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Although both job design and its broader context are likely to drive motivation, little is known about the specific workplace characteristics that are important for motivation. The purpose of this paper is to present the Workplace Characteristics Model, which describes the workplace characteristics that can foster motivation, and the corresponding multilevel Workplace Design Questionnaire.

The model is configured as nine workplace attributes describing climate for motivation at two levels, psychological and organizational. The multilevel multi-time questionnaire was validated with data from 4,287 individuals and 212 workplaces and with integrated regulation as the criterion outcome.

Multilevel factor analysis and regression indicated good internal reliability, construct validity, and stability over time, and excellent concurrent and predictive validity of the questionnaire.

The model could help to optimize job and workplace design by contextualizing motivation. The questionnaire offers advancement over single-level climate measures as it is validated simultaneously at two levels. Further research can focus on overcoming the low response rate typical for online surveys, on need fulfillment as the mediating variable, and on the joint influence of job and workplace characteristics on organizational behavior.

This work responds to calls to incorporate context in research into organizational behavior and job design. An understanding of the workplace is a first step in this direction. This questionnaire is the first to be validated at multiple levels of analysis. Ultimately, workplace design could support job design and the development of inherently motivating workplaces.

The purpose of this paper is to take a serious look at the relationship between joint consultation systems at the workplace and employee satisfaction, while at the same time accounting for the (possible) interactions with similar union and management-led high commitment strategies.

Using new, rich data on a representative sample of British workers, the authors identify workplace institutions that are positively associated with employee perceptions of work and relations with management, what in combination the authors call a measure of the “good workplace.” In particular, the authors focus on non-union employee representation at the workplace, in the form of joint consultative committees (JCCs), and the potential moderating effects of union representation and high-involvement human resource (HIHR) practices.

The authors’ findings suggest a re-evaluation of the role that JCCs play in the subjective well-being of workers even after controlling for unions and progressive HR policies. There is no evidence in the authors’ estimates of negative interaction effects (i.e. that unions or HIHR negatively influence the functioning of JCCs with respect to employee satisfaction) or substitution (i.e. that unions or HIHR are substitutes for JCCs when it comes to improving self-reported worker well-being). If anything, there is a significant and positive three-way moderating effect when JCCs are interacted with union representation and high-involvement management.

This is the first time – to the authors’ knowledge – that comprehensive measures of subjective employee well-being are being estimated with respect to the presence of a JCC at the workplace, while controlling for workplace institutions (e.g. union representation and human resource policies) that are themselves designed to involve and communicate with workers.

Research into job design and employee outcomes has tended to examine job design in isolation of the wider organizational context, leading to calls to attend to the context in which work is embedded. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the interaction between job design and psychological climate on job satisfaction.

Cognitive dissonance theory was used to explore the nature of this relationship and its effect on job satisfaction. The authors hypothesized that psychological climate (autonomy, competence, relatedness dimensions) augments favorable perceptions of job demands and control when there is consistency between them (augmentation effect) and compensates for unfavorable perceptions when they are inconsistent (compensation effect).

Analysis of data from 3,587 individuals partially supported the hypotheses. Compensation effects were observed for job demands under a high autonomy and competence climate and for job control under a low competence climate. Augmentation effects were observed for job demands under a high relatedness climate.

When designing jobs managers should take into account the effects of psychological climate on employee outcomes.

This study has offered a way to bridge the job design and psychological climate fields and demonstrated that the call for more attention to the context in which jobs are embedded is worth heeding.

This chapter explores whether and how does the interplay of institutional context and management interventions lead older workers to delay retirement in Germany, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. The most important factors that influence retirement plans are placed on three analytical levels: the individual, the workplace and the institutional levels. It explores the importance of these factors and their cross-national variation in three different countries, namely Germany, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Using three national datasets we explore the relationship between the aforementioned factors via descriptive statistics and linear regression models. Institutional regulations seem to matter for retirement plans. But within countries, plans show varying patterns across social groups (lower educated, financially disadvantaged). The comparative design does not allow analysing specific institutional features directly, but findings are indicative for the fact that individuals take institutional frameworks into account when planning retirement transitions. The findings call for regime-specific solutions and future policies, for example, age-friendly workplace conditions and opportunities for requalification and mobility in Germany, rising retirement ages and greater financial security via more generous universal pension rights in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

In competitive labor markets, promoting employees’ learning becomes a key challenge for companies. However, in small German craft companies, employee development is always connected with worries about employee turnover. This study aims to investigate the current informal learning strategies of craft workers and how they use the strategies, the effect of learning on employees’ internal and external marketability and beneficial workplace characteristics (autonomy, feedback).

An online prestudy (N = 131) explored current informal learning strategies. In the main study (N = 526), cluster analysis was applied to identify patterns of informal learning strategies. The relations of these patterns to workplace characteristics and marketability were investigated.

Four informal learning strategies were found (informal learning from oneself, from others, from other sources and from new media). Craft workers used combinations of the strategies (i.e. patterns): three learning patterns (balanced high, person-oriented and balanced low) differed in intensity and combination with the learning strategy use. More intense learning patterns were positively related to internal marketability but were not related to external marketability. Higher autonomy and feedback availability were related to higher learning engagement.

Studies should have a broader view of informal learning strategies concerning different learning patterns. The use of new media is a learning strategy that might increase in the future.

Craft companies could promote different informal learning strategies without worries about employee turnover.

The study reveals how German small- and medium-sized enterprise employees use informal learning strategies in digitalized times and how human resources development can use informal learning strategies.

Building upon a competence-based employability model and a social exchange and proactive perspective, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between learning value of the job and employability among academic staff employees. Moreover, this study also examined whether this relationship was moderated by leader–member exchange (LMX) and a proactive coping style.

An online self-report questionnaire with thoroughly validated measures was distributed among academic staff employees (n=139).

The results partially supported the specific study assumptions. Concrete, learning value of the job was positively related to anticipation and optimization, corporate sense and balance. LMX moderated the relationship between learning value of the job, on the one hand, and all employability dimensions, on the other hand. However, proactive coping only moderated the relationship with anticipation and optimization, flexibility and balance. In all cases, under the condition of high moderator variable levels, the relationship became stronger.

This study extends past employability research by applying an interactionist perspective (person: proactive coping style, context: LMX and learning value of the job) approach for explaining employability enhancement. The results of this scholarly work provide useful insights for stimulating future career development and growth, which is of upmost importance in nowadays’ labor markets.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a model of organizational culture capable of more strongly predicting individual work behavior. For this purpose, the authors integrate the organizational culture profile (OCP) with two independent theories – regulatory focus theory and the theory of basic values.

Primary data were collected from 22 US public accounting firms. Partial least squares confirmatory composite analysis was used to test the theoretical structure and measurement metrics of the proposed factors.

The results support that the influence of organizational culture can be conceptualized consistent with a regulatory focus framework. The findings of our research indicate that promotion-focused culture is distinct from prevention-focused culture.

The results raise questions about the common practice across existing person-organization fit research of expecting generic effects across all seven OCP dimensions when predicting individual behaviors. Moreover, empirical evidence for the separate higher-order cultural dimensions supports the conclusion that the OCP’s seven dimensions reflect different underlying motivations likely important in predicting individual work behavior.

This study is the first to not only provide a confirmatory composite analysis of the measure of culture based on the OCP’s original seven cultural dimensions, but also examine the motivational properties of organizational culture through a regulatory focus framework.

This paper aims to provide empirical evidence of the associations between perceived job characteristics and workplace spirituality with environmental sustainability within the domain of small- and medium-sized enterprises. This study aims to investigate the influence of perceived job characteristics (job identity, task significance and task variety) on environmental sustainability through workplace spirituality.

Data are collected from 400 small and medium enterprises (SME) employees working in New Delhi, India, and Islamabad, Pakistan. Response rate in this study is 58 per cent. Structural equation modeling has been used to analyze the data through SmartPLS 3.0 and SPSS version 24.

The results indicate that perceived job characteristics have significant positive influence over workplace spirituality. It is concluded that workplace spirituality also significantly mediates the relationship between perceived job characteristics and environmental sustainability.

In the present study, perceived job characteristics have been evaluated to improve environmental sustainability in SMEs from Pakistan and India. Therefore, before generalization in the context of other countries can be made, the results obtained may need some modifications.

The research concerns the understanding of various job characteristics and environmental sustainability from the viewpoint of employees in SMEs at imparting perceived job characteristics as important factors to meet challenges relevant to environmental sustainability in the dynamic market.

There is anecdotal evidence claiming the pivotal role of job characteristics and workplace spirituality toward the recognition of sustainability in the progressive dynamic market. The results of this study represent the effectiveness of perceived job characteristics for accomplishing social objectives through workplace spirituality.

This study contributes to the field by bringing together the concepts of workplace spirituality with perceived job characteristics and environmental sustainability in the context of Pakistani and Indian SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to compare part-time and full-time employees, analyzing the relationship between job characteristics and workplace well-being (i.e. burnout and engagement) and the mediating role of the work-to-life conflict with a sample of 736 employees from 14 Portuguese call center companies.

The hypotheses were tested with multiple group analysis on two samples: part-time and full-time employees.

The results confirm that in both the part-time and full-time subsamples employees’ perceptions of job characteristics are related to their well-being, and the work-to-life conflict partially mediates this relationship. Moreover, the study confirms that the relationship between employees’ perceptions of job demands and the work-to-life conflict and between the work-to-life conflict and workplace well-being were stronger for full-time than for part-time employees.

The co-relational and cross-sectional design should be regarded as limitations. Moreover, each variable was only assessed with self-reported measures, and the sample comprised call center employees from only one country (Portugal), which may constrain the generalization of these results.

Part-time work is a good solution in order to prevent the work-to-life conflict. Furthermore, a reduced workload and time pressure, enhanced decision latitude and supervisory support appear to be crucial work characteristics for employees juggling their work with other roles and in the promotion of well-being at work.

This research study provides evidence that the traditional vision of the work-family conflict requires a broader conceptualization by considering the interference between life roles, particularly in the case of full-time young employees.