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1 – 10 of over 41000Hamada Elsaid Elmaasrawy and Omar Ikbal Tawfik
This paper aims to examine the impact of the assurance and advisory role of internal audit (ADRIA) on organisational, human and technical proactive measures to enhance…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the impact of the assurance and advisory role of internal audit (ADRIA) on organisational, human and technical proactive measures to enhance cybersecurity (CS).
Design/methodology/approach
The questionnaire was used to collect data for 97 internal auditors (IAu) from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The authors used partial least squares (PLS) to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show a positive effect of the ADRIA on each of the organisational proactive measures, human proactive measures and technical proactive measures to enhance CS. The study also found a positive effect of the confirmatory role of IA on both human proactive measures and technical proactive measures to enhance CS. No effect of the confirmatory role of IA on the organisational proactive measures is found.
Research limitations/implications
This study focused on only three proactive measures to enhance CS, and this study was limited to the opinions of IAu. In addition, the study was limited to using regression analysis according to the PLS method.
Practical implications
The results of this study show that managers need to consider the influential role of IA as a value-adding activity in reducing CS risks and activating proactive measures. Also, IAu must expand its capabilities, skills and knowledge in CS auditing to provide a bold view of cyber threats. At the same time, the institutions responsible for preparing IA standards should develop standards and guidelines that help IAu to play assurance and advisory roles.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind that deals with the impact of the assurance and ADRIA on proactive measures to enhance CS. In addition, the study determines the nature of the advisory role and the assurance role of IA to strengthen CS.
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This study aims to explore the role of frontline service employees’ (FSEs) awareness that their job can be substituted by smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of frontline service employees’ (FSEs) awareness that their job can be substituted by smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics and algorithms (STARA) in their job autonomy and proactive service performance and when these relationships can be buffered. Drawing on the cognitive appraisal theory of stress, the study examined the mediating relationship between FSEs’ STARA awareness, job autonomy and proactive service performance and the moderating effects of self-efficacy and resilience on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors administered two-wave online surveys to 301 South Korean FSEs working in various service sectors (e.g. retailing, food/beverage, hospitality/tourism and banking). The Time 1 survey measured respondents’ STARA awareness, self-efficacy, resilience and job autonomy, and the Time 2 survey assessed their proactive service performance.
Findings
FSEs’ STARA awareness negatively affected their subsequent proactive service performance through decreased job autonomy. The negative association between STARA awareness and job autonomy was weaker when FSEs’ self-efficacy was high than when it was low. While the authors observed no significant moderation of resilience, the author found a marginally significant three-way interaction between STARA awareness, self-efficacy and resilience. Specifically, STARA awareness was negatively related to job autonomy only when both self-efficacy and resilience were low. When either self-efficacy or resilience was high, the association between STARA awareness and job autonomy became nonsignificant, suggesting the buffering roles of the two personal resources.
Research limitations/implications
Given that the measurement of variables relied on self-reported data, rater biases might have affected the findings of the study. Moreover, the simultaneous measurement of STARA awareness, self-efficacy, resilience and job autonomy could preclude causal inferences between these variables. The authors encourage future studies to use a more rigorous methodology to reduce rater biases and establish stronger causality between the variables.
Practical implications
Service firms can decrease FSEs’ STARA awareness through training in the knowledge and skills necessary to work with these technologies. To promote FSEs’ proactive service performance in this context, service firms need to involve them in decisions related to STARA adoption and allow them to craft their jobs. Service managers should provide FSEs with social support and exercise empowering and supportive leadership to help them view STARA as a challenge rather than a threat.
Originality/value
Distinct from prior research on STARA awareness and employee outcomes, the study identified proactive service performance as a key outcome in the STARA context. By presenting self-efficacy and resilience as crucial personal resources that buffer FSEs from the deleterious impact of STARA awareness, the study provides practitioners with insights that can help FSEs maintain their job autonomy and proactive service performance in times of digitalization and automation.
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Adolfo Carballo-Penela, Emilio Ruzo-Sanmartín and Belén Bande
This article aims to provide knowledge on the antecedents and consequences of individual proactive behaviour. The proposed research model includes two unexplored antecedents…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to provide knowledge on the antecedents and consequences of individual proactive behaviour. The proposed research model includes two unexplored antecedents (experienced meaningfulness of work and industry competitive intensity) and one consequence (individual proficiency).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 297 salespeople working at 105 enterprises in a range of industries. Data analysis was performed by applying confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results show (1) a positive association between industry competitive intensity and salespeople’s experienced meaningfulness of work and their proactivity at work; (2) a positive relationship between salespeople’s proactive behaviour and their individual proficiency and (3) that salespeople’s proactivity mediates the relation between industry competitive intensity and the experienced meaningfulness of work and individual proficiency.
Originality/value
The results suggest that managers could stimulate proactive behaviour by increasing the experienced meaningfulness of work. They also indicate that it is not only individual factors that are relevant in stimulating proactive behaviour at work, as contextual factors (particularly external ones) can also influence individual decisions with regard to engaging or not in proactive behaviour. Our findings regarding the positive relationship between proactivity and proficiency would help managers to encourage salespeople’s proactive behaviour.
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Jingbo Xia, Hongxiang Xu and Luling Xie
This study examined how inclusive leadership in the workplace promotes proactive behavior in employees based on self-determination theories and a model of motivation for proactive…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examined how inclusive leadership in the workplace promotes proactive behavior in employees based on self-determination theories and a model of motivation for proactive behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 270 employees from various provinces in China, we investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership (measured at Time 1), workplace gratitude (measured at Time 1) and proactive behaviors (measured at Time 2). To test our hypotheses, SEM analysis was conducted to measure the path coefficients, followed by bootstrapping analysis to assess the indirect impacts of gratitude at work.
Findings
The results suggest that inclusive leadership could enhance subordinates’ propensity to be grateful, which in turn will increase the frequency of their proactive behaviors.
Originality/value
First, the evidence presented further validates the proposed association between inclusive leadership and proactive behavior, and it also enriches related theories. Second, our study introduced workplace gratitude as a mediator, deepening the understanding of the mechanisms linking inclusive leadership and proactive behavior.
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The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it provides the results of a study of key characteristics of proactive salespeople and the impact of salesperson proactive behavior on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it provides the results of a study of key characteristics of proactive salespeople and the impact of salesperson proactive behavior on selling performance. Second, it provides recommendations for sales management to implement organizational strategies designed to develop, train and coach salespeople to be more proactive.
Design/methodology/approach
In all, 278 business-to-business salespeople were surveyed to identify key traits and outcomes of proactive salespeople. The average subject was 28 years of age with 5 years of selling experience. Scales from the management, organizational behavior and sales performance literature were used to identify the degree that subjects engaged in proactive behavior in their selling role, a self-assessment of their sales performance and individual traits thought to predict higher levels of proactive behavior.
Findings
The findings revealed that proactive salespeople exhibited high levels of selling behavior performance – an important contributor to measurable selling results. In addition, proactive salespeople were intrinsically motivated, confident in the tasks of selling and willing to take calculated risks.
Practical implications
Practical implications suggest that sales managers can play a key role in fostering proactive behavior among salespeople through development, training and coaching. First, sales managers can play a role in the development of salesperson intrinsic motivation by stressing the importance of asking good questions to understand their customer’s problems to the extent that they can be proactive and recommend solutions for change. Second, training programs to make salespeople more confident should center on fully understanding product/service functionality and applications to typical customer problems. Finally, coaching tools such as win–loss reviews, post-call analysis/feedback and role-playing are useful mechanisms to reinforce the right type of risk-taking selling behavior decisions.
Originality/value
The value of this research is to shed light on the importance of salesperson proactive behavior as a means to drive selling organizational performance and fostering long-term customer relationships. Understanding the drivers of proactivity among salespeople is the first step for sales management to be able to operationalize organizational strategies to develop, train and coach salespeople to be more proactive in their selling approach.
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Chang Yang, Yuanjie Bao and Zixu Zhang
Based on person-job fit and self-determination theory, this paper examined the effects of (in)congruence between autonomy expectation and perceived autonomy on proactive…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on person-job fit and self-determination theory, this paper examined the effects of (in)congruence between autonomy expectation and perceived autonomy on proactive behaviour, and the moderating role of humble leadership in this relationship among Chinese public employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a two-wave survey, and the research model was tested using polynomial regression and response surface methodology.
Findings
Results suggested that employees' proactive behaviour will be highest when autonomy congruence was achieved, while autonomy incongruence led to different levels of proactive behaviour based on the specific situations. Furthermore, the moderating effect of humble leadership was proved such that it accentuated the positive influence of autonomy congruence on proactive behaviour.
Practical implications
Managers should be fully aware of the benefits and importance of person-job fit and strive to reduce autonomy incongruence. Meanwhile, humble leadership should be considered in the context of granting autonomy to boost proactivity.
Originality/value
This paper re-emphasises the importance of autonomy by utilising a congruence perspective to understand the effects of autonomy on proactive behaviour. Meanwhile, it incorporates an important boundary condition, humble leadership, on the effects of autonomy congruence and thus offers a more nuanced understanding. Further, this paper not only highlights the significance of underexplored concepts among public employees, but also extends autonomy (in)congruence study to a new context and culture.
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Clodagh G. Butler, Deirdre O’Shea and Donald M. Truxillo
Interest in psychological resilience has grown rapidly in the last couple of decades (Britt, Sinclair, & McFadden, 2016; King & Rothstein, 2010; Youssef & Luthans, 2007)…
Abstract
Interest in psychological resilience has grown rapidly in the last couple of decades (Britt, Sinclair, & McFadden, 2016; King & Rothstein, 2010; Youssef & Luthans, 2007). Psychological resilience occurs when a person can “recover, re-bound, bounce-back, adjust or even thrive” in the face of adversity (Garcia-Dia, DiNapoli, Garcia-Ona, Jakubowski, & O’flaherty, 2013, p. 264). As such, resilience can be conceptualized as a state-like and malleable construct that can be enhanced in response to stressful events (Kossek & Perrigino, 2016). It incorporates a dynamic process by which individuals use protective factors (internal and external) to positively adapt to stress over time (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000; Rutter, 1987). Building on the dual-pathway model of resilience, we integrate adaptive and proactive coping to the resilience development process and add a heretofore unexamined perspective to the ways in which resilience changes over time. We propose that resilience development trajectories differ depending on the type of adversity or stress experienced in combination with the use of adaptive and proactive coping. We outline the need for future longitudinal studies to examine these relationships and the implications for developing resilience interventions in the workplace.
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Chaminda Wijethilake and Athula Ekanayake
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework which sheds new light on how sustainability control systems (SCS) can be used in proactive strategic responses to…
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework which sheds new light on how sustainability control systems (SCS) can be used in proactive strategic responses to corporate sustainability pressures.
Design/Methodology/Approach – Corporate sustainability pressures are identified using insights from institutional theory and the resource-based view of the firm.
Findings – The paper presents an integrated framework showing the corporate sustainability pressures, proactive strategic responses to these pressures, and how organizations might use SCS in their responses to the corporate sustainability pressures they face.
Practical Implications – The proposed framework shows how organizations can use SCS in proactive strategic responses to corporate sustainability pressures.
Originality/Value – The paper suggests that instead of using traditional financial-oriented management control systems, organizations need more focus on emerging SCS as a means of achieving sustainability objectives. In particular, the paper proposes different SCS tools that can be used in proactive strategic responses to sustainability pressures in terms of (i) specifying and communicating sustainability objectives, (ii) monitoring sustainability performance, and (iii) providing motivation by linking sustainability rewards to performance.
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Uta K. Bindl and Sharon K. Parker
Proactivity is a type of goal-directed work behavior in which individuals actively take charge of situations to bring about future change in themselves or their organization. In…
Abstract
Proactivity is a type of goal-directed work behavior in which individuals actively take charge of situations to bring about future change in themselves or their organization. In this chapter, we draw on goal-regulation research to review conceptual and empirical evidence that elucidates some of the complex links of affective experience and employee proactivity. We identify the different ways in which affective experience influences different stages of proactivity, including employees’ efforts in setting a proactive goal (envisioning), preparing to implement their proactive goal (planning), implementing their proactive goal (enacting), and engaging in learning from their proactive goal process (reflecting). Overall, our review suggests an important, positive role of high-activated positive trait affectivity and moods in motivating proactivity across multiple goal stages, as compared to low-activated positive affectivity and moods. The role of negative affect is mixed, and likely depends on both its valence and the stage of proactivity that is being considered. We identify a lack of research on the role of discrete emotions for employee proactivity. We discuss future avenues for research, particularly the roles of intra- and inter-personal emotion regulation for proactivity and of affective embeddedness of proactive processes in the social environment of organizations.
Mijeong Kim and Jinuk Oh
Given that the relationship between proactive personality and turnover intention is not straightforward in the literature, the authors address two research questions focusing on…
Abstract
Purpose
Given that the relationship between proactive personality and turnover intention is not straightforward in the literature, the authors address two research questions focusing on the nursing profession: does proactive personality negatively influence nurses' turnover intention by alleviating their lack of professional recognition? And does a supervisor’s proactive personality act as a boundary condition for the mediating effects of the lack of professional recognition in the link between proactive personality and turnover intentions?
Design/methodology/approach
A moderated mediation model linking proactive personality and turnover intentions was developed and tested on a sample of 579 nurses in 88 work units in general hospitals in South Korea.
Findings
The results of multilevel path analysis reveal that proactive personality has a negative indirect relationship with turnover intention via lack of professional recognition. Additionally, the indirect relationship is strengthened when the supervisor’s proactive personality is low.
Originality/value
These findings provide valuable empirical evidence on the inconclusive relationship between proactive personality and turnover intention by highlighting the role of proactive personality in attenuating the influence of negative occupational factors. Moreover, proactive personality as a boundary condition for the aforementioned relationship was empirically examined.
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