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1 – 10 of over 1000Timothy Veach, Yeongjoon Yoon and John D. Iglesias
Organizations have been challenged to identify antecedents to improved employee adjustment to the work environment changes that arose in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations have been challenged to identify antecedents to improved employee adjustment to the work environment changes that arose in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic. This study aims to explore the effect of multilingualism on employee ability to adjust to workplace changes based on the concept that multilinguals have been found to switch between tasks more efficiently as compared to monolinguals.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying a sequential explanatory mixed methods research approach, quantitative performance evaluation data on 207 credit union employees is analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling to predict employee performance, and thematic analysis of qualitative data representing the adjustment narratives of six monolingual and six multilingual employees within the sample is conducted, corresponding to the period during which employees were adjusting to broad workplace changes after the onset of the global pandemic.
Findings
The results suggest greater predicted improvement in the performance of multilingual employees. Reliance on the task-switching ability associated with multilingualism is found to be the primary self-evaluative factor for successful change adjustment among multilingual employees.
Practical implications
In light of work performance benefits identified in this study, organizations may consider multilingualism as a characteristic preceding better adjustment to organizational change, and not simply as a skill applicable to tasks requiring language proficiency, suggesting practical implications for human resource and organizational management.
Originality/value
This is the first sequential explanatory study focusing on the task-switching ability of multilinguals as an antecedent to change adjustment evidenced by improved work performance within an organizational context.
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This study addresses a gap in evidence on small employer experiences of managing mental health problems in the workplace. The authors gathered first-hand experiences of small…
Abstract
Purpose
This study addresses a gap in evidence on small employer experiences of managing mental health problems in the workplace. The authors gathered first-hand experiences of small business managers to empirically investigate how the small business context affects the management and support of mental health problems in the workplace, and the practice implications that arise.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative interviews, combining semi-structured and narrative approaches, with 21 small business managers with experience of managing employees with mental health difficulties. The 21 managers recounted a total of 45 employee cases, which were analysed thematically, using a case-based matrix. Study participants were drawn from small businesses within England and Scotland (UK). Interviews were conducted between November 2019 and February 2020.
Findings
Support aligned with current understanding of effective practice, yet was often informal, instinctive and flexible. Accommodating employees with mental health problems impacted the workload of managers and co-workers, and business operation and growth. Challenges and tensions reflected the difficult balancing act faced by managers in organisations of all sizes. However, the intensity and immediacy of cross-pressures was enhanced for small businesses, due to their smaller workforce and lack of dedicated Human Resource Management and occupational health expertise.
Practical implications
Guidance should address the navigation of day-to-day management and support for employees with mental health difficulties, including approaches to balancing the needs of the wider workforce and business operation. Access to HR and occupational health expertise is valuable. Financial subsidies may be of lesser concern to small businesses.
Originality/value
This study offers originality in focusing exclusively on small business managers with first-hand experience of supporting employees with mental health problems. Findings challenge the perception that small firms have unique experiences, whilst highlighting contextual features that exacerbate intensity and immediacy of impacts.
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Muhammad Ali, Mirit K. Grabarski and Marzena Baker
In the wake of labor shortages in the retail industry, there is value in highlighting a business case for employing neurodivergent individuals. Drawing on signaling theory, this…
Abstract
Purpose
In the wake of labor shortages in the retail industry, there is value in highlighting a business case for employing neurodivergent individuals. Drawing on signaling theory, this study explores whether perceived neurodiversity management (neurodiversity policies and adjustments) helps enhance neurodiversity awareness and affective commitment and whether affective commitment leads to lower turnover intention.
Design/methodology/approach
A cursory content analysis of publicly available documents of randomly selected four retail organizations was undertaken, which was followed by an online survey of the Australian retail workforce, leading to 502 responses from supervisors and employees.
Findings
The content analysis shows that retail organizations barely acknowledge neurodiversity. The findings of the main study indicate that neurodiversity policies are positively associated with both neurodiversity awareness and affective commitment, while adjustments were positively linked to affective commitment. Moreover, affective commitment was negatively associated with turnover intention. Affective commitment also mediated the negative effects of neurodiversity policies and adjustments on turnover intention.
Originality/value
This study supports, extends and refines signaling theory and social exchange theory. It addresses knowledge gaps about the perceptions of co-workers and supervisors in regard to neurodiversity management. It provides unprecedented evidence for a business case for the positive attitudinal outcomes of neurodiversity policies and adjustments. The findings can help managers manage neurodiversity for positive attitudinal outcomes.
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Zhuang Ma, Linpei Song and Jun Huang
This study aims to examine newcomers experiencing maladjustment due to cognitive diversity, specifically, how maladjustment affects their turnover intentions; the mediating role…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine newcomers experiencing maladjustment due to cognitive diversity, specifically, how maladjustment affects their turnover intentions; the mediating role of reported workplace bullying; and the buffering effect of perceived inclusive practices in the hospitality sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected time-lagged data from 403 respondents and analyzed the data through hierarchical regression analyses using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) 25.0.
Findings
Role ambiguity, low self-efficacy and social exclusion could each lead to newcomers’ reported workplace bullying (NRB). Perceived inclusive practices buffered the impacts of role ambiguity and social exclusion. NRB negatively mediated the relationships between role ambiguity and NRB; and social exclusion and NRB.
Practical implications
Hospitality practitioners should specify work procedures to minimize role ambiguities and record service processes to correct mistakes, reward veterans who help newcomers improve self-efficacy, invite newcomers to develop inclusive practices and review employee comments on third-party platforms to understand factors responsible for turnover intention.
Originality/value
This study contextualized cognitive diversity into newcomers’ maladjustment-bullying-turnover model in China’s hospitality industry. It highlighted the buffering effect of perceived inclusive practices in the relationships between maladjustment and reported bullying and turnover intentions among newcomers and confirmed the important role of self-efficacy in addressing adverse work events.
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Basil P. Tucker and Elaine Nash
The paper presents the initial groundwork for the development of a research agenda around the management control implications of employing workers with intellectual disability.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper presents the initial groundwork for the development of a research agenda around the management control implications of employing workers with intellectual disability.
Design/methodology/approach
The point of departure of this foundational enquiry is primarily prior analyses and critiques of empirical research into the employment of workers with intellectual disabilities.
Findings
The authors extend the management control framework advanced by Tessier and Otley (2012) by offering insights relating to the benefits and costs of both compliance as well as performance roles of management control systems (MCS). As such, the authors advocate potential avenues for further empirical investigation and also offer four broad ways in which the use of MCS is implicated in the employment of individuals with an intellectual disability by recognising that achieving compliance outcomes or achieving performance outcomes both carry associated benefits and costs.
Research limitations/implications
The extent to which management control research has engaged with the context of workers with intellectual disability is limited. However, this paper identifies some of the salient considerations underlying an agenda for further research in this area.
Social implications
The employment of workers with intellectual disabilities is by no means unprecedented. In many Western economies, there have in recent times been significant disability policy shifts, recognising the key role of employment in the financial security and social participation of people with disabilities, including those with intellectual disabilities. A key performance indicator stated in these policy positions is an increase in workforce participation for this group of people. However, an increase in the employment of such individuals is likely to represent significant implications in terms of prevailing conditions as well as new management control configurations that may be required.
Originality/value
The paper overviews existing knowledge about the employment of workers living with an intellectual disability and identifies areas relating to the management control implications of such arrangements within which more research is required.
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Neurodivergent employees have atypical needs that require distinctive leadership approaches. In this study, the specific nature of a relationship between neurodivergent employees…
Abstract
Purpose
Neurodivergent employees have atypical needs that require distinctive leadership approaches. In this study, the specific nature of a relationship between neurodivergent employees and their neurotypical leaders is explored through the lens of the leader–member exchange (LMX) theory.
Design/methodology/approach
This two-phased qualitative study builds on 12 semi-structured interviews with neurodivergent employees and an unstructured focus group with 15 individuals with professional and/or personal interest in neurodiversity. The researcher spent almost 13 h listening to the lived experiences of research participants concerning neurodiversity and leadership.
Findings
Leaders who exhibit empathy and understanding were noted to provide greater support. The findings also highlight the complexity of neuro-inclusion in the workplace. Specifically, the delicate balance between accommodation and avoiding stigmatization is emphasized, addressing the concerns raised regarding the legal risks associated with neurodivergent inclusion. Additionally, the findings underscore the necessity for leaders to avoid patronizing behaviors while catering to the diverse needs of neurodivergent employees. This underscores the importance of supporting both neurodivergent employees and leaders navigating such challenges.
Practical implications
The findings help establish inclusive and accommodating employee relations practices that conscientiously address the requirements of neurodivergent employees while providing support for those in leadership roles.
Originality/value
This study constitutes a direct answer to recent calls to develop a more nuanced understanding of workplace neurodiversity, with a specific focus on neuro-inclusive leadership. Acknowledging that we still use inappropriate, old tools in new situations that require novel approaches to leadership helps set the agenda for future research in this area.
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This study aims to explore and classify the fragmentary findings of previous studies and improve understanding of the overall roles of supervisors in newcomer organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore and classify the fragmentary findings of previous studies and improve understanding of the overall roles of supervisors in newcomer organizational socialization (NOS) and their relationships to NOS outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
The study chiefly involves undertaking a literature review, with an emphasis on the perspective of human resource development (HRD). A structured literature review was conducted to identify and select articles through the Web of Science database.
Findings
Five important roles of supervisors during NOS – supporting training transfer, providing information, clarifying newcomers’ roles, facilitating sensemaking and providing feedback – were revealed from an examination of extant work. These roles markedly influence five different components of newcomers’ adjustment: task mastery, role clarification, organizational knowledge, social identification and social integration.
Research limitations/implications
Although the concept of NOS used in this paper did not include all meanings of organizational socialization, the findings proposed key areas that require further study to enhance the understanding of supervisors’ roles for NOS.
Practical implications
The literature review suggests key efforts that supervisors should pursue to enhance the efficacy of newcomers’ adjustment. HRD professionals can use this information to design supervisor training programs aimed at enhancing supervisors’ knowledge and skills for successful NOS.
Originality/value
Studies have reported that supervisors markedly impact NOS and ultimately a newcomer’s success or failure. Relatively little work, however, has investigated how supervisors’ roles in the NOS process can enhance newcomers’ successful NOS outcomes.
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Mohammad Faraz Naim and Adnan Ozyilmaz
Based on the theoretical underpinnings of the theory of work adjustment and social exchange framework, the authors contend that an employee's trust in management (TIM) will…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the theoretical underpinnings of the theory of work adjustment and social exchange framework, the authors contend that an employee's trust in management (TIM) will interact with the flourishing-at-work (FAW) to predict turnover intentions (TIs). Specifically, the authors assumed that FAW will have a stronger negative effect on TIs, given the greater degree of TIM.
Design/methodology/approach
Leveraging a cross-sectional survey design and data gathered from 587 IT professionals working in India, the findings revealed that FAW negatively predicted TIs. More importantly, TIM accentuates or moderates the negative relationship between FAW and TIs.
Findings
Specifically, TIM was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between (1) psychological well-being (PWB) and TIs, (2) social well-being and TIs. Interestingly, a nonsignificant moderating effect was observed on the relationship between emotional well-being (EWB) and TIs.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings of this study might be context-specific as the IT industry in India generally has high attrition, so obviously, a higher TIs is expected from IT professionals. Therefore, future studies should explore a different industry may be manufacturing and so on, to test the current study's research framework.
Practical implications
These are highly important contributions to the extant scholarship on FAW, as the study offers new wisdom into how FAW influences TIs under the contingent effect of TIM.
Originality/value
This is the first of its kind study to explore the moderating role of TIM on the link between FAW and employees' TIs.
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Özge Hacıfazlıoğlu, Bilge Kalkavan, Chunyan Yang, Gökçe Ünlü and Serra Gürün
This collaborative effort aims to reduce international teacher attrition. Findings from the data are meant to be shared with principals to reduce the number of international…
Abstract
This collaborative effort aims to reduce international teacher attrition. Findings from the data are meant to be shared with principals to reduce the number of international teachers leaving teaching. The study revolves around three important research questions: What challenges do international teachers encounter and how do they meet them? What individual strengths help international teachers develop resilience in the transition process? and What support mechanisms help international teachers develop resilience in the adaptation process? The chapter ends with recommendations and implications for school leaders as they create conditions that will help retain new teachers.
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Aart-Jan Riekhoff, Noora Järnefelt, Mikko Laaksonen and Jyri Liukko
This article investigates whether employers are more likely to employ older workers when faced with a shortage of qualified labour. Furthermore, it analyses whether in such cases…
Abstract
Purpose
This article investigates whether employers are more likely to employ older workers when faced with a shortage of qualified labour. Furthermore, it analyses whether in such cases age stereotypes moderate employers' preferences towards four employment options: (1) supporting workers to continue until the retirement age, (2) encouraging workers to continue beyond the retirement age, (3) recruiting someone older than 55 and (4) (re)hiring someone who has retired.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were drawn from a survey conducted among Finnish employers in 2021 (response rate = 66%, N = 1,442). Applying factor analysis to questions about older workers' qualities compared to those of average workers, a distinction was made between perceptions of experience-related and adaptability-related qualities. Generalised ordered logistic regression models were estimated to analyse the relations of preferences for each employment option with experiencing recruitment problems, workplace age stereotypes and interactions between these.
Findings
Experiencing recruitment problems was positively related to preferences for hiring a retired person. Employers with difficulties in recruitment were more likely to support work until the retirement age and recruit someone over 55, but only if they had above-average positive perceptions of older workers' experience-related qualities. Employers confronted with recruitment difficulties were more likely to encourage workers to continue beyond the retirement age if they had more positive perceptions of older workers' adaptability-related qualities.
Originality/value
This study shows that, even when confronted with labour shortages and population ageing, workplace age stereotypes still pose a potential obstacle for employers to make the best use of an older workforce.
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