Journal article
"You Don't Want My Help?" The Negative and Positive Consequences of Help Offer Rejection
Journal of management, Vol.51(5), pp.1974-2009
05/2025
DOI: 10.1177/01492063231224375
Abstract
Helping is ubiquitous in organizations and vital to individual and organizational effectiveness. Yet, for various reasons, offers to help are sometimes rejected. Help offeror reactions to help offer rejection, or how employees respond to coworkers refusing their propositions to assist with work tasks, is an important but overlooked area of inquiry in organizational research. Although negative reactions to having help rejected might seem intuitive, help offer rejection may also produce positive outcomes for help offerors. Drawing upon sociometer and sensemaking theories, we present a theoretical model in which help offer rejection indirectly reduces subsequent helping through reduced organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and indirectly increases subsequent creativity through enhanced sensemaking. We propose that the strength of these effects is moderated by coworkers' explanation sensitivity such that coworkers' sensitive and sincere communication reduces the negative effect on OBSE and enhances the positive effect on sensemaking. We test and find general support for this conceptual model in two multiwave, multisource field studies of full-time workers and in an experimental vignette study. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and suggest fruitful avenues for future research.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- "You Don't Want My Help?" The Negative and Positive Consequences of Help Offer Rejection
- Creators
- Andrea L. Hetrick - University of New MexicoTrevor M. Spoelma - University of New MexicoDaniel W. Newton - University of IowaAlexander C. Romney - Utah State University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of management, Vol.51(5), pp.1974-2009
- DOI
- 10.1177/01492063231224375
- ISSN
- 0149-2063
- eISSN
- 1557-1211
- Publisher
- Sage
- Number of pages
- 36
- Grant note
- Research Allocations Committee Anderson School of Management Rich Research Grant Programs at the University of New Mexico University of New Mexico
- Language
- English
- Electronic publication date
- 03/21/2024
- Date published
- 05/2025
- Academic Unit
- Management and Entrepreneurship
- Record Identifier
- 9984582458702771
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