Search results

Nonexperimental research, defined as any kind of quantitative or qualitative research that is not an experiment, is the predominate kind of research design used in the social sciences. How to unambiguously and correctly present the results of nonexperimental research, however, remains decidedly unclear and possibly detrimental to applied disciplines such as human resource development. To clarify issues about the accurate reporting and generalization of nonexperimental research results, this paper aims to present information about the relative strength of research designs, followed by the strengths and weaknesses of nonexperimental research. Further, some possible ways to more precisely report nonexperimental findings without using causal language are explored. Next, the researcher takes the position that the results of nonexperimental research can be used cautiously, yet appropriately, for making practice recommendations. Finally, some closing thoughts about nonexperimental research and the appropriate use of causal language are presented.

A review of the extant social science literature was consulted to inform this paper.

Nonexperimental research, when reported accurately, makes a tremendous contribution because it can be used for conducting research when experimentation is not feasible or desired. It can be used also to make tentative recommendations for practice.

This article presents useful means to more accurately report nonexperimental findings through avoiding causal language. Ways to link nonexperimental results to making practice recommendations are explored.

Challenges with acculturation in organizations may make employees an easy target of workplace incivility and awareness of what constitutes uncivil behaviors at work can influence the association between acculturation and incivility. The current study examined the links between acculturation, incivility and tested mentor holding behavior as a moderator.

Survey data including responses to incivility vignettes were collected from 163 full-time first- and second-generation immigrant employees in the southeastern United States. The data were analyzed through moderated hierarchical regression analysis.

The results indicated that those experiencing separation or marginalization in trying to acculturate into the dominant culture reported experiencing uncivil behaviors from supervisors and coworkers. Also, one's awareness of incivility moderated the positive relationship between experience of separation and experiences of incivility, such that this relationship was stronger for those who had higher awareness of what constitutes uncivil behavior. Additionally, the effect of marginalization on reported incivility was dampened with higher levels of mentor holding behavior.

This study’s findings extend the application of the selective incivility theory beyond the minoritized categories of race and gender to the immigrants struggling with acculturation in organizations. Also, our study lends support to widening the theoretical lens for mentoring to include relational systems theory.

The purpose of this study is to test a model where human resource inputs (e.g. motivation, employee skill) and human resource processes/practices (e.g. training and development; profit sharing) are hypothesized to contribute uniquely and positively to organizational outputs, i.e. job performance and firm performance.

The cross‐sectional study consisted of 350 business professionals (91 percent managers; 9 percent consultants) from a midwestern US professional organization who took a battery of survey measures via the internet.

After statistically controlling for the background variables (organizational type, size and status), the hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that both the human resource inputs and process/practice variables explained statistically significant variance in each of the nine regression models. The effect size in each model was medium to large.

The findings illustrate the considerable utility of researchers and managers examining the entire human resource system of an organization when searching for productive leverage points to improve organizational outputs like job and firm performance. The results suggest that human resource managers can have a positive influence on firm performance through implementing and supporting organizational policies and procedures that serve to positively motivate workers (e.g. reasonable incentive compensation and rewards, fair grievance procedures, and performance management), and learning and development activities that stimulate optimal task and contextual job performance.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between mentoring, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among African‐American males.

An online questionnaire was completed by 359 African‐American males in a business setting.

Job satisfaction and organizational commitment were higher for those who were being mentored versus those who were not. The multiple regression results suggested mentoring was a statistically significant predictor of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Further, the relation between mentoring and organizational commitment was mediated by job satisfaction.

Current organizational research is limited, in that it tends to focus on majority culture where findings can be inappropriately generalized to minority groups. Future mentoring research should include more minorities that can provide a new window for interpreting the contributions of minorities to organizational competitiveness.

Mentoring programs should be continued and/or expanded upon to reduce the likelihood of poor job satisfaction and organizational commitment for African‐American males.

Organizations through their human resource efforts can contribute to the learning and development of African‐American males and other minorities by designing and implementing quality mentoring programs. Such programs could lessen the likelihood of costly under‐performance and turnover.

This is one of the relatively few organizational studies designed specifically for a minority group. The results have implications for how human resource professionals and managers might improve mentoring experiences for minorities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between attachment styles, mentoring (psychosocial support and career support), organizational commitment, and turnover intent of protégés in formal faculty mentoring.

An internet survey was conducted with a population of 125 protégés in a formal faculty mentoring program at a US university.

Results from linear regression analyses revealed that protégés’ secure attachment was positively and significantly related with their organizational commitment and was negatively and significantly related to intent to turnover. Additional linear regression analyses revealed that psychosocial support and career support were positively and significantly related with protégé organizational commitment and were negatively and significantly related to intent to turnover. Hierarchical regression showed that secure attachment alone was a unique predictor of protégés’ organizational commitment and intent to turnover. Further, attachment and career support interacted to predict both organizational commitment and intent to turnover.

Although psychosocial support and career support in mentoring influence organizational commitment and turnover intent, protégés who are securely attached experience more support. Furthermore, career support the positive association between secure attachment and organizational commitment and the negative association between secure attachment and turnover intent.

Little research has specifically addressed attachment and its links to mentoring and organizational outcomes such as organizational commitment and turnover intent in the context of faculty mentoring. Therefore, the study contributes to the understanding of how attachment and mentoring influence organizational commitment and turnover intent in academe.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the vital issue of managerial recruitment for private industry. Personality and demographic variables and their interactions are to be examined to determine the extent they uniquely influence the attraction of business professionals to managerial jobs in simulated position advertisements.

The study consisted of 330 experienced business professionals who role‐played as applicants for managerial positions by rating jobs described in simulated position advertisements.

After statistically controlling for the demographic variables, the hierarchical regression analyses suggested that personality (inclusion, control, openness) as determined by the FIRO Element B explained statistically significant job rating variance in each of the three regression models. Thus, job applicant personality influenced the attraction of the participants to simulated managerial jobs.

These findings suggest the practical significance of human resource professionals producing recruitment media to attract managerial applicants with the appropriate personality to best assure a good person‐job fit. This notion is discussed as a possible lost cost method for managerial recruitment improvement and as a solid first step in developing a cadre of managers for organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between volunteers’ motivation and affective commitment in non‐profit sport organizations.

A mail survey was conducted with a sample of 214 individuals who volunteered at 22 non‐profit sport organizations in a Midwestern state of the USA.

Results from structural equation modeling analysis supported the partial mediation role of job satisfaction. The values factor of volunteers’ motivation had a significant direct impact on affective commitment, and job satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between values and affective commitment.

Although volunteer motivation influences the level of organizational commitment, volunteers who are motivated by their values would be more satisfied with their volunteer experience and consequently be more committed to the non‐profit sport organization.

Little research has specifically addressed volunteer commitment and its links to volunteer motivation and job satisfaction in the context of non‐profit sport organizations. Therefore, the study contributes to the understanding of volunteers’ motivation and how it influences commitment toward non‐profit sport organizations.

Work enthusiasm and organizational socialization (Training, Understanding, Coworker Support, and Future Prospects) were compared in two predominantly Chinese regions, i.e., Macau (a former Portuguese territory in China) and Zhuhai in the People’s Republic of China. Data were collected from 276 (96 Macau and 180 Zhuhai) full‐time, line‐level, ethnic Chinese employees in the two regions. Results revealed the Zhuhai employees to be much more enthusiastic at work. The Zhuhai employees also evaluated Training, Understanding, and Future Prospects more highly than did the Macau employees (no differences were found for Coworker Support). Regression analyses revealed Future Prospects to be the strongest predictor of work enthusiasm in Zhuhai, while education and years on the job explained most of the variance for work enthusiasm in Macau. The results of the comparisons are discussed in terms of the similarities and differences in the cultures and economic development of the regions.

This paper aims to analyze the development of global human resource development (HRD) articles published in journals indexed in the Scopus database since 1960s until present time.

A publication collection of 1,905 articles collected from the Scopus database was downloaded and analyzed by using bibliometric techniques available in the VOSviewer and Biblioshiny software.

Three different development stages of HRD research have been identified: a seeding stage between 1962 and 1989, a growth stage between 1990 and 2007 and a development stage from 2008 onward. The USA and the UK were the biggest contributors who participated to 30.02% and 12.55% of articles in the collection and received 43.82% and 19.54% of the total number of citations, respectively. Scholars with the most publications and citations are mostly from the USA and the UK, and nine over ten most cited articles having first author’s affiliation located there. Emerald Group is the most popular publishing house, as five over ten most popular journals belong to this publishing house.

After six decades of development, it is necessary to examine the evolution of HRD research, its characteristics and its intellectual framework as this type of analysis is not yet available in the literature. This study helps scholars better understand this research field, as well as better prepare for future work in HRD.

The PMI Risk Framework (PRF) is introduced as a guide to classifying and identifying risks which can be the source of post-merger integration (PMI) failure — commonly referred to as “culture clash.” To provide managers with actionably insight, PRF dissects PMI risk into specific relationship-oriented phenomena, critical to outcomes and which should be addressed during PMI. This framework is a conceptual and theory-grounded integration of numerous perspectives, such as organizational psychology, group dynamics, social networks, transformational change, and nonlinear dynamics. These concepts are unified and can be acted upon by integration managers. Literary resources for further exploration into the underlying aspects of the framework are provided. The PRF places emphasis on critical facets of PMI, particularly those which are relational in nature, pose an exceptionally high degree of risk, and are recurrent sources of PMI failure. The chapter delves into relationship-oriented points of failure that managers face when overseeing PMI by introducing a relationship-based, PMI risk framework. Managers are often not fully cognizant of these risks, thus fail to manage them judiciously. These risks do not naturally abide by common scholarly classifications and cross disciplinary boundaries; they do not go unrecognized by scholars, but until the introduction of PRF the risks have not been assimilated into a unifying framework. This chapter presents a model of PMI risk by differentiating and specifying numerous types of underlying human-relationship-oriented risks, rather than considering PMI cultural conflict as a monolithic construct.