School of Business.
J Appl Psychol. 2013 Sep;98(5):832-40. doi: 10.1037/a0032571. Epub 2013 Apr 1.
The majority of studies on idiosyncratic employment arrangements ("i-deals") are based on social exchange theory. The authors suggest that self-enhancement theory, in addition to social exchange, can be used to explain the effects of i-deals. Using a multisource sample including 230 employees and 102 supervisors from 2 Chinese companies, the authors adopt a 3-wave lagged design to examine the mediating roles of social exchange and self-enhancement and the moderating role of individualism in the relationships between i-deals and employee outcomes, as indicated by proactive behaviors and affective commitment. The results of bootstrapping analyses confirm the mediating effects of social exchange and self-enhancement. In addition, employees with high levels of individualism are more receptive to self-enhancement effects; in contrast, employees with low levels of individualism are more receptive to social exchange effects.
大多数关于特殊雇佣安排（“i-deals”）的研究都是基于社会交换理论。作者提出，除了社会交换之外，自我增强理论也可以用来解释 i-deals 的影响。本研究采用多源样本，包括来自 2 家中国公司的 230 名员工和 102 名主管，采用 3 波滞后设计，检验 i-deals 与员工绩效（表现为主动行为和情感承诺）之间关系的中介作用，以及个体主义在其中的调节作用。Bootstrapping 分析的结果证实了社会交换和自我增强的中介作用。此外，个体主义水平较高的员工更容易受到自我增强效应的影响；相比之下，个体主义水平较低的员工更容易受到社会交换效应的影响。
