Qi Zhang

Faculty

Qi Zhang

Assistant Professor

Management

qi.zhang@oregonstate.edu

Faculty

Qi Zhang

Overview

Background

Publications

Overview

Biography

Dr. Qi Zhang [‘Chee ‘Jahng] earned her Ph.D. from the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on person-environment fit, examining how individuals align with their work environments and the impact of this alignment on workplace outcomes. Challenging the traditional view of fit as purely beneficial and misfit as inherently harmful, her work delves into the complexities and evolving nature of workplace fit, with a goal of understanding how employees experience fit or misfit, and how fit is established, improved, and sustained over time. Recognizing that “others” often form an integral part of one’s work environment, Dr. Zhang also studies social relationships in the workplace. Her research has been published in prestigious journals, including Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Journal of Business Ethics.

Career Interests

Experiences of Person-Environment Fit: how people fit—or misfit—with their work environments; how they interpret and respond to their fit or misfit; and how these experiences form and evolve over time
Interpersonal Relationships: how employees navigate relationships with their supervisors, coworkers, and other people in and out of work; the interpersonal outcomes of their actions; and how they manage their relationships in the long term
Person-Environment Fit and Individual Differences (interests, motivation): theory, measurement, and applications of PE fit in personnel selection and staffing

Background

Education

- Ph.D., Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Tippie College of Business, University of Iowa

- M.S., Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Peking University

- B.S., Double Major in Biological Technology and Applied Psychology, Nankai University

Honors & Awards

Ralph Alexander Best Dissertation Award (August 2022), The Human Resources Division, Academy of Management

Graduate College Ballard-Seashore Dissertation Fellowship (Fall 2020), University of Iowa

Dare to Discover Research Campaign Showcase (Spring 2020), University of Iowa

Graduate College Summer Fellowship (Summer 2019), University of Iowa

Graduate College Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship (Spring 2019), University of Iowa

Ross Fellowship (2015–2016), Purdue University

Dr. Charles H. Lawshe Graduate Fellowship (2015, 2016), Purdue University

Publications

Other

Management

“Asian Americans’ Unique Reactions to Workplace Discrimination”

Details

Other

Management

“Hiring Leaders Equitably and Effectively”

Details

Academic Journal

Management

“We Are (Not) on the Same Team: Understanding Asian Americans’ Unique Navigation of Workplace Discrimination”

Asian Americans (AsAms) carry unique group identifications that likely impact how they navigate workplace racial discrimination. Yet, extant workplace discrimination research has not thoroughly considered the implications associated with such unique group identifications, especially given the context of American society’s increasingly polarized views of AsAms as outsiders versus insiders. To gain insights into these aspects, we conducted three studies using qualitative and quantitative methods. Our qualitative interviews (Study 1) with AsAm employees during COVID-19 reveal that AsAms have internalized society’s polarization of their American and Asian group identifications and navigate their workplace discrimination accordingly. Integrating these findings with group identification research, we develop a dual-serial-mediation navigation process model, whereby AsAms with strong American group identification intend to leave their organization via blaming and then not forgiving their offenders (i.e., “suffering path”), whereas those with strong Asian group identification intend to stay in the organization via perspective taking and then forgiving their offenders (i.e., “protected path”). In a different sample of AsAms who faced workplace discrimination, we found support for our model (Study 2). Finally, we largely replicated these results in a third sample of AsAms who faced workplace discrimination and found that such navigation processes were largely unique to AsAms versus other racial-minority groups (Study 3). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Details

Academic Journal

Management

“Fitting in a workgroup in unique ways: A latent profile analysis of perceived person-group fit characteristics”

Research has identified seven characteristics—value congruence, shared interests, perceived demographic similarity, needs–supplies match, goal similarity, common workstyle, and complementary attributes—on which group members simultaneously evaluate their perceived person–group (PG) fit. Most of extant research has focused on how each characteristic or them as a composite predicts outcomes. However, these variable-centered approaches fail to address how there may be subpopulations of members who differentially combine the PG fit characteristics and how such conjunctive effects differentially relate to various work outcomes. To address these issues, we adopt a profile-based approach using latent profile analysis to understand how group members are similar to and different from each other on more holistic configurations of perceived PG fit experiences. With two widely different samples of employees working in group settings, we found seven unique profiles of PG fit: perfect fits, comfortable fits, surface-level misfits, out of syncs, social misfits, lone wolves, and total misfits. We also found in Sample 2 that these profiles differentially predicted group member outcomes commonly studied in the PG fit literature, including attitudes (satisfaction and cohesion), performance behaviors (task performance and citizenship behaviors of helping and voice), and withdrawal (social loafing and turnover). Complementing research that used variable-centered approaches, our profile-based results reveal new theoretical and practical insights of perceived PG fit, suggesting that different group members have distinct configurations of PG fit, and that higher levels of PG fit are not universally positive, and neither is every type of misfit universally negative.

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Academic Journal

Management

“Modeling congruence in organizational research with latent moderated structural equations”

A growing volume of research has used polynomial regression analysis (PRA) to examine congruence effects in a broad range of organizational phenomena. However, conclusions from congruence studies, even ones using the same theoretical framework, vary substantially. We argue that conflicting findings from congruence research can be attributable to several methodological artifacts, including measurement error, collinearity among predictors, and sampling error. These methodological artifacts can significantly affect the estimation accuracy of PRA and undermine the validity of conclusions from primary studies as well as meta-analytic reviews of congruence research. We introduce two alternative methods that address this concern by modeling congruence within a latent variable framework: latent moderated structural equations (LMS) and reliability-corrected single-indicator LMS (SI-LMS). Using a large-scale simulation study with 6,322 conditions and close to 1.9 million replications, we showed how methodological artifacts affected the performance of PRA, specifically, its (un)biasedness, precision, Type I error rate, and power in estimating linear, quadratic, and interaction effects. We also demonstrated the substantial advantages of LMS and SI-LMS compared with PRA in providing accurate and precise estimates, particularly under undesirable conditions. Based on these findings, we discuss how these new methods can help researchers find more consistent effects and draw more meaningful theoretical conclusions in future research. We offer practical recommendations regarding study design, model selection, and sample size planning. In addition, we provide example syntax to facilitate the application of LMS and SI-LMS in congruence research.

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Academic Journal

Management

“Toward a dimensional model of vocational interests”

Growing evidence on the predictive validity of vocational interests for job performance calls for greater consideration of interest assessment in organizations. However, a consensus on the fundamental dimensions of interests that are aligned with the contemporary world of work is still lacking. In the current research, we developed an organizing framework of vocational interests and empirically validated an 8-dimension model (SETPOINT: Health Science, Creative Expression, Technology, People, Organization, Influence, Nature, and Things). We propose that interests are structured hierarchically, with preferences for specific work activities at the lowest level (assessed using interest items), basic interests for homogeneous classes of activities at the intermediate level (assessed using basic interest scales), and broad-band interest dimensions describing general tendencies of individuals to be drawn to or motivated by broad types of work environments at the top. To derive broad-band interest dimensions, it is necessary to base it on a comprehensive range of content-specific basic interest constructs. In Study 1, we conducted an extensive review of existing basic interest scales and developed a new assessment of basic interests with 41 homogeneous scales across two samples. In Study 2, we demonstrated the structural validity of the proposed dimensional model using second-order confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling with a large, diverse sample of working adults and supported its predictive validity for occupational membership in new and traditional sectors of work. We discuss implications from the current findings for building interest theory, using interest assessment for organizational research, and evaluating interest structure with appropriate methods.

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Academic Journal

Management

“How is benevolent leadership linked to employee creativity? The mediating role of leader–member exchange and the moderating role of power distance orientation”

Previous research has shown that virtuous leader behavior in the form of benevolent leadership has considerable impact on employee creativity. However, little is known as to how and under what conditions these constructs are linked. In the current research, we proposed and tested a moderated mediation model positing leader–member exchange (LMX) as a mediator, and employee power-distance orientation as a moderator of this relationship. Two studies were conducted to test our hypothesized model. In Study 1, repeated measured data collected from 284 Chinese employees in an information technology company demonstrated that benevolent leadership had a lagged effect on LMX. In Study 2, analyses of multisource and lagged data from 391 Chinese employees in 42 research and development teams, and their direct supervisors indicated that benevolent leadership was positively related to supervisor-rated employee creativity via LMX. In addition, the relationship between benevolent leadership and LMX was stronger for employees high in power-distance orientation. Theoretical implications of benevolent leadership’s research and practical contributions concerning promoting creativity in organizations where benevolent leaders prevail are also discussed.

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Academic Journal

Management

“Leading future orientations for current effectiveness: The role of engagement and supervisor coaching in linking future work self salience to job performance”

Recent research suggests that the salience of a future work self has a considerable impact on future-oriented activities such as skill development, career planning, career networking, and job searching. However, little is known as to whether, how, and under what conditions a more salient future work self may inﬂuence concomitant work outcomes such as job performance. Drawing on self-regulation theory, we argue that future work self salience (FWSS) affects job performance via its inﬂuence on engagement, with this inﬂuence ampliﬁed as a function of supervisor coaching. Using multi-source and lagged data collected from employees (N = 441), their direct supervisors (N = 98), and archival records in an insurance company, we found that engagement mediated the relationships between FWSS and both supervisor-rated and archival sales performance. Furthermore, the relationships FWSS has with employee engagement and sales performance, as well as the indirect effects of FWSS on two performance indicators, were stronger for employees exposed to higher levels of supervisor coaching.

Details