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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Layoff agency: A theoretical framework
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Thomas Parker
  • William McKinley
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies
Publisher Sage Publications, Inc.
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 1548-0518
Volume 15
Number 1
Page Range 46 - 58
Date 2008
Abstract Text The current downsizing literature has neglected the cognitions and behaviors of layoff agents. In this article, layoff agents are defined as employees who assist in the implementation of layoffs in their employing organizations. The article develops a theoretical framework that focuses on the cognitions and perceptions of those individuals. This framework suggests that layoff agents have the potential to experience cognitive dissonance as a result of their layoff agency activities, and under some conditions they will seek to reduce that dissonance by altering their perceptions of organizational downsizing. The framework specifies variables that moderate the relationship between layoff agency and cognitive dissonance and also variables that moderate the relationship between layoff agency—induced cognitive dissonance and agent perceptions of organizational downsizing. The moderating effects of these variables are captured in a set of propositions suitable for testing in future empirical research on the psychology of layoff agents.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1177/1548051808318001
Other Identification Number merlin-id:4368
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