View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repositório do ISPA “GOOD VIBRATIONS”: OPTIMISM, SOCIAL NETWORK POSITION AND RESOURCE-ATTRACTION CAPABILITY by Luis Miguel Pereira Lopes Licenciado, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, 2001 SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA IN FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY with a specialization in ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY JUNE 2008 (c) Luis Miguel Pereira Lopes, 2008 All rights reserved The author hereby grants to the Universidade Nova de Lisboa permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Signature of author: _________________________________________________ Universidade Nova de Lisboa June 03, 2008 Certified by: __________________________________________________ Professor Doutor Miguel Pina e Cunha Professor Associado na Universidade Nova de Lisboa Thesis Supervisor Accepted by: __________________________________________________ Chair of the PhD Committee, Universidade Nova de Lisboa “GOOD VIBRATIONS”: OPTIMISM, SOCIAL NETWORK POSITION AND RESOURCE-ATTRACTION CAPABILITY by Luis Miguel Pereira Lopes Submitted to the Universidade Nova de Lisboa on June, 2008 in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy in Applied Psychology ABSTRACT The work reported in this thesis addresses the research question of when and how positive psychological states impact positive behavior and positive organizational development. We present two theoretical essays and three empirical studies to find possible answers to this question and we use a multitude of methodologies with different epistemological assumptions, including quantitative correlation analysis, social network analysis and qualitative grounded theory analysis. In the whole, our work shows that positive psychological states are fundamental to promote individual and organizational higher-levels of performance and well-being. It also points that the capability to induce positive psychological states in others (an “alter-positive” approach) is a powerful way to develop outstanding individuals and organizations. In a broader sense, it stresses the need to promote good vibrations as a fundamental route to create a better world. Thesis Supervisor: Miguel Pina e Cunha Professor Associado Universidade Nova de Lisboa 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................2 TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................ 3 LIST OF EXHIBITS...................................................................................................5 LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................6 AKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2 POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP: ACCENTUATING A HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON BUSINESS.................................................... 20 A H UMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON BUSINESS .............................................................. 21 WHAT IS POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP ?............................................... 24 CONTRIBUTIONS OF POS TO A HUMANISTIC PERSPECTIVE ON BUSINESS .................... 27 Accentuating the Positive .................................................................................... 27 Impacting the Real World....................................................................................29 Strengthening the Legitimacy .............................................................................. 31 CONCLUDING REMARKS : POS AS PRAGMATIC HUMANISM ....................................... 33 CHAPTER 3 ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD: A CRITICALLY-CONSTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACTS OF POSITIVE ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR .............................................................................................................. 38 POB AND THE CASE FOR A CONFIRMATORY BIAS ....................................................... 42 The Negative Outcomes of Positive Psychological Capabilities........................... 45 The Positive Outcomes of Negative Psychological Capabilities........................... 51 ADVANCING THE OB FIELD ...................................................................................... 54 Nonlinear Frameworks........................................................................................ 56 Contextual Approaches ....................................................................................... 59 Counterintuitive Techniques................................................................................ 61 CONCLUDING REMARKS ........................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 4 WHO IS MORE PROACTIVE, THE OPTIMIST OR THE PESSIMIST? .......... 66 PROACTIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ............................................................ 67 The growing role of proactivity for individuals and organizations....................... 67 Proactivity in organizational studies: Different labels, similar constructs ........... 68 The impact of proactivity on individuals and organizations ................................. 77 Fostering proactivity in organizations................................................................. 81 STUDY ONE ............................................................................................................. 84 IMPLICATIONS OF STUDY ONE FOR THE RESEARCH ON OPTIMISM IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ................................................................................................................ 111 Theoretical Implications.................................................................................... 111 Practical Implications ....................................................................................... 114 3 CHAPTER 5 THE SOCIAL NETWORKS OF OPTIMISTS AND ALTER-OPTIMISTS....... 117 SOCIAL NETWORKS IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ................................................. 117 Inter-firm Network Research ............................................................................. 118 Individual and Intra-firm Network Research ..................................................... 120 STUDY TWO ........................................................................................................... 124 IMPLICATIONS OF TWO THREE FOR THE RESEARCH ON OPTIMISM IN ORGANIZATIONAL STUDIES ................................................................................................................ 144 CHAPTER 6 “GOOD VIBRATIONS” IN THE REAL WORLD: HOW ENTREPRENEURS ATTRACT RESOURCES FOR THEIR VENTURES.......................................... 147 FUNDAMENTAL METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES ............................................................. 147 WHY THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONTEXT ?.............................................................. 150 STUDY THREE ........................................................................................................ 152 CHAPTER 7 GENERAL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ............................................... 190 MAIN ISSUES ......................................................................................................... 190 LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ....................................... 194 IMPLICATIONS FOR POSITIVE LEADERSHIP .............................................................. 195 CONCLUDING REMARKS ......................................................................................... 198 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 201 4 LIST OF EXHIBITS Figure 1: Focus of analysis of Critical Management Theory, Humanistic Approaches, and POS.............................................................................................................. 35 Figure 2: Relations between psychological capabilities and outcomes......................... 44 Figure 3: Interaction effect between pessimism and hope .......................................... 104 Figure 4: Interaction effect between pessimism and pathways................................... 104 Figure 5: Optimists and Pessimists’ adaptive strategies in controllable and incontrollable events ......................................................................................... 112 Figure 6: The four social networks of high and low alter-optimists............................ 137 Figure 7: First-order codes, theoretical categories and aggregate theoretical dimensions .......................................................................................................................... 165 Figure 8: Aggregate theoretical dimensions and aggregate meta-theoretical dimensions .......................................................................................................................... 184 Figure 9: Direct (a) and indirect (b) attraction effects ................................................ 185 5 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Main research topics in POS.......................................................................... 26 Table 2: Contributions of POS to a Humanistic Perspective on Business....................