@Article{jpa.2026.076434,
AUTHOR = {Paschal Jao, Shurong Zhao, Baraka Jao Anthony, Ailing Luo, Joel Dossa, Tiantian Sun, Koroma Abu Bakarr},
TITLE = {Why do you reveal? Perceived organizational motives of instrumental and image-enhancement orientations on employee transparency efforts in E-commerce},
JOURNAL = {Journal of Psychology in Africa},
VOLUME = {},
YEAR = {},
NUMBER = {},
PAGES = {{pages}},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/jpa/online/detail/27744},
ISSN = {1815-5626},
ABSTRACT = {Employee transparency is critical for operational effectiveness in e-commerce organizations. Drawing on cost-value framework and self-regulatory theory, this study examines how organizational motives shape employee transparency behaviors. Study 1 surveyed 300 e-commerce employees (females 44%, main job categoty 38%) to assess differences in perceived motives and transparency behavior, showing instrumental motives positively predict transparency, while image-enhancement motives negatively predict it. Study 2 surveyed 400 participants with managerial experience were recruited from e-commerce platforms to participate in the experimental design manipulated organizational motives, showing that instrumental motives increase quality and sensitivity of transparency behaviors, while image-enhancement motives reduce feedback quality without affecting sensitivity. We find employees perceiving transparency initiatives as instrumentally motivated show higher engagement, while those seeing image-enhancement motives show reduced engagement. Findings emphasize instrumental motives’ stronger influence and highlight the importance of framing transparency for performance improvement to drive employee engagement. Study findings extend the cost-value framework to employee transparency and shifts from individual traits to organizational motives. Findings provide guidelines for e-commerce organizations in designing transparency initiatives that maximize engagement and learning, particularly in digitally mediated work environments.},
DOI = {10.32604/jpa.2026.076434}
}