Search results

1 – 10 of over 8000
Article
Publication date: 5 August 2021

Siti Khadijah Zainal Badri, Wai Meng Yap and Hazel Melanie Ramos

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between gratitude and workplace friendship with affective well-being (AWB) at work amongst millennial employees…

1988

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between gratitude and workplace friendship with affective well-being (AWB) at work amongst millennial employees. Specifically, it details the mediating effect of workplace friendship in explaining the linkages between gratitude and AWB at work.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a sample of 272 millennial workers in this study. A survey invitation was sent out to all of the respondents through email. A 20-item job-related AWB (Van Katwyk et al., 2000) scale was used to measure AWB. Workplace friendship was measured using six-items of the workplace friendship scale (Nielsen et al., 2000) and gratitude was measured using McCullough et al.’s (2002) six-item gratitude questionnaire (GQ-6).

Findings

The study found that gratitude and workplace friendship enhanced workplace AWB among millennial workers. Workplace friendship functioned as a mediator, which delivered the effect from gratitude towards workplace AWB. Gratitude was found to positively predict workplace friendship and subsequently workplace friendship positively predicted workplace AWB.

Practical implications

Nurturing positive feelings at work through excellent psychosocial resources and healthy work friendships would improve millennial workers well-being. Henceforth, encouraging millennial employees to cultivate workplace friendships, can help the manager to enhance millennial employees’ feeling of belongingness, and thus, promote better AWB.

Originality/value

Investment on employee’s human capital and values can be valuable resources to increase millennial employees’ performance at work. Millennial workers are a unique generation that put emphasis on the subjective experience. Hence, capitalising on their subjective experience can be one of the keys to better increase their well-being and performance at work.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 July 2020

Ji “Miracle” Qi, Sijun Wang and Michael A. Koerber, Jr

Drawing from the social exchange theory, the job demands-resources theory and the employee–organization relationship framework, this article aims to investigate underlying…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing from the social exchange theory, the job demands-resources theory and the employee–organization relationship framework, this article aims to investigate underlying mechanisms through which organizational resources impact frontline service employees’ (FLEs) core service performance and customer-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB).

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study was conducted based on a multi-source data from 211 employee–customer pairs, with structural equation modeling used to test hypotheses.

Findings

FLE felt gratitude toward the firm fully mediates the impacts of supervisory guidance and employee-oriented relationship investment in influencing employees’ service performance and customer-oriented OCB. The study further finds that when the perceived job autonomy is low, providing supervisory guidance is more effective in eliciting employee gratitude than employee-oriented relationship investments. In contrast, when the perceived job autonomy is high, employee-oriented relationship investment elicits higher employee gratitude than supervisory guidance.

Research limitations/implications

First, as cross-sectional pair data were used to test the proposed hypotheses, a stronger case might be made for the use of longitudinal data. Second, the current study uses a large variety of industries to study the phenomenon of employee gratitude and customer-oriented performance. Third, given recent globalization trends, it is increasingly important for researchers to address how the knowledge gained within an US context is applicable on a global scale. Finally, the two types of organizational resources included in the study are both positive resources.

Practical implications

The findings offer insights about how firms can strategically invest organizational resources to favorably influence FLE gratitude and customer outcomes as well as how job autonomy plays a role in leveraging the impacts of those resources.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few to advance our understanding of how FLE felt gratitude serves as an intervening mechanism through which functional and social resources invested by service organizations lead to desirable customer outcomes. In addition, this study explores the moderating role of FLE perceived job autonomy, suggesting the contingent nature of organizational resources in affecting customer-oriented FLE behaviors, which was rarely attended in previous research.

Article
Publication date: 4 August 2022

Jennifer A. Harrison, Marie-Hélène Budworth and Thomas H. Stone

As workplaces and relationships evolve with increasing complexity, co-worker dynamics have become a key concern for HR managers and scholars. An important yet overlooked aspect of…

Abstract

Purpose

As workplaces and relationships evolve with increasing complexity, co-worker dynamics have become a key concern for HR managers and scholars. An important yet overlooked aspect of co-worker dynamics is gratitude. This paper adopts a relationship-specific conceptualization of gratitude and explores its influence on prosocial behaviors within co-worker dyads. The proposed model also suggests structural-relational factors under which these relationships are affected.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual paper draws insights from personal relationships to consider an alternative side of gratitude’s prosocial action tendencies, thereby highlighting two: risk-oriented and opportunity-oriented. These assumptions are then situated within the affect theory of social exchange to predict gratitude’s influence on prosocial behaviors within co-worker dyads.

Findings

The proposed model illuminates the importance of studying relationship-specific gratitude within co-worker relations by illustrating its effects on two types of prosocial action tendencies – opportunity-oriented and risk-oriented and varying prosocial behaviors (from convergent to divergent). Structural-relational factors, such as positional and physical distance between co-workers, are considered to affect these relationships.

Originality/value

While the study of gratitude in the workplace is emerging, little research has examined its influence on the nature of prosocial behaviors within co-worker relations. This paper advances the notion that gratitude serves an adaptive function in co-worker dyads, thereby highlighting the risk-oriented and opportunity-oriented continuum, and its implications for the type and scope of prosocial behaviors exchanged.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 52 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 February 2023

Naval Garg, Manju Mahipalan and Nidhi Sharma

The study examined the relationship between workplace toxicity and turnover intentions among Indian healthcare employees. It also explored the role of gratitude as a moderator in…

Abstract

Purpose

The study examined the relationship between workplace toxicity and turnover intentions among Indian healthcare employees. It also explored the role of gratitude as a moderator in the workplace toxicity–turnover intentions relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is based on a cross-sectional research design. The sample comprises 315 employees from the Indian healthcare sector. Approximately, 400 employees are approached both through email and office visits. Responses were received from 336 participants, and 21 incomplete questionnaires were discarded. The relationships between four variables of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions are examined using correlation and hierarchical regression. The moderation effect of gratitude is studied using the PROCESS macro in SPSS 21.

Findings

The results revealed that workplace toxicity could explain 45.8% variations in employees' turnover intentions. It also reported significant negative regression coefficients between all four dimensions of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions. It suggested that toxic health organizations may promote turnover intentions among healthcare employees. Also, findings recommended a significant moderating effect of gratitude amid the relationships of four dimensions of workplace toxicity and turnover intentions.

Practical implications

Hospital administrators must ensure that health professionals have the necessary support to remain effective in the field by providing a conducive working environment emerging from sound human resource practices that promote respect, collegial relationships, teamwork and collaboration. The present research demonstrates gratitude as one such factor that could act as a catalyst within the workplace. Practitioners could achieve a healthy work environment by developing complementary relief measures that build organizational capacities and improve its culture while sponsoring programs for individual employees that instill positivity through awareness of gratitude in everyday life.

Originality/value

This study offered a comprehensive understanding of workplace toxicity by investigating its four dimensions. Also, it is one of the pioneer studies that evaluate the role of gratitude in restricting workplace toxicity-induced turnover intentions.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 August 2016

Crystalee Webb Beck

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use, effectiveness, and dark sides of gratitude communications in workplace organizations. From the perspective of the subordinate…

2423

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the use, effectiveness, and dark sides of gratitude communications in workplace organizations. From the perspective of the subordinate employee, this study offers managers applicable insight into best practices for expressing appreciation.

Design/methodology/approach

The original research incorporates a two-part study; narratives from three focus groups, and quantitative survey responses from 883 full-time professionals across a spectrum of industries.

Findings

The usage of various gratitude mediums (verbal, electronic, handwritten, monetary, etc.) is discussed. Most employees prefer verbal one-on-one gratitude to any other form. Sincerity is highly important to employees, which was found to be indicated by specificity, personalization, timeliness, and equivalency.

Research limitations/implications

Although it is presumed the majority of the 883 survey participants were from the USA, they were never asked to indicate their location. Conducting the same research in another country with a different value of gratitude could yield different results. While this study focusses on managerial expression of gratitude to their employees, there’s a compelling need to explore the converse: best practices for how employees should express appreciation to their managers. To complete the organizational ecosystem, it would also be valuable to explore the most effective methods of gratitude in peer-to-peer workplace relationships.

Practical implications

The synthesis of experiential themes offers practical applications for executives, managers, and corporate communication leaders seeking to improve day-to-day operations and overall employee satisfaction in their organizations.

Social implications

In the corporate communication landscape, the results of this study should cause management professionals and scholars to reflect on gratitude communication in managerial interactions with employees and the resulting employee satisfaction (or lack thereof).

Originality/value

Understanding how employees like to be thanked can have great value for organizations seeking to maintain a productive, satisfied workforce.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 February 2014

Randle D. Raggio, Anna M. Walz, Mousumi Bose Godbole and Judith Anne Garretson Folse

For centuries, gratitude has represented an integral component of social relationships, yet it remains relatively overlooked by marketing scholars in the study of commercial…

5806

Abstract

Purpose

For centuries, gratitude has represented an integral component of social relationships, yet it remains relatively overlooked by marketing scholars in the study of commercial relationships. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how gratitude helps to build, maintain and transform commercial relationships and to suggest noteworthy areas of investigation for those researchers seeking to help companies understand the role of gratitude in relationship marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Gratitude's role in relational exchange is explored by a review of relevant literature and two qualitative studies. Questions developed from the literature and exploratory interviews are then investigated in a main study through in-depth interviews with buyers and sellers of goods and services in both B2B and B2C contexts, leading to a grounded theoretical foundation. Generalizations and directions for future research are presented.

Findings

Gratitude is a fundamental component of buyer-seller relationships and is critical for advancing relationship marketing theory and practice. Gratitude's changing role as relationship stages advance is described.

Research limitations/implications

The research is of an exploratory nature. Confirmation of the generalizations by other studies is suggested. This research is largely consistent with that from a markets-as-networks perspective and moves relationship marketing research toward a more extended view.

Practical implications

Gratitude should be included along with other relational mediators in discussions and investigations of relationship success, and practiced by those that seek to build, develop and enhance their buyer-seller relationships.

Originality/value

This paper provides a much needed exploration of a new and important topic in relationship marketing and a call for gratitude to be studied and implemented in a variety of relational exchange contexts. Specifically, it is the first to address the importance of gratitude to both buyers and sellers in B2B and B2C goods and services markets. It also is the first to document the changing role of gratitude through relationship stages.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 48 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 January 2023

Athar Hameed, Muddasar Ghani Khwaja and Umer Zaman

Occupational stress is damaging to employee well-being, causes serious illnesses and costs organizations billions of dollars every year. Mutual gains model of human resource…

Abstract

Purpose

Occupational stress is damaging to employee well-being, causes serious illnesses and costs organizations billions of dollars every year. Mutual gains model of human resource management (HRM) recommends that HRM practices should improve both employee well-being and performance. Offshore business processing organizations (BPO) are renowned to have intense wok environment. The study aimed to deploy mutual gains models in BPO to determine if positive perceptions of HRM practices (or benevolent HRM attributions) can help employees manage their stress better and improve their task performance (TP) and contextual performance (CP). Furthermore, work gratitude (WG) was examined to see if it acted as an intermediary in the relationship between benevolent HRM attributions, employee stress management (SM), TP and CP.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data of 368 respondents were collected from the employees working in BPO. Structural equation modeling technique was deployed for the testing of causal relationships among constructs. AMOS 24.0 was used for the estimation of theoretical model.

Findings

Empirical outcomes affirmed strongly knitted theoretical associations among the constructs.

Originality/value

This study contributes to literature by proposing a framework which shows how HRM attributions can enhance employee's TP, CP and improve employee SM through the mediating influence of WG.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2020

Naval Garg, Anuradha Jain and B.K. Punia

The purpose of this study is to investigate the linkage between gratitude and leadership among university teachers. It also tended to examine mediating and moderating effect of…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the linkage between gratitude and leadership among university teachers. It also tended to examine mediating and moderating effect of social intelligence amidst the relationship between gratitude and leadership. As social intelligence is a multi-dimensional concept, this paper explored mediating and moderating effect of three dimensions of social intelligence, i.e. social awareness, social skills and social information processing.

Design/methodology/approach

Mediation effect was examined with help of Baron and Kenny’s (1986) technique, Sobel test and bootstrapping estimates. Significance of interaction between independent variable (gratitude) and moderator (social intelligence) was investigated for moderation analysis.

Findings

The findings reported partial mediating effect of all three dimensions of social intelligence. No significant moderation effect was observed.

Originality/value

This is one of the pioneer studies that explored interrelationship between gratitude, social intelligence and leadership among Indian University teachers.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2022

Jui-Chieh Huang

Benevolent leadership is a leadership style in which leaders show consideration for their employees' work and life. Empirical studies have shown inconsistent relationships between…

Abstract

Purpose

Benevolent leadership is a leadership style in which leaders show consideration for their employees' work and life. Empirical studies have shown inconsistent relationships between benevolent leadership and employees' voluntary behaviors. Therefore, this study examined benevolent leadership's mediating (gratitude) and moderating (trust) mechanisms.

Design/methodology/approach

Overall, 792 questionnaires were collected from Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) and continuing education students at a public university in Taiwan. The research model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and the PROCESS module.

Findings

Benevolent leadership influenced three voluntary behaviors of employees directly and indirectly through enhanced gratitude. Emotional trust moderated the relationship between work care and employee gratitude such that the positive relationship was stronger for employees with higher emotional trust levels.

Practical implications

Benevolent leadership is an effective leadership style that cares about employees' work and lives, enhancing their gratitude and engagement in voluntary behaviors.

Originality/value

The mediating effect of gratitude and the moderating effect of trust provide a possible explanation for the inconsistent relationships between benevolent leadership and voluntary behaviors.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 43 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2022

Xiaojun Zhan, Wei Yang, Yirong Guo and Wenhao Luo

Nurses' work engagement is critical for the service quality of the hospital. Thus, investigation on the influencing factors of nurses' work engagement has become an important…

Abstract

Purpose

Nurses' work engagement is critical for the service quality of the hospital. Thus, investigation on the influencing factors of nurses' work engagement has become an important issue. This study addresses this issue by exploring the effect of daily family-to-work conflict (FWC) on next-day work engagement among Chinese nurses.

Design/methodology/approach

The theoretical model was tested using 555 experience sampling data from 61 nurses collected for 10 workdays in China.

Findings

Nurses' daily FWC is associated with their next-day ego depletion. Moreover, increased ego depletion ultimately reduces their next-day work engagement. In addition, a between-individual factor of frequency of perceived patient gratitude mitigates the effect of FWC on ego depletion and the indirect effect on work engagement via ego depletion.

Originality/value

This study is important to the management of health-care organizations as it carries significant implications for theory and practice toward understanding the influence of FWC among nurses. On the one hand, the authors apply the job demands-resources (JD-R) model as the overarching theoretical framework, which contributes to the authors’ understanding of how FWC impairs work engagement. On the other hand, the authors extend extant theoretical models of FWC by identifying the frequency of perceived patient gratitude as an important contextual factor that counteracts the negative effects of FWC among nurses. Moreover, organizations could encourage patients to express their gratitude to nurses by providing more channels, such as thank-you notes, to offer nurses some support for overcoming the destructive effect of FWC.

Details

Personnel Review, vol. 52 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0048-3486

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 8000