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1 – 10 of 14Katharina Näswall, Sanna Malinen, Joana Kuntz and Morgana Hodliffe
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new measure of employee resilience. Employee resilience is a key capability enabling employees to manage and adapt to continually…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new measure of employee resilience. Employee resilience is a key capability enabling employees to manage and adapt to continually changing circumstances. While there is an increasing body of research on how to best promote resilience among employees in organizations, the measurement of the construct has received less research attention. The measure introduced in this paper focuses on employee resilience as a work-related capability that can be developed.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents three survey-based studies describing the development of a new measure, the Employee Resilience Scale and its preliminary validation. Study 1 concerns the scale development and testing, along with a confirmatory analysis of the measurement structure in a different sample. Study 2 investigates the discriminant validity of the scale in relation to a well-known measure of personal resilience, the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. Study 3 was concerned with work-related outcomes of employee resilience (e.g. job engagement).
Findings
Support was found for the unidimensionality of the scale in Study 1. Study 2 showed a clear differentiation between the two measures of resilience: employee resilience and personal resilience, supporting the discriminant validity of the measure. Study 3 provided evidence for the criterion-related validity of the scale.
Research limitations/implications
The three studies presented here provide preliminary support that the Employee Resilience Scale can be used to measure resilience among employees.
Originality/value
While the concept of employee resilience has gained attention in the literature, a measure of the construct has lacked. The study presents a valid measure of employee resilience which can be used to diagnose and develop a more adaptive workplace.
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Joana Kuntz, Philippa Connell and Katharina Näswall
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the independent and joint effects of regulatory focus (promotion and prevention) on the relationship between workplace resources…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the independent and joint effects of regulatory focus (promotion and prevention) on the relationship between workplace resources (support and feedback) and employee resilience. It proposed that, at high levels of resource availability, a high promotion-high prevention profile would elicit the highest levels of employee resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was completed by 162 white collar employees from four organisations. In addition to the main effects, two- and three-way interactions were examined to test hypotheses.
Findings
Promotion focus was positively associated with employee resilience, and though the relationship between prevention focus and resilience was non-significant, both regulatory foci buffered against the negative effects of low resources. Employees with high promotion-high prevention focus displayed the highest levels of resilience, especially at high levels of feedback. Conversely, the resilience of low promotion-low prevention individuals was susceptible to feedback availability.
Practical implications
Employee resilience development and demonstration are contingent not only on resources, but also on psychological processes, particularly regulatory focus. Organisations will develop resilience to the extent that they provide workplace resources, and, importantly, stimulate both promotion and prevention perspectives on resource management.
Originality/value
This study extends the research on regulatory focus theory by testing the joint effects of promotion and prevention foci on workplace resources, and the relationship between regulatory foci and employee resilience.
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Self-deception is generally deemed an adaptive psychological mechanism that ensures well-being, a sense of identity and social advancement. However, self-deception becomes…
Abstract
Purpose
Self-deception is generally deemed an adaptive psychological mechanism that ensures well-being, a sense of identity and social advancement. However, self-deception becomes maladaptive in organised environments that undermine the critical thinking essential to development and change. The purpose of this paper is to advance a theoretical model of self-deception, specifying and contextualising its intrapersonal and relational components in organisations. Further, it provides guidelines for practitioners to identify self-deception tactics, and minimise maladaptive self-deception.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on affective coping, system justification and self-categorisation theories, the paper illustrates how the interplay of intrapersonal and relational factors with organisational practices explain self-deception.
Findings
Maladaptive self-deception is pervasive in organisations that deter critical reflection, and intensify motivated biases to self-enhance and self-protect.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a socially and organisationally embedded model of self-deception, specifies how self-deception develops and manifests in organisations, and suggests ways of identifying and managing self-deception towards positive organisational development and change.
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Joana Kuntz, Jennifer Hoi Ki Wong and Susan Budge
Ambidexterity increases an organisation’s capability to successfully navigate dynamic and uncertain environments. While leaders are expected to model flexible learning and…
Abstract
Purpose
Ambidexterity increases an organisation’s capability to successfully navigate dynamic and uncertain environments. While leaders are expected to model flexible learning and practices throughout the organisation, little is known about the leader characteristics and contextual factors that underpin ambidexterity. This study aims to explore whether paradoxical thinking, integrator behaviours and managerial role and level influence the likelihood of leaders exhibiting ambidexterity.
Design/methodology/approach
This study relied on a self-report questionnaire completed by 152 managers of a large, public health-care organisation in New Zealand. A k-means cluster analysis of the data was conducted to identify leader ambidexterity clusters, and the hypothesised effects were tested with multinomial logistic regressions.
Findings
Health-care managers favoured exploitation and moderate ambidexterity. Higher levels of integrator behaviours (i.e. reflective learning and context responsiveness) were found among leaders who showed high ambidexterity. Context responsiveness was the sole significant predictor distinguishing between high ambidexterity and other ambidexterity profiles. No statistically significant differences in ambidexterity cluster membership were found between clinical and non-clinical roles and across managerial levels.
Research limitations/implications
While our study relied on a cross-sectional self-reported design, the findings underscore the importance of learning behaviours and context responsiveness to ambidexterity. This study discusses avenues for future research and leadership development towards improved organisational learning systems and practices.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to test the contribution of paradoxical thinking and integrator behaviours to health-care leader ambidexterity and to examine differences in ambidexterity profiles across managerial levels and roles. The factor analysis suggests that integrator behaviours represent two distinct constructs: reflective le`arning and context responsiveness.
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Joana Kuntz, Brendan Davies and Katharina Naswall
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) discrepant leadership styles are reflected on CEO succession outcomes, operationalised as changes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore whether Chief Executive Officers’ (CEOs) discrepant leadership styles are reflected on CEO succession outcomes, operationalised as changes to employee views of the organisation following the succession.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 230 employees who completed an online survey at four time points over a three-year period. Linear mixed models analyses tested for significant changes to alignment, participation, learning culture, organisational commitment and engagement perceptions over time. Qualitative data were content-analysed to ascertain the CEOs’ leadership styles and explore employee views of the organisation.
Findings
While alignment and participation scores did not significantly increase following the CEO succession, learning culture, organisational commitment and engagement increased significantly.
Research limitations/implications
This study adds to the limited research on CEO succession. It suggests that what renders a succession adaptive or disruptive may be contingent on the leadership styles of outgoing and incoming CEOs.
Practical implications
The transition from a transactional to a transformational CEO may have a stronger impact on motivational and attitudinal outcomes (e.g. engagement) than on operational outcomes (e.g. alignment).
Originality/value
This study is the first to longitudinally examine a range employee outcomes of CEO succession considering the incoming and outgoing CEOs’ discrepant leadership styles. It extends the leadership literature by empirically showing that, despite the disruption underlying a succession event, employee views of the organisation improve significantly following the transition from a transactional to a transformational leader.
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Joana R.C. Kuntz and Mary Abbott
This paper aims to test a moderated mediation model linking person-environment fit with workplace outcomes (engagement, meaning at work and performance) through authenticity…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to test a moderated mediation model linking person-environment fit with workplace outcomes (engagement, meaning at work and performance) through authenticity (authentic living and self-alienation). Self-deception was included as a moderator of these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 163 employees in a large department using an online survey. The hypotheses were tested using the PROCESS Macro for SPSS, which conducts bootstrapped moderated mediation analyses.
Findings
Results showed that person-environment fit facets were positively related to engagement, meaning and performance through authentic living and negatively related through self-alienation. These relationships were significant at low to moderate levels of self-deception.
Research/limitations implications
Despite its small sample size, this study used a time-lagged design to mitigate the limitations associated with cross-sectional studies. Further, it expanded the research on authenticity in the workplace by illustrating the interplay of authenticity with fit, self-deception and workplace outcomes.
Practical implications
Organisations stand to gain from encouraging authenticity at work, and this can be achieved by ensuring person-environment fit. While self-deception can act as a protective factor against low perceptions of person-environment fit, organisations should strive to create a culture that values diversity and self-expression.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to explore authenticity at work and the first to empirically examine the authenticity and person-environment fit relationship in relation to outcomes, considering individual propensity for motivated bias.
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Jack Hassell, Joana Kuntz and Sarah Wright
While worker well-being is increasingly recognised as a performance driver and marker of socially responsible organisations, workaholism is ubiquitous and remains poorly…
Abstract
Purpose
While worker well-being is increasingly recognised as a performance driver and marker of socially responsible organisations, workaholism is ubiquitous and remains poorly understood. This study aims to uncover workaholism precursors, dynamics and trajectories, and explains how organisations can manage its emergence and impact.
Design/methodology/approach
Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of self-identified workaholics in New Zealand and analysed through interpretivist phenomenological analysis.
Findings
This study contributes to the workaholism literature by elucidating how the work–identity link is formed and maintained, the psychophysiological experiences and worldviews of workaholics and the role families, organisations and culture play in workaholism. The findings also elucidate the relationship between workaholism, work addiction and engagement.
Practical implications
The authors outline how leaders and organisations can detect and manage workaholism risk factors and understand its trajectories to develop healthy workplaces.
Originality/value
The retrospective experiential accounts obtained from a diverse sample of workaholics enabled the identification of workaholism precursors, including some previously undetected in the literature, their complex interrelations with environmental factors and workaholism trajectories.
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Oliver Nelson D'Souza and Joana R.C. Kuntz
Managers are responsible for implementing reasonable accommodation (RA) for people with disabilities (PwD). Yet, little is known about the extent to which managerial views of RA…
Abstract
Purpose
Managers are responsible for implementing reasonable accommodation (RA) for people with disabilities (PwD). Yet, little is known about the extent to which managerial views of RA shape attitudes toward PwD. The study draws on conservation of resources (COR) and job demands and resources (JD-R) theories to examine the relationship between managerial views of RA availability and implementation ease on attitudes towards hiring PwD.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 162 full-time managers at a large New Zealand (NZ) healthcare organisation completed an online survey. Moderated multiple regressions were conducted to test the main effects and interactions between perceptions of RA process and attitudes towards hiring PwD.
Findings
The study results indicate that line managers held positive attitudes towards hiring PwD when they viewed RA implementation as easy, particularity around the provision of flexible work arrangements.
Research limitations/implications
This study shows the importance of gaging managers' views of RA processes to understand their attitudes toward PwD and highlights potential linkages between managerial perspectives on RA, PwD experiences in the organisation and the effectiveness of disability support and inclusion initiatives.
Practical implications
RA availability from the organisation is insufficient to elicit positive managerial attitudes toward hiring PwD. Policies and procedures that reduce RA implementation complexity are expected to foster positive managerial attitudes toward PwD and improve employment outcomes for this employee group.
Originality/value
This study is the first to test how managerial attitudes towards hiring PwD are influenced by views of RA availability from the organisation and of RA implementation ease. It also provides a multidimensional measure that captures managerial views of RA availability from the organisation and RA implementation ease.
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Joana R.C. Kuntz and Shalini Pandaram
This study drew on person-organization fit and ideological psychological contract theories to test whether inclusiveness, operationalized as sense of belonging, could be explained…
Abstract
Purpose
This study drew on person-organization fit and ideological psychological contract theories to test whether inclusiveness, operationalized as sense of belonging, could be explained by congruence/discrepancy between employees' personal value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and employees' views of perceived organizational commitment to these initiatives. The study also examined whether sense of belonging, and perspectives of DEI initiatives, differed between majority [New Zealand European (NZE)] and minority [Māori/Pasifika (MP)] workers.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 771 employees from a New Zealand healthcare organization completed an online survey. Further to mean difference tests to contrast majority and minority group experiences, polynomial regressions with response surface methodology were conducted to examine congruence effects on sense of belonging.
Findings
While MP workers attributed greater personal value to DEI initiatives and viewed the organization as prioritizing these initiatives compared to NZ European (NZE) workers, MP workers experienced a lower sense of belonging. Further, the authors' results show that congruence at higher levels of personal and organizational importance ascribed to DEI initiatives was associated with greater sense of belonging. Contrary to the deficiency-based discrepancy effect proposed, the lowest levels of belonging were experienced at low levels of organizational commitment to DEI, regardless of personal diversity value. Additionally, MP were more susceptible to ideological psychological contract breach than NZE workers.
Practical implications
The authors' study highlights that while positive diversity climate perceptions are closely linked to perceptions of inclusion, organizations will discern the factors that contribute to or undermine inclusiveness by also gaging personal value DEI initiatives and the unique experiences of minority and majority groups.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the effect of diversity-related value congruence on employees' sense of belonging, and to uncover racioethnic differences in these effects.
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Joana Kuntz and Abigail Roberts
The purpose of this study was to investigate the unique contributions from social (i.e. trust climate, departmental integration) and organisational factors (i.e. managerial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to investigate the unique contributions from social (i.e. trust climate, departmental integration) and organisational factors (i.e. managerial recognition, goal clarity and technology support) to work engagement and identification with the organisation in a human resource offshoring (HRO) context.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants were recruited from a large Australian financial institution with an HR centre located in the Philippines. Ninety-one members of the captive HR centre completed the anonymous online questionnaire consisting of quantitative items and open-ended fields. Regression analyses were conducted to ascertain the relationships hypothesised.
Findings
The findings suggest that goal clarity is a key predictor of both engagement and identification with the organisation, and that technology support and managerial recognition also influence offshore staff members’ motivation and workplace attitudes.
Research limitations/implications
The cross-sectional, self-report nature of the study, along with the small sample obtained, are noted as limitations of the study. Nevertheless, the high response rate (91 per cent) and availability of qualitative data provide valuable insight into the key factors that impact HRO operations and performance.
Practical implications
The study uncovers social and organisational variables that affect staff motivation and attitudes in an HRO context, and offers a number of guidelines for practitioners operating in these settings, focussing on goal clarity, managerial recognition and technology support.
Originality/value
The study contributes to a growing body of research into the organisational and human capital factors that account for HRO performance and sustainability, and offers preliminary evidence for their unique contributions to key performance drivers. Guidelines for future research and business practice are proposed, namely, the consideration of multilevel and temporal approaches to the management and investigation of HRO operations.
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