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Guided by social exchange theory and signaling theory, this chapter investigates the relationship between individual perceptions of high-performance work systems (HPWS), union instrumentality, and employees’ turnover intention. The results obtained from a multilevel and multisource sample of more than 1,300 employees in 37 multinational corporation based in China show that, in contrast to our hypothesis, union instrumentality is not directly related to turnover intention; rather, the results from the post hoc mediation analysis show that union instrumentality is indirectly and negatively related to turnover intention through affective organizational commitment. Consistent with our hypothesis, the results of our analysis show that union instrumentality serves as an important contingent factor in the relationship between HPWS and employee turnover intention. The relationship between HPWS and turnover intention becomes positive when employee union instrumentality is low.

Because of the interest of enterprises and unions are often conflicting. For unions, how to promote union instrumentality is a critical issue. This study aims to apply the resource dependence theory to examine the role of cooperative approach to conflict in the relationship between union–enterprise guanxi and union instrumentality under the moderation of union leader humility.

A questionnaire survey was undertaken to collect data from enterprise human resource (HR) manager and union stewards in Taiwanese firms using a dyadic approach. Hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping with a mediation model and moderated-mediation model were used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that cooperative approach to conflict is a prominent mediator between union–enterprise guanxi and union instrumentality, while union leader humility strengthens the positive association between cooperative approach to conflict and union instrumentality. Moderated-mediation analysis further demonstrates that the influence of the cooperative approach to conflict is stronger when there is a higher level of union leader humility.

The study offers an integrated picture about how union–enterprise social relationships promote union instrumentality.

The authors collected data from 295 randomly selected employees, four months after the company’s first labor union certification election. Results of separate multiple regression analyses suggested that job security, extrinsic job satisfaction, and organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE) were predictors of organizational instrumentality for both males and females. For men, the division where they work, low desire to change, and low consideration were related to their organizational instrumentality, whereas for women, low income, the Japanese management style, and the Protestant Work Ethic were related to their organizational instrumentality. Non‐professional men had a stronger belief that money represents their achievement than professional men. Professional women had a stronger interest in intrinsic job satisfaction than non‐professional women. Both male and female professionals valued Japanese management style. Results are discussed in light of managers’ efforts in satisfying employees’ needs and union leaders’ efforts in organizing their targets.

Based on the post-acceptance model of information system continuance (PAMISC), this study investigates the influence of the early-stage users' personal traits (specifically personal innovativeness and technology anxiety) and ex-post instrumentality perceptions (specifically price value, hedonic motivation, compatibility and perceived security) on social diffusion of smart technologies measured by the intention to recommend artificial intelligence-based voice assistant systems (AIVAS) to others.

Survey data from 400 US AIVAS users were collected and analyzed with Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) 18.0 and the partial least square technique using advanced analysis of composites (ADANCO) 2.1.

AIVAS technology is presently at the early stage of market penetration (about 25% of market penetration in the USA). A survey of AIVAS technology users reveals that personal innovativeness is directly and indirectly (through confirmation and continuance) associated with a stronger intention to recommend the use of the device to others. Confirmation is associated with all four ex-post instrumentality perceptions (hedonic motivation, compatibility, price value and perceived security). Among the four, however, only hedonic motivation and compatibility are significant predictors of satisfaction, which lead to use continuance and, eventually, intention to recommend. Finally, technology anxiety is found to be indirectly (but not directly) associated with a lower intention to recommend.

This is the first study conducted on the early-stage AIVAS users that evaluates the influence of both personal traits and ex-post instrumentality perceptions on users' intention for continuance and recommendation to others.

This paper aims to investigate relationship conflicts and creative idea endorsement to develop the understanding of managerial reactions towards ideas of those who develop relationship conflicts with managers/supervisors at work. Taking a contingency perspective, the authors also investigated role subordinates’ political skills and implementation instrumentality play in determining supervisors’ endorsement of subordinates’ creative ideas.

The authors used two sources of data collected from 243 subordinates and their respective 41 supervisors of a multinational software company operating in an emerging economy (Pakistan) and analyzed the hypothesized model with Mplus using random coefficient modeling.

With this research, the authors contributed to management literature by investigating how the effects of relationship conflicts on creative idea endorsement depend on subordinates’ political skills and implementation instrumentality. They postulate a negative relationship between relationship conflict and creative ideas endorsement and predict that this negative relationship is augmented by subordinates’ implementation instrumentality but attenuated by subordinates’ political skills. They also give directions to decision makers in organizations that they must inform the managers/supervisors about negative effects of their relationship conflict with their subordinates and train supervisors and subordinates about reducing their relationship conflicts with each other for mutual benefits.

Organizations should take a relationship perspective when creating an environment for creativity: an environment based on mutual trust and respect so that exchange relationships can foster. With this research, the authors extended the list of potential detriment associated with relationship conflicts, that is the endorsement of creative ideas by supervisors. The authors also extended creativity literature by investigating social relationships for selection-focused creativity (idea endorsement) instead of variance-focused creativity (idea generation).

Building on trait activation theory, theory of other orientation, and self-perception theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how employees’ perceptions of helping efficacy and instrumentality influence the relationship between their prosocial motive and helping behavior.

Data from 304 supervisor-subordinate dyads in South Korea were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression.

The results show that prosocial motive had a stronger positive influence on helping behavior among employees with high levels of helping efficacy. However, contrary to our expectation, prosocial motive was more positively related to helping behavior when employees had high levels of helping instrumentality.

Organizations need to present employees with effective, standardized work procedures to make them feel efficacy in helping others. It is also necessary for organizations to consider helping behavior an important factor in performance evaluation and to signify to employees that helping behavior will be rewarded.

Helping behavior is critical for the effectiveness of both organizations and society at large; voluntarily helping people can enhance various kinds of performance at the societal level and can contribute to people’s welfare. Thus, it is necessary to teach people how to help others and to recognize helping behavior.

This study contributes to the understanding of when the influence of prosocial motive on helping is more strongly activated by incorporating employees’ perceptions of the contexts in which helping behavior operates – efficacy and instrumentality.

To examine the influence of company‐imposed reward systems on the motivation levels of salespeople.

Data were collected from 214 business‐to‐business salespeople. In order to assure the adequacy of the survey instrument, several salespeople were recruited to “pretest” the questionnaire. To test the potential moderating influence of career stage on pay mix and valence, expectancy, and instrumentality estimates, a split‐group analysis was performed. To test the moderating hypotheses for risk, we used two‐step regression models in which the dependent measures (i.e. valence, expectancy, and instrumentality) were first regressed on the predictor variables as main effects, and then regressed on the multiplicative interaction term along with the main effects.

Support was found for many of the hypotheses. In particular, individual‐level variables such as career stage and risk preferences moderate the relationship between pay mix and valence for the reward, expectancy perceptions, and instrumentality perceptions.

Managers must acknowledge that certain salespeople respond positively to fixed salary plans while others respond positively to incentive. In the past, managers might have relied on the salesperson to select the appropriate job for them. Salespeople are not “weeding” themselves out during the recruitment process. As a result, greater importance must be placed on human resource and sales managers during the time of recruitment.

There already exists a robust stream of literature on person‐organization fit that suggests that employees prefer to work for companies that are compatible with their personalities. There is an increasing amount of work in multi‐level research that suggests bridging the macro (organizational) and micro (individual) perspectives will enable researchers to make linkages between research streams that are commonly viewed as unconnected.

Explores the direct effects of internal orientation, self‐esteem, instrumentality, expressiveness and the interactive effects of internality, instrumentality and self‐esteem on the variance of career decision‐making self‐efficacy expectation. A set of questionnaires was administered to a group of Kuwaiti college students (Bachelor of Business Administration programme) which consisted of 84 men and 150 women. Results indicated that among men and women instrumental attributes had a considerably stronger positive relationship with career decision making self‐efficacy than the other independent variables and that while the interactive effect of internality and instrumentality on career decision making was significant, the interactions of internality and self‐esteem and instrumentality and self‐esteem were not. Discusses results and implications in the context of Arab sociopolitics.

Although most aetiological theories of crime assume that offenders are a distinct subset of the population, there is evidence that many illegal acts are committed by people who have no convictions and are therefore not regarded as criminals. The question consequently arises as to whether there are aspects of illegal actions that set convicted offenders apart. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

To answer this, a 45-item self-report questionnaire was administered to two samples (males 15-29 years): 185 prisoners and 80 young men without convictions.

The results draw attention to a distinguishing psychological dimension of instrumentality operating across the range of offence forms. Convicted offenders are more likely to commit crimes for direct gratification with intent when compared with the sorts of illegal activities that non-convicted respondents report they have done.

Careful matching of convicted criminals and those without convictions is extremely difficult. Future research that explores other non-criminal samples would therefore be of value.

Interventions with people who commit crimes need to carefully distinguish between those who are determined criminals and those whose activities are more likely to be part of an opportunistic culture.

The results challenge conceptualisation of criminals and criminality as something always distinct from those without convictions. It thus has implications for what theories of crime should seek to explain. The significance of instrumentality also give further force to the legal emphasis on men's area.

This paper examined employee perceptions of the rewards associated with their participation in a six sigma program. Six sigma is an approach to organizational change that incorporates elements of total quality management, business process reengineering, and employee involvement.

A survey was completed by 215 employees (34 percent response rate). Respondents rated the extent to which they felt their participation in six sigma was “instrumental” for a range of outcomes, as well as valence (desirability) of each outcome (based on the VIE concept of instrumentality). The outcomes were classified into four categories: extrinsic, intrinsic, social, and organizational.

Valence ratings revealed that all 12 outcomes were perceived as desirable. Instrumentality ratings showed that extrinsic outcomes were rated significantly lower than intrinsic, social, and organizational outcomes. Additional analyses revealed significant differences on all four outcome categories between participants and non‐participants in the six sigma program.

The positive valence and instrumentality ratings for participants indicate they believe their participation will lead to valued outcomes for themselves and their organizations. However, employees who choose not to get involved in six sigma do not perceive that their participation would have led to desired outcomes. The results also show that while participants value extrinsic rewards, they do not see six sigma as instrumental in their receipt. These perceptions have important implications for attracting and retaining program participants.

While much has been written about the use of reward systems in supporting a successful six sigma effort, this study empirically examines how employees actually perceive the rewards associated with their participation. It also identifies which types of rewards are most instrumental for participants and non‐participants.