Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2025

Abstract

Competitive pressures challenge managers to navigate a multitude of responsibilities. On the basis of Vancouver and colleagues’ (Vancouver et al., 2010; Ballard et al., 2016) multiple-task pursuit framework, Sherf, Venkataramani, and Gejendran (2019) theorized that when faced with competition between technical tasks (e.g., getting things done, meeting assigned goals, promoting quality or accuracy of work, satisfying customer demands, and fulfilling technical responsibilities) and justice tasks (e.g., evaluating employees’ performance, recognizing employees’ achievements, and allocating rewards), managers tend to prioritize technical tasks over justice tasks under high workload demands. On this basis, I aim to examine a model that encompasses the relationship between managers’ performance pressures and their prioritization of technical tasks. Additionally, I analyze the dual-path outcomes stemming from the prioritization of technical tasks. First, I argue that performance pressures are positively associated with managers’ technical task prioritization. Second, I suggest that technical task prioritization leads to dual outcomes through dual paths: one path indirectly increases team creativity by promoting managers’ task reflection, whereas the other path indirectly decreases subordinates’ perceptions of justice by promoting managers’ short-term orientation. Additionally, I propose that resource quantity plays a moderating role in the relationship between performance pressures and managers’ technical task prioritization by weakening the relationship. Data were collected from 358 managers across two waves and from these managers’ 1013 subordinates in one wave. The findings generally provide support for my dual-path outcome model of managers’ technical task prioritization. In particular, managers’ performance pressures lead to either task reflection or short-term orientation through technical task prioritization. Performance pressures have an indirect effect on managers’ team creativity through their technical task prioritization and task reflection. However, as managers’ short-term orientation was not related to employees’ perceptions of justice, the path from technical task prioritization to justice perceptions through short-term orientation did not work. Unexpectedly, resource quantity did not moderate the relationship between performance pressure and managers’ technical task prioritization.

My dissertation advances our understanding of how managers prioritize technical tasks and the mechanisms by which this prioritization influences team creativity and subordinates’ perceptions of justice. It contributes to the multiple-task pursuit framework by demonstrating that managers’ technical task prioritization is not solely an “actor-centric” perspective but rather a response to external performance pressures. Expanding on Sherf, Venkataramani, and Gejendran (2019), my dissertation provides new insights into the positive and negative implications of prioritizing technical tasks.

My dissertation further offers practical implications, as detailed below. On the one hand, upon recognizing the potentially negative impacts of technical task prioritization on short-term orientation, enterprises can take proactive steps. They may attempt to regulate managers’ technical task prioritization at its origin. For example, they can optimize performance evaluation systems. By doing so, they can mitigate the adverse effects that might arise from an overemphasis on technical tasks in the short run. On the other hand, enterprises can learn to derive substantial benefits from managers’ technical task prioritization, particularly from its positive repercussions. For example, when managers prioritize technical tasks, this can enhance task reflexivity. This increased reflexivity, in turn, serves as a catalyst for team creativity. Such a chain of positive effects can significantly contribute to the overall innovation and competitiveness of the enterprise.

Keywords

Technical task prioritization, Performance pressure, Task reflexivity, Short-term orientation, Team creativity, Justice perceptions

Degree Awarded

Doctor of Business Admin

Discipline

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Organization Development

Supervisor(s)

LEUNG, Ka Yee

First Page

1

Last Page

99

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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