driven to the image schema congruent location of a power word. Thus, power is partially understood in terms of vertical space, which demonstrates that abstract concepts are grounded in sensory-motor processing. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/25719/ 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z The changes experienced during a merger often reduce post-merger organizational identification among the workforce, thereby undermining the strategic goals of the merger. While previous research has shown that employees' post-merger identification suffers less when they experience a sense of continuity, the current article explores methods of preserving post-merger identification even when employees experience a sense of discontinuity. It is hypothesized that for these employees, the perceived necessity of the merger strongly influences post-merger identification, because a sense of necessity can reduce the uncertainty that typically inhibits post-merger identification. A field study is presented (N = 144) to support this hypothesis. Finally, implications for the organizational pre-merger communication process are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/25725/ 2011-08-01T00:00:00Z The changes experienced during a merger often reduce post-merger organizational identification among the workforce, thereby undermining the strategic goals of the merger. While previous research has shown that employees’ post-merger identification suffers less when they experience a sense of continuity, the current paper explores methods of preserving post-merger identification even when employees experience a sense of discontinuity. It is hypothesized that for these employees, the perceived necessity of the merger strongly influences post-merger identification, because a sense of necessity can reduce the uncertainty that typically inhibits post-merger identification. A field study is presented (N = 144) to support this hypothesis. Finally, implications for the organizational pre-merger communication process are discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/26583/ 2011-06-01T00:00:00Z Corporate mergers require proper human resources management to reach their financial and strategic objectives and minimize negative consequences for employee well-being. Understanding the antecedents of employees' identification with the merged organization during the corporate merger is crucial, because stronger post-merger identification results in less conflict and higher levels of motivation. Unfortunately, employees often identify more strongly with their pre-merger organizations than with the merged organization. One influential approach to understanding the processes underlying organizational identification is the social identity approach (Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987). Research applying this perspective to organizational mergers shows that levels of identification with the merged organization are partly explained by status and dominance differences of the involved organizations, by motivational threats and uncertainties during the merger, and by the representation of the post-merger identity. Leaders and managers of corporate mergers are able to influence these processes and, thus, to provide a path for successful merger integration. © 2011 The Authors. Social and Personality Psychology Compass http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/40072/ 2011-05-01T00:00:00Z Alienated employees who feel a loss of identity could place financial and strategic objectives of a merger at risk through lack of drive, reduced performance, and even sabotage. Identifying and managing these issues from the start could therefore be critical to the success of such undertakings. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22721/ 2011-02-01T00:00:00Z To describe leadership as ethical is largely a perceptional phenomenon informed by beliefs about what is normatively appropriate. Yet there is a remarkable scarcity in the leadership literature regarding how to define what is “normatively appropriate”. To shed light on this issue, we draw upon Relational Models Theory (Fiske: 1992, Psychological Review, 99, 689-723), which differentiates between four types of relationships: communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching, and market pricing. We describe how each of these relationship models dictates a distinct set of normatively appropriate behaviors. We argue that perceptions of unethical leadership behavior result from one of three situations: a) a mismatch between leader’s and follower’s relational models, b) a different understanding about the behavioral expression, or preos, of the same relational model, or c) a violation of a previously agreed upon relational model. Further, we argue that the type of relational model mismatch impacts the perceived severity of a transgression. Finally, we discuss the implications of our model with regard to understanding, managing, and regulating ethical leadership failures. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22841/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z To describe leadership as ethical is largely a perceptional phenomenon informed by beliefs about what is normatively appropriate. Yet there is a remarkable scarcity in the leadership literature regarding how to define what is "normatively appropriate." To shed light on this issue, we draw upon Relational Models Theory (Fiske, 1992, Psychol Rev, 99:689-723), which differentiates between four types of relationships: communal sharing, authority ranking, equality matching, and market pricing. We describe how each of these relationship models dictates a distinct set of normatively appropriate behaviors. We argue that perceptions of unethical leadership behavior result from one of three situations: (a) a mismatch between leader's and follower's relational models, (b) a different understanding about the behavioral expression, or preos, of the same relational model, or (c) a violation of a previously agreed upon relational model. Further, we argue that the type of relational model mismatch impacts the perceived severity of a transgression. Finally, we discuss the implications of our model with regard to understanding, managing, and regulating ethical leadership failures. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/30950/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests that variations in vertical picture angle cause the subject to appear more powerful when depicted from below and less powerful when depicted from above. However, do the media actually use such associations to represent individual differences in power? We argue that the diverse perspectives of evolutionary, social learning, and embodiment theories all suggest that the association between verticality and power is relatively automatic and should, therefore, be visible in the portrayal of powerful and powerless individuals in the media. Four archival studies (with six samples) provide empirical evidence for this hypothesis and indicate that a salience power context reinforces this effect. In addition, two experimental studies confirm these effects for individuals producing media content. We discuss potential implications of this effect. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38859/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: Participants take the role of a team leader and must decide to whom they should give a promotion amongst four competing “employees.” All team members have different relationships with the team leader. As a result, it will be hard to decide who constitutes the “right” candidate for promotion. The case exemplifies how different justice principles and different ethical norms within relationships might be at stake. It enables participants to understand these fairness considerations. The case is not about ethical misconduct; rather, it makes us aware that many decisions taken in a business conduct might be difficult, and often there is no “right” decision. Further, the case can be used as an experiential exercise. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22558/ 2010-09-01T00:00:00Z Leader empowering behaviour is an important criterion for leadership effectiveness. However, virtually no research has studied the antecedents of leader empowering behaviour. Therefore, to further our understanding of leadership effectiveness, we need to understand what motivates leaders to behave in certain ways. In two studies, we show how leaders' trust in follower performance and integrity influences leader empowering behaviour, and how this effect is moderated by leader conscientiousness. Study 1 showed that leader empowering behaviour depends not only on the trust leaders have in follower performance and integrity but also on the conscientiousness level of the leader. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings within a different experimental paradigm. We discuss how these findings set the stage for the development of a more comprehensive understanding of the drivers of this important aspect of leadership. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/17827/ 2010-02-01T00:00:00Z Many fouls committed in football (called soccer in some countries) are ambiguous, and there is no objective way of determining who is the “true” perpetrator or the “true” victim. Consequently, fans as well as referees often rely on a variety of decision cues when judging such foul situations. Based on embodiment research, which links perceptions of height to concepts of strength, power, and aggression, we argue that height is going to be one of the decision cues used. As a result, people are more likely to attribute a foul in an ambiguous tackle situation to the taller of two players. We find consistent support for our hypothesis, not only in field data spanning the last seven UEFA Champions League and German Bundesliga seasons, as well as the last three FIFA World Cups, but also in two experimental studies. The resulting dilemma for refereeing in practice is discussed. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/16071/ 2009-06-01T00:00:00Z Leadership often serves as an explanatory category for performance outcomes (i.e., failure and success). This process can strengthen or weaken leadership effectiveness, because contingent on their performance leaders may gain or lose follower endorsement - the basis of leadership. Drawing on the social identity analysis of leadership, we hypothesized that leader group prototypicality and performance information interact to predict followers' perceptions of leadership effectiveness. Because group prototypical leaders are more trusted by their followers, we hypothesized that group prototypical leaders are evaluated as more effective after failure information than non-prototypical leaders. In contrast, we predicted that both prototypical and non-prototypical leaders should receive similar evaluations of leadership effectiveness after success. We found support for our predictions in a scenario experiment, a cross-sectional field study, and a laboratory experiment. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/18093/ 2009-02-01T00:00:00Z The hypothesis that power is mentally represented as size is tested. Using an interference paradigm, two studies show that judgments of the power of groups are influenced by the font size the group labels are written in. Power judgments were slower and less accurate when the font size did not fit the power of the groups. Informing participants about the possible influence of size and its direction decreased the effect on accuracy (Study 1). A high likelihood of incompatible trials and information about it decreased effects on both errors and response latencies given sufficient practice (Study 2). The results suggest that the mental representation of power is associated with size cues, but that this influence can be overcome with information and training. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13626/ 2008-10-21T00:00:00Z Leadership often serves as an explanatory category for performance outcomes (i.e., failure and success). This process can strengthen or weaken leadership effectiveness, because contingent on their performance leaders may gain or lose follower endorsement – the basis of leadership. Drawing on the social identity analysis of leadership, we hypothesized that leader group prototypicality and performance information interact to predict followers’ perceptions of leadership effectiveness. Because group prototypical leaders are more trusted by their followers, we hypothesized that group prototypical leaders are evaluated as more effective after failure information than non-prototypical leaders. In contrast, we predicted that both prototypical and non-prototypical leaders should receive similar evaluations of leadership effectiveness after success. We found support for our predictions in a scenario experiment, a cross-sectional field study, and a laboratory experiment. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/13578/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Leaders who fail to achieve group or organizational goals risk losing follower endorsement. We propose a model in which leader characteristics (leader group prototypicality—the leader’s representativeness of group identity) and goal definition (a maximal goal that ideally would be reached vs. a minimal goal that ought to be reached) interact to affect leadership perceptions after failure. Group prototypical (vs. non-prototypical) leaders are proposed to receive more trust in leadership and, therefore, to be evaluated as more effective by their followers after failing to achieve a maximal goal, but not after failing to achieve a minimal goal. This model was supported in a series of four studies including experimental, field, and scenario paradigms. In addition, we showed that this model holds only after failure and not after success, and more for followers who identify strongly (vs. weakly) with their group. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/9727/ 2007-03-21T00:00:00Z Leadership implies power. We argue, from a social embodiment perspective, that thinking about power involves mental simulations of vertical location. Three studies tested whether judgments of leaders’ power and information on a vertical location are interrelated. In Studies 1a-c, participants judged a leader's power after being presented with, among other information, an organization chart containing either a long or a short vertical line. A longer vertical line increased judged power. Study 2 showed that this effect persists when longer (vs. shorter) vertical lines are presented in an independent priming task and not in an organization chart, and that horizontal lines do not have the same effect. Finally, Studies 3a and 3b showed the reverse causal effect: Information about a leader’s power influenced participants’ vertical positioning of a leader’s box in an organization chart and of a leader picture into a team picture. Implications for leadership communication are discussed.