Promotion decisions focus primarily on the successes of those selected, with surprisingly little attention given to the outcomes of those rejected. Negative emotional reactions among rejected candidates, for example, may motivate retaliations against the organization in the form of counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). Indeed, in a sample of 568 military officer training candidates, we found a greater incidence of CWB among rejected versus accepted candidates, which peaked within 6 months after promotion decisions were made (d = .44) and gradually decreased thereafter. We also found that overt integrity moderated the relationship between promotion decisions and CWB, whereby rejected candidates with high levels of integrity engaged in less CWB than did rejected candidates with low integrity. Practical implications for mitigating CWB in cases of nonpromotion and considerations for more accurately evaluating the utility of promotion decisions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Summary This study tested the moderating role of group properties in the relationship between two prototypical leadership attributes (cognitive ability and adjustment) and leadership potential. Building on trait activation theory, we investigated one organizational cue (degree of centralization in the informal social structure) and one social cue (average level of the relevant attribute among other group members) and posited that the two prototypical leadership attributes would more likely be activated (leading to leadership potential) in more centralized groups and in groups where others have lower levels of the studied attribute. We tested 874 combat soldiers undergoing basic training in 71 teams. In a time‐lagged design, we measured general cognitive ability and adjustment before conscription and then used regression analyses to calculate the group informal social structure and leadership potential several months after conscription. As predicted, the relationships of both adjustment and cognitive ability with leadership potential were moderated by group informal structure, with stronger relationships in groups with more centralized structures. Other group members' cognitive ability moderated the relationship between cognitive ability and leadership potential (stronger relationships in groups with lower mean of others' cognitive ability), but other group members' adjustment did not moderate the relationship between adjustment and leadership potential.

This study aimed to understand how leadership effectiveness of the trainer in a leadership development program can influence emerging leaders’ development and effectiveness. We hypothesized that the trainer’s leadership effectiveness would be a boundary condition. In this two year longitudinal field study, military cadets’ leadership effectiveness from their emergence as informal peer leaders during basic training through the officer training course (OTC) to their formal leadership roles as active duty officers was followed. The sample included 854 cadets and their 72 trainers. We found that cadets’ effectiveness during OTC mediated the relationship between informal leadership emergence during basic training and their subsequent effectiveness as formal leaders. Furthermore, trainers’ effectiveness moderated the relationship between cadets’ informal leadership emergence and effectiveness in OTC. Results indicate that informal emerging leaders are more likely to develop into highly effective formal leaders when supervised by effective trainers. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.

While a great deal of research has been carried out on counterproductive work behaviours and integrity testing in civilian organizations, far less is known about these two areas in military settings. The present study developed a military‐oriented integrity test that successfully predicted future disciplinary infractions among a sample of 467 officer training school candidates (ρ = .26), while also discriminating between that sample and a comparable sample of soldiers serving time in military prisons (d = 2.24). In addition to its unique military setting, this study contributes to the integrity test literature by: (1) adopting both individual‐ and group‐level validity paradigms; (2) using a sample of actual job applicants; (3) measuring a reliable objective criterion in a predictive design; and (4) including comparative measures of cognitive ability, personality, and overall assessment centre ratings. Practitioner points Military settings may uniquely facilitate the reliable and objective measurement of counterproductive work behaviours. Integrity testing may be a valid and incremental predictor of counterproductive behaviours in military settings.

A derivation of Adams' theory of inequity is that intradepartmental promotion might disproportionately reward a peer, thereby creating feelings of dissatisfaction among nonpromoted co-workers. Subjects were presented with either a hypothetically equitable situation in which a more qualified person is promoted as an authority to the subjects, or a hypothetically inequitable situation in which an equally qualified person is promoted to the same position. The effect of two additional contextual variables was examined: (a) level of acquaintance with the newly promoted authority; and (b) subjects' score on the Rotter's I-E Reinforcement Scale. Mode of inequity resolution was tested by having subjects rate their willingness to comply with work-related and personal requests made by the superior, as well as their inclination to initiate work-related or personal assistance. As predicted, internalists granted a significantly narrower range of authority to the superior in work-related requests when the situation was perceived as inequitable as compared to perceived equitable situations. Externalists did not differentiate when granting authority in these situations. On the other hand, externalists showed a significantly greater tendency to comply with personal requests made by an equally qualified superior than with requests made by a more qualified one. Internalists did not differentiate between the former and latter in the same situations. It was found that nonsolicited assistance was not used as a mode of equity restoration.