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Drawing on climate theory and social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how the strength of the expectation climate, defined as the degree of agreement among job incumbents on what is expected from them, affects their job performance. To explain this relationship, the authors utilize mediating trust-in-the organization effects as an explanatory avenue.

In a time-lagged data sample of 568 public service employees, whose job performance is rated by their 242 line managers, the authors apply multilevel modeling. The authors employed stratified random sampling techniques across 75 job categories in a large, public sector organization in Belgium.

The analysis provides support for the argument that expectation climate strength via mediating trust-in-the organization effects impacts positively on the relationship between employee expectations and performance. Specifically, the significant association of the expectation climate strength with trust suggests that the perceived consensus about the expectations among different job incumbents demonstrates an organization’s trustworthiness and reliability to pursue intentions that are deemed favorable for employees. The authors conjecture that expectation climate strength breeds trust which strengthens employees’ job performance.

HRM professionals in general, and line managers in particular, should heed the advice and carefully manage their tools and practices in an effort to signal compatible expectancies to different job incumbents in the same or similar roles.

The results shed new light on the mechanisms through which the strength of collective expectations impacts employee outcomes.

Examines the experiences of Germany and Sweden in their attempts to develop core skills and key competencies among trainees and young employees. Particular attention is devoted to vocational training as a promising school‐to‐work transition process, which stimulates and supports the development of core skills. Some case study material (Germany) and relevant policy responses (Sweden) have also been used to go beyond mere theoretical considerations and to provide some practical help and guidance when it comes to defining, implementing, assessing and administering the concepts of core skills and key competencies. In particular, the paper highlights the importance of employer enthusiasm in the development and delivery of core skills.

This introduction unpacks the key question that informs the articles in this special issue. How does a social sphere inform regulation and, more specifically, how can the regulatory capacity of a social sphere be harnessed, as an alternative or significant complementary force to state regulation and reliance on the self-regulatory capacity of markets? This question is salient and topical also in light of the search for new regulatory strategies and perspectives in the aftermath of the 2007 financial and subsequent EU sovereign debt crises, which have led to a major realignment of economy and society in a number of countries.

This introduction argues that economic sociology is a crucial reference point for understanding more about the social practices that constitute business behavior. It enables to explore the scope and significance of often interlinked social and legal norms for regulating various transnational risks that economic activity can give rise to. The introduction therefore locates the quest for understanding more about the regulatory capacity of a social sphere in debates that draw on Karl Polanyi’s analysis of the embedding, disembedding, and re-embedding of economic activity into social norms. The introduction highlights one of the key themes developed in this special issue, the idea of society within economy which questions an assumed conceptual distinction between economy and society.

This introduction concludes by specifying how the accounts of risk regulation developed in this special issue chart a path that is different from recent explorations of the role of a social sphere in regulation, which were conducted under the banner of “the sociological citizen,” “regulatory sociability,” and “collaborative governance.”

To introduce the papers which make up a special issue of IJM on labour market intervention.

Briefly describes each of the five papers which comprise this issue of IJM.

Notes that the study contexts of the papers are New Zealand, the UK, Sweden, West Germany, and 14 member countries of the EU.

The papers provide an international overview of contemporary, empirical findings on the effectiveness of various types of labour market intervention.

The aim of the paper is to assess the determinants and impact of employer sponsored further training on wage growth in West Germany over the period 1992 to 2002.

Following a descriptive narrative on further training and wages in Germany, data derived from the West German sub‐sample of the German Socio‐Economic Panel is being utilised, which has the main advantage of providing detailed information about the respondents' labour market histories prior to and after 1992. The information provides powerful predictors, controlling for the endogeneity of the training participation decision when estimating a wage growth equation. To assess the impact of training on wages, Heckman selectivity corrected wage equations are used, with the selection being based on a probit model for the probability that an individual receives firm‐sponsored training.

The analysis provides details of significant gender differences in both, the incidence and earnings impact of further training. The results show that further training has a strong positive effect on wages. However, gender inequality issues remain a salient feature of the German training system, which further training only reinforces. The analysis also suggests that the economic conditions during Germany's post‐unification period may have mitigated some of the potential benefits of further training on wage growth.

Despite its growing importance, the determinants and earnings impact of employer‐sponsored, further training have attracted little attention in the empirical literature. Even less is known about the impact of further training during Germany's post‐unification period. This paper adds value by contributing to this fledgling field of investigation.

This paper aims to contribute to the growing body of empirical evaluations of subjective wellbeing by assessing the impact of basic cultural values and beliefs on job satisfaction across 20 countries in Eastern and Western Europe.

Basic cultural values and beliefs are defined by reference to traditional vs secular values and survival vs self‐expression values, respectively. Data derived from the European Values Study 1999/2000 are utilised, which provide detailed information not only on job satisfaction and socio‐demographic characteristics, but also on individuals' subjective views on religion, family values, work, child‐parent ties, political engagement, tolerance and interpersonal trust. Ordered probit regressions are performed to determine the significance of these characteristics, values and beliefs on job satisfaction.

The study highlights the strong influence of a society's broad cultural heritage on individuals' wellbeing at work. This raises questions about the impetus for numerous motivational interventions by managers and consultants. Traditional cultural values exhibit a strong influence on workers' job satisfaction in Western Europe. Interpersonal trust serves as a particularly strong predictor of job satisfaction for both Eastern and Western Europe, and for both male and female workers. The main difference between Eastern and Western Europe is driven primarily by the importance of family and religion.

In previous studies, job satisfaction has been strongly associated with measures of organisational culture. In contrast, the broad cultural heritage of a society as measured by its basic value and belief system has not figured prominently in this literature. This paper adds value by contributing to this fledgling field of empirical research.

Wages in Eastern Germany have risen in excess of productivity growth. The usual argument is that this has been one of the main reasons for the unprecedented level of mass unemployment which has emerged in this decade. This paper argues, however, that the growth of wages, in combination with investment subsidies, has resulted in a period of “creative destruction” which has enabled the economy to embark on a high‐technology convergence path and to benefit from dynamic forces which the usual static analysis is forced to overlook. Such a unique approach to the restructuring necessary in transition was facilitated by the unification of the former GDR with developed social market economy with the ability to shoulder many of the associated costs, at least for a time. The need now is for the recognition of profit as a motivator of indigenous investment in Eastern Germany and this calls for a prolonged period of wage restraint, during which time progress towards lower levels of unemployment can be achieved.

This article combines two sources of data to shed light on the nature of transactional legal work. The first consists of stories about contracts that circulate among elite transactional lawyers. The stories portray lawyers as ineffective market actors who are uninterested in designing superior contracts, who follow rather than lead industry standards, and who depend on governments and other outside actors to spur innovation and correct mistakes. We juxtapose these stories against a dataset of sovereign bond contracts produced by these same lawyers. While the stories suggest that lawyers do not compete or design innovative contracts, their contracts suggest the contrary. The contracts, in fact, are consistent with a market narrative in which lawyers engage in substantial innovation despite constraints inherent in sovereign debt legal work. Why would lawyers favor stories that paint them in a negative light and deny them a potent role as market actors? We conclude with some conjectures as to why this might be so.