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In light of the increasingly aging workforce, it is interesting from both a theoretical and practical perspective to investigate empirically the commonly held stereotype that older workers are more resistant to change (RTC). Thus, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the age/RTC relationship, considering tenure and occupational status (blue/white collar employees) as additional boundary conditions. Furthermore, the paper investigates the relationship between RTC and individual performance, thereby introducing RTC as a mediator in the age/job performance relationship.

Study hypotheses are tested among a sample of 2,981 employees from diverse companies. Structural equation modeling with bootstrapping procedures is applied to investigate the moderated-indirect model.

Contrary to common stereotypes, employee age is negatively related to RTC. Tenure and occupational status are further identified as boundary conditions for this relationship. Moreover, RTC also shows an association with individual job performance, which allows for the establishment of an indirect-mediation mechanism from age to job performance via the intermediation of RTC. These results can be explained using current life span concepts, particularly the selective optimization with compensation (SOC) model.

Hypotheses were tested in a cross-sectional data set, which does not allow for conclusions of causality.

This study contributes to the age stereotyping literature that has thus far neglected the age/RTC relationship. Furthermore, the age/job performance literature is extended by introducing RTC as an important mediating factor. In sum, this study should help provide a more positive and more differentiated picture of older employees in the workplace.

The purpose of this paper is to examine, theoretically and empirically, whether an employee training program can enhance the collective perception of empowerment of work units within an organization. The authors hypothesized that training participation relates to empowerment by enhancing the potency, meaningfulness, impact, and autonomy of the employees.

The authors collected data at two time points, before and after the training intervention. Over the two periods, the sample consisted of an average of 2,383 employees nested in 36 work units of a large multinational company.

The results indicated a positive relationship between training participation and increased levels of collective psychological empowerment, with differential effects on the dimensions of empowerment.

This study provides evidence of the positive relationship between training and empowerment, suggesting training effects across levels of analysis. The results indicated dimensions of empowerment that are more and such that are less prone to training. Such knowledge may help to inform organizations in developing training strategies. The authors provide recommendations for a respective training program.

This is one of the first studies to investigate the relationship between training participation of individual employees and shared empowerment perceptions within their work units, adding an important antecedent to the research on empowerment. In addition, the authors propose ways of how individual employees can affect shared perceptions among work-unit members. The study offers insights into the development of empowered work units, the vertical transfer of training across levels of analysis and implications for training programs.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate research on human resource systems with work on disability management practices to outline how multinationals across India and Germany are engaged in efforts to increase workplace inclusion of persons with a disability.

Semi-structured interviews with respondents from multinational corporations in India and Germany were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed.

Employers followed three guiding principles (i.e. beliefs): importance of harnessing diversity, encouraging multi-stakeholder engagement internally, and engaging with the external ecosystem to build internal human resource capabilities. Respondents further noted two interdependent and mutually constitutive programs that covered the life cycle of the employee: job flexibility provisions and integration programs. Country-specific differences existed in terms of perceived external stakeholder support and availability of talent.

The results complement prior research with respect to the importance of organizational factors for the inclusion of persons with a disability and also extend prior research by shedding light on the role of the national context in such inclusion endeavors.

Findings indicate that disability-inclusion principles may be universal, but their operationalization is region specific. Global organizations must be aware of these differences to design effective inclusion programs.

The study helps in designing and evaluating appropriate inclusion initiatives for persons with disabilities, an important yet underutilized group of potential employees in both India and Germany.

This is the first study to investigate country-specific commonalities and differences in fostering workplace inclusion of persons with disabilities in India and Germany.

This work of imaginative splendour is the product, in the first place, of Israel Kirzner's magnificient effort in designing, directing and editing a symposium in honour of Ludwig von Mises. Its contents illustrate the presence still of giants in our profession: Lachmann with fifty years of fame; James Buchanan and Stephen Littlechild who lead the van of to‐day's subjectivism. The level of excellence is carried down the list by brilliant minds: Stephan Boehm, Mario Rizzo, Lawrence White, Brian Loasby and many others.

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to bring data to suggest that group processes have a biological base, lodged in human neurology as it evolved over the last 7 million years.

Design/methodology/approach – The method for discovering the neurological basis of group processes is labelled evolutionary sociology, and this method revolves around: (1) cladistic analysis of traits of distant ancestors to humans and the great apes, with whom humans share a very high proportion of genes, (2) comparative neurology between the great apes and humans that can inform us about how the brains of humans were rewired from the structures shared by the last common ancestor to humans and apes, and (3) ecological analysis of the habitats and niches that generated selection pressures on the neurology of apes and hominins.

Findings – A key finding is that most of the interpersonal processes that drive group processes are neurologically based and evolved before the brain among hominins was sufficiently large to generate systems of symbols organized in cultural texts remotely near the human measure. There is, then, good reason to study the neurological basis of behavior because neurology explains more about the dynamics of interpersonal behavior than does culture, which was a very late arrival to the hominin line.

Research implications – One implication of these findings is that social scientific analysis of interpersonal processes and group dynamics can no longer assume that groups are solely a constructed process, mediated by culture and social structure. There were powerful selection pressures during the course of hominin evolution to increase hominin sociality and especially group formation, which required considerable rewiring of the basic ape brain. Since groups are not “natural” to apes in general and even to an evolved ape-like humans, it is important to discover how humans ever became group-organizing animals. The answer resides in the dramatic enhancing of emotions in hominins and humans, which shifts attention away from the neocortex to the older subcortical areas of the brain. Once this shift is made, theorizing and research, as well as public views on human sociality, need to be recast as, first, an evolved biological trait and, only second, as a most tenuous and fragile of a big-brained animal using language and culture to construct its social world.

Originality/value – The value of this kind of analysis is to liberate sociology and the social sciences in general from simplistic views that, because humans have language and can use language to construct culture and social structures, the underlying biology and neurology of human action is not relevant to understanding the social world. Indeed, just the opposite is the case: to the extent that social scientists insist upon a social constructionists research agenda, they will fail to conceptualize and perform research on more fundamental forces in the social world, including group dynamics.

A narrow focus of past diversity research and inconsistent findings have contributed to a lack of understanding of how to manage diversity for positive outcomes. Focusing on age, gender and ethnic diversity, this paper aims to review literature on group objective demographic diversity and individual perceived demographic diversity to present an integrated multilevel framework for our improved understanding and to present testable propositions.

The authors conducted a thorough review of 51 empirical studies of demographic diversity at individual and group levels to propose a multilevel framework.

Drawing on information elaboration theory, social categorization theory and social identity theory, an integrated multilevel framework is proposed at individual and group levels. The framework suggests that demographic diversity (age, gender and ethnicity) aids positive information elaboration processes, while also causing negative social categorization processes. These processes impact individual and group outcomes. The framework also identifies moderating factors not sufficiently addressed in the demographic diversity literature. Propositions and implications for future research in the field of demographic diversity are presented.

This review provides an integrated multilevel framework of objective and perceived demographic diversity and its positive and negative processes and effects at both individual and group levels, drawn from information elaboration, social categorization and social identity theories.

The purpose of this paper is to follow the call of researchers to take intrapersonal resources into account when trying to understand the influence of interpersonal resources by investigating the interplay of social support and self-efficacy in predicting job performance of people with disabilities.

Data were collected in an Israeli call center employing mostly people with disabilities. The independent and moderator variables were assessed by an employee survey. To avoid common source bias, job performance was rated by the supervisors four weeks after conducting the survey. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.

The first main effect hypothesis, stating a positive relationship between social support and job performance was conditionally supported (p=0.06). The relationship between self-efficacy and job performance did not gain support. In line with the extended support buffer hypothesis, the job performance of low self-efficacious employees increased with higher levels of social support. The interference hypothesis, postulating a negative effect of social support under the condition of high levels of self-efficacy, was not supported.

The results indicate that employees with disabilities differ in the level of social support they need in order to reach high levels of job performance. Instead of a one-size-fits-all-approach, organizations should take individual levels of self-efficacy into account and offer support accordingly in order to unleash the full working potential.

This is the first known empirical investigation examining the role of individual differences in the need of social support among employees with disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce librarians, faculty, and other interested individuals to contemporary German literature in English translation.

German‐language authors born in 1950 or later and listed on the Contemporary Living Authors Comprehensive List developed by the German vendor Otto Harrassowitz are searched in OCLC's WorldCat database to determine the existence of English translations. A bio‐bibliographical list is then developed featuring all contemporary German‐language authors who have achieved an English language translation of at least one of their literary works.

Of the approximately 1,400 writers on Harrassowitz's comprehensive list, a surprisingly large number of almost 80 authors of the younger generation (born in 1950 or later) have been translated into English.

This bio‐bibliography of contemporary German belles lettres (of the younger generation) in English translation is the first of its kind. It can be used by librarians to check their current library holdings and to expand their collections of German literature in English translation.