ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

心理科学进展 ›› 2024, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (10): 1610-1620.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2024.01610

• 研究构想 • 上一篇    下一篇

线上领导领地行为的概念、测量、前因及影响

毛日佑1, 宁先会2, 龙立荣3, 王婕1   

  1. 1宁波诺丁汉大学商学院, 浙江 宁波 315100;
    2西南财经大学工商管理学院, 成都 611130;
    3华中科技大学管理学院, 武汉 430074
  • 收稿日期:2023-09-13 出版日期:2024-10-15 发布日期:2024-08-13
  • 通讯作者: 龙立荣, E-mail: lrlong@mail.hust.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    * 国家自然科学基金项目(72302122; 72132001)、教育部人文社会科学研究项目(22YJC630105)资助, 宁波市哲学社会科学规划课题成果

Online leader territorial behavior’s conceptualization, measurement, antecedents, and effects

MAO Jih-Yu1, NING Xianhui2, LONG Lirong3, WANG Jie1   

  1. 1Nottingham University Business School China, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo 315100, China;
    2School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 611130, China;
    3School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
  • Received:2023-09-13 Online:2024-10-15 Published:2024-08-13

摘要: 线上办公日渐成为常态, 虽与组织的时空分离给予员工高度自主, 但削弱了领导的控制感并带来不确定性。领导如何实现在虚拟空间的控制感, 保持其管理有效性已成为当前研究热点。鲜有研究将“线上办公”与“领地行为”结合, 故限制了对线上控制和线上领导领地行为表征形式的理解。本研究拟首先开发符合线上办公这一时代背景的线上领导领地行为量表, 提供实证测量工具; 其次, 探讨并解析线上办公与线上领导领地行为的联系; 再次, 线上领导领地行为虽能化解领导关于控制方面的忧虑, 却会违背员工对自主的期望, 故本研究提出并分析这一行为的双刃剑效应; 最后, 分析数字化人力资源管理的调节作用。关注线上领导领地行为这一命题可为线上控制提供有益借鉴。

关键词: 线上领导领地行为, 量表开发, 数字化人力资源管理, 线上控制

Abstract: The advancement of digital technologies has promoted online work. Online work has progressively emerged as a prevalent work pattern. Although physical separation from the organization grants employees a high degree of autonomy, it erodes leaders’ sense of control and engenders uncertainties. How leaders maintain control in virtuality and thus maintain managerial effectiveness has become a hot research topic recently. An act that leaders may engage to strengthen control in an online context is online territorial behavior. Little research has integrated “online work” with “territorial behavior,” which limits the understanding of online control and manifestations of online leader territorial behavior.
Research on online territorial behavior is in its infancy. This research highlights leaders’ manifestations of perceived possessiveness over their employees in an online context. This research proposes four studies to: (1) conceptualize and develop a measurement for online leader territorial behavior; (2) discuss the association between online work and online leader territorial behavior; (3) explore the impacts of online leader territorial behavior on employee and leader outcomes and the mechanisms underlying those impacts; and (4) highlight how digital human resource management weakens the negative impact and strengthens the positive impact of online leader territorial behavior. The four studies contribute to a clearer understanding of the conceptualization, measurement, antecedents, and consequences of online leader territorial behavior.
This research contributes to the existing literature in several ways. Studying leader territorial behavior in an online context expands its conceptualization and application. The online leader territorial behavior measurement to be developed can be used for drawing theoretical and empirical links with other variables. By extending leader territoriality expression from physical to virtual spaces, this research echoes recent studies on e-leadership.
This research provides a systematic framework for understanding online leader territorial behavior. This research compares offline and online leader territorial behaviors. This research delineates offline and online “marking” and “defending” and proposes four sets of online leader territorial behavior: hands-on marking, hands-on defending, delegated marking, and delegated defending. This conceptualization deepens the understanding of leader territoriality expression in an online context and encourages future research to explore online leader control manifestations and particular territorial behaviors in various contexts.
This research highlights that employee online work can give rise to online leader territorial behavior. Addressing leader cognitive and emotional changes when shifting from the offline to the online context, this research identifies leader uncertainty perceptions and fear of territory loss as mechanisms underlying the relationship between employee online work and online leader territorial behavior. This provides a nuanced perspective for exploring the origins of territorial behavior and broadens knowledge about leader behaviors in an online context.
This research proposes a double-edged-sword effect of online leader territorial behavior. Online leader territorial behavior enhances leader work-related motivation by satisfying leader need for control in virtuality. However, online leader territorial behavior leads to employee deviance by depriving employees of autonomy in virtuality. Attending to the effects of online leader territorial behavior on employees and leaders simultaneously should illuminate nuanced research directions for future online leader control research.
This research proposes digital human resource management as an influential moderator for the outcomes of online leader territorial behavior, highlighting the importance of digital management systems in online control and promoting an integration of leadership and human resource management research. Discussing the interactive effect of digital human resource management and online leader territorial behavior on employee and leader outcomes broadens the insights into how the positive impact of online leader territorial behavior can be leveraged and the negative impact of online leader territorial behavior can be mitigated. Organizations are advised to proactively adopt relevant digital management systems to improve the efficiency of online management and organizational functioning.

Key words: online leader territorial behavior, measurement development, digital human resource management, online control