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Article
Publication date: 27 October 2023

Filiz Gümüş Dönmez, Mert Gürlek and Osman M. Karatepe

This paper aims to explore work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) as the mediators linking psychological resilience to happiness.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore work interfering with family (WIF) and family interfering with work (FIW) as the mediators linking psychological resilience to happiness.

Design/methodology/approach

Data gathered from tour guides in Türkiye were used to test the aforesaid associations. In this paper, partial least squares structural equation modeling was performed to gauge the direct links and mediating impacts of WIF and FIW simultaneously in the link between psychological resilience and happiness.

Findings

Psychological resilience exerts a dual influence on WIF and FIW. Simply put, psychologically resilient tour guides balance their work demands with those of the family or vice versa and exhibit low levels of WIF and FIW. As hypothesized, WIF and FIW are the two mediating mechanisms relating psychological resilience to happiness.

Practical implications

It is important to create a family-supportive atmosphere where tour guides can avail themselves of family-friendly practices (i.e. family leave, flexible work schedules, breaks to be spent with family members after long tours and convenient working hours). Psychologically resilient tour guides, with the abovementioned practices, would experience alleviated conflicts between work and family roles and would therefore have heightened happiness.

Originality/value

Although the extant literature has presented plenty of empirical studies about the predictors and outcomes of WIF and FIW, evidence about the links of personal resources as third variables to WIF and FIW simultaneously is still scanty. In addition, there is no evidence linking personal resources such as psychological resilience to nonwork outcomes such as happiness through the mediating roles of WIF and FIW. This paper fills in these voids by gauging the links given above using data collected from tour guides, a population that has been subjected to limited inquiry in the WIF and FIW literature.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 June 2018

Gaatha Gulyani and Tanuja Sharma

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of total rewards components (monetary, material and non-monetary) on happiness of employees working in Indian…

4437

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of total rewards components (monetary, material and non-monetary) on happiness of employees working in Indian technology-based new ventures. Further, with the theoretical lens of social exchange theory, the mediating role of work engagement between total rewards perceptions and work happiness relationship has also been evaluated.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of 201 employees working in Indian technology-based new ventures was conducted. Structural equation modeling was utilized to measure the proposed theoretical model. Regression analysis was conducted to test the direct effects of the hypothesized relationships. Sobel test and bootstrapping analysis were utilized to test the indirect effects of the proposed hypothesized relationship.

Findings

The findings supported the hypotheses that employees’ perceptions of total rewards have a significant impact on employee work engagement and happiness at work. However, individual component of total rewards, i.e. monetary rewards, demonstrated an insignificant impact on the employee work happiness. Work engagement was positively related to work happiness and fully mediated the relationship between total rewards perceptions and work happiness.

Practical implications

Special attention should be given to enhance the material and non-monetary rewards, specifically strengthening the feeling of appreciation, learning and growth opportunities and improving feedback functions. Given the challenges of new ventures (productivity and efficiency of talent), management of total rewards mix should be considered as the main concern of human resource (HR) managers and management (founders). The paper also provides important implications for designing a reward system that enhances employee productivity and efficiency in the unstructured and ambiguous work environment of new ventures.

Originality/value

The present study has significant contributions to the HR, entrepreneurship and positive psychology literature. It is an attempt to understand the association between total rewards components and work happiness via mediating mechanism, i.e. work engagement in new ventures. It also extends research in the entrepreneurial context. The emergence and growth of new ventures in India has meant a growing importance for understanding employees’ needs and expectations and guaranteeing their happiness. The findings of the study contribute to social exchange theory, Vroom’s expectancy and self-determination theory. This research is also a rare investigation of employees’ perspectives in an entrepreneurial context.

Details

Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2049-3983

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 July 2022

Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, Esthela Galvan-Vela, Deisy Milena Sorzano-Rodríguez and Missael Ruíz-Corrales

This article explores how internal communication impacts happiness at work and intrapreneurship through the dimensions of communication climate and communication in meetings.

1686

Abstract

Purpose

This article explores how internal communication impacts happiness at work and intrapreneurship through the dimensions of communication climate and communication in meetings.

Design/methodology/approach

Literature analysis and quantitative empirical data collection are used to achieve this study's purpose. The study employed a non-experimental, cross-sectional, explanatory design. A questionnaire of closed-ended questions was used, adapted from validated scales for measuring constructs, and apply to 156 employees of industrial, service and commercial companies in the Northeast of Mexico. The analysis techniques used included exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

Findings

In the descriptive analysis of the data, the authors find that 57.7% of the sample is satisfied with the communication climate, 28.85% moderately satisfied, and 13.47% dissatisfied. Regarding the levels of happiness at work, high (71.15%), medium (21.15%) and low (7.7%) levels were found. In intrapreneurship, high (67.31%), medium (26.92%) and low (5.77%) levels were found. The exploratory factorial analysis showed that the instrument was adequate for measuring the variables. Good correlations were also found between the items that make up each variable. Finally, the relationship between internal communication, measured by the dimensions of communicative climate and communication in meetings, and happiness at work was verified using the structural equation technique. The latter has a positive impact on intrapreneurship.

Research limitations/implications

This article has some theoretical and methodological limitations like any other academic work. They would be interesting to address in future research. In this way, it is possible to empirical examine the variables of intrapreneurship, internal communication and happiness (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2021c). The first is the study's cross-sectional design and data collection by a non-probabilistic sample, carried out in a single source. Both aspects mean that our study is not free of corresponding biases; this may result in the findings of the present work not being statistically correct. The second derives from the absence in the literature of structural equation modelling studies that analyse the constructs that make up the object of this academic work in a multidimensional way. However, although an influence I show between the variables, it is recommended to take the data with discretion. There is still a need for more empirical evidence to support these relationships before generalised results can be presumed. Despite the remarkable progress made in recent years in the literature on the three dimensions of this article, few scientific studies examine inferentially how internal communication and intra-entrepreneurship influence employees' happiness at work in today's digital society. The authors of this academic work consider it attractive for future research to address the analysis of internal communication strategic management models. It is a robust driver of intra-entrepreneurship and employee happiness in organisations (Galván-Vela et al., 2022a). In conclusion, from this heuristic perspective, companies can improve, on the one hand, their competitive position in the market. Their managers must cultivate an organisational culture that emphasises internal communication as a catalyst for innovation, employee loyalty, and productive efficiency. On the other hand, companies will be able to invigorate their corporate image to face the significant challenges in the globalised economy, thus to become sustainable, humane, ecological intra-entrepreneurial corporations (Galván-Vela et al., 2021a). It may lead to a more social, inclusive, prosperous and egalitarian ecosystem. In this way, it makes the culture of organisations around the pillars of happiness management, social marketing and the Sustainable Development Goals shine (Galván-Coronil et al., 2021).

Practical implications

This section does not attempt to argue that internal communication and intrapreneurship constitute two intangible resources that improve organisations' productivity and collective happiness (Lee and Kim, 2022). However, it is necessary to clarify that the results achieved in this academic study show two fundamental aspects. The first is to invite managers of companies in the post-Covid-19 era to cultivate a culture based on happiness management. It makes internal communication a fast vehicle that exponentially boosts intrapreneurship, among other things (Castillo-Abdul et al., 2021). To this end, their strategic management models must carry out a diametrical shift in their innovation and internal communication actions. On the one hand, it allows for building loyalty among their creative talent. It does this by creating an organisational climate that encourages interpersonal relationships, the spirit of teamwork, collaborative participation, and disruptive thinking (Thelen and Formanchuk, 2022). On the other hand, promoting an ethical, assertive and empathetic leadership style proactively stimulates the commitment, trust and passion for the work of all members of the company (Men and Yue, 2019). The second is to emphasise implementing a constructive, friendly and positive intra-organisational language. In this way, it is dynamising the collective happiness of its human capital through the figure of the Chief Happiness (Jiménez-Marín et al., 2021b).

Originality/value

Intrapreneurship, internal communication and happiness at work are topics of great interest in academic agendas in recent years. It is basically because these three dimensions, individually or jointly, have positive effects on the productivity of organisations. However, no research flow evidences our theoretical model proposed in this article. Therefore, there is a need for future studies that advance the literature in the area of business. In this way, we will have more data on how these constructs affect the life of organisations in the post-Covid 19 eras.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 28 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 October 2021

Charles Kawalya, Francis Kasekende and John C. Munene

The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological capital (PsyCap) and self-driven personality fuse to affect happiness at work in the nursing profession in Uganda.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychological capital (PsyCap) and self-driven personality fuse to affect happiness at work in the nursing profession in Uganda.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical design. The authors use structural equation modelling to test hypotheses. Using proportionate and simple random sampling procedures, a sample of 900 respondents was drawn from different hospitals in Uganda of which a response rate of 88.9% was obtained.

Findings

The magnitude effect of self-driven personality on happiness at work depends on PsyCap, implying that the assumption of non-additivity is met.

Research limitations/implications

Only a single research methodological approach was used, and future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate.

Practical implications

To boost happiness at the workplace, heads of hospitals should always endeavour to find a viable self-driven personality and PsyCap blend that can add value to nurses’ happiness in Uganda.

Social implications

It is essential for health human resource managers to understand, how self-driven personality and PsyCap foster happiness among nurses in Uganda.

Originality/value

This is one of the few studies that focus on testing the interactive effects of PsyCap on the relationship between self-driven personality and happiness at the workplace in Uganda’s health sector.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 27 December 2016

Chyi Jaw, James Po-Hsun Hsiao, Tzung-Cheng (T. C.) Huan and Arch G. Woodside

This chapter describes and tests the principles of configural theory in the context of hospitality frontline service employees’ happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of…

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This chapter describes and tests the principles of configural theory in the context of hospitality frontline service employees’ happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of these employees’ quality of work performances. The study proposes and tests empirically a configural asymmetric theory of the antecedents to hospitality employee happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of employees’ quality of work performance. The findings confirm and go beyond prior statistical findings of small-to-medium effect sizes of happiness-performance relationships. The method includes matching cases of data from surveys of employees (n = 247) and surveys completed by their managers (n = 43) and uses qualitative comparative analysis via the software program fsQCA.com. The findings support the four principles of configural analysis and theory construction: recognize equifinality of different solutions for the same outcome; test for asymmetric solutions; test for causal asymmetric outcomes for very high versus very low happiness and work performance; and embrace complexity. The theory and findings confirm that configural theory and research resolves perplexing happiness–performance conundrums. The study provides algorithms involving employees’ demographic characteristics and their assessments of work facet-specifics which are useful for explaining very high happiness-at-work and high quality-of-work performance (as assessed by managers) – as well as algorithms explaining very low happiness and very low quality-of-work performance.

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2023

Faisal Qamar, Shuaib Ahmed Soomro and Yasir Mansoor Kundi

This study utilizes self-determination theory (SDT) to understand how high-performance work systems (HPWS) may foster happiness at work through serial transmission pathways of…

1029

Abstract

Purpose

This study utilizes self-determination theory (SDT) to understand how high-performance work systems (HPWS) may foster happiness at work through serial transmission pathways of career aspiration and thriving at work.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses data collected from a sample of 309 employees working in various organizations. It uses multilevel, multisource and time-lagged data and applied Mplus 8.0 for hypotheses testing.

Findings

The study findings reveal a positive relationship between HPWS and career aspiration. Career aspiration was positively related to thriving at work and thriving at work was positively associated with happiness at work. Moreover, career aspiration mediated the relationship between HPWS and thriving at work. Whereas, thriving at work mediated the relationship between career aspiration and happiness at work. The results also support the serial mediation of career aspiration and thriving at work between HPWS and happiness at work.

Practical implications

The findings have important implications for organizational practice. Practitioners should consider implementing pro-employee HPWS to support employees' career aspirations and enhance their thriving experience, which may increase their happiness at work.

Originality/value

This is one of the few studies investigating individual-level serial mediators between departmental-level HPWS and employee happiness at work.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 28 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2022

Mohammed Aboramadan and Yasir Mansoor Kundi

Drawing upon theories of conservation of resources (COR), broaden-and-build (BnB), self-determination, and the job demands- resources (JD-R) model, this study uniquely tries to…

1794

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing upon theories of conservation of resources (COR), broaden-and-build (BnB), self-determination, and the job demands- resources (JD-R) model, this study uniquely tries to understand the mechanisms that contribute to happiness at work by proposing a model of the effects of emotional culture of joy on happiness at work, where psychological safety and relational attachments serve as intervening mechanisms among the aforesaid relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

A three-wave time-lagged study with 340 employees from Pakistani organizations was conducted. Data were analyzed using covariance-based structural equation modelling.

Findings

The results indicate that emotional culture of joy significantly predicts happiness at work. Furthermore, emotional culture of joy significantly and positively influences both psychological safety and relational attachment. Finally, the relationship between emotional culture of joy and happiness at work is found to be mediated by both relational attachment and psychological safety.

Practical implications

The results are of utmost importance as they provide insights to policy makers and organizations administrators on the value of emotional culture of joy and its contribution to employees’ wellbeing, and indeed its role in fostering important psychological and emotional resources such as psychological safety and relational attachment.

Originality/value

This study is unique for the following reasons. First, it addresses and bridges a gap pertaining to the drivers of happiness at work. Second, this is the first study that considers emotional culture of joy as an antecedent to happiness at work. Third, the employment of both psychological safety and relational attachment as intervening mechanisms in the relationship between emotional culture of joy and happiness at work has not been previously addressed in the management and wellbeing literature. Finally, the study shifts direction from studying organizational drivers (i.e. HR, organization support, etc.) of happiness at work to the examination of psychological and emotional resources that may influence happiness at work.

Details

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

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2015

James Po-Hsun Hsiao, Chyi Jaw, Tzung-Cheng (T.C.) Huan and Arch G. Woodside

This paper aims to advance a configural asymmetric theory of the complex antecedents to hospitality employee happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of employees’ quality of…

1922

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to advance a configural asymmetric theory of the complex antecedents to hospitality employee happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of employees’ quality of work performance. The study transcends variable and case-level analyses to go beyond prior statistical findings of small-to-medium effect sizes of happiness–performance relationships; the study here identifies antecedent paths involving high-versus-low happy employees associating with high-versus-low managers’ assessments of these employees’ performances.

Design/methodology/approach

The study merges data from surveys of employees (n = 247) and surveys completed by their managers (n = 43) and by using qualitative comparative analysis via the software program, fsQCA.com. The study analyzes data from Janfusan Fancyworld, the largest (in revenues and number of employees) tourism business group in Taiwan; Janfusan Fancyworld includes tourist hotels, amusement parks, restaurants and additional firms in related service sectors.

Findings

The findings support the four tenets of configural analysis and theory construction: recognize equifinality of different solutions for the same outcome, test for asymmetric solutions, test for causal asymmetric outcomes for very high versus very low happiness and work performance and embrace complexity.

Research limitations/implications

Additional research in other firms and additional countries is necessary to confirm the usefulness of examining algorithms for predicting very high (low) happiness and very high (low) quality of work performance. The implications are substantial that configural theory and research will resolve perplexing happiness–performance conundrums.

Practical implications

The study provides useful case-level algorithms involving employees’ demographic characteristics and their assessments of work facet-specifics which are useful for explaining very high happiness-at-work and high quality of work performance (as assessed by managers) – as well as algorithms explaining very low happiness and very low quality of work performance.

Originality/value

The study is the first to propose and test the tenets of configural theory in the context of hospitality frontline service employees’ happiness-at-work and managers’ assessments of these employees’ quality of work performances.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 November 2021

María-José Foncubierta-Rodríguez

Happiness management is receiving increasing attention in business, and this is reflected in the literature. But any business management option has to be grounded in a true

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Abstract

Purpose

Happiness management is receiving increasing attention in business, and this is reflected in the literature. But any business management option has to be grounded in a true awareness or belief that it will be a suitable and appropriate choice. In this belief the personal values of those who have the power to lead the way to weigh heavily. In this sense, there are personal values that, when used as guidelines in the management of a company, seem to promote the happiness of employees in the work environment. The purpose of this paper is to find the personal values of the entrepreneur. As a secondary objective, the authors also study whether these values are associated with certain entrepreneurs’ socio-demographic factors (gender and age).

Design/methodology/approach

The group to be studied is the Spanish business community. An exploratory study is carried out, first, with the definition of value constructs according to Schwartz’s personal values model and, second, with a relational analysis, measuring association effects through logistic regression.

Findings

Two higher-order personal values of the entrepreneur are found that seem to contain all the elements that would lead to management styles that would facilitate happiness at work. These values emerge from a dimension model of Schwartz’s theory of basic human values. MVP which, however, does not follow its four adjacent/antagonistic dimensions, but is composed of three dimensions adjacent to each other and, therefore, complementary. Moreover, some stereotypes in the literature on the relationships between personal values and certain socio-demographic factors are broken down and their effects on happiness at work are revealed.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of this work is the relatively small sample size. In this sense, it would be useful to check whether the overall results are repeated in larger samples. Another limitation is that this is a portrait of the group at a given time. Given the experimental nature of this type of work, especially in the case of socio-demographic factors, it would be advisable to carry out a follow-up longitudinal analysis with a time horizon. This would allow a more precise investigation of the effects of the variables mentioned above. In addition, a third limitation is that the authors are studying the collective of Spanish entrepreneurs, and in the study of personal values, culture has a determining influence (Schenck, 2016; Boer and Boehnke, 2016; Perozo and Paz, 2016). It would also be worthwhile considering this study by sector: are the values the same for entrepreneurs in different sectors?; or in some specific sectors, for example, are there differences between entrepreneurs with tech businesses versus non-tech businesses or those who make the circular economy or the green economy a guideline for their organizations? Thus, technology companies must be open to change. Openness and innovation are for their entrepreneurs’ key values to ensure their performance (Tseng, 2010; Van Auken et al., 2008). However, in these organizations, there is a framework of conflicting values between the required flexibility and the values of power and control that the entrepreneur needs, and wants, to have (Albarracín et al., 2014). On the other hand, personal values determine green self-identity and moderate its relationships with ecological care and the moral obligation of the entrepreneur (Blankenberg and Alhusen, 2019; Barbarossa et al., 2017). Therefore, it could be analysed whether these values are maintained in entrepreneurs in these sectors, influencing, as discussed in this paper, greater happiness in the work context; and whether they are conditioned by gender or age (Fotieva, 2021; Li et al., 2020). It would also be helpful to study the socio-demographic influence further, to analyse the possibility of interaction or confounding effects between socio-demographic variables and some other variables not addressed in this paper. For example, does purchasing power or income level, affect personal values? And do the values that give content to F2, power and control, lead the entrepreneur to a higher level of income level or vice versa? Do other factors play a role? In fact, for Hirigoyen (2008), values such as altruism, benevolence and universalism are considered as obstacles to the development of the company. Subsequently, authors such as Salas-Vallina (2018) and Boubakary (2015) conclude that far from that idea, these axiological elements would lead to more significant business development through the satisfaction and happiness they generate in employees and stimulate their productivity, matching with the conclusions. It would be interesting, as a complement to the approach of this work, to carry out a study on the happiness at work of the entrepreneur’s employees, being the group of employees surveyed. Knowing the profile of values of an entrepreneur through the scale proposed in this work, it would be possible to analyse whether this is associated with greater or lesser perceived happiness among his/her employees. As mentioned above, from the methodological point of view, a risk of using the multidimensional scaling modelling for the analysis of personal values is that the respondent reflects more what he/she considers socially desirable than his/her true perception. This bias is one of the main limitations of psychological research. However, the fact that European Statistical Office surveys are guided by experts, both in processing -knowing how to deal with social desirability in personal values research (Danioni and Barni, 2020) – and in data collection, eliminates this limitation.

Practical implications

However, despite the above limitations, this paper makes important contributions. On the one hand, at a theoretical and instrumental level, it shows that the higher-order values graph of Spanish entrepreneurs follows the circumplex essence of the Schwartz value model but does not obey its number of higher-order dimensions. In the case of entrepreneurs, it consists of three elements, three dimensions, adjacent and complementary. None of them contradicts any other. A methodology is created to portray the Spanish entrepreneur in an axiological way and, from this portrait, to reveal his/her tendency towards a leadership style that promotes the happiness of his/her employees, through the importance given to these three factors or dimensions. These dimensions are weighted, in turn, by issues such as gender or age group. For added practical purposes, this information would be beneficial, in the first place, for all those who want to work in and with a particular entrepreneur. The type of leadership or management expected is a factor or reason why a person decides where he/she would like to work (Qing et al., 2020; Lee, 2016). This is not only for the potential employees of that business but also for all those groups or stakeholders, who engage with the company to perform their functions. Individuals make important decisions and choices about their relationships in the work environment based on the alignment of their values with those of the party they want to engage with (Sagiv et al., 2015). On the other hand, it can serve entrepreneurship educators. By knowing the value factors of entrepreneurs, adjusted to the culture of the particular territory, they will be able to pass on this information to their entrepreneurship students (Karimi and Makreet, 2020; Arieli and Tenne-Gazit, 2017) and teach them how they could increase the happiness at work. It also serves to better understand the constructs of management values-employee engagement-workplace happiness in the current environment (Ravina-Ripoll et al., 2020; Salas-Vallina et al., 2017; Wang and Yang, 2016), by introducing the role of personal values on the entrepreneur’s governance style into this construct (Figure 1).

Social implications

Finally, this study can also have social implications, making its tiny contribution to the SDGs through the study of personal values that guide the behaviour of the entrepreneur. The decision by international institutions for countries to implement the sustainable development goals (SDGs) (UNSDG 2030 Agenda) as cross-cutting strands of their policies has boosted the idea of addressing happiness at work. Thus, SDG 8 talks about Decent Work. In addition to the priority of improving the conditions of groups living in discriminatory working environments (child labour, poverty, precariousness, etc.), taken to its maximum expression, this objective encompasses much more. Workers spend a large part of their lives at work. At the same time, a business needs its employees to be productive. SDG 8 aims to ensure that people have quality employment, increasing their productivity and consumption potential. On the other hand, SDG 3 is about “Health and Well-being”, i.e. ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all ages. It is also about health and well-being in the work environment. Issues such as interpersonal relationships at work, environment and teams, organizational culture, role in the organization, autonomy at work and fostering innovative spirit, can be factors that, if poorly managed, reduce the feeling or perception of happiness at work, especially in today’s digital world (Foncubierta-Rodríguez and Montero-Sánchez, 2019; Leka and Houdmont, 2010; Näswall et al., 2008).

Originality/value

The role of certain higher-order personal values of the entrepreneur is highlighted, which could make him/her tend towards the realization of happiness management practices. Furthermore, through the methodology used, a model of the entrepreneur’s higher-order values has been established, which can be used as a tool to generate reasonable expectations about his/her way of governance and to what extent it is close to a framework conducive to happiness management. This information can be beneficial to all those people and groups that establish relationships with the company, from managers and employees to external stakeholders. In this way, it also helps to anticipate the companýs response to corporate social responsibility.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2011

Carol Atkinson and Laura Hall

This paper aims to explore the influence of flexible working on employee happiness and attitude, and the role of this within a high performance work system (HPWS).

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the influence of flexible working on employee happiness and attitude, and the role of this within a high performance work system (HPWS).

Design/methodology/approach

A case study of flexible working within an NHS Acute Trust is presented. A qualitative study is undertaken based on 43 employee interviews across a range of directorates within the Trust.

Findings

Employees perceive that flexible working makes them “happy” and that there are attitudinal/behavioural links between this happiness, discretionary behaviour and a number of performance outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents a single case study with a relatively small sample which uses an inductive approach based on emergent data; it explores one element of a HPWS rather than an entire employment system. Respondents were volunteers, which raises the possibility of sample bias.

Practical implications

There may be a need for organisations to focus more on employee happiness to encourage performance. HR practitioners could reflect on the impact of HR practices on happiness and which features of a job role are likely to promote happiness.

Originality/value

This paper contributes a much‐needed employee perspective on the effect of HR practices, specifically that of flexible working, and explores the neglected employee attitude of happiness.

Details

Employee Relations, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 16000