supervisor-subordinate work value congruence and ...supervisor-subordinate work value congruence and...

Supervisor-Subordinate Work Value Congruence and Subordinate Performance: A Pilot StudyAuthor(s): Cheryl L. Adkins and Craig J. RussellReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Dec., 1997), pp. 205-218Published by: SpringerStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25092589 .Accessed: 13/12/2011 08:27

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JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND PSYCHOLOGY Volume 12, No. 2, Winter 1997

SUPERVISOR-SUBORDINATE WORK VALUE CONGRUENCE AND SUBORDINATE

PERFORMANCE: A PILOT STUDY

Cheryl L. Adkins University of Oklahoma

Craig J. Russell Louisiana State University

ABSTRACT: The relationship of superior-subordinate work value congruence to

subordinate performance was examined in a retail setting. Additionally, because

of on-going interest in the role of justice or fairness in the performance appraisal

process, the relationship between the supervisor's value of fairness and subordi

nate performance was examined. Superior-subordinate value congruence was

not related to subordinate performance. The supervisor's level of the value of

fairness was related to supervisor-rated dimensions of performance, but not to

sales and profits. Implications for future research are presented.

INTRODUCTION

Work values are thought to be critical elements of organizational culture which may ultimately serve to enhance individual and organiza tional performance (Schein, 1985). Work values at various levels of the

organization have been associated with a variety of individual and orga nizational outcomes such as job satisfaction, organizational commit

ment, job choice, judgments of person-organization fit and performance (e.g. Adkins, Ravlin, & Meglino, 1992; Adkins, Russell, & Werbel, 1994;

Chatman, 1991; Judge & Bretz, 1992; Meglino, Ravlin, & Adkins, 1989), but the relationship between work values and work outcomes needs addi tional study. In particular, the relationship between work values and job performance needs additional study (e.g. Meglino, Ravlin, & Adkins, 1989).

Work values may be related to job performance in two ways. First, the extent to which individuals in the organization share a common set

Address correspondence to Cheryl L. Adkins, Louisiana State University, College of Business Administration, Department of Management, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.

205 ? 1997 Human Sciences Press, Inc.

206 JOURNAL OF BUSINESS AND PSYCHOLOGY

of values may affect work outcomes. Schein (1985) proposed that shared

values: 1) influence employees to behave in ways that facilitate the sur

vival of the organization, a function which he labeled external adapta tion; and 2) facilitate coordination and communication among employees

through shared elements of cognitive processing, a function he labeled

internal integration. Thus, we expect that shared values between super visors and subordinates will enhance performance. Second, a particular

work value may have direct effects on work place behavior independent of the effects of work value congruence. Specific values such as fairness,

honesty, achievement, and helping and concern for others may have di

rect effects on workplace behaviors (e.g. Ravlin, Adkins, & Meglino, 1989). Further, because of their potential influence on work interactions, a supervisor's personal values may influence subordinate performance.

Values are centrally located within an individual's total system of atti

tudes and beliefs (Rokeach, 1973). As an element of an individual's atti

tude and belief system, values may thus affect behavioral intentions and

behavior. McClelland (1985) found that values affect choices and direct

motivational energies. Thus, a supervisor's work values may have a di

rect effect on his/her interactions with subordinates. Specifically, it is

proposed here that the supervisor's level of the value of fairness may be

directly related to subordinate performance. An increased focus in the organizational behavior literature on jus

tice or fairness in the workplace (e.g. Folger & Greenberg, 1985; Green

berg, 1986, 1988, 1990a, 1990b; Sheppard & Lewicki, 1987; Sweeney &

McFarlin, 1993) suggests the degree to which supervisors value fairness

may impact subordinate performance. Justice, or fairness, has been shown to be related to organizational commitment, pay satisfaction, em

ployee perceptions of the performance appraisal process, and survivors

reactions to the company following a layoff (e.g. Brockner, Grover, Reed, & Dewitt, 1992; Greenberg, 1986; Sweeney & McFarlin, 1993). Thus, to

the extent to which the value of fairness in reflected in the supervisor's behavior, the value of fairness should influence work interactions and subordinate performance. Subordinates may infer the supervisor's value of fairness from manifestations of fairness in his or her behavior, or su

pervisors may make explicit statements about the importance of fair ness.

The first purpose of the present paper is to examine the relationship between supervisor-subordinate work value congruence and subordinate

performance. The second purpose of the paper is to examine the rela

tionship between the supervisor's value of fairness and subordinate per formance. In the following sections, we will briefly review the literature on work value congruence and performance and the literature on justice in the workplace. Specific research questions will be presented. We then

present a study examining relationships between superior-subordinate

CHERYL L. ADKINS AND CRAIG J. RUSSELL 207

value congruence and subordinate performance in a retail setting. We

examine the relationship between supervisor-subordinate value congru

ence, the supervisor's value of fairness and the more objective perfor mance measures of store sales and profit, as well as supervisor-rated performance dimensions.

Value Congruence and Performance

As noted above, Schein (1985) proposed that shared work values enhance behaviors aimed at the survival of the organization and facili tate communication between organizational members. This suggests that value congruence between employees and their main point of con tact with the organization, (e.g., supervisors), should lead to enhanced

performance. Two studies have examined value congruence and performance on

the job. Meglino, Ravlin, and Adkins (1989), in a study of employees in a manufacturing setting, examined the relationship between superior subordinate value congruence and four supervisor-rated performance di

mensions. Value congruence was found to be negatively associated with the performance dimensions of quality and quantity of production and unrelated to the more subjective performance dimensions of work habits (a rating of attendance, dependability, orderliness, safety, and care of

equipment) and personal characteristics (a rating of attitude, coopera tion, and ability to get along with others). They noted that explanation of this puzzling negative relationship between value congruence and

performance was beyond the scope of the data, and suggested that the

relationship between value congruence and performance be explored in future studies.

In an extension of the above study, Adkins, Ravlin, and Meglino (1992) examined the relationship between co-worker value congruence and performance on interpersonal dimensions. They found the relation

ship moderated by the extent to which the job required individuals to work closely with others. For individuals whose jobs required them to work closely with others, work habits were rated higher for individuals with high value congruence than for individuals with low value congru ence. However, for individuals whose jobs did not require them to work

closely with others, work habits were rated somewhat higher for individ uals with low value congruence than for those with high value congru ence. They speculated that for individuals whose jobs did not require them to work closely with others, high value congruence led to socializ

ing with others with similar values at the expense of work performance. Clearly, the relationship between work value congruence at various

levels (i.e. supervisor-subordinate, co-workers) and performance needs

additional study. We examine the relationship between district manager


(supervisor) and store manager (subordinate) work value congruence and objective measures of store sales and profits as well as supervisor evaluations of performance on various dimensions. Because of the geo graphic separation between supervisor and subordinates a sales setting provides a unique opportunity for research. Based on Schein's (1985) theoretical foundation, we predict that supervisor-subordinate work value congruence will be positively related to store sales and profit and to supervisor ratings of manager performance.

Supervisor Fairness and Subordinate Performance

As noted above, there is an increased focus on justice, or fairness in the organizational behavior literature. As Greenberg (1990a) noted, fair ness has been found to be a critical work value. In an extensive study of the work values of 966 employees from over 40 organizations, Cornelius,

Ullman, Meglino, Czajka, and McNeely (1985) found that fairness was one of the most prevalent work values.

Greenberg (1990b) noted that fairness, and more specifically, the extent to which others perceive one's behavior as fair, is a critical ele

ment of managerial success. Greenberg suggested that fairness is thought to be so important in the workplace that individuals may engage in im

pression management aimed at enhancing others' perceptions of the fairness of their behavior.

Thus, the second purpose of the present paper was to examine the

relationship between the supervisor's level of the value of fairness and

employee performance. We propose that the supervisors* level of the value of fairness will be positively related to store manager performance on sales and profit measures and on supervisor-rated performance di

mensions.

It is important to examine the value of fairness as opposed to fair ness as manifest in behavior. As noted above, values are more strongly linked to broad modes of behavior than to individual instances of behav ior (Epstein, 1979,1980). Thus, the extent to which the value of fairness is actually manifest (or perceived by the subordinate) may influence

work interactions. Examining the relationship between the supervisor's level of the value of fairness and subordinate performance is a very con servative test of the influence of fairness. As Leventhal (1976, 1980) noted, behavior exemplary of the value of fairness may be motivated by a concern for justice per se, or it may be motivated by the actor's desire to achieve other goals. For example, a supervisor may be motivated to distribute rewards fairly because he/she feels that in doing so subordi nate productivity will increase. Leventhal labeled the former, "fair be havior" and the latter "quasi-fair behavior." Examining the relationship between the supervisor's level of the value of fairness and subordinate


performance should thus be an examination of the relationship between "fair behavior," i.e., behavior motivated by a concern for fairness, and

performance.

METHODS

This study was conducted as part of a follow-up to a larger criterion related validity study designed to select retail store managers. Subjects described below were incumbent store managers in retail outlets owned

by a Fortune 500 firm and their immediate superiors. The job analysis and development of performance appraisal instrument performed in the

original study is briefly described in the appendix. The sample, design, and measures used in the current study are described below.

Present Study

One hundred and sixty three new store managers were chosen

using the selection system designed in the earlier research effort,

though not all survived long enough for performance measures to be obtained. While 163 store managers were initially selected, only 48 re

mained on the job two years later. The 48 managers were surveyed to assess their work values. Twenty seven district managers, the immedi ate superiors of these 48 store managers completed performance ap

praisal ratings of the store managers in their district and completed a

survey assessing their own work values. In addition to the performance appraisal ratings, store sales and profit information for the first six

months each new store manager was on the job were also obtained from

company records. Complete data (i.e. work value measures, performance

appraisal ratings, and store sales and profit information) were available for 23 store managers.

Instruments

Work Values. Work values were assessed using the Comparative Em

phasis Scale (CES: Ravlin & Meglino, 1987a, 1987b, 1989) which mea sures the four work values of achievement, fairness, honesty, and help ing and concern for others. The CES is a forced-choice measure consisting of 24 pairs of statements representative of the four work values. The statements are matched for social desirability, sex bias, and the extent to which the statement represents the value. Each value is matched

with every other value a total of four times (i.e., statements represent ing the value of achievement are paired with statements representing honesty four times, statements representing fairness four times, and


statements representing helping and concern four times, etc.). Thus, each value is represented on the instrument 12 times. The CES yields a

fully ipsative (Hicks, 1970) ranking of the four values. This approach to

measuring work values is consistent with the fact that values are ar

ranged hierarchically in value systems (e.g. Locke, 1976,1982; Rokeach, 1973). Furthermore, using a forced-choice approach to measuring work

values allows us to control for the fact that values are highly socially desirable (Fallding, 1966). See Judge and Bretz (1992), Ravlin and

Meglino (1987a, 1987b, 1989), and Meglino, Ravlin, and Adkins (1989, 1992) for strong evidence supporting construct validity of the CES.

Following Ravlin, Adkins, and Meglino (1989), the ratings of a sin

gle value may also be examined using the CES. In the present study we

examined the ratings of the value of fairness. The supervisors' score on the value of fairness (the number of times the value of fairness was

selected over the other three values it was matched with; possible range 0-12) was used in the current analysis. Because of the ipsative nature of the CES, scores on the four values are not independent of one an

other; thus, it is not appropriate to examine predictive relationships for more than one value. Regardless, the ipsative format adds considerable value to the research in that it controls for social desirability bias in

subjects' ratings of work values.

Performance Measures. District managers (store managers' immediate

superiors) were asked to rate each of their store manager's performance on each of the four responsibility areas identified in the job analysis (see

Appendix). Responsibility areas are: personnel responsibilities, resource

management responsibilities, customer interaction and corporate citizen

ship, and operations management responsibilities. District managers also provided overall ratings within each responsibility area. Store sales and profit information were obtained from company records.

Procedure

Performance appraisal instruments and the CES were distributed

by the organization to the district managers. The organization also dis tributed the CES to the store managers. Both district managers and store managers returned the surveys directly to the researchers. All re

spondents were informed that individual responses were confidential.

Computation of Superior-Subordinate Value Congruence

Tb assess superior-subordinate value congruence, rank-order cor

relations were computed between each store manager's ranking of the four work values and his or her district manager's ranking of the same

work values. The resulting correlation coefficients were converted to


z-scores to correct for skewness. Computing value congruence in this manner is necessary because of the ipsative (Hicks, 1970) nature of the value rankings yielded by the CES. This procedure has been shown to be a construct valid measure of work value congruence (e.g. Meglino, Rav

lin, & Adkins, 1992).

RESULTS

Correlations among all study variables, as well as means and stan

dard deviations of study variables, are shown in Table 1. Superior-subor dinate value congruence was not associated with subordinate perfor

mance either on supervisor-rated dimensions, or on the measures of

sales and profits. The results with respect to the supervisor's level of the value of

fairness were more encouraging. As Table 1 shows, the supervisor's value of fairness was positively associated with subordinates' perfor mance ratings on all four performance dimensions (r

= .472, p < .05).

The supervisor's value of fairness was not, however, associated with the

objective performance measures of sales and profits.

DISCUSSION

In the present study we found no relationship between superior subordinate work value congruence and subordinate performance. These results are not consistent with the findings of Meglino, Ravlin, and Ad kins (1989), or with Schein's (1985) prediction that value congruence would facilitate performance. The present results may be explained by the fact that district managers did not work at the same site as store

managers, and thus did not interact with the store managers on a daily basis. Adkins, Ravlin, and Meglino (1992) found that the extent to which the job required individuals to work closely together moderated the rela

tionship between value congruence and performance. Although value congruence may facilitate interactions, in the present setting there may not have been sufficient supervisor-subordinate interaction for value congruence to influence performance. This is especially problematic in a sales setting where the supervisor and subordinate do not work together on a daily basis. In such a setting, high value congruence could poten tially compensate for the relative infrequency of interactions.

The findings with respect to fairness were more interesting. We found that the district managers' levels of fairness were related to sub ordinate performance on the four dimensions of personnel respon sibilities, resource management responsibilities, customer interaction

Table 1 Correlations Among Superior-Subordinate Value Congruence, Fairness, and Performance Measures

1 2 3 456789

1. Superior-Subordinate Value Congruence ?

2. Supervisor's Value of Fairness -0.615** ?

3. Sales 0.131 0.023 ?

4. Profits 0.009 -0.079 0.611** ?

5. Overall Performance -0.030 0.396+ 0.340 0.223

6. Operations Management Responsibilities -0.199 0.436* 0.108 0.030 0.860** ?

7. Customer Interactions and Corporate Citizen- 0.872** ?

ship -0,134 0.430* 0.298 0.264 0.926**

8. Resource Management Responsibilities -0.272 0.547** -0.196 -0.175 0.714** 0.786** 0.685** ?

9. Personnel Responsibilities -0.250 0.475* 0.219 0.186 0.874** 0.867** 0.837** 0.713** ?

+ p < .10; *p < .05; **p < .01


and corporate citizenship, and operations management responsibilities, and marginally related to overall performance, but were not related to sales and profitability data.

Two alternative explanations for this finding are apparent. First, the extent to which the supervisor holds fairness as a key value may affect his or her supervisory style and thus affect subordinate's perfor

mance. Researchers have found that procedural justice, a manifestation of fairness, is related to employee acceptance of performance appraisals (Greenberg, 1986; Landy, Barnes-Farrell, & Cleveland, 1980; Landy,

Barnes, & Murphy, 1978). Employees may have internalized perfor mance standards to a greater extent because of the supervisor's degree of fairness. Thus, the supervisors' levels of fairness may have a direct effect on subordinates' performance.

An alternative explanation of this finding is that the extent to which the supervisor holds fairness as a key value affects his or her

ratings of subordinate performance. Several researchers (DeNisi, Caf

ferty, & Meglino, 1984; Feldman, 1981; Ilgen & Feldman, 1983) pro posed that performance ratings may be affected by the cognitive schemas of the rater. Values as an element of schema may similarly affect the

performance appraisal process. For example, the value of fairness may affect the type of information raters attend to and encode (e.g. Feldman, 1981; Ilgen & Feldman, 1983). Thus, for raters high in fairness, inci dents of positive performance may be more salient, and be more preva lent in memory. Alternatively, the extent to which fairness is an impor tant rater value may affect the execution of the ratings (e.g. Feldman, 1981; Ilgen & Feldman, 1983). For raters high in fairness, actual ratings

may be somewhat lenient in an attempt to give the employee the "bene fit of the doubt" (i.e. to be fair). This tendency may be exacerbated by the fact that in the present setting the district managers (raters) and store

managers (ratees) did not interact on a daily basis. Thus raters with a

high level of the value of fairness may have overcompensated for lack of

opportunities to observe performance by executing lenient ratings. It is

important to note, however, that the present performance appraisal data were to be used for research purposes only; therefore, the raters should not have been motivated to rate leniently because of concern for how the

rating might affect employee outcomes.

limitations and Future Research

The present study is not without limitations. First, the small sam

ple size limits the statistical power of the study. Thus, the findings with respect to the relationship between the supervisor's value of fairness and subordinate performance are especially notable.

Second, due to limitations of the site, it was not possible to obtain


the additional independent measures necessary to understand the source of the relationship between the supervisor's value of fairness and subor dinate performance. It may be due to actual differences in employee per formance or due to differences in superiors' encoding and execution of the performance appraisal. Clearly, this is an issue for future research.

Third, also due to limitations of the site, it was not possible to mea sure the number and types of interactions between the district man

agers and the store managers. As noted above, Adkins, Ravlin, and

Meglino (1992) found that the extent to which the job required individ uals to work closely together moderated the relationship between value

congruence between co-workers and job performance. In future research the amount and types of actual supervisor-subordinate interaction should be examined as a potential moderator of the relationship be tween work value congruence and performance. Similarly, in the pre sent setting, it was not possible to measure either the extent to which the supervisor's value of fairness was manifest in his/her behavior of the extent to which the subordinate perceived the supervisor's behavior to be fair. Future research should compare the relative influences of actual

values, behavioral manifestations of behavior, and subordinate percep tions of supervisor values on subordinate performance.

Finally, although measures of performance such as store sales and

profits are traditionally labeled "objective'' measures of performance, these outcomes may be affected by factors in the external environment of the organization that are beyond the control of the store manager. Further, there may be indeterminant lags between the time a store

manager exhibits a given behavior and the time it is reflected in store sales and profits.

In sum, the null results are consistent with prior research suggest ing that the extent of interaction between individuals moderates how value congruence impacts performance. Evidence suggests that the su

pervisor's fairness value is related to subordinate performance, though further research is needed to determine how the relationship operates.

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APPENDIX

Job Analysis and Development of Performance Appraisal Instrument

Subjects. Two samples were drawn for use in the job analysis. First, a

geographically representative sample of job incumbents (N = 70) was

drawn to conduct structured interviews about job content. Job content information obtained from the interviews was used to develop a ques tionnaire on which a second sample (N

= 425) was asked to rate the

importance and frequency of occurrence for each task/responsibility and its associated behaviors and duties.

Job Analysis Procedures. Procedures involved gathering information about the target position's goals and objectives, task requirements, and behavioral requirements. Three methods were used to gather this infor

mation, including structured interviews with incumbents, review by se nior operations and human resource managers, and a large scale job analysis inventory. Structured interviews targeted store manager goals and objectives, the tasks that had to be completed to achieve each goal and objective, and the specific behaviors and duties that had to be com

pleted to yield successful task performance. Seventeen tasks identified from these interviews were considered by the 70 incumbents to be an exhaustive list of tasks contributing to store managers' goals and objec tives. In addition, 176 job behaviors considered to be critical for task

performance were listed (approximately 10 for each task). Next, selected district managers (store managers' direct superiors),

corporate human resource personnel, and operations managers grouped the 17 tasks into four categories based on the type of organizational resource being managed. The four categories were: Personnel Respon sibilities, Resource Management Responsibilities, Customer Interaction and Corporate Citizenship, and Operations Management Responsibili ties. Operations Management Responsibilities were viewed by subject


matter experts as an overarching job requirement, embodying informa

tion-oriented tasks and behaviors required in managing personnel, raw

material, and interacting with customers/upper level management. Finally, a job analysis inventory was developed around the 17 tasks

and 176 behavioral requirements. Incumbents (N = 425) were asked to

rate the importance of each task and behavior (1 to 4 point scale, per

mitting no mid-point response) and how frequently it had to be per formed (1 to 5 point scale). Almost all job analysis items received an

average "importance'' rating or average "frequency" rating greater than the scale mid-points. Those few items that had mean ratings lower than the scale mid-point for "importance" had ratings higher than the scale

mid-point on the "frequency" rating and vice versa. Consequently, all resource management categories appeared to be important for success ful performance as an store manager. The task and behavior items were

assembled into a performance appraisal instrument described below. De tailed task descriptions are available from the second author.

Performance Appraisal Procedures. In the present study, district man

agers rated store managers on the 17 tasks, each grouped into one of the four responsibility areas and displayed on separate pages. After rating performance on each task in the four responsibility areas, district man

agers provided overall responsibility area performance ratings. Hence 21 performance ratings were obtained on each store manager (17 task

ratings and four responsibility area ratings). Figure 1 contains an exam

ple of the rating form for the first responsibility area. The internal con sistencies of the combined task ratings for each dimension ranged from .79 to .92 (coefficient alphas). When overall area ratings were regressed

on the individual task ratings pertinent to that dimension, more than 90% of the variance was explained; therefore; the present paper exam ined only the overall responsibility area ratings. A rating of overall per formance was also made.

Figure 1

Example of Performance Appraisal Rating for Customer Relations and Corporate Citizenship

Customer Interactions and Corporate Citizenship -activities at a local level that generates a desirable public image to as to enhance the store's sales and profit objectives

1. Customer Relations i-2-3_4_a_ friendly, professional, courteous behavior Needs Development Adequate Outstanding from all employees

2. Selling 1-2-3-4_b_ - thorough knowledge of product/services Needs Development Adequate Outstanding - establishing a helpful, considerate relationship listening to customer needs, try to put yoursejf in his/her place

handling customer concerns or objections follow through

- guarding against oversell arranging for customer to talk with service manager or technician

- showing customer old parts

3. Maintaining Company Image 1_2_3_a_s_ - keep outside signs dean and working Needs Development Adequate Outstanding keep parking lots clean keep service trucks clean and attractive keep employees attentive to their personal appearance

- all employees behave in a positive, upbeat manner toward customers (no profanity, ignoring customers, etc.) - maintain a clean and neat store office keep the rest room and waiting areas neat and clean - keep showroom neat and clean encourage personal involvement in the community (Lions club, etc.)

Overall Rating 1_2_3-4-&?

^_Needs Development_Adequate_Outstanding

Article Contentsp. 205p. 206p. 207p. 208p. 209p. 210p. 211p. [212]p. 213p. 214p. 215p. 216p. 217p. [218]

Issue Table of ContentsJournal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 12, No. 2 (Dec., 1997), pp. 99-254Front MatterBalance Theory Applied to Service Quality: A Focus on the Organization, Provider, and Consumer Triad [pp. 99-120]Integrity Testing and Deviance: Construct Validity Issues and the Role of Situational Factors [pp. 121-146]Modeling the Relationship between Pay Level and Pay Satisfaction [pp. 147-158]Relationships of Stress, Locus of Control, and Social Support to Psychiatric Symptoms and Propensity to Leave a Job: A Field Study with Managers [pp. 159-174]Strategic Interventions in Hospital Transitions [pp. 175-187]Computer-Based Performance Monitoring and Productivity in a Multiple Task Environment [pp. 189-204]Supervisor-Subordinate Work Value Congruence and Subordinate Performance: A Pilot Study [pp. 205-218]Training Appraisees to Participate in Appraisal: Effects on Appraisers and Appraisees [pp. 219-239]Mixed Messages: Co-Worker Responses to the Pregnant Employee [pp. 241-253]

supervisor-subordinate work value congruence and ...supervisor-subordinate work value congruence and...

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