Abstract

۱٫ Introduction

۲٫ Literature review

۳٫ Method

۴٫ Results

۵٫ Discussion

۶٫ Conclusions and managerial implications

Declaration of Competing Interest

References

Abstract

     This study examines how the combined effects of work environmental factors and leadership behaviours lead to the presence (or absence) of industrial employees job performance by applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). A sample composed of supervisor-subordinate dyads was used to test the propositions of this study. The results show that the most important variables are transformational leadership and social support. Employee empowerment and task significance seem to play a secondary role in leading to employee job performance. These findings support the need for managers to use positive leadership to manage human resources. This paper contributes to the advancement of the knowledge of employee job performance through the identification of the combinations of conditions that can lead to the presence or absence of this important organizational outcome. Directions for future studies are commented on at the end of the paper.

Introduction

     Job performance is probably the most important and studied variable in industrial management and organizational behaviour (Carpini, Parker, & Griffin, 2017). It can be defined as individual behaviour-something that people do and can be observed-that generates value for the organization (Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, & Sager, 1993) and contributes to the organization’s goals (Campbell & Wiernik, 2015). Job performance can also be understood as an achievement-related behaviour with some evaluative component (Motowildo, Borman, & Schmit, 1997), that is, the extent to which an employee meets general organizational performance expectations (Afzali, Arash-Motahari, & Hatami-Shirkouhi, 2014).

     Over the last decades, the meaning of job performance has varied considerably, from the more traditional view focused on employment and fixed tasks to a broader understanding of work roles in dynamic organizational contexts (Ilgen & Hollenbeck, 1991). The fundamental reason for this focus shift is to the highly competitive and global work environment, where all organizations must be oriented to respond to dynamic and changing situations (Baard, Rench, & Kozlowski, 2014). This new context requires a broader conceptualization of job performance that brings together all the potential behaviours that positively contribute to the achievement of organizational goals (Griffin, Neal, & Parker, 2007). The new conceptualization of individual performance includes in-role performance (e.g., Williams & Anderson, 1991), adaptative performance (e.g., Berg, Wrzesniewski, & Dutton, 2010), proactive performance (e.g., Parker, Williams, & Turner, 2006) and citizenship behaviours (e.g., Podsakoff, Whiting, Podsakoff, & Blume, 2009). Delving into this new conceptualization of job performance, Griffin et al. (2007) developed an integrative performance model that cross-classifies ‘the three levels at which role behaviours can contribute to effectiveness (individual, team, and organization) and the three different forms of behaviour (proficiency, adaptivity, and proactivity) into subdimensions of work role performance’ (p. 330). Although previous research recommends taking advantage of the existing commonalities between the different job performance constructs (Carpini & Parker, 2017), this study is limited to the individual-level behaviours that generate value for organizations.

Results

     The outcome of the model was the presence of employees’ job performance. The five conditions were task significance, coworker social support, supervisor social support, transformational leadership, and empowerment. To conduct a more thorough analysis and provide greater insight into the proposed model, the analysis was conducted considering both the presence and absence of employee job performance. Table 1 shows the results of the analysis of necessary conditions for the presence (and absence) of job performance among industrial workers.