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1 – 10 of over 2000The article challenges the narrow view in scholarship which presents disengagement as passive and simply the absence of condition of engagement and explores how food retail…
Abstract
Purpose
The article challenges the narrow view in scholarship which presents disengagement as passive and simply the absence of condition of engagement and explores how food retail employees articulate their disengagement within the intensified customer-centric service work. The article adopts the term “active disengagement”, as presented by Ackroyd and Thompson (2016) and empirically examines this as a form of oppositional voice towards managerial norms and behavioural expectations.
Design/methodology/approach
The article draws on qualitative data from two case study organisations in the Cypriot food retail sector. Forty-six interviews took place with participants across different departments, including front-line employees and front-line and senior managers, to better understand the research problem through different perspectives.
Findings
The data show that disengagement is an integral part of organisational life and it is expressed in an individual and less-risky way. The data also reveal a variation in disengagement actions across departments, depending on employees' mobility on the shop floor and the intensity of interaction with the customers and the line manager. Shop floor employees enjoyed a wider “space of disengagement”, in comparison to those working on the front-end/checkouts. Nevertheless, checkout employees have developed sophisticated actions to express disengagement.
Research limitations/implications
This research provides a refined understanding of active disengagement in organisations. It empirically contributes to the existence of a spectrum of engagement and expands Ackroyd and Thompson's (2016) “active disengagement” framework, discussing it as a form of oppositional voice towards corporate values and the customer-centric work intensification.
Practical implications
The research provides empirical evidence that employee disengagement is not merely the absence of engagement, as HRM scholars and practitioners have argued, but entails further social meanings. This article will be useful for practitioners to rethink, revisit and revise employee engagement programmes in organisations, as well as to re-write corporate values, mission and vision, to also consider employees' experiences within the workplace. This will allow the provision of social support by management to address active disengagement in service organisations.
Originality/value
The study provides an important insight in employees' individual actions to express disengagement towards corporate values and managerial expectations related to customer service. It highlights the variation of dynamics across the food retail shop floor, which has been treated as a contextual periphery within the disengagement debate. Applying a broader lens on retail work heterogeneity, it provides further understanding of the diversity of how frontline service workers express disengagement within the triadic employment relationship. This study offers ground for future research to examine active disengagement in various contexts for better conceptual and practical understanding of this behaviour in organisations.
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Sook Cheng Lau, Hon Jie Chow, Siew Chin Wong and Chui Seong Lim
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between perfectionism, self-efficacy, coping strategies and academic burnout among Malaysian undergraduates in higher…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between perfectionism, self-efficacy, coping strategies and academic burnout among Malaysian undergraduates in higher education institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 251 respondents who were public and private university undergraduates. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to investigate the influences of coping strategies, perfectionism and self-efficacy on academic burnout among undergraduates.
Findings
The results showed that all independent variables, namely coping strategies, perfectionism and self-efficacy are statistically correlated to academic burnout.
Research limitations/implications
This article provides an empirical framework for explaining the academic burnout of undergraduates’ based on the review of related career works of literature.
Practical implications
To provide insights in order to improve understanding of existing stress models and provide practical implications for local higher education institutions and undergraduates to reduce academic burnout.
Social implications
The study seeks to enhance awareness and destigmatise the mental health issues of undergraduates, which is important to help them to maintain a healthy lifestyle and well-being.
Originality/value
This paper offers new insight to identify the predictors of academic burnout among undergraduates from Malaysian higher education institutions.
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Megan Seymore and Mary B. Curtis
Some of the best information for preventing accounting violations is received from employees who have observed the unethical behavior (Henning, 2016). However, receiving…
Abstract
Some of the best information for preventing accounting violations is received from employees who have observed the unethical behavior (Henning, 2016). However, receiving information about accounting violations or other unethical behavior in organizations requires employees to voluntarily report the behavior. Employees may be particularly hesitant to report unethical behavior when the behavior benefits them. Employees may also justify their own unethical behavior as morally appropriate when their moral identity allows the behavior. The authors draw on psychology and ethics literature to examine the relationships among moral identity, moral disengagement, and unethical behavior. In the exploration of behavior, the authors examine both commissions and omissions. While unethical commissions are violations directly committed by an individual without cooperation from others, unethical omissions are violations resulting from an individual failing to take steps necessary to correct another's unethical behavior.
The authors conduct a survey about cheating with a sample of college students. Using structural equation modeling, the authors find that intentions to engage in unethical commissions are positively associated with moral disengagement, while unethical omissions do not appear to create the moral disengagement that can arise from cognitive dissonance. The authors also find a feedback loop from moral disengagement to future intentions, which suggests moral disengagement created from one unethical act increases intentions for future unethical behavior. Finally, the authors find a simple intervention that can help to increase the moral intensity of observed unethical behavior.
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The study aims to explain the role of moral disengagement in supply chain management (SCM) research and the challenges that arise if the theory is used beyond its inherent…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to explain the role of moral disengagement in supply chain management (SCM) research and the challenges that arise if the theory is used beyond its inherent limitations.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual paper based on how Bandura developed and used moral disengagement.
Findings
Moral disengagement can be used validly in SCM research. The theory should not to be applied to the supply chain itself, but SCM can be seen as an environment that is part of a reciprocal exchange, which shapes human behavior.
Research limitations/implications
The paper suggests a new theory for a better understanding of business ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability in SCM. Furthermore, the paper outlines how the theory should be used and some challenges that remain.
Originality/value
SCM researchers have shown how to apply a theory from psychology to SCM, which could progress to several areas of the research field. The paper also highlights an inconsistency in the use of the theory and explains how it should be used in SCM research.
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Ashish Rastogi, Surya Prakash Pati, Jitendra Kumar Dixit and Pankaj Kumar
The purpose of this paper is to examine the two alternative theoretical explanations of disengagement at work. Following the job demands-resources (JD-R) perspective, the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the two alternative theoretical explanations of disengagement at work. Following the job demands-resources (JD-R) perspective, the relationship between job complexity and disengagement is tested. In accordance with the process model of burnout, the association between exhaustion and disengagement is examined. The paper also examines conservation of resources (COR) as an integrative framework as far as the moderating role of resilience in both these relationships is concerned.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey-based quantitative methodology was followed. A total of 138 employees of an agro-processing unit in North India were surveyed, and 119 usable responses were obtained. Besides the constructs of interest, the questionnaire also sought responses on the relevant demographic variables.
Findings
Both job complexity and exhaustion predicted disengagement at work. However, contrary to a negatively hypothesized relationship between job complexity and disengagement, a positive association was found. Resilience was found to be negatively moderating exhaustion-disengagement relationship. No influence of resilience was found on the complexity-disengagement association.
Research limitations/implications
The findings could be specific to the sample and to India. Caution should be exercised while generalizing. Future researchers should validate the findings across contexts.
Practical implications
The results suggest that complexity may not necessarily be perceived as a resource. Hence organizations must invest in training and skill development programs for their workers. Further, managers should assess resilience as an important component while selecting workers.
Originality/value
Contrary findings vis-à-vis job complexity and disengagement could have implications for the JD-R perspective. Further, this research integrates alternative explanations of disengagement employing the COR framework.
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Kay Naumann, Jana Lay-Hwa Bowden and Mark Gabbott
Minimal attention is given to the negative valences of customer engagement and how they manifest in ways that detract from service value. The purpose of this paper is to uncover…
Abstract
Purpose
Minimal attention is given to the negative valences of customer engagement and how they manifest in ways that detract from service value. The purpose of this paper is to uncover the meaning and conceptual dimensions of disengagement and negative engagement in conjunction with positive engagement. It explores how three valences of engagement manifest towards dual objects: the service community and the focal service organisation. This exploration is based within a new and novel social service context.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach using (four) focus groups is used.
Findings
A conceptual model of customer engagement is derived from the groups that include strongly held and positive customer engagement; passive, yet negatively orientated customer disengagement; and active and destructive negative customer engagement. Positive customer engagement is found to be directed at the service community object, whereas customer disengagement and negative engagement are directed at the focal service organisation object. A spillover effect is also revealed whereby negative engagement with the focal service organisation detracts from customers’ positive engagement within their service community. This suggests that engagement within a social service is multifaceted: several engagement valences may exist within one service relationship. It also suggests that these engagement valences are interrelated.
Originality/value
This is the first paper to apply three valences of engagement within the one focal relationship and examine how they manifest towards two objects, providing a unique perspective of how different interactions within the service ecosystem can influence engagement.
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Jing Sun, Nicholas Buys, Donald Stewart and David Shum
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether university students' smoking behaviour is associated with higher levels of stress and depression directly, or indirectly, via…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether university students' smoking behaviour is associated with higher levels of stress and depression directly, or indirectly, via the mediation of coping, personal beliefs and social support.
Design/methodology/approach
The study design involves a cross‐sectional survey. Structural equation modelling was employed to explore the relationships between smoking behaviour, stress and depression via the mediating effects of coping resources, personal beliefs and social support.
Findings
The higher the stress and depression levels, the more likely the respondents' were to adopt disengagement coping strategies and to engage in smoking behaviour. Stress was not found to have a significant direct effect on smoking behaviour when depression, active coping abilities and social support were included as mediators in the model. Thus, if stress is high yet coping skills are also high and personal beliefs are anti‐smoking, the likelihood of smoking was low.
Research limitations/implications
Disengagement coping strategies significantly increased the likelihood of smoking when stress heightened depression level. However, stress did not independently increase the chance of smoking when active coping and social support were moderating the effects of depression on smoking behaviour. Personal beliefs also acted as an independent contributor to increase the likelihood of smoking when pro‐smoking beliefs were held by individuals. Overall, this study suggests that personal coping strategies and personal beliefs, with social support, are important protective mechanisms through which stress and depression influence smoking behaviour.
Practical implications
Health promotion programmes to encourage smoking cessation should therefore include measures to encourage young adults to adopt active coping strategies (e.g. exercise, recreational activities) to make interventions effective in reducing smoking rate.
Originality/value
This study identifies important mechanisms that underpin smoking behaviour among university students. The results provide evidence that supports the resilience perspective that personal coping resources, personal beliefs and protective factors, such as social support, are important factors either to lead people to adopt smoking behaviour, or to decrease the likelihood of smoking.
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Hannes Zacher and Cort W. Rudolph
As the workforce is aging and becoming increasingly age diverse, successful aging at work has been proclaimed to be a desirable process and outcome, as well as a responsibility of…
Abstract
As the workforce is aging and becoming increasingly age diverse, successful aging at work has been proclaimed to be a desirable process and outcome, as well as a responsibility of both workers and their organizations. In this chapter, we first review, compare, and critique theoretical frameworks of successful aging developed in the gerontology and lifespan developmental literatures, including activity, disengagement, and continuity theories; Rowe and Kahn’s model; the resource approach; the model of selective optimization with compensation; the model of assimilative and accommodative coping; the motivational theory of lifespan development; socioemotional selectivity theory; and the strength and vulnerability integration model. Subsequently, we review and critically compare three conceptualizations of successful aging at work developed in the organizational literature. We conclude the chapter by outlining implications for future research on successful aging at work.
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Hilkka Rissanen and Vilma Luoma-Aho
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel framework that includes degree, tone, and motives of consumer engagement of young consumers. Focusing on millennials, this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a novel framework that includes degree, tone, and motives of consumer engagement of young consumers. Focusing on millennials, this paper offers preliminary look into their willingness and motives to engage with organizations on online environment. Based on narrative analysis, the authors establish nine different millennial engager types. The paper introduces a novel model grouping of motives for different tones and degrees of online engagement in the context of young consumers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is based on qualitative data collected through focus group interviews of 31 Finnish millennials (ages of 16-19 years). Data were analyzed by thematic analysis and constructing narratives.
Findings
The results show that there are nine different engager groups based on their motives for online consumer engagement. Out of the nine engagement types identified, two were negative and five included forms of disengagement. The findings are illustrated on a continuum of engagement that acknowledges three types of engagement: positive engagement, negative engagement, and disengagement.
Practical implications
The study introduces a model of grouping engager types by motives. The model, once developed further, is a helpful framework to identify and target different types of engagers. Organizations aiming to engage millennials should be aware of different tones and approach engagement via both degree and tone.
Originality/value
The value of the paper is in its attempt to introduce a novel framework that includes degree, tone, and motives of consumer online engagement. It sheds light on millennials willingness to engage online in reality, and more importantly, the lack of engagement, and highlights the necessity of understanding the willingness behind consumer engagement.
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