Paper Title
Encourage or Discourage Employee Proactivity: The Role of Trust in Managerial Relationships
Start Date
7-1-2011 2:30 PM
End Date
7-1-2011 3:30 PM
Track
2. Track 2 - Poster Session
Subject Area
Human Resources
Faculty Member
Zvi Schwartz zschwart@illinois.edu
Abstract
The recent economic recession has brought to light the importance of human capitals. The fulfillment of assigned tasks by employees is no longer sufficient in response to increasing economic uncertainty and socio-cultural and technological changes (Grant, Parker, & Collins, 2009). The contributions of employees who go above and beyond typical expectations in their performance necessitate that recreation agencies overcome their financial crises and secure their organizational survival with innovative alternatives. The notion of employee proactivity, which is characterized by self-directed and future-focused and an attempt to improve and challenge status quo in an organization (Bindl & Parker, 2010; Crant, 2000), describes as a form of behavioral manifestation that exceeds what is specified by role prescriptions. It is imperative that managers in recreation agencies have a better understanding about the ways to solicit employee proactivity. As trust within vertical dyads has been shown to be associated with desirable employee attitudes and organizational outcomes, there is relatively little research that examines the effects of trust within vertical dyads on employee proactivity. The aim of this study, therefore, is to empirically investigate the relationship of being trusted by and trusting in managers with two forms of proactivity (i.e., taking charge and feedback seeking behavior) from a perspective of employees.
Keywords
interpersonal trust, proactivity, taking charge, feedback seeking
Encourage or Discourage Employee Proactivity: The Role of Trust in Managerial Relationships
The recent economic recession has brought to light the importance of human capitals. The fulfillment of assigned tasks by employees is no longer sufficient in response to increasing economic uncertainty and socio-cultural and technological changes (Grant, Parker, & Collins, 2009). The contributions of employees who go above and beyond typical expectations in their performance necessitate that recreation agencies overcome their financial crises and secure their organizational survival with innovative alternatives. The notion of employee proactivity, which is characterized by self-directed and future-focused and an attempt to improve and challenge status quo in an organization (Bindl & Parker, 2010; Crant, 2000), describes as a form of behavioral manifestation that exceeds what is specified by role prescriptions. It is imperative that managers in recreation agencies have a better understanding about the ways to solicit employee proactivity. As trust within vertical dyads has been shown to be associated with desirable employee attitudes and organizational outcomes, there is relatively little research that examines the effects of trust within vertical dyads on employee proactivity. The aim of this study, therefore, is to empirically investigate the relationship of being trusted by and trusting in managers with two forms of proactivity (i.e., taking charge and feedback seeking behavior) from a perspective of employees.