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1 – 10 of over 59000Isa Nsereko, Juma Wasswa Balunywa, Lawrence Musiitwa Kyazze, Hamidah Babirye Nsereko and Jamidah Nakato
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness, personal initiative and social entrepreneurial venture creation and to examine the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness, personal initiative and social entrepreneurial venture creation and to examine the mediating role of personal initiative in the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and social entrepreneurial venture creation among social ventures in Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a quantitative approach where hypotheses were statistically tested using structural equation modeling based on survey data (n = 243) from community-based organization owner-managers in Uganda.
Findings
Results show that both entrepreneurial alertness and social personal initiative are positively and significantly associated with social entrepreneurial venture creation. Results further indicate that personal initiative partially mediates the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and social entrepreneurial venture creation.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this study provides a shred of initial empirical evidence on the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness, entrepreneurial personal initiative and social entrepreneurial venture creation using evidence from Uganda, a developing country. Mostly, this study provides initial evidence of the mediating role of personal initiative in the relationship between entrepreneurial alertness and social entrepreneurial venture creation in an under-researched developing country – Uganda.
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Annika Lantz and Kin Andersson
Learning at work generalises through socialisation into behaviours away from the workplace. The aim of this study is to give empirical evidence of a positive relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
Learning at work generalises through socialisation into behaviours away from the workplace. The aim of this study is to give empirical evidence of a positive relationship between job design, self‐efficacy, competence efficacy and personal initiative at work, and proactive job search while under notice of redundancy and in unemployment.
Design/methodology/approach
The results are based on a detailed work task analysis and self‐reported data by individuals who had been made redundant (n=176).
Findings
The paper finds that the theoretical model received substantial, but not full support. Job design has impact on personal initiative through self‐efficacy and competence‐efficacy as mediating variables between job design and personal initiative. Personal initiative at work affects proactive job search when facing unemployment.
Research limitations/implications
A limitation is that the respondents in general had jobs that were low‐skilled and routine. It is likely that a research group with larger differences in job design would show stronger relations between job design and personal initiative.
Practical implications
Work task analysis identifies conditions at work that minimise and mitigate individual initiative and makes it possible to correct them in order both to enhance organisational effectiveness and the individuals' long‐term employability.
Originality/value
The paper proposes that autonomy and complexity, which are the aspects most predominant in the study of how job design affects personal initiative and self‐efficacy, are too limited. The sequential completeness provides a broader or narrower scope of work tasks and more or less feed back which is crucial for learning and mastery‐experiences. Demand on cooperation, demand on responsibility, cognitive demand and learning opportunities affect initiative‐taking as well.
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Joana R.C. Kuntz and Shalini Pandaram
This study drew on person-organization fit and ideological psychological contract theories to test whether inclusiveness, operationalized as sense of belonging, could be explained…
Abstract
Purpose
This study drew on person-organization fit and ideological psychological contract theories to test whether inclusiveness, operationalized as sense of belonging, could be explained by congruence/discrepancy between employees' personal value of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and employees' views of perceived organizational commitment to these initiatives. The study also examined whether sense of belonging, and perspectives of DEI initiatives, differed between majority [New Zealand European (NZE)] and minority [Māori/Pasifika (MP)] workers.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 771 employees from a New Zealand healthcare organization completed an online survey. Further to mean difference tests to contrast majority and minority group experiences, polynomial regressions with response surface methodology were conducted to examine congruence effects on sense of belonging.
Findings
While MP workers attributed greater personal value to DEI initiatives and viewed the organization as prioritizing these initiatives compared to NZ European (NZE) workers, MP workers experienced a lower sense of belonging. Further, the authors' results show that congruence at higher levels of personal and organizational importance ascribed to DEI initiatives was associated with greater sense of belonging. Contrary to the deficiency-based discrepancy effect proposed, the lowest levels of belonging were experienced at low levels of organizational commitment to DEI, regardless of personal diversity value. Additionally, MP were more susceptible to ideological psychological contract breach than NZE workers.
Practical implications
The authors' study highlights that while positive diversity climate perceptions are closely linked to perceptions of inclusion, organizations will discern the factors that contribute to or undermine inclusiveness by also gaging personal value DEI initiatives and the unique experiences of minority and majority groups.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the effect of diversity-related value congruence on employees' sense of belonging, and to uncover racioethnic differences in these effects.
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The purpose of this paper is to determine empirically the influence of leader-member exchange (LMX) on employees’ creativity and innovation. In addition, this study investigated…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine empirically the influence of leader-member exchange (LMX) on employees’ creativity and innovation. In addition, this study investigated the moderating role of employees’ personal initiative on the associations.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from 1,221 employees working in organizations across various industries in Australia.
Findings
The findings of this study revealed positive and significant relationships between LMX and employees’ creativity and innovation. Also, the findings indicated employees’ personal initiative moderated the LMX-employees’ creativity and LMX-employees’ innovation relationships.
Practical implications
Organizations should invest in LMX training and in the selection of leaders with this leadership style if their aim is to nurture and intensify employees’ creativity and innovation. They also should invest in personal initiative training in order to amplify the effect of LMX on creativity and innovation in organization.
Originality/value
This study makes vital theoretical contributions in different ways. In the domain of creativity and innovation, it addresses factors that impact employees’ creativity and innovation. It expands knowledge about organizational resources that nurture and enhance the creativity and innovation of employees. For LMX, this study supplements existing research by examining employees’ creativity and innovation as outcomes. Also, identifying personal initiative as an amplifier of the LMX-employees’ creativity and innovation relationships extends research in that domain. This study is also a rare investigation of the Australian context.
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Martin Mabunda Baluku, Dorothee Löser, Kathleen Otto and Steffen Erik Schummer
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of protean-related traits and attitudes in the development of international mobility (expatriation) and entrepreneurial intentions…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of protean-related traits and attitudes in the development of international mobility (expatriation) and entrepreneurial intentions among early career professionals. Career mobility is of increasing relevance to achieving career success in the era of protean and boundaryless careers, and in the present day highly globalized labor market. International mobility provides opportunities for work in organizations (corporate expatriation) as well as in entrepreneurship (expat entrepreneurship).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports two studies examining the role of “protean career personality,” conceptualized as consisting of personal initiative and flexibility on entrepreneurial and expatriation intention, looking at career orientation attitude as the mediating mechanism. In study 1, the impact of personal initiative and flexibility on the two career mobility paths is explored using a sample of 442 German undergraduate students. Study 2 replicates these relationships among a sample of 100 early career professionals who graduated with a diploma in psychology.
Findings
Results indicate that for the sample of undergraduate students, flexibility and career orientation were positively related to expatriation intention. However, the mediation path was non-significant. On the other hand, personal initiative and career orientation were essential for entrepreneurial intentions, with a significant mediation path. For the early career professionals in contrast, only flexibility turned out to be resourceful for both expatriation and entrepreneurial intentions.
Practical implications
Suggestions for supporting early career professionals to develop interest in working abroad or in entrepreneurship are provided. Particularly, the results indicate that protean traits affect mobility intentions differently. To strengthen intentions for expatriation work, attention should be paid enhancing the ability for staying flexible when it comes to career choices. This applies to both undergraduate students and early career professionals. However, a strong career orientation is also essential to the development of expatriation intention among current students. On the other hand, enhancing proactivity could strengthen entrepreneurial intention among undergraduate students.
Originality/value
This study applies protean-related traits and attitudes; and how they work together in the development of mobility intentions among undergraduate students and early career professionals. The study reveals differential roles of these traits and attitudes among these groups, with regard to expatriation and entrepreneurship. This is important for career guidance.
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Hongxin Wang, Chundong Zheng, Wenqing Wu and Fanhui Sui
Based on a personality-behavior-outcome framework, this study analyzes how entrepreneurs' dual narcissism (i.e. narcissistic admiration and rivalry) affects new venture growth…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on a personality-behavior-outcome framework, this study analyzes how entrepreneurs' dual narcissism (i.e. narcissistic admiration and rivalry) affects new venture growth (NVG) through learning from entrepreneurial failure (LFEF) and discusses the moderating effect of personal initiative on the relationship between dual narcissism and LFEF.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 294 entrepreneurs from different cities and industries in China were selected as the research sample. The mediation effect was examined using the PROCESS macro, and the moderation effect was tested via hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
This study found that narcissistic admiration positively affected NVG, while narcissistic rivalry had the opposite effect. LFEF mediated the relationships between narcissistic admiration/rivalry and NVG. In addition, the effects of narcissistic admiration and rivalry on LFEF were moderated by personal initiative.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that entrepreneurs with narcissistic rivalry should deliberately regulate their cognition of failure and strengthen their learning from failure. Moreover, entrepreneurship education mentors should emphasize cultivating and guiding entrepreneurs' personal initiative in the context of frustration education. In addition, venture capitalists can consider incorporating the personality traits (i.e. dual narcissism and personal initiative) of entrepreneurs into the investment decision-making index system.
Originality/value
This study advances the relationship between narcissism and performance through the perspective of dual narcissism and provides a learning theory perspective for analyzing the narcissism–performance relationship. Moreover, by exploring the moderating role of personal initiative, this study enriches the understanding of the conditional factor that affects the ability to learn from failure.
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Based on the self-determination and affective events theories, the current research examined the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy (OSE) between individualized…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on the self-determination and affective events theories, the current research examined the mediating role of occupational self-efficacy (OSE) between individualized consideration transformational leadership (ICTL) and affective commitment relationship. Furthermore, this study tests the moderating role of personal growth initiative on the relationship between ICTL and OSE.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine the relationship, the authors carried out a time-lagged study spanning over four months for analyzing the indirect effect of ICTL on affective commitment via OSE among 382 Generation Y employees working in Indian IT (information technology) organizations. Results were analyzed using Process macro.
Findings
The study results revealed that OSE significantly mediated the relationship between ICTL and affective commitment. It was also established that the positive relationship between ICTL and OSE was stronger among employees who perceived higher levels of personal growth initiative.
Practical implications
The findings carry substantial implications for researchers and organizational practitioners. Indeed, the results indicate that human resource management practitioners are required to nurture an ICTL approach for boosting employees' affective commitment levels.
Originality/value
The study proposed a model focusing on the role of ICTL in enhancing employees' OSE and affective commitment. Also, the study contributes to existent research by demonstrating the role of personal growth initiative in understanding the relationship between ICTL and OSE. Moreover, this study provides theoretical and practical implications.
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Anna Carmella G. Ocampo and Melissa Lopez Reyes
A positive perception of work helps counteract the stress and psychological loss because of non-optimal working conditions. This paper aims to hypothesize two pathways through…
Abstract
Purpose
A positive perception of work helps counteract the stress and psychological loss because of non-optimal working conditions. This paper aims to hypothesize two pathways through which social-psychological resources in the workplace contribute to positive work perception: one pathway is direct and the other is through the mediating mechanism of youth’s internal resource.
Design/methodology/approach
Filipino working youth from a government program for out-of-school poor youth, or working students enrolled in a free night high school, completed pertinent scales of the Multicontext Assessment Battery of Youth Development.
Findings
Co-workers’ endorsement of work values and their joint exercise of resilience-building skills build youth’s positive work perception. Youth’s personal initiative contributes to their positive work perception by its direct influence and also by its mediating mechanism.
Research limitations/implications
The cross-sectional survey of this study does not allow for a definitive temporal progression from resources to positive work perception as does a longitudinal study.
Social implications
For poor working youth, the threats of a financially bleak future can be tempered by an attitude that recognizes work not only as financially necessary but also as beneficial to one’s growth. The social-psychological resources in the workplace and the youth’s emerging personal initiative jointly contribute to a positive perception of work.
Originality/value
The current research shifts the focus of analysis from disadvantageous employment conditions to the affective and motivational aspects of employment and uses the conservation-of-resources theory to plot the flow of resources from the workplace to the worker.
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Saija Mauno, Bettina Kubicek, Jaana Minkkinen and Christian Korunka
In order to understand the driving forces behind intensified job demands (IJDs), the purpose of this paper is to examine demographic factors, structural work-related factors…
Abstract
Purpose
In order to understand the driving forces behind intensified job demands (IJDs), the purpose of this paper is to examine demographic factors, structural work-related factors, personal and job resources as antecedents of IJDs.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on cross-sectional (n=4,963) and longitudinal (n=2,055) quantitative data sets of Austrian employees. Data sets were analyzed via regression analyses.
Findings
The results showed that IJDs, as assessed through five sub-dimensions: work intensification, intensified job-related, career-related planning and decision-making demands, intensified demands for skills and for knowledge-related learning, remained fairly stable overtime. The most consistent antecedents of IJDs were personal initiative and ICT use at work. Job resources, e.g. variety of tasks and lacking support from supervisor, related to four sub-dimensions of IJDs.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that personal (being initiative) and job resources (task variety) may have negative effects as they associated with IJDs. Moreover, supervisors’ support is crucial to counteract IJDs.
Practical implications
Employers should recognize that certain personal (e.g. personal initiative) and job-related resources (e.g. lacking supervisory support) might implicate higher IJDs, which, in turn, may cause more job strain as IJDs can be conceived as job stressors.
Originality/value
IJDs have received very little research attention because they are new job demands, which however, can be expected to increase in future due to faster technological acceleration in working life. The study has methodological value as longitudinal design was applied.
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Benjamin J. de Boer, Edwin A. J. van Hooft and Arnold B. Bakker
Individuals differ in their levels of self-control. Trait self-control has been found to relate positively to desirable and negatively to undesirable behaviors in contexts like…
Abstract
Purpose
Individuals differ in their levels of self-control. Trait self-control has been found to relate positively to desirable and negatively to undesirable behaviors in contexts like physical health, academic performance, and criminality. The purpose of this study is to examine the relevance of trait self-control in work-settings. The authors distinguished between two types of self-control, stop-control (inhibitory control) and start-control (initiatory control), and tested their differential validity in predicting contextual performance.
Design/methodology/approach
In two independent employee samples, stop-control, start-control, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), personal initiative, and proactive coping were measured. Counterproductive work behavior (CWB) was added in Study 2.
Findings
Results showed that only start-control was positively related to OCB, personal initiative, and proactive coping. Both stop-control and start-control were negatively related to CWB.
Research limitations/implications
Findings support the validity of distinguishing between stop-control and start-control, suggesting that self-control theory and models should be refined to incorporate this distinction. Limitations include the correlational design and self-report measures. Although results were similar across two independent studies, future research is needed to test the generalizability of the conclusions in other settings, using non-self-report data.
Practical implications
The distinction between stop-control and start-control may help organizations in selecting staff and assigning tasks.
Originality/value
The present research introduces the distinction between two conceptually different types of self-control (stop-control and start-control), demonstrating their relevance to work-related behavior.
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