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This study explores whether expatriation type (assigned expatriates (AEs) versus self-initiated expatriates (SIEs)) is linked to job exhaustion via possible differences in required efforts for their jobs and the rewards they gain from them, and/or the balance between efforts and rewards. Adopting effort–reward imbalance (ERI) and job demands/resources (JD-R) theories, the authors study the possible role of ERI as a mediator between expatriation type and job exhaustion.

An online survey was carried out in co-operation with two Finnish trade unions, providing representative data from 484 assigned and SIEs. The authors test this study’s hypotheses through latent structural equation modelling, and the analysis was conducted with Stata 17.0 software.

The results show that ERI between them are correlated with the job exhaustion of expatriates in general and there are no direct links between expatriation type and job exhaustion. The required effort from AEs was higher than that from SIEs though no difference was found for rewards, and the match between effort demands and rewards is less favourable for AEs than SIEs. AEs experienced higher job exhaustion than SIEs because of the higher effort demands and greater imbalance between efforts and rewards.

The study examines the work well-being of two types of expatriates and explores the underlying mechanisms that may explain why they may differ from each other.

The purpose of this paper is to study how high-involvement work systems (HIWS) affect job satisfaction, and tries to disentangle the mechanisms through which the effect occurs.

The authors use data for a representative sample of 10,112 Spanish employees. In order to test the mediation mechanism implied by the hypotheses, the authors follow the procedure outlined in Baron and Kenny (1986). Given the nature of the dependent variables, ordered probit models were estimated to study the effect of HIWS on the mediating variables (job interest, effort and wages), and regression models were estimated to analyze the effect of HIWS on the final attitudinal variable (job satisfaction).

Empirical results show that HIWS results in higher levels of effort, higher wages and perceptions of a more interesting job. Moreover, greater involuntary physical effort reduces job satisfaction while higher wages, greater voluntary effort, involuntary mental effort and having an interesting job increase job satisfaction. The net effect of these opposing forces on job satisfaction is positive.

The use of secondary data posits some constrains in aspects such as the type of measures or the failure to control for personal traits. Additionally, the non-longitudinal nature of the data set implies that some relationships cannot be considered causal in the intended direction.

Managers should implement HIWS since in general they increase job satisfaction. A significant portion of this positive effect is channeled through perceptions of interesting job, higher wages and increased effort demands. Managers should pay attention to implementation issues.

The paper contributes to enrich the understanding of the relationship between the HIWS and job satisfaction, proposing a model that aims to disentangle the mediating mechanisms through which HIPWS affect job satisfaction. Unlike previous attempts, this model integrates opposing views about the positive or negative effects associated with HIWS.

This paper examines several sources of support for contact employees in service encounters. These sources of support, including organization support, supervisory support, and customer's participation, are proposed to affect the attitudes and behaviors of employees, and consequently affect customer's perceptions of employees' service quality. This study, which combines perceptions from customers and their contact employees, shows that three sources of support for employees contribute significantly to job satisfaction and employee service quality, while perceived organizational support and customer participation affect service effort. Also, the empirical results indicate that both employee service effort and job satisfaction play strong, central roles in determining customers' perceptions of employee service quality. They were found to be effective mediators linking employees' cognitive appraisal of various sources of support to service quality.

This research examines the linkage between commitment (organizational and job), motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), and work outcomes (effort and propensity to leave) using the Korean sample. With its focus on the relative impact of loyalty‐based commitment and incentive‐based motivation on work outcome behavior, this study highlights Confucian culture and expectancy theory. Using survey data, support was found for all the hypotheses except the paths from job involvement to effort. In particular, organizational commitment was found to have the highest influence on effort and propensity to leave, presenting empirical support for the eminence of loyalty as a motivational tool in a collectivistic work culture. Managerial implications and future research are discussed.

Considers the effect of effort on sales performance and job satisfaction in the context of Turkish industrial salespeople. Proposes a conceptual model in which competitiveness, instrumentality, role conflict, and role ambiguity are direct antecedents to effort and indirect antecedents to satisfaction and performance. Tests the proposed model with LISREL VII. Claims the results suggest that: competitiveness, instrumentality, role ambiguity, and role conflict have direct effects on salesperson effort: that role ambiguity, role conflict, and effort have direct effects on job satisfaction; that competitiveness and effort have direct effects on salesperson performance; that salesperson performance has a direct effect on job satisfaction, and that competitiveness, instrumentality, role conflict, and role ambiguity have indirect effects on a salesperson’s performance and/or job satisfaction.

Using data from a retail chain of 193 bakery shops that underwent downsizing, we study the effects of two types of downsizing announcements – closure or sale to another operator – on sales in the affected shops, and how these effects are moderated by job security perceptions. On average, sales in the affected shops go down by 26% after a closure announcement and by 7% after a sale announcement. Sales decline more sharply in shops where employees had higher job security perceptions before the announcement. Our findings are consistent with psychological contract theory: a breach of an implicit contract promising job security in exchange for work effort results in a reciprocal effort withdrawal. We rule out several alternative explanations to our findings.

Labor process research has documented a shift in the nature of control – from techniques that aim to limit worker discretion to consent-oriented controls that are believed to generate greater effort by increasing intrinsic rewards or bonding employees to managers and/or the firm. Over the past several decades, however, growing pressure to increase profits has prompted firms to adopt cost-cutting strategies that have eroded job security, relationships with management and commitment to organizational goals. This study investigates how a changing labor process and rising job insecurity shape workers’ orientations toward work, managers and the firm, and in turn influence workplace behavior. Analyses of content-coded data on 212 work groups confirms that discretion-limiting controls (supervision, technology and rules) are associated with more negative orientations and/or reductions in effort (with variations across distinct forms of control), while investment in workers’ human capital (but not involvement of workers in decision-making) has the reverse effect – ­generating more positive orientations toward work, managers and the firm, and (in turn) promoting discretionary work effort and limiting covert effort restriction. Implications of insecurity are more complex. Both layoffs and temporary employment reduce commitment to the organization, but layoffs generate conflict with management without reducing effort, whereas temporary employment limits effort without producing conflict. We illuminate underlying processes with evidence from the qualitative case studies.

Searching for a job is an important process that influences short- and long-term career outcomes as well as well-being and psychological health. As such, job search research has grown tremendously over the last two decades. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of prior research, discuss important trends in current research, and suggest areas for future research. The authors conceptualize the job search as an unfolding process (i.e., a process through which job seekers navigate through stages to achieve their goal of finding and accepting a job) in which job seekers engage in self-regulation behaviors. The authors contrast research that has taken a between-person, static approach with research that has taken a within-person, dynamic approach and highlight the importance of combining between- and within-person designs in order to have a more holistic understanding of the job search process. Finally, authors provide some recommendations for future research. Much remains to be learned about what influences job search self-regulation, and how job self-regulation influences job search and employment outcomes depending on individual, contextual, and environmental factors.

Realizing the importance of psychological capital of marketers for their work, the authors aim to investigate the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam.

To test the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance, the authors used a survey data set collected from 696 marketers working for various types of firms in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The authors found that psychological capital has both direct and indirect impacts, mediated by quality of work life, job attractiveness, and job effort, on job performance of marketers.

The findings suggest that firms should pay attention to psychological capital in their recruiting, training, and development programs.

This study documents the mediating role of quality of work life, job effort, and job attractiveness in the relationship between psychological capital and job performance of marketers in a transitioning market, Vietnam.

Frequent absences from work can be highly disruptive, whilst also potentially indicating problematic working conditions that can lead to increased withdrawal behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to test the predictive capability of an expanded effort-reward imbalance model on employee absenteeism within the context of policing.

Three separate reward systems are identified by the effort-reward imbalance model. In this study, the authors assessed these individual components for their contribution to officer withdrawal behaviour in the form of absenteeism frequency. Data were gathered from a sample of operational officers (n=553) within a large Australian police agency.

Findings indicate that there was a strong influence of social rewards such as social support and recognition in the workplace on officer absenteeism rates. Low workload was associated with a higher frequency of absenteeism suggesting a potential underloading effect. There were a number of significant interactions providing support for the effort-reward imbalance mechanism and the separation of the reward construct. Security rewards were particularly influential and significantly moderated the relationship between effort and absenteeism.

Differential effects of occupational rewards were identified in the study, indicating that there are significant opportunities for expansion of the effort-reward imbalance model along with opportunities for HRM practitioners in terms of employee recognition and remuneration programmes. This research was focused on a specific sample of operational officers, therefore should be expanded to include multiple occupational groups.

This paper considers and expanded model of worker strain and contributes a longitudinal assessment of the association between perceived effort and reward systems and worker absenteeism.