Search results

This study aimed to test how the effects of types of support on employees’ performance and commitment were moderated by structure of pay, namely by the degree to which pay was contingent on level of performance. The constructs of Perceived Organizational Support (POS) and Perceived Supervisor Support (PSS) were decomposed into two types, according to whether the support was directed at doing the task or at the welfare of the person. The study proceeded to examine how each type influenced performance and commitment under different pay structures.

The survey was conducted in Israel. A self‐report questionnaire was administered to a sample of managers and professionals. The questionnaire consisted of new scales for person‐focused and task‐focused support along with measures of performance, commitment and structure of pay. The main interaction predictions were tested with regression analyses.

Pay contingency interacted with task‐focused POS and with person‐focused PSS in affecting performance. The interactions related to commitment were not significant. The results justify the differentiation of support to the two types. They indicate that different kinds of support that are perceived to be provided either by the organization or by the supervisor boost performance under different pay structures. The effect of support on commitment is not affected by the structure of pay.

Similar surveys should be conducted in additional cultural contexts and with samples representing diverse populations, so that the conclusions from this research can be further generalized. In order to establish causality, a longitudinal design should be used in future research. It is also advised that performance should be measured through outside agents, for example through supervisor evaluation.

In contexts where employees’ pay is contingent upon their level of performance, employers should emphasize task‐related organizational support and supervisors should exert person‐related support in order to boost performance. A reverse pattern is effective when pay is relatively invariable, namely when it is not contingent on performance.

The study is a first attempt to differentiate organizational support, which so far has been studied as one global construct. It introduces further differentiation by proposing that features of the pay structure influence which support type is effective in influencing performance at work.

The study seeks to examine how a short intervention, aimed at enhancing occupational choice skills, influences turnover during the early stages of organizational membership. It seeks to explore two theoretical rationales for this effect: social exchange and self‐determination.

The study is a “constructive replication” of previous research, and it employed a similar field experimentation methodology. Groups of candidates in the Technical School of the Israeli Air Force were randomly assigned to experimental (Decision Making Training) and control groups. Perceived Organizational Support and turnover were measured at two points in time.

The results showed that the intervention reduced turnover (relative to a control group) as measured at two points in time – at the end of a technical training program and six months later into their military service. Perceived Organizational Support was not enhanced by the intervention. The experimental results were consistent with the self‐determination explanation more than with the social exchange explanation.

The practical benefits of Decision Making Training during early encounters with the organization are discussed. Decision Making Training is recommended as an effective tool during the career exploration phase, to facilitate the integration of self and environment awareness and to enhance self‐determined career goals.

Provides further evidence of the usefulness of a simple intervention that reduces early turnover.

Cross‐national strategy as opposed to country‐by‐country strategy may take place on a regional or on a global basis. This paper examines the European regional office experience of 16 large U.S. firms in terms of (1) the types of responsibilities they handle and why, (2) the problems of removing control and/or duties from country subsidiaries, and (3) the relationship between a regional and global strategy and implementation. The companies' experiences have been quite diverse, thus highlighting multiple opportunities but the need to approach the development of regional operations cautiously. In spite of some problems, the future for European regional management seems bright.

Amidst the diverse forms of international direct investment, the international joint venture (IJV) appears to have become the fastest growing, most popular type of operation. An IJV may be defined as “a separate legal organizational entity representing the partial holdings of two or more parent firms, in which the headquarters of at least one parent firm is located outside the country of operation of the joint venture. This entity is subject to the joint control of its parent firms, each of which is economically and legally independent of the other”.