How do generalized reciprocity and negative reciprocity influence employees’ task performance differently? the mediating role of social exchange and the moderating role of emotional labor

ABSTRACT

Generalized reciprocity and negative reciprocity have been demonstrated to influence employees’ psychological states and outcomes differently. Drawing upon social exchange theory and emotion regulation theory, we develop a model that specifies whether and how generalized reciprocity and negative reciprocity influence employees’ task performance. A cross-sectional survey study (N = 584) reveals that generalized reciprocity is positively related to task performance, whereas negative reciprocity is adversely related to task performance, and both of these relationships are mediated by social exchange. Interestingly, the findings also indicate that emotional labor moderates the associations between generalized reciprocity and social exchange and between negative reciprocity and social exchange. Specifically, individuals with high deep acting or low surface acting can experience higher social exchange after perceiving generalized reciprocity, whereas individuals with high surface acting or low deep acting can experience lower social exchange after perceiving negative reciprocity. These results provide significant implications for academic research and managerial practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Generalized reciprocity
• negative reciprocity
• task performance
• social exchange emotional labor

Acknowledgments

We thank the editor Professor Jon Grahe and two anonymous reviewers for their honest, helpful, and constructive comments. We thank Professor John Shields and Mr Marcel Briggen of the University of Sydney Business School. They also gave us many constructive advice and comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/sxwpj/ .

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Materials. The materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/sxwpj/

Additional information

Funding

The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (project code: 72074024) and by the Grant of Key Program for Beijing Educational Science Planning during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period, 2020 (Exploring the Influence of University Students’ Practical Activities on Leadership Emergence, No. CEAA2020047)

Notes on contributors

Nan Zhu

Nan Zhu ([email protected]) work in the School of Business Administration, Fujian Jiangxia University. She received her Ph.D. from the Business School, University of International Business and Economics, China. Her research interests include reciprocity, emotional labor, performance pay, thriving, and career development.

Yuxin Liu

Yuxin Liu ([email protected]) is a Professor of Management at the Department of Human Resource and Organizational Behavior, Business School, University of International Business and Economics, China. She received her Ph.D. from the School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her research interests include leader-member exchange, emotion, thriving, and career development.

Jianwei Zhang

Jianwei Zhang ([email protected]) is a Professor of Management at the School of Humanities and Social Science, Beijing Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University. His interests include innovative work behavior, organizational commitment, and career development.

Jamshed Raza

Jamshed Raza ([email protected]) is a Ph.D. candidate in management at Business School, University of International Business and Economics, China. His research interests include leader-member exchange, self-leadership, and positive psychology.

Yueling Cai

Yueling Cai ([email protected]) work in the School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. She received her Ph.D. from Business School, University of International Business and Economics, China. Her research interests include international trade, human resource management, and technological innovation.