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Article
Publication date: 7 June 2022

Roland K. Yeo and Jessica Li

This paper aims to introduce an innovative approach to employee engagement through personalized calls targeted at work-from-home (WFH) employees. It explores the effects of these…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to introduce an innovative approach to employee engagement through personalized calls targeted at work-from-home (WFH) employees. It explores the effects of these calls on employee motivation and work behaviour.

Design/methodology/approach

The research is based on a case study of a multinational company over a one-year period (2020–2021). In-depth interviewing in the form of engagement calls was used as the primary method of data collection. Seventy-two frontline supervisors were directly involved in calling 1,318 employees totaling 2,671 calls. Content analysis was used to identify key patterns from the data.

Findings

The employees experienced varying degrees of WFH transition based on their response to isolation and work-life boundaries. The calls made a difference to their psychological and emotional wellbeing, reaffirming their confidence in the company’s WFH arrangements and reinforcing their self-worth. This led to the employees engaging more proactively through work process improvisation and working around technological challenges. The calls also uncovered unlearning and relearning as a way of helping them make deeper sense of who they are and how they can contribute more valuably to the company.

Originality/value

This longitudinal research offers fresh insights into the transitions of employees at different phases of their WFH experience based on the first-hand accounts of frontline supervisors. Theoretically, the study contributes to a different perspective of employee engagement and work behaviour from the remote working literature in the context of Covid-19.

Article
Publication date: 17 October 2018

Jessica Li, Amir Hedayati-Mehdiabadi, Jeonghwan Choi, Feng Wu and Allison Bell

The purpose of this study is to examine talent management process in a region that has been influenced by Eastern culture.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine talent management process in a region that has been influenced by Eastern culture.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is a multiple case study of six MNCs in Asia. Cross-cases analysis was used to reveal differences and similarities. The data were collected through phone interviews with HR managers and written communications as well as organizations’ websites.

Findings

The studied companies were dealing with several challenges regarding talent management process, including challenges of attracting and retaining talent, tension between subsidiaries and headquarters, tension between high potentials and non-high potentials and tension between generations. These companies’ strategies for addressing these challenges were also identified and discussed.

Originality/value

This paper revealed talent management orientation, the approach toward and definition of talent and context-specific issues regarding talent management of the selected companies in a region in which this topic has not been sufficiently studied in the past.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 42 no. 7/8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 August 2018

Jessica C.M. Li, Jacky C.K. Cheung and Ivan Y. Sun

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of demands from three life domains: society, workplace and family and different resources at the individual, family and…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of demands from three life domains: society, workplace and family and different resources at the individual, family and supervisor levels on occupational stress and work engagement among Hong Kong police officers.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey based on a random sample of 514 male and female police officers was conducted, and multivariate regression was employed to assess the effects of demands and resources on work stress and work engagement.

Findings

Family–work conflicts, organizational and operational factors affected work stress and work engagement among police officers. Constructive coping was found to be positively related to work stress and negatively associated with work engagement.

Research limitations/implications

Survey data collected from a single Chinese city may not be generalized to officers in other parts of China or Chinese societies with different social and political contexts.

Originality/value

The present study filled the knowledge gap about factors influencing police stress and engagement. This study provides insights into how to establish relevant contextual measures to reduce police work stress. This study represents one of the first attempts to use a random sample of police officers for the investigation of police stress in Hong Kong.

Details

Policing: An International Journal, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 July 2020

Mark X. James, Xue Yang Colemean and Jessica Li

This paper compares the work values of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) millennials with their parents.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper compares the work values of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) millennials with their parents.

Design/methodology/approach

The Chinese version of the multidimensional work ethic profile (1. productive use of time; 2. centrality of work; 3. hard work; 4. delay of gratification; 5. leisure; 6. self-reliance; and 7. moral reasoning) was used to survey PRC millennials and their parents. A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for comparing work values for a subsample of 68 same-gender parent/child dyads. A one-way ANOVA was used for comparing the work values of the total sample of 217 PRC millennials and their parents.

Findings

The repeated measures ANOVA found that one of the seven work values for the male dyads and three of the seven work values for the female dyads were significantly different. The one-way ANOVA found that four of the seven work values for males grouping and five of the seven work values for the females grouping were significantly different.

Research limitations/implications

Social norms and socialization by parents may moderate the influences of changing social conditions on personal values formation predicted by the theory of generations. Researchers need to sample across demographic and socioeconomic subgroups to understand subgroup differences when conducting cross-generational research. Taking large samples, aggregating data and drawing conclusions about cross-generational values may not be a valid approach in trying to understand the complexity of cross-generational values differences.

Practical implications

Managers should be wary of broad declarations about cross-generational values differences. The differences in generational values are nuanced.

Originality/value

This paper shows when controlling for same-gender parents, cross-generational values are very similar. This contrasts other findings on cross-generational values.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 41 no. 5/6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 May 2019

Boreum Ju and Jessica Li

The purpose of this study is to explore how training, job tenure and education-job and skills-job matches impact employees’ turnover intention by using a representative national…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore how training, job tenure and education-job and skills-job matches impact employees’ turnover intention by using a representative national sample from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study in which 1,531 individuals were followed from 2003 to 2014.

Design/methodology/approach

A hierarchical-regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationships among training, job tenure, education-job match, skills-job match and turnover intention. This analysis focused on 12 year-to-year time points from 2003 to 2014 (one for each year), and the data were measured for each individual.

Findings

The results from the hierarchical-regression analysis supported the hypotheses that on-the-job training, off-the-job training, distance training, job tenure and education-job and skills-job matches are significantly associated with turnover intention.

Originality/value

The findings of this study, based on human capital theory and firm-specific human capital theory, contribute to an understanding of how training and the education-job and skills-job matches may impact turnover intention in a non-Western context. It also provides a longitudinal perspective of the impact of training on employee turnover intention to inform human resource development professionals when planning employee training.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 43 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 June 2006

Nancy Ursel, Xiaohua Lin and Jessica Li

Chinese companies have recently started listing ADRs in North American stock exchanges and thus offered an alternative venue for Western investors whose access to the Chinese…

Abstract

Chinese companies have recently started listing ADRs in North American stock exchanges and thus offered an alternative venue for Western investors whose access to the Chinese market has largely been limited to the illiquid B shares. Are ADRs a good substitute for investing in Chinese B Shares? We examine characteristics of return distributions for indices of Chinese shares and an index of Chinese ADRs. We also compare efficient frontiers for portfolios including Chinese shares and Chinese ADRs and compute possible portfolio allocations. We find that investing in Chinese ADRs does not provide a risk/return tradeoff similar to direct investment in Chinese stock exchanges.

Details

Multinational Business Review, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1525-383X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2011

Jessica Li and Jean Madsen

The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese employees' perceptions on their ethical decision making in relation to the workplace guanxi context in state‐owned enterprises…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese employees' perceptions on their ethical decision making in relation to the workplace guanxi context in state‐owned enterprises (SOE).

Design/methodology/approach

Using a qualitative method, two rounds of interviews were conducted with 18 participants in two SOEs “to explore Chinese employees” ethical perceptions and experiences in the workplace. A qualitative thematic strategy was adopted to analyze and interpret the data.

Findings

The authors identified three major themes on SOE employees ethical decision making in relation to workplace guanxi: the ethical self; malleable ethical standards; and submission to authority. The authors derived a conceptual framework to outline the relationship between the invisible hand of guanxi and the SOE employees' ethical decision making.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the business ethics literature by presenting a three‐dimensional profile and a conceptual framework for Chinese business ethics research. It provides an in‐depth understanding of a complex dynamics of guanxi and its impact on employees' ethical decision‐making behavior.

Details

Journal of Chinese Human Resources Management, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8005

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2015

Jessica C.M. Li and Ivan Sun

The purpose of this paper is to assess senior citizens’ satisfaction with police in Hong Kong. It is intended to answer four research questions: are older citizens satisfied with…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess senior citizens’ satisfaction with police in Hong Kong. It is intended to answer four research questions: are older citizens satisfied with Hong Kong’s police? Do older citizens coming from different communities with variations in income and crime rates differ from other older citizens in their assessments of the police? to what extent can the respondents’ instrumental, expressive, and legitimacy concerns predict their satisfaction with the police? And is there variation in the predictive power of different kinds of concerns (instrumental, expressive, and legitimacy) on respondents’ satisfaction with fairness, integrity, and effectiveness (respectively)?

Design/methodology/approach

Findings of the study were based on survey interviews a sample of 1,061 elderly people aged 65 or above in 2013. A multiple-step sampling method was used to collected data from four types of communities according to the household income level of the residents and the community fraud crime rate.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights about how senior citizens rate their level of satisfaction toward the police. Chinese elderly people’s assessment on the police is found connected with their instrumental, expressive, and legitimacy concerns as well as their educational attainment.

Research limitations/implications

Several limitations were acknowledged. First, the self-reported data in this study contained bias because of possible distortion in memory. Second, the cross-sectional data used in this study means that causal inferences are difficult to make. Third, the findings from the study have a limited generalizability because data were collected from a small and non-random sample.

Practical implications

Since better educated senior citizens are found more critical when rating police effectiveness in fighting crime, police officers may need to think of suitable channels to understand the expectations of the better educated elderly people and to absorb their ideas for improving policing practice.

Originality/value

This study is probably the first attempt of assessing the satisfaction with police of a specific target group, i.e. senior citizens in Hong Kong.

Details

Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, vol. 38 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1363-951X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 April 2010

Jessica Li and Jean Madsen

The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese managers' perceptions of work ethic (work‐related values and attitudes) and to provide insights on how managers interact with their…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine Chinese managers' perceptions of work ethic (work‐related values and attitudes) and to provide insights on how managers interact with their workers.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a qualitative study using a series of in‐depth interviews to draw state‐owned enterprises (SOE) managers' perceptions of work ethic. The inquiry process led to a single‐case level of analysis where data are aggregated to incorporate a thematic approach. Underlining theoretical frameworks that guide the study are a combination of Western and Eastern work ethic frameworks and cross‐culture management understanding of the concept of guanxi.

Findings

Five themes that emerged from data analysis became the five dimensions of Chinese managers' work ethic profile. In addition, the study revealed four overarching themes that influence managerial behavior in Chinese SOEs: the absolute power of the boss; work is the center of life; social network ties to the workplace; and place hope in the hands of the boss.

Research limitations/implications

The paper provides comprehensive understanding of the Chinese management work ethic profile. Future studies should expand to include managers from different generations and industry sectors.

Practical implications

The paper highlighted the importance of matching cultural values with management practices. It identified differences between the west and east of their work‐related values and attitudes, which have practical implications for developing effective management strategies and practices when working with Chinese SOEs.

Originality/value

The paper provides an indigenous description of Chinese managers' work ethic profile and provides suggestions for future research.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 June 2011

Roland K. Yeo and Jessica Li

This paper aims to examine the importance of the quality of work life and its impact on career development from an organizational perspective, and provides insights into human

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the importance of the quality of work life and its impact on career development from an organizational perspective, and provides insights into human resource management (HRM) practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reports the key findings of a study carried out in the USA, based on an online forum for people who undertook professional‐development programs to improve their career prospects.

Practical implications

The paper offers two matrices, on the quality of work life and career development, which can help managers to evaluate their employees' cognitive response to job characteristics, and adopt appropriate measures to increase the significance of their job and prospects for career advancement.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on the quality of work that resides in the direct experience of organizational dynamics rather than the common understanding of work‐life balance. Uses the multiple yet interrelated layers of such dynamics to draw out implications for HRM research and practice.

Details

Human Resource Management International Digest, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0967-0734

Keywords

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