The Effect of Perceived Supervisory Status on Subordinates’ Moqi——The Roles of Feedback Seeking Behavior and Perspective Taking

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2018, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5) : 1200-1206.

PDF(705 KB)
PDF(705 KB)
Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2018, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (5) : 1200-1206.

The Effect of Perceived Supervisory Status on Subordinates’ Moqi——The Roles of Feedback Seeking Behavior and Perspective Taking

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Abstract

In the daily work of organization, we often find that some employees are able to complete the task well without supervisor’s explicit and directional guidance. Such phenomenon can be explained by the existence of moqi which refers to a state of unspoken or tacit understanding between two parties. When applied in the work situation, known as subordinates’ moqi. It reflects a state between subordinate and supervisor, whereby supervisor implies something and subordinate senses and understands it tacitly. To date, empirical study has suggested that subordinates’ feedback seeking behavior can promote subordinates’ moqi. However, we consider that there may exist a distal antecedent of subordinates’ moqi based on proactive motivation model. Thus, we proposed a moderated mediation model wherein perceived supervisory status predict subordinates’ moqi via feedback seeking behavior, and perspective taking serves as the second stage moderator. Several hypotheses are posited: (1) subordinates’ perceived supervisory status is positively related to moqi; (2) feedback seeking behavior mediates the relationship between perceived supervisory status and moqi; (3) the feedback seeking behavior-moqi relationship and the indirect effect of feedback seeking behavior are contingent upon the level of perspective taking. A field study was conducted to test our hypotheses. We collected the data from part-time graduate students at a university located in Guangzhou, China. They were all full-time employees. To avoid the potential for common-method bias, the survey data were collected at three time points, separated by two weeks. At Time 1, students were asked to report their perceived supervisory status and demographic information. Two weeks later (Time 2), they were asked to rate their feedback seeking behavior and perspective taking ability. Two weeks after Time 2 (Time 3), they were again asked to report their moqi. The final sample consisted of 186 part-time graduate students. Then we adopted a series of regression analysis and got four conclusions: (1) subordinates’ perceived supervisory status was positively related to subordinates’ moqi; (2) feedback seeking behavior partially mediated the relationship between perceived supervisory status and subordinates’ moqi; (3) perspective taking moderated the relationship between feedback seeking behavior and subordinates’ moqi, such that this positive relationship as well as the indirect effect of feedback seeking behavior were stronger when subordinates’ perspective taking was high. In the end, we discussed several important theoretical and practical implications of this study. First, our study explored the antecedent of subordinate’s moqi and its underlying mechanism, which enriches the empirical research on subordinates’ moqi. Second, through exploring the mediating role of feedback seeking behavior, this study provided the empirical evidence for previous study and also advanced its findings. Third, by revealing the moderating role of perspective taking, we enrich the moderating mechanism in the relationship between feedback seeking behavior and subordinates’ moqi. Moreover, there are also some enlightenment to practice. Managers should strive to improve their own work and management skills in order to gain more resources and attention to the organization. On the other hand, organizations should attach importance to cultivate and improve employees’ ability of perspective taking. Finally, limitations and future directions are discussed.

Key words

perceived supervisory status / subordinates’ moqi / feedback seeking behavior / perspective taking

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The Effect of Perceived Supervisory Status on Subordinates’ Moqi——The Roles of Feedback Seeking Behavior and Perspective Taking[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2018, 41(5): 1200-1206
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