Search results

The main purpose of this paper is to explore cross‐national differences in job satisfactions and its determinants over time (1989‐2005), which, in turn, impact long‐term worker productivity and performance.

Utilizing non‐panel longitudinal data from the International Social Survey Program on Work Orientations I, II, and III for 1989, 1997 and 2005, various bivariate and multivariate descriptive statistics and ordinary least squared regression analysis are used to explore the relationship between job satisfaction and its key determinants cross‐nationally in six countries (West Germany, Great Britain, the USA, Hungary, Norway and Israel).

For all countries, findings clearly show that intrinsic rewards explain the most variance in the respondents' job satisfaction, followed by work relations with management. In contrast, public service motivation‐fit (PSM‐fit) and work relations with co‐workers are found to play a less prominent role in shaping job satisfaction. Additionally, findings show that the above‐mentioned determinants of job satisfaction vary by country. Additionally, apart from age, which is found to be a significant antecedent of job satisfaction for 1989, 1997 and 2005 waves, the significance of the personal antecedents tends to vary with each wave.

The primary limitations to this research relate to the use of a pre‐existing dataset. The measurement of the study variables, particularly job satisfaction and public service motivation (PSM), is constrained by the limited single‐item measurement scales used in the surveys. Additionally, the measurement scale of PSM could be more rigorous. Data collected from self‐completed survey such as this can also suffer from common method variance; the respondents may have a distorted perception of their organizational conditions. Despite these limitations, this research supports the descriptive literature and empirical studies that look at job satisfaction, PSM, workplace rewards, and interpersonal dynamics.

In an increasingly competitive global market, more and more organizations have to ask the difficult question, “How can we get more out of our employees?” However, though there are diverse “quick‐fix” methods to achieving rather short‐term gains in worker productivity and performance, long‐term and enduring improvement requires a strengthening and spreading of core organizational values and beliefs that increase overall worker satisfaction to help create a high engagement and achievement organizational culture.

The main contribution of this paper is in looking at cross‐national differences in worker satisfaction and its determinants cross‐nationally over a 16‐year period. Additionally, the paper develops and justifies the use of a new construct, PSM‐fit, as an important component to understanding job satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether disciplinary background and work experience significantly influence university students' views on working and preferences for organisations and work attributes.

The data were collected by a questionnaire. This paper briefly reviews the literature of Australian public sector reforms and the impact on the public sector as a potential employment location. The work values of young workers are subsequently presented, including the influence of disciplinary background and work experience on these values.

The respondents' disciplinary background, and to a smaller extent, work experience were found to significantly affect their views on working and preferences for organisations and work attributes.

Sample size was small and derived from one university. More research should be carried out on students from other Australian universities before any generalisation can be made with any degree of confidence. Future research can also examine the reasons behind the traits uncovered among the younger generation for a better understanding of their motives and views.

The study shows the importance of effective recruitment strategies for attracting university students to the public sector, communicating the opportunities offered and minimising any misconceptions about the image of public service. The presence of a public service ethic among respondents who were favourably predisposed to public service may suggest that this attribute could be leveraged to the government's advantage during recruitment.

Although money may not be a primary factor that drew the respondents who displayed the public service ethic trait to government service, they did not in any way disregard the importance of salary as a motivator. Recruiters should therefore not overlook or downplay the significance of a fair salary. A useful source for HR managers who are contemplating improvement in their recruitment strategies, with an emphasis on those aimed at university graduates.

The disturbed national and international atmosphere during 1950 has not been without its effects on the affairs of the Association. Printing disputes have frequently delayed the appearance of Aslib publications and the scarcity of labour has made staff recruitment difficult. Notwithstanding these and other factors, the Council looks back on 1950 as a notable milestone in Aslib's history.

The news that the Ministry of Education has set up two Working Parties in connection with the proposed new Public Libraries Bill is welcome and gives further hope that such a Bill will appear in the not too distant future. From the constitutions of these Working Parties, which seem to us to be fairly representative of all interests, it would appear that the first is going to concern itself with the main aspects of the Roberts Report recommendations, while the second will be given the task of studying the problems of library co‐operation. On the first party, county libraries are represented by Miss Paulin and Mr. Budge, while Wales is represented by Mr. A. Edwards, librarian of the Cardiganshire and Aberystwyth Joint Library. Mr. D. I. Colley, the city librarian of Manchester, will be keeping a watching brief on behalf of the large libraries, but it should not be forgotten that he is also a member of the Libraries Committee of the Association of Municipal Corporations. Mr. Gardner is rightly there, perhaps not only as librarian of Luton but also as chairman of the Library Association's Executive Committee. The Smaller Libraries Group can surely have no complaints, for out of the ten members of Working Party No. I there are three librarians from smaller libraries, these being Mr. Helliwell of Winchester, Mr. Christopher of Penge and Mr. Parker of Ilkley. This Working Party is completed by two legal representatives in Mr. W. B. Murgatroyd, who is Town Clerk of Hornsey, and Mr. J. H. Oldham, who is Assistant County Solicitor for Kent.

NEJE Editors interview Cindi Bigelow: director of activities at Bigelow Tea

This chapter considers how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists in Namibia and South Africa appropriate discourses of decolonization associated with African national liberation movements. I examine the legal, cultural, and political possibilities associated with LGBT activists’ framing of law reform as a decolonization project. LGBT activists identified laws governing gender and sexual nonconformity as in particular need of reform. Using data from daily ethnographic observation of LGBT movement organizations, in-depth qualitative interviews with LGBT activists, and newspaper articles about political homophobia, I elucidate how Namibian and South African LGBT activists conceptualize movement challenges to antigay laws as decolonization.

The authors set out to study institutional work under complexity building on the struggle for legitimacy of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community in Israel as their case study. The authors took a discursive approach and were interested in what actors claim they do. The findings suggest that actors manipulate the intentions and outcomes of their acts, thereby claiming for actorhood or negating it. These differential constructions are not random but echo the norms of the discursive spaces within which they are presented and interact with other actors’ work. Overall, the authors argue that actorhood is not a pre-condition for institutional work, nor is it its outcome, but rather an integral part thereof.

Traditionally, the concept of entrepreneurship included a for‐profit bottom line. Recently, however, researchers have begun to explore an adaptation of this model called “social entrepreneurship”; that is, creating organizations for the greater good of a community, region, nation, or the world. These entrepreneurs use money that they made or inherited to establish organizations from a missionary and visionary posture. This is an arena where women have had significant impact, yet little has been written to celebrate their contributions. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of such philanthropy, to suggest where this social ethic might have had its origins, and to provide samples of women who have been entrepreneurial in their social commitment. Suggestions for future research on women's entrepreneurial philanthropy will also be made.

Recent research develops theory and evidence to understand how organizations come to be seen as “actors” with specified features and properties, a core concern for phenomenological institutionalism. The authors use evidence from changes in research designs in the organizational study of institutional logics as an empirical strategy to add fresh evidence to the debates about the institutional construction of organizations as actors. The case is the research literature on the institutional logics perspective, a literature in which organizational and institutional theorists grapple with long-time social theory questions about nature and context of action and more contemporary debates about the dynamics of social orders. With rapid growth since the early 1990s, this research program has elaborated and proliferated in ways meant to advance the study of societal orders, frames, and practices in diverse inter- and intra-organizational contexts. The study identifies two substantive trends over the observation period: A shift in research design from field-level studies to organization-specific contexts, where conflicts are prominent in the organization, and a shift in the conception of logic transitions, originally from one dominant logic to another, then more attention to co-existence or blending of logics. Based on this evidence, the authors identify a typology of four available research genres that mark a changed conception of organizations as actors. The case of institutional logics makes visible the link between research designs and research outcomes, and it provides new evidence for the institutional processes that construct organizational actorhood.

How firefighters cope with critical incidents is partly influenced by the culture of the fire brigade. The purpose of this study is to better understand how informal peer support helps firefighters cope with critical incidents.

An ethnographic field study of explorative nature was conducted. Data were collected by means of 20 participating observations and 72 interviews with Dutch firefighters from 37 different fire brigades. The analysis was an iterative process alternating data collection, analysis and theory formation processes.

Firefighters will turn to informal peer support to cope with critical incidents provided that facilitating circumstances are present and there is adherence to certain implicit rules. The collective sharing of memories, whether immediately post-incident or after the passage of time, helps firefighters process critical incidents and serves to promote unit cohesion. Most firefighters reported these informal debriefings to be preferable to the formal sessions. By comparison, a minority of firefighters reported that they did not benefit at all from the informal interactions.

This study only focused on the informal peer support given by colleagues. Future research should focus on: (1) The possible differences between men and women as to what extent informal peer support is experienced after critical incidents, (2) Commanding officers: how do they, given their hierarchical position, experience coming to terms with critical incidents, (3) Premeditated critical incidents and the role of informal peer support, (4) Similarities and differences between career and non-career firefighters in experiencing and coping critical incidents.

Firefighters are an under-researched group in academic literature, that would benefit from mental health counsellors having a better understanding of their unique work culture and the complexity of the firefighting profession. More knowledge about the role of informal peer support is necessary to tailor help and aftercare more effectively to their needs.

Most studies confirm the importance of informal peer support when coping with critical incidents. This study provides initial, in-depth evidence of the role of informal peer support in helping firefighters cope with critical incidents.