Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for ...

1 This article was downloaded by: [ ] On: 25 October 2013, At: 09:49. Publisher: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). INFORMS is located in Maryland, USA. Organization Science Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for Performance, Teams, and Leadership Bradley P. Owens, Michael D. Johnson, Terence R. Mitchell To cite this article: Bradley P. Owens, Michael D. Johnson, Terence R. Mitchell (2013) Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for Performance, Teams, and Leadership. Organization Science 24(5):1517-1538. Full terms and conditions of use: This article may be used only for the purposes of research, teaching, and/or private study. Commercial use or systematic downloading (by robots or other automatic processes) is prohibited without explicit Publisher approval.

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3 ISSN 1047-7039 (print) ISSN 1526-5455 (online) 2013 INFORMS. Expressed Humility in Organizations: Implications for Performance, Teams, and Leadership Downloaded from by [ ] on 25 October 2013, at 09:49 . For personal use only, all rights reserved. Bradley P. Owens The State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260, Michael D. Johnson, Terence R. Mitchell University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195. e draw on eight different lab and field samples to delineate the effects of Expressed Humility on several important W organizational outcomes, including performance, satisfaction, learning goal orientation, engagement, and turnover. We first review several literatures to define the construct of Expressed Humility , discuss its Implications in social interactions, and distinguish Expressed Humility from related constructs.

4 Using five different samples, Study 1 develops and validates an observer-report measure of Expressed Humility . Study 2 examines the strength of Expressed Humility predictions of individual performance and contextual performance ( , quality of team member contribution) relative to conscientiousness, global self-efficacy, and general mental ability. This study also reveals that with regard to individual performance, Expressed Humility may compensate for lower general mental ability. Study 3 reports insights from a large field sample that examines the relationship between leader- Expressed Humility and employee retention as mediated by job satisfaction and employee engagement as mediated by team learning orientation. We conclude with recommendations for future research. Key words: Humility ; task performance; leadership; turnover; self-awareness; narcissism; general mental ability.

5 Learning goal orientation; construct validation; theory elaboration History: Published online in Articles in Advance February 12, 2013. Introduction Many definitions have been suggested, but little con- The construct of Humility has received increasing atten- ceptual consensus has emerged. Moreover, no empirical tion in organizational scholarship in recent years. In the research that we are aware of has measured the impact wake of recent corporate scandals that have been of Humility on important organizational outcomes. Con- attributed to the unbridled ego, hubris, sense of entitle- sequently, there are many propositions suggesting the ment, and self-importance of the corporate executives importance of Humility within organizations ( , Collins involved (Boje et al. 2004), virtues such as Humility have 2005, Morris et al.)

6 2005, Owens and Hekman 2012, been viewed with greater interest and are seen as more Vera and Rodriguez-Lopez 2004), but almost nothing essential to the character of those who lead and work has been confirmed by empirical study. Given these mea- within organizations. Humility has been included as one surement problems and the interpersonal, interactional of the core organizational virtues that are proposed to nature of organizational life, we focus our definition on provide the moral foundation of organizational environ- the Expressed behaviors that demonstrate Humility and ments (Cameron et al. 2003). Theorists have proposed how the behaviors are perceived by others. that Humility is becoming more critical for leaders who To further the study of Expressed Humility in organi- direct their organizations in increasingly dynamic and zational contexts we have three major goals.

7 First, we turbulent environments (Morris et al. 2005, Vera and seek to define the construct in a way that integrates Rodriguez-Lopez 2004). Weick (2001, p. 93) suggested, previous work but goes beyond in a variety of ways for instance, that the increasing unpredictability and by (1) systematically synthesizing the existing litera- unknowability organizations face will require leaders of ture into a parsimonious definition of Expressed humil- the 21st century to have more Humility and less hubris. ity, (2) conceptually fitting Expressed Humility within Despite calls for leaders and organization members to the nomological network of related constructs, and have more Humility , there are large gaps in our under- (3) emphasizing how the Expressed aspects of humil- standing of what Humility means. Some view humil- ity could influence important organizational behaviors.

8 Ity as a multifaceted, adaptive strength (Tangney 2000), Our second goal is to develop a measure of Expressed whereas others associate Humility with humiliation and Humility by following the standard procedures suggested lowliness (see study results of Exline and Geyer 2004). by Hinkin (1995). Our third goal is to demonstrate the 1517. Owens, Johnson, and Mitchell: Expressed Humility in Organizations 1518 Organization Science 24(5), pp. 1517 1538, 2013 INFORMS. usefulness of Expressed Humility , especially as Expressed of Humility , we looked specifically for examples of by a leader in the organizational context. Humility that would be externally observable by oth- ers ( , behavioral based) and did not consider more intrapersonal aspects of Humility ( , cognitions and Defining Expressed Humility emotions).

9 The first author and two other academic The general construct of Humility has a rich back- researchers carefully reviewed this literature indepen- ground in theology and philosophy. Because Humility dently and made notes on what emerged as the core Downloaded from by [ ] on 25 October 2013, at 09:49 . For personal use only, all rights reserved. often entails the recognition and appreciation of knowl- dimensions of Expressed Humility . We then met to dis- edge and guidance beyond the self, it is a founda- cuss the components of Humility and to present our sum- tional principle in all major world religions Buddhism, maries of the components of Expressed Humility . After Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, etc. Humility is also some discussion, we agreed on three general categories central to many philosophical discussions of moral- of behavior that underlie the construct.

10 We converged ity. Immanuel Kant, for example, viewed Humility as on three dimensions because with more categories, there a meta-attitude which constitutes the moral agent's was redundancy across categories, and with fewer cat- proper perspective on himself and a virtue foundational egories, some key aspects of Expressed Humility were to most other virtues (Grenberg 2005, p. 133). Humility obscured. in general has been categorized as a temperance virtue As a result of our independent analysis of the litera- that guards against excess (Park and Peterson 2003). ture and the previous definitions of Humility ( , Morris Although the virtue of Humility has rich historical et al. 2005, Exline et al. 2004, Tangney 2002, Templeton roots, conceptualizations of Humility vary significantly 1997, Means et al.)