ABSTRACT

Supervisors sometimes assign employees extra-role tasks, which are often perceived as unreasonable and can prompt employee resistance. In an experiment, we investigated employees’ likelihood of declining an extra-role task (ERT) and the message characteristics associated with resistance. Results indicate that the more unreasonable employees perceived an ERT, the more likely they were to decline it. Employees were more likely to use polite strategies to resist an ERT when the assignment was communicated as a request and included explanation, appreciation, and acknowledgment. They were more likely to use impolite strategies when the ERT was assigned with messages that lacked those characteristics. These findings indicate how employees communicatively resist an ERT depends, in part, on how the ERT assignment is communicated by their supervisor.

摘要

主管有时会为员工分配额外的角色任务，这些任务通常被认为是不合理的，并且会引发员工的抵制。在一项实验中，我们调查了员工拒绝角色外任务 (ERT) 的可能性以及与抵抗相关的信息特征。结果表明，越是不合理的员工认为 ERT，他们就越有可能拒绝它。当任务作为请求传达并包括解释、赞赏和感谢时，员工更有可能使用礼貌策略来抵制 ERT。当 ERT 被分配到缺乏这些特征的消息时，他们更有可能使用不礼貌的策略。这些结果表明如何 员工在沟通上抵制 ERT 部分取决于他们的主管如何传达 ERT 任务。