社会与工程心理学研究室知识库

公众和学术界越来越关注个体的真实性，尤其是在工作场所。人们一直对于员工做真实的自我抱有积极的预期，期待员工真实性（定义为在职场中，员工可以不受阻碍地表现其自我最真切、最核心的部分）对工作绩效的促进作用得到证实。然而，基于多项研究相互矛盾的结论，员工真实性对绩效的积极相关受到质疑。此外，基于已有的横断面研究，无法证实员工真实性影响工作绩效的因果机制。对于上述不足，本论文开展两个研究来确定员工真实性对工作绩效的积极影 响及其因果机制。

研究一整合了已有的实证研究，通过元分析系统地分析了员工真实性与工作绩效之间的关系，并考察了其边界条件。结果发现，员工真实性对工作绩效的正向预测作用显著，也就是说工作中的真实性可以促进绩效。这种促进受到绩效测量方式的调节，具体来说，员工真实性能够促进工作绩效，无论绩效的测量方式是领导评价量表、自我评价量表还是行为实验指标，但这种促进作用在自我评价 绩效时体现得最为明显，在行为任务指代绩效时次之，在领导评价绩效时稍显逊色。研究一还发现了一些不显著的结果，表现为：测量真实性时是否纳入接受外部影响维度以及地域文化差异（个人主义与集体主义），不会显著影响员工真实性对工作绩效的促进作用。研究二通过情境模拟行为实验，利用高低真实性两类事件情境，挖掘了员工真实性促进工作绩效的因果证据。实验结果发现，对员工真实性的操纵显著，相比于低真实性情境而言，员工在高真实性情境中更加能够做真实的自己。在此基础上，发现员工在真实性高的时候，工作绩效要比在真实性低的时候更好，也就是在因果上证明了员工的真实性可以促进工作绩效，而高真实性的女员工会比高真实性的男员工有更好的工作表现。进一步分析发现，在低真实性情境中，员工真实性的增高会引起自我损耗，并通过自我损耗提升工作绩效，而自我损耗的中介效应则受到员工性别的调节，即只在男性员工中发现了 这一中介机制。

本研究深入探讨了员工真实性对工作绩效的积极影响及其机制，具有重要的理论意义。首先，通过元分析技术，整合了员工真实性的多项研究，得出了员工真实性对工作绩效具有显著促进作用的总体结论，增强了该结论的可信度和稳定性，为员工真实性的积极效应提供了更全面、准确的研究支持。其次，通过情境模拟实验，进一步验证了员工真实性对工作绩效的促进作用，并揭示了其中的因果机制，这一发现填补了相关研究领域的空白，为理论构建提供了新的实证依据。此外，实验还揭示了自我损耗的中介作用和性别的调节作用，这些新发现有助于推动积极组织行为学理论的发展，为未来的研究提供了新的视角和思考路径。最后，研究结果带来了一些实践管理的启示，体现在员工做真实的自我、组织营造良好的氛围、多元科学地评价绩效以及关注性别差异。

The public and academic spotlight has increasingly turned towards individual authenticity, particularly within the realm of the workplace. There exists a widespread positive anticipation regarding employees' capacity to embody their authentic selves, with an expectation of affirming the beneficial impact of employee authenticity (characterized by the unfettered expression of one's genuine and core self in the professional setting) on work performance. Nonetheless, owing to disparate findings from various studies, the positive association between employee authenticity and performance has come under scrutiny. Furthermore, prevailing cross-sectional studies have failed to establish a causal linkage between employee authenticity and work performance. To rectify these limitations, we undertook two investigations to ascertain the favorable influence of employee authenticity on work performance and its causal underpinnings.

In Study 1, we consolidated existing empirical research and systematically investigated the relationship between employee authenticity and work performance as well as its boundary condition through meta-analysis. The results show that employee authenticity can significantly and positively predict work performance, indicating that authenticity in the workplace promotes performance. However, this positive relation is moderated by the way of performance assessment. Specifically, employee authenticity can improve work performance assessed by supervisor, self-report, or behavioral experiment indicators, but the positive effect was most pronounced in self-report performance, followed by behavioral task referral performance, and marginally less significant when performance was assessed by leaders. Additionally, Study 1 revealed some negative findings, suggesting that the inclusion of external influence acceptance dimensions and regional cultural disparities (individualism versus collectivism) in authenticity measurement did not significantly influence the positive effect of employee authenticity on work performance.

Study 2 employed a situational simulation behavioral experiment, leveraging scenarios of high and low authenticity to reveal the causal relationship between employee authenticity and work performance. The results show that our manipulation of employee authenticity was successful. That is, employees in high authenticity scenarios were more capable of showing their authentic selves than those in low authenticity scenarios. Furthermore, employees with high levels of authenticity had significantly better performance than those with low levels of authenticity, providing causal proof that employee authenticity can improve work performance. Moreover, female employees with high levels of authenticity tended to outperform their male counterparts. Further analysis revealed that an augmentation in employee authenticity in low authenticity scenarios could induce ego depletion, which subsequently elevated work performance. The mediating role of ego depletion was further moderated by employees’ gender. That is, the mediating role of ego depletion was only significant among male employees.

Our two investigations delved into the positive impact of employee authenticity on work performance and its mechanisms, which has substantial theoretical significance. Firstly, through meta-analysis techniques, multiple studies on employee authenticity were amalgamated, culminating in the comprehensive conclusion that employee authenticity significantly fosters work performance. This conclusion reinforced the credibility and stability of the findings, offering more exhaustive and precise research support for the beneficial effects of employee authenticity. Secondly, the study further validated the positive effect of employee authenticity on work performance through situational simulation experiments, providing the causal evidence for this relationship. This discovery bridged a gap in related research fields, presenting novel empirical evidence for theoretical construction. Additionally, the experiment uncovered the mediating function of ego depletion and the moderating effect of gender, contributing to the advancement of positive organizational behavior theory and presenting fresh perspectives and avenues for future exploration. Finally, our findings have practical implications for management, emphasizing the significance of employees embodying their authentic selves, organizations fostering a positive environment, evaluating performance through diverse and scientific methodologies, and acknowledging gender disparities.