TITLE:
The Higher Performance Expectation, the Less Territorial Behavior? A Psychological Mechanism Moderated by Performance Comparison
AUTHORS:
Na Li
KEYWORDS:
High Performance Expectation, Psychological Safety, Performance Comparison, Territorial Behavior
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.9 No.1,
January
18,
2021
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of psychological
safety in the relationship between high performance expectation and territorial
behavior. Territorial behaviors refer to the actions people expressed to mark
and defend certain objects that they believe belong to them. Drawing on leader-member exchange theory, we proposed that high
performance expectation negatively affects employees’territorial
behavior through the mechanism of psychological
safety and that this indirect effect is moderated by performance comparison. We tested our hypotheses using data
from 229 employees in Shang-hai, China. We found that high performance expectation
had a negative indirect effect on employees’ territorial behavior through
psychological safety and performance comparison moderated the indirect relationship.
The moderated mediation relationship was stronger among followers who had lower
rather than higher performance compared to average.