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Book part
Publication date: 12 April 2014

Kathryn H. Dekas and Wayne E. Baker

A work orientation represents a person’s beliefs about the meaning of work – the function work plays in the person’s life and the constellation of values and assumptions the…

Abstract

Purpose

A work orientation represents a person’s beliefs about the meaning of work – the function work plays in the person’s life and the constellation of values and assumptions the person holds about the work domain. Research has suggested that adults tend to favor one of three primary work orientations: job, career, or calling. Empirical studies have shown that adults with different primary work orientations tend to experience different work and career outcomes; however, scholars have not analyzed how or why an individual first develops a work orientation. In this study, we take a first step toward investigating the origins of adults’ work orientations.

Design/methodology/approach

We propose hypotheses drawing on extant literature on the development of work values and occupational inheritance. We test hypotheses using a retrospective research design and survey methodology, with a sample of working adults.

Findings

Work orientations are developed through socialization processes with parents during adolescence. There are different patterns of development across the three work orientation categories: stronger calling orientations are developed when both parents possess strong calling orientations; stronger career orientations develop in accordance with fathers’ career orientations; and job orientations are related more to the nature of the adolescent’s relationship with parents than with parents’ own work orientations.

Originality/value

This research provides the first empirical study of the origin and development of work orientations.

Research limitations/implications

This research offers insight into ways generations are connected through the perceived meaning of their work, even as the nature of work changes. We encourage future scholars to use this as a starting point for research on the development of work orientations, and to continue exploring these questions using additional methods, particularly longitudinal study designs.

Details

Adolescent Experiences and Adult Work Outcomes: Connections and Causes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-572-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 November 2022

Ai Tam Le

“Academic values” is one of the most popular terms used in the higher education literature. But how do we study academic values? Besides autonomy, freedom, and collegiality, the…

Abstract

“Academic values” is one of the most popular terms used in the higher education literature. But how do we study academic values? Besides autonomy, freedom, and collegiality, the “values” in “academic values” often remains implicit, leaving a conceptual gap in the literature. Moreover, autonomy, freedom, and collegiality may reflect the shared normative expectations as part of the value system of a profession, rather than the value orientation at the individual level. To examine the latter, this chapter proposes a conceptual framework adapted from the studies of work values in applied psychology. As a heuristic device, the academic work value framework consists of six ideal-typical value orientations belonging to three dimensions: work autonomy, social orientation, and value of knowledge. The framework's relevance and usefulness are evaluated by revisiting relevant literature on academic orientations. The result shows a spectrum of value positions in academic work, from the “old school” values to the “entrepreneurial” ones to the hybrid orientations. Overall, this framework provides a potential approach to operationalize the concept of academic values for empirical research. At the same time, as a heuristic device, it is open for reflection, critique, and further development.

Details

Theory and Method in Higher Education Research
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80455-385-5

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Debates in Marketing Orientation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-836-9

Book part
Publication date: 15 October 2020

Martha Crowley, Julianne Payne and Earl Kennedy

Labor process research has documented a shift in the nature of control – from techniques that aim to limit worker discretion to consent-oriented controls that are believed to…

Abstract

Labor process research has documented a shift in the nature of control – from techniques that aim to limit worker discretion to consent-oriented controls that are believed to generate greater effort by increasing intrinsic rewards or bonding employees to managers and/or the firm. Over the past several decades, however, growing pressure to increase profits has prompted firms to adopt cost-cutting strategies that have eroded job security, relationships with management and commitment to organizational goals. This study investigates how a changing labor process and rising job insecurity shape workers’ orientations toward work, managers and the firm, and in turn influence workplace behavior. Analyses of content-coded data on 212 work groups confirms that discretion-limiting controls (supervision, technology and rules) are associated with more negative orientations and/or reductions in effort (with variations across distinct forms of control), while investment in workers’ human capital (but not involvement of workers in decision-making) has the reverse effect – ­generating more positive orientations toward work, managers and the firm, and (in turn) promoting discretionary work effort and limiting covert effort restriction. Implications of insecurity are more complex. Both layoffs and temporary employment reduce commitment to the organization, but layoffs generate conflict with management without reducing effort, whereas temporary employment limits effort without producing conflict. We illuminate underlying processes with evidence from the qualitative case studies.

Details

Professional Work: Knowledge, Power and Social Inequalities
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-210-9

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 8 August 2005

Stanley M. Gully and Jean M. Phillips

The purpose of this chapter is to extend research and theory on learning and performance orientations to multiple levels of analysis. We begin by introducing a model describing…

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to extend research and theory on learning and performance orientations to multiple levels of analysis. We begin by introducing a model describing the impact of individual learning and performance orientations on attentional focus, response to failure, experimentation, and motivation, and identify potential sources of these orientations. We then describe how learning and performance orientations are linked to incremental and profound change, and theoretically based propositions are presented to guide future research efforts. Leadership, organizational learning, and strategic human resource management are discussed in relation to the model, and implications of the framework for future research and practice are revealed.

Details

Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-76231-215-3

Book part
Publication date: 8 July 2010

March L. To, Neal M. Ashkanasy, Cynthia D. Fisher and Patricia A. Rowe

In this chapter, we seek to resolve the long-running controversy as to whether moods foster or inhibit creativity. We base our arguments on a new theory, which we refer to as…

Abstract

In this chapter, we seek to resolve the long-running controversy as to whether moods foster or inhibit creativity. We base our arguments on a new theory, which we refer to as “creativity-as-mood-regulation,” where employees experiencing moods are envisaged to engage in creative behavior in the hope of regulating their moods. We further suggest that employees with different goal orientations will have different likelihoods of choosing creative activities to regulate their moods. Finally, we identify the specific goal-orientation conditions under which positive and negative moods may facilitate or depress creativity, and develop and discuss six related propositions.

Details

Emotions and Organizational Dynamism
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-177-1

Book part
Publication date: 25 September 2015

Valentina Cuzzocrea

This chapter focuses on the orientation towards the medical profession shown by 18-year-old Sardinian students who were asked to write in an essay how they imagined their future…

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the orientation towards the medical profession shown by 18-year-old Sardinian students who were asked to write in an essay how they imagined their future. Interest in the medical profession opens up interesting views on what this path may represent for young people given the current general climate of work uncertainty. This chapter focuses on students’ career narratives and, in particular, on their perceived difficulties in accessing medical studies and on the reasons this profession appears so attractive to them. Medicine is, in fact, constructed as a solid, gendered professional path, with a clear vocation career-wise, and it is kept safe from the increasing uncertainty of the labour market. Further, a career in medicine is easy to imagine because there are several medical TV series. Third, the concept of medicine is embedded with positive values and care-centred attitudes, and it therefore ‘sounds good’. The specific ways in which these orientations are gendered are discussed.

Details

Gender, Careers and Inequalities in Medicine and Medical Education: International Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-689-8

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 23 August 2014

Lan Guo, Bernard Wong-On-Wing and Gladie Lui

We examine how input- (vs. output-) based performance evaluation and incentive intensity impact employees’ autonomous motivation, thereby influence their proactive work behaviors.

Abstract

Purpose

We examine how input- (vs. output-) based performance evaluation and incentive intensity impact employees’ autonomous motivation, thereby influence their proactive work behaviors.

Methodology

We collected survey responses from 309 employees of different firms. Multi-group Structural Equation Modeling analyses were used to analyze the data.

Findings

Input-based evaluation had a positive effect on autonomous motivation and proactive work behaviors when task uncertainty was high, but a negative effect when it was low. Autonomous motivation had a positive effect on proactive work behaviors.

Research implications

Our results on the moderating effect of task uncertainty provide insights into inconsistencies in earlier studies. Moreover, applying self-determination theory of motivation to incentive research can provide some insights into why sometimes, incentives can negatively affect performance.

Practical implications

The study of proactive work behaviors is important because despite their necessity in the fast-changing business environment, they are relatively unexplored in the incentive literature. Proactivity is especially important for tasks that are high in uncertainty because the exact tasks to achieve those goals are hard to specify.

Originality/value of paper

We investigate the effect of performance management system on proactive work behaviors, mediated by autonomous motivation and moderated by task uncertainty.

Abstract

Details

Adolescent Experiences and Adult Work Outcomes: Connections and Causes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-572-2

Book part
Publication date: 12 April 2014

Jack Lam

Young adults are living and working in uncertain economic climates and increasingly exposed to precarious work. Are preferences for job security and actual job stability a result…

Abstract

Purpose

Young adults are living and working in uncertain economic climates and increasingly exposed to precarious work. Are preferences for job security and actual job stability a result of proximal conditions, or do experiences in adolescence also play a role? The adolescent’s environment and experiences may help explain differences in preferences with regards to stable work, as well as work outcomes in early adulthood.

Design/methodology/approach

In this chapter, I use data from the Youth Development Study (YDS) to test three facets of the adolescent experience between ages 14 and 18 – parental work and educational characteristics, adolescents’ academic achievement, and youth employment – as factors shaping (1) respondents’ preferences for stable employment, (2) respondents’ perceived job insecurity, and (3) respondents’ likelihood of being in nonstandard work in early adulthood, age 31–32, approximately 15 years later.

Findings

Adolescent experiences and environments are related to young adults’ preferences for stable employment, likelihood of being in nonstandard work, and likelihood of reporting job insecurity in early adulthood, suggesting the significance of early life experiences as well as the importance of intergenerational transmission processes for the early adult years.

Originality/value

This study points to the important role of adolescent experiences in initiating a trajectory of work preferences and attainment.

Details

Adolescent Experiences and Adult Work Outcomes: Connections and Causes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-572-2

Keywords

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