Whom to seek orientation from in the work context? The role of regulatory mode and social orientation motives
(2022) European Social Cognition Network (ESCON) Transfer of Knowledge Conference — Location: Milan, Italy (29.August.2022)
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- Authors
Beylat, Magali 
- Abstract
- Leaders are often presented as the main targets followers seek orientation from. However, depending on their characteristics and motives, followers might also prefer to seek orientation from their peers. Regarding characteristics, we considered followers’ regulatory mode (RM), that is their assessment mode (a concern for critical analysis and comparison) and their locomotion mode (a concern for movement from state to state and maintaining action flow). Regarding social orientation motives, we considered followers’ self-evaluation, self-improvement, self-enhancement, and emulation motives. We investigated how they jointly influence who followers prefer to seek orientation from. More specifically, assessment is associated with a need to do things right, which suggests that different targets will be considered depending on the current social orientation motive. In the professional context, both leaders and peers are likely to provide relevant information on doing things well: leaders set performance expectations and peers can serve as reference points. Therefore, when seeking to self-evaluate, self-improve or emulate, followers’ assessment mode should predict preferences to seek orientation from both their leader and peers, as they might both provide insights on how to do things right. However, assessment mode should predict followers’ preferences to seek orientation from their peers rather than their leader when they seek to self-enhance, as followers are more likely to stand in a better or equal place to their peer than to their leader. In contrast, locomotion is associated with a need to just do it and move ahead, and therefore with preferences for social interactions that could serve their action flow. Therefore, followers’ locomotion mode should predict preferences to seek orientation from their leader rather than their peer, independently of the motives considered here, as leaders are more likely to provide information on what to do next and in order to move on. We tested these hypotheses in three preregistered studies, measuring participants’ RM and manipulating the social orientation motives within-subjects. Participants indicated whether they would rather seek orientation from their leader or a peer (Study 1, N = 280; Study 2, N = 280), or from their leader, a peer or nobody (Study 3, N = 272). Supporting our predictions, assessment mode and social orientation motives interacted, such that assessment positively predicted preferences to seek orientation from peers rather than leaders for self-enhancement motive, whilst not predicting leader or peer preferences for the other motives. In addition, and also in line with predictions, locomotion positively predicted preferences to seek orientation from a leader rather than a peer – independently of the social orientation motives. Implications for how different targets are relevant in motivating followers at work are discussed.
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Citations
Beylat, M., Woltin, K.-A., & Sassenberg, K. (2022). Whom to seek orientation from in the work context? The role of regulatory mode and social orientation motives. European Social Cognition Network (ESCON) Transfer of Knowledge Conference, Milan, Italy. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/102545