Boundary Spanner Modification of Organizational Directives

Abstract

Boundary spanners represent an important and challenging set of employees for organizational management. Given frequently high autonomy levels and varied job roles, boundary spanning agents have ample opportunity and motivation to modify organizational directives. Based on a multi-theoretical perspective, this research investigates these motivations as well as their various antecedents. Results indicate that boundary spanners have three distinct and relatively stable motivations for modifying organizational directives. The implications of these findings as well as future research opportunities are discussed.