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The purpose of this paper is to understand better the organizational social capital (SC) levels and their impact on organizations by focusing on personal SC and intra-organizational SC as well as their different connections to organizational gossip and employee performance.

Participants in a field study included 617 employees from five Israeli organizations in the field of aviation and shipping. Levels of personal SC, intra-organizational SC, gossip and self-evaluated performance were measured, and connections between them detected.

The results indicate that intra-organizational SC is positively connected to employee performance, while personal SC is positively linked to gossip. Personal SC also leads to performance with the mediation of intra-organizational SC, although gossip was not found to be connected to performance.

The contributions of this study are both conceptual and practical. The distinction between organizational SC levels is refined, improving organizational research accuracy and facilitating a better grasp of the connections between SC and other variables. The scant research on organizational gossip has been expanded. From a practical perspective, clarification of the link between organizational SC and performance can be beneficial to employees and organizations.

This study relates to two levels of organization social capital (SC): personal SC and intra-organizational SC. Personal SC is the utility derived from the person’s relationship, and his positioning in networks, inside and out of the organization. Intra-organizational SC is the benefit derived from interactions within, and between groups in the organization, and is based on trust, reciprocity, common goals, sharing information and knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to examine the difference between the SC levels by their connections to employee energy and success, before and after crisis.

In order to test the hypotheses, the authors used the Enron e-mails corpus, the texts were analyzed using SQL.

The findings suggest that the impact of personal SC and intra-organizational SC, on employee energy and success is different. Personal SC was found to have a higher impact on those two variables, than intra-organizational SC. After crisis, this gap became larger.

The importance of the findings is in the distinction between the SC levels, and their different impact on the employees. However, the situation of Enron employees at that time implies that the more important level of SC is the intra-organizational SC.

The initial purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of intra-organizational training for developing leadership skills and the techniques used to assimilate course content. The study aims to understand incongruities in training and assess their impacts on training effectiveness.

Qualitative research methods were used to assess a five-day course in the Israeli Defense Forces entitled, “Developing leadership skills in the spirit of the Bible.” Triangulation of data was achieved through observations, interviews and conversations with participants. Grounded theory and thematic analysis were used, respectively, to interpret and analyze the data.

Results suggest that the course did not support the development of leadership skills. The analysis revealed two themes representing different domains: form (training techniques) and content (values). Combining the two themes indicates an incongruity between the declared and actual content of the training course. Further, this incongruity is supported by the training techniques that were used in this course.

A clash of values may ensue that leads to long-term confusion and difficulties for participants of the training course and the organization.

The study makes several theoretical contributions to the literature focusing on the importance of congruence between declared and real training content, and between form and content.

With increases in life expectancy, age diversity has emerged as a common feature of organizations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the connection between employee age, intrapreneurial behaviors (i.e. introducing new ventures inside an organization), intra-organizational social capital (SC) and their connection to employee performance.

A paper-based survey was distributed among 617 participants from five organizations. Three organizations operate in the industrial industry, while the other two operate in the service field.

The findings show that intrapreneurial behaviors moderate the positive connection between age and performance. That is, among employees engaged in intrapreneurship, older workers evaluated their performance more highly compared to their younger counterparts. However, among workers who did not participate in intrapreneurship, younger employees evaluated their performances as higher compared to older workers. The authors also found that age was negatively connected to intrapreneurial activities, and this connection was mediated by intra-organizational SC.

The results of this study highlight the contribution of older employees to intrapreneurial activities and organizational performance while pointing to obstacles that may inhibit them from participating in intrapreneurship. The results have both theoretical and practical implications, which can aid HR managers in their attempt to establish a positive age-diversity climate.

Performance appraisal (PA) is an organizational practice whose ultimate goal is to improve employee performance. This goal can be achieved using two approaches: the administrative approach, which emphasizes materialistic incentives and rewards excellent performers, and the developmental approach, which focuses on employee personal and professional development. The literature points out that organizations cannot utilize both approaches at the same time, but the reason for this is vague. Therefore, the research purpose is to bridge this gap by exploring the basic assumptions behind the administrative and developmental PA approaches as part of the hidden layers of organizational culture.

A qualitative document analysis (QDA) was used to analyze 124 Israeli organizations' PA forms and employee reports.

The organization's PA approaches were diagnosed as a first step in revealing the reason for the inability to use both approaches simultaneously. In the next step, it was revealed that organizational culture assumptions are the reason for the contradiction of the PA approaches. Eventually, McGregor's theory X is the basic assumption behind the administrative approach, and theory Y is the assumption behind the developmental approach. Since these two approaches contradict each other, it explains the difficulty of using both approaches simultaneously.

This study dives into the hidden levels of organizational culture and attempts to bridge a long-standing but still current research gap, as well as extend and refine organizational culture and performance appraisal theories.

Exploring the mechanisms through which social capital (SC) operates in organizations is highly important for both researchers and practitioners. As a theoretical concept, the role and functions of SC in organizations are framed in various ways but not clearly enough. Practitioners would like to understand how relationship intensifies performance; the purpose of this paper is to better understand the mechanisms through which SC influences performance in organizations.

A conceptual framework for different levels of SC in organizations has been developed and presented, as well as propositions regarding the suggested impact of each level on performance have been stated.

Drawing on a variety of literatures, it is argued that there are three levels of SC in organizations – personal, intra-organizational, and external; each level has unique features and benefits, and also, each level holds different risks. It is suggested that every SC level strengthens other components of performance.

Organizations strive to improve their performance and to create a better working atmosphere for their employees; nurturing SC properly helps in achieving these goals. This paper promotes understanding of the benefits and risks of SC, how to avoid these risks, and how to improve personal and collective performance and organizational outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing research field on the subject of intra-organizational social capital (IOSC) and its effects on employee job performance.

Data were collected from a sample of 209 employees in community centers. The variables that were specified are IOSC, vigor, self-efficacy, and a supervisor report regarding employee performance.

The results indicate a mediation-moderation model in which the connection between IOSC and employee performance is mediated by vigor and moderated by self-efficacy.

Although the sample includes employees from a single organization, collecting data from different sources within the organization permitted to overcome this limitation. Mainly, the current findings emphasize the importance of the interaction between environment and personality.

Creation and preservation of IOSC in organizations increases the employee vigor and can serve to upgrade performance.

The important role of IOSC in organizations has been confirmed. Furthermore, the combination between supportive environment and personality traits can foster employee performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational perceptions regarding the coaching process as an evaluation tool.

The research method used is a multiple case study based on the author’s work with coached executives in eight organizations in Israel. Texts of 79 coaching encounters with executives, their directors and human resource personnel, were analyzed. Text analysis was performed through a qualitative method.

The research findings provide evidence of the intensity of the coaching practice as a tacit evaluating tool for organizational functioning, in relation to five focusses: the selection of executives for the coaching meetings, the participants’ perception of their participation in the coaching process, the organizational control wishes, how participants deal with organizational supervision and confidentiality.

Research findings are discussed from a perspective of power relations in the organization, and their significance is presented.

The usage of the coaching tool, not only for its original purpose, but also for evaluating and controlling executives tacitly, can hurt the coaching process, and its authenticity.

The concept of “tacit evaluation” was developed for this research, and the concept of the coaching process as a tacit tool of control and supervision can help us to better understand the coaching process, and its covert and overt components.

The study was inspired by previous research showing the importance of congruence between declared and actual content. But the authors said there was a dearth of research into incongruence between training content and values of an organization.

The study focused on a leadership skills development course in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The course was developed and delivered by military clergy. The initial purpose was to investigate the effectiveness of intra-organizational training for developing leadership skills. But qualitative analysis of the data revealed an incongruence between the declared content of the course – to develop leadership skills – and the actual content of the course – instilling conservative values.

The authors said that the military clergy in the IDF hold conservative views that are traditional and nationalist, whereas the formal values of the IDF are quite different. They are based on the values of democratic state and military professionalism. The authors say this incongruence “may be harmful and cause a long-term clash of values in the organisation”.

The authors said the most important contribution was to illuminate the potential “dark side” of training. Exposing the covert side of training can inspire scholars to search for more hidden in organizational HR routines, they said. Awareness of the potential “dark sides” should also lead to improvements in training, making it more effective in the short and long term. An important practical implication was that a “clash of values” might occur between traditional values and the organization’s formal values.