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21 – 30 of over 47000Jenell L.S. Wittmer, Agnieszka K Shepard and James E. Martin
Employees working nonstandard schedules outside the daytime hours of the Monday-Friday work week are increasing. Using Social Exchange Theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees working nonstandard schedules outside the daytime hours of the Monday-Friday work week are increasing. Using Social Exchange Theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is to hypothesize relationships between scheduling preferences, attitudes, and retention indicators.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 343 US Postal Service mail processors (day, evening, or night shift; all shifts working weekends) from three cities. Multivariate analysis of covariance and multiple linear regression were used to test hypotheses related to participants’ perceptions of scheduling preferences and attitudes.
Findings
The authors found that preferences and attitudes toward shift worked had stronger relationships with each other and employee retention indicators for the night and evening shifts than the day shift, and these same relationships were stronger for the day shift when focussing on days of the week worked.
Research limitations/implications
Although limited by generalizability concerns, this study provides a distinctive application of SET to work schedules and offers a unique perspective on how working nonstandard days and nonstandard times, individually, impact the employment relationship.
Practical implications
Better work schedule management, with increased flexibility and control, may be one way of reducing negative employee reactions to nonstandard schedules.
Originality/value
This study goes beyond the typical examinations of standard vs nonstandard shifts, to study multiple nonstandard shifts and examines the relationships of these schedules on employee retention variables, focussing on both shift and weekend work.
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Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to develop and test a model of moderated mediation in the relationship between job autonomy and employee life…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study aims to develop and test a model of moderated mediation in the relationship between job autonomy and employee life satisfaction, focusing on the mediating role of work–family enrichment (WFE) and the moderating role of segmentation preference.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a time-lagged research design, data were collected from 314 employees representing various organisations in Vietnam. The PROCESS macro in SPSS 20.0 was used to analyse the relationships.
Findings
The results indicate a positive relationship between job autonomy and employees’ life satisfaction, mediated by WFE. Additionally, the indirect effect of job autonomy on life satisfaction via WFE was weaker when employees preferred high work–family segmentation.
Practical implications
The study suggests that organisations can enhance employee life satisfaction by increasing job autonomy and promoting WFE. Organisations can establish a more supportive and engaging work environment that promotes well-being by tailoring these interventions to suit employees’ segmentation preferences.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by shedding light on how organisational factors influence employee life satisfaction. It provides the first empirical evidence of a relationship between job autonomy and life satisfaction. It also explores the potential mediation effect of WFE and the moderating effect of segmentation preference.
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Anastasia A. Katou, Pawan S. Budhwar, Habte Woldu and Abdul Basit Al‐Hamadi
The paper seeks to investigate the association between ethical beliefs, aspects of national culture and national institutions, and preferences for specific human resource…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper seeks to investigate the association between ethical beliefs, aspects of national culture and national institutions, and preferences for specific human resource management practices in the Sultanate of Oman.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 712 individuals working in six organisations (both private and public sectors) responded to a self‐administered questionnaire in the Sultanate of Oman. To test the raised research questions of the proposed framework, the methodology of structural equation models was used.
Findings
The results highlight significant differences in the belief systems on the basis of different demographic characteristics. The findings also confirm impact of ethical beliefs, and aspects of national culture and national institutions on preferences for human resource management (HRM) practices.
Research limitations/implications
Although the goodness‐of‐fit indexes confirmed the validity of the proposed operational model, some indices were attained at rather flexible levels.
Practical implications
Studies on managerial beliefs and values can offer important insights into the extent that work is viewed as an integral life activity. Such information can help differentiate among managerial styles in various cultures, and in predicting managerial behaviour such as ethical decision‐making. Based on such understanding, the findings can be used to educate government officials and outside consultants interested in Oman.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the accumulation of knowledge about under‐researched developing countries such as Oman, as limited data are available on HRM, value orientations and ethical beliefs' issues in this region.
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Research has demonstrated that employees desire to be shown appreciation in various ways. The five languages of appreciation provide a model for exploring these differences. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Research has demonstrated that employees desire to be shown appreciation in various ways. The five languages of appreciation provide a model for exploring these differences. This study aims to explore whether individuals who speak different languages (and are from various cultures) differ in how they prefer to be shown appreciation.
Design/methodology/approach
The Motivating By Appreciation Inventory (MBAI) is an online tool that assesses each person’s preferences in how they desire to be shown appreciation at work. Initially developed in English, the MBAI has been translated into seven additional languages. Over 2,200 employees took the MBAI in their preferred spoken language: Mandarin (Chinese), Danish, French (Canadian), Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish (Latin American), Thai and Turkish. The frequency of each group’s preferred appreciation languages was analyzed to determine similarities and differences across the languages spoken.
Findings
Given the non-normal distribution of the data, the Kruskal–Wallis test found that there was a significant difference in preferences for participants’ primary appreciation language across the seven groups of various spoken languages. One key theme was that words of affirmation were most frequently chosen by five of the seven language groups, whereas employees from Thailand and Turkey chose acts of service most frequently. Additionally, tangible gifts were the least frequently chosen appreciation language by all groups, and at rates below their US counterparts. In three of the languages, quality time was preferred significantly less compared with the other languages.
Research limitations/implications
Some of the groups’ findings (Portuguese, Thai) may be impacted by a confounding variable of the type of work setting (manufacturing) in which the employees worked – in comparison to office-based work settings.
Practical implications
One theme was, in comparison to other ways of receiving appreciation, tangible gifts are not highly valued by most employees across all language groups. Therefore, organizations using gifts as the primary way to communicate appreciation to employees may be wasting a lot of money. Similar to English-speaking employees, five of the seven language groups chose words as their preferred appreciation language. A wide range exists, however, across language groups with regards to the proportion who desire words, quality time or acts of service. Multicultural organizations should pay attention to employee preferences, lest they waste time and energy on undesired actions.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that has examined the preferences of how employees like to be shown appreciation across seven different language groups.
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Previous research has documented the distribution of preferences of various appreciation languages by employees in general work settings. This paper aims to explore if employee…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research has documented the distribution of preferences of various appreciation languages by employees in general work settings. This paper aims to explore if employee preferences for appreciation vary across different types of workplace settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The Motivating By Appreciation Inventory assesses individuals’ preferred ways of receiving appreciation from their workplace colleagues, determining each person’s primary language of appreciation in one of four appreciation languages. Results for 114,827 individuals were examined across the general workforce and in six work settings (government agencies, medical settings, military personnel, nonprofit organizations, remote employees and schools).
Findings
Preferences within four work settings (government, nonprofits, remote, schools) were consistent with those from general work settings. But employees in medical settings and in the military choose Acts of Service more frequently than other employees. Quality Time is more valued by school and remote employees. Tangible Gifts are chosen at lower rates by government employees and military personnel.
Research limitations/implications
The subjects are all English-speaking and predominately in the USA. The results may not be generalizable to other cultures and language speakers.
Practical implications
Human resource professionals should be aware that employees in different types of workplaces vary in their appreciation preferences. Adjusting appreciation programs and practices should mirror these differences.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this research is the first known to document differences in preferences for appreciation across various types of workplaces.
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Sachiko Takeda, Davide Secchi and Jeff Bray
Multinational corporations (MNCs) at their foreign subsidiaries hire local employees, whose cultural values may differ from the organisations' home cultures. Such value…
Abstract
Purpose
Multinational corporations (MNCs) at their foreign subsidiaries hire local employees, whose cultural values may differ from the organisations' home cultures. Such value differences may pose managerial difficulties, making it critical to observe whether working at MNCs changes local employees' cultural values, reducing these differences. This study investigates how and to what extent local employees from a collectivistic culture acculturate their ethics-related values when working at MNCs' foreign subsidiaries. The authors examine (1) whether local employees change their values to become closer to the MNCs' home cultures, and if so, (2) whether the cultural distance between the MNCs' home and host national cultures affect the degree of such adaptation.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected through stratified random sampling from Thai employees of a Japanese-owned MNC (n = 196), a UK-owned MNC (n = 143) and a Thai-owned organisation (n = 137), all operating in Thailand. Hypotheses were developed using Berry's bidimensional acculturation model and were tested using OLS and logistic regression analyses.
Findings
The study's findings indicate that MNCs' local employees from collectivistic cultures adopt Berry's integration acculturation strategy and acculturate their ethics-related values – collectivism, ethical relativism, collective responsibility preference and executive pay differentiation tolerance – towards the values prevalent in MNCs' home cultures. Overall, acculturation is greater when cultural distance is greater. New insights are presented in relation to collective responsibility preference and pay differentiation tolerance.
Originality/value
Findings add to current knowledge on acculturation in management by (1) providing new insights into value acculturation (2) utilising Berry's acculturation model to analyse employees' acculturation within an organisation in the context of an emerging economy, outside the more frequently studied topic of mergers and acquisitions, and (3) investigating the impact of cultural distance on the degree of employee acculturation outside the field of expatriate adjustment.
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Jay Liebowitz, Yolande Chan, Tracy Jenkin, Dylan Spicker, Joanna Paliszkiewicz and Fabio Babiloni
In the business and data analytics community, intuition has not been discussed widely in terms of its application to executive decision-making. However, the purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
In the business and data analytics community, intuition has not been discussed widely in terms of its application to executive decision-making. However, the purpose of this paper is to focus on new global research that combines intuition, trust and analytics in terms of how well C-level executives trust their intuition.
Design/methodology/approach
Our Fulbright research, as described in this paper and performed by colleagues from the United States, Canada, Poland and Italy, examines executives’ as well as other less experienced employees’ preferences for different types of intuition versus data analysis. This study set out to better understand the degree to which executives prefer intuition versus analysis and the relationship between these approaches to decision-making. Our research combines elements of a review, a cross-cultural/cross-company survey study and a biometrics study in interoception. The research team has a multidisciplinary background in business, information technology, strategy, trust management, statistics and neuroscience.
Findings
Based on our research, the main findings are as follows. The use of and preference for intuition types change as employees gain more experience. However, there may be intuition styles that are more static and trait-like, which are linked to roles, differentiating managers from leaders. Using “inferential intuition” and “seeing the big picture” go hand in hand. Listening to your body signals can promote improved intuition. Cross-cultural differences may impact executive decision-making. Executives often prefer to use their intuition over analysis/analytics.
Research limitations/implications
This research could be expanded to have a larger sample size of C-level executives. We had 172 responses with 65% C-level executives and 12% directors. However, a recent survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit on intuition used by executives had a sample of 174 executives around the world, which is comparable with our sample size.
Practical implications
From our research, executives should continue to apply their experiential learning through intuition to complement their use of data in making strategic decisions. We have often discounted the use of intuition in executive decision-making, but our research highlights the importance of making it a critical part of the executive decision-making process.
Originality/value
Based on the results of our survey and biometrics research, executives apply their intuition to gain greater confidence in their decision-making. Listening to their body signals can also improve their intuitive executive awareness. This complements their use of data and analytics when making executive decisions.
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Morris Altman and Lonnie Golden
A theoretical economic model is developed to explain the disparities in flexible work scheduling observed across firms, workplaces, sectors, and time periods. Given heterogeneity…
Abstract
A theoretical economic model is developed to explain the disparities in flexible work scheduling observed across firms, workplaces, sectors, and time periods. Given heterogeneity in firms’ costs, the supply of flextime is determined by firms’ costs of enacting versus not adopting it. The innovative practice would be adopted if it generates net unit labor cost savings. If it is cost neutral, the extent to which the supply of flextime falls short of worker demand for it depends on the extent to which employers must accommodate employee preferences for more time sovereignty and are induced by policy incentives to switch to flexible scheduling.
In the ever increasing competition in the employment market, an organization’s need to become a “great place to work” has gained significant momentum. Employer branding has thus…
Abstract
Purpose
In the ever increasing competition in the employment market, an organization’s need to become a “great place to work” has gained significant momentum. Employer branding has thus emerged as an essential management practice employed by the organization to create its image as desirable employer in the eyes of prospective employees. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the understanding of employer branding through the eyes of “potential” young employees in Delhi and North Central Region, India. The results presented in this paper throw light on the perceived importance of employer branding among the prospective employees via analysis of various branding factors chosen for the study. The study results report that the perceived significance of employer branding factors differs mainly across gender and age of prospective employees. Notably, public and private sectors are being perceived significantly different by the potential job applicants on employer branding factors. Thus, this paper presents important findings enabling employers to build brand value and an attractive reputation in the job market so as to attract and retain the best talent.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey methodology was used to test the hypothesis. The sample was selected from Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) primarily from the students of business schools who were randomly selected to fill in the questionnaire. As they are the potential hires, it seemed appropriate to know their preference of employer branding factors. They are ready to join the corporations therefore, data extracted would be much more suitable as they can throw light on their immediate preferences and provide insight into the research study. For collection of data an online structured questionnaire was administered. A total of 270 questionnaires were administered and 239 filled questionnaires were received.
Findings
From the results it can be seen that private sector emerged as preferred sector of choice for the majority of potential employees. However, there are some factors which are handled well in private sector as compared to public sector and vice versa. There are some factors like – stability of the company, work-life balance and job security which potential employees perceive as important and therefore, need to be addressed by both public and private sector organizations.
Research limitations/implications
Limitation of this study is that the findings cannot be generalized therefore, provide opportunities for further research. Moreover, the sample included only students as prospective employees seeking a new job or a career change. Thus the results obtained on a sample of relatively inexperienced job seekers, might partially reflect commonly held stereotypes of attractive organizations. Hence, it is interesting to use other samples such as experienced job seekers or those who are currently employed. Another limitation is that the study is restricted to Delhi and NCR region hence, the data is not representative of a wider population. Further research may expand the scope in terms of sample size as well. Future research may also explore the extent of employee attraction and retention vis-à-vis employer branding factors in organizations. A final avenue for future studies consists in exploring the processes which underlie the organizational choice decisions of prospective applicants.
Practical implications
This study has added to the growing body of research on employer branding factors by generating more knowledge and arguments in favor of certain employer branding factors in the workplace. If organizations truly want to attract good talented people then management needs to bring about the necessary organizational support and infrastructure at the early and middle stages of an employee’s career which are most often the stages where important choices are made. They need to be more considerate toward employee needs. Efforts can be made to build a good work culture by paying heed to their preferences. Therefore, this study helps establish a foundation for implementation of various employer branding factors which are perceived important by the potential job applicants, especially in Indian context. The findings are of particular important for human resource (HR) managers and policy makers in both public sector as well as private sectors in these times of increased inter-sectoral personnel movement. These findings can be utilized as a guiding instrument while inter-sectoral recruitment is being made. These would also enable employers to take appropriate action in order to build their employer brand based on certain discussed employer branding factors so as to attract talent which in turn would also help them in retaining talent.
Social implications
There are many employer branding factors which tend to affect the mindset of potential employees in selecting their prospective employer. Employers can therefore, endeavor to understand those factors at length so as to attract talent which in turn would also help in retaining talent.
Originality/value
Results throw light on the perceived importance the potential employees give to various employer branding factors taken for the study. Perceived significance attached to employer branding factors differs across gender, age, education background, etc. It was also found that for some important employer branding factors public and private sectors are being perceived significantly different by the potential job applicants. Thus, paper presents important findings that would enable employers to take actions in order to build their employer brand so as to attract talent which in turn would also help them in retaining talent.
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Anjali Dutta and Santosh Rangnekar
The aim of this article is to empirically investigate the effect of co-worker support on communities of practice with a sequential mediating effect of concern for team members and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this article is to empirically investigate the effect of co-worker support on communities of practice with a sequential mediating effect of concern for team members and preference for teamwork.
Design/methodology/approach
The data of 216 were gathered from respondents employed as full-time personnel in public and private sector organizations in India using a survey questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis, structured equation modelling and regression analysis were applied to test the formulated hypothesis. Hayes PROCESS macro model was also used to estimate the indirect effects with bootstrap resamples.
Findings
The study's findings revealed the mediating effect of concern for team members and preference for teamwork on the relationship between co-worker support and communities of practice in a sequential manner. The total and direct consequence of co-worker support on communities of practice was also substantial.
Originality/value
This article offers an understanding of the process through which co-worker support is related to communities of practice. This study is the first of its type, basically in the Indian context to the best of the authors’ knowledge.
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