Full circle support: unpacking the relationship between women entrepreneurs’ family-to-work support and work interference with family

With an anchoring in conservation of resources theory, this study examines the mediating role of women entrepreneurs’ work-related emotional exhaustion in the relationship between their family-to-business support and work interference with family, as well as the moderating role of the entrepreneurial character of their company’s strategy in this process. Survey data collected from women entrepreneurs in Argentina indicate that a notable reason that business support received from the family diminishes work interference with that same family is that it abates the sense of being overburdened by work. This benefit of reduced exhaustion is especially prominent to the extent that women entrepreneurs pursue an energy-consuming, entrepreneurial strategy for their business. For entrepreneurship scholars and practitioners, this research accordingly reveals a critical channel through which supportive family relationships can decrease the probability that women entrepreneurs bring work challenges home (i.e., diminished depletion of work energy), and it shows how this explanatory factor varies with the strategic profile they adopt for their business.

     

Work role stressors and turnover intentions: a study of professional clergy in Hong Kong

Work and occupational stress have long been concerns for employees and human resource managers as they cause many negative outcomes. Most of the previous studies on work stress were conducted in Western countries, while limited research has addressed this important topic in the Asian context. In this study, we examine the effects of several work role stressors (i.e. role ambiguity, role conflict, role overload and work–family conflict) on emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction and intentions to leave. Additionally, we test the mediating effects of emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction between the relationship of role stressors and intentions to leave. Data were collected from a sample of 887 professional clergy in Hong Kong. The results of regression analysis show that role stressors have a significant impact on both emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction, which in turn affect respondents' intentions to leave their organization.     

Exploring creative entrepreneurs’ happiness: cognitive style,guanxi and creativity

Traditional economic theories generally assume that entrepreneurs’ satisfaction is largely affected by financial performance of their entrepreneurial business, while recent research suggests that entrepreneurs’ happiness is more important than financial success. Drawing upon the theories of entrepreneurial cognition and social networks, we develop a model to explore the factors influencing entrepreneurs’ happiness. A total of 270 creative entrepreneurs in Taiwan’s creative industries are studied. Results show that entrepreneurs’ creating cognitive style has a positive effect on both entrepreneurs’ creativity and firm creativity, but entrepreneurs’ planning cognitive style has a negative effect. Findings indicate that entrepreneurs with strong family ties and business ties have high level of individual creativity and firm creativity, which then have a positive influence on entrepreneurs’ happiness.     

Women’s experiences of legitimacy,satisfaction and commitment as entrepreneurs: embedded in gender hierarchy and networks in private and business spheres

ABSTRACT

When a woman perceives legitimacy in her job as an entrepreneur from networks that are often influenced by the gender hierarchy that grants men higher status than women, she is encouraged in her job. What are the effects of gender hierarchy and networks on the legitimacy a female entrepreneur perceives and on her satisfaction and commitment to the job? A sample of 5997 female entrepreneurs in the developing world was surveyed for Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. They were found to experience legitimacy as entrepreneurs in their networks in the private sphere and the business sphere. Gender hierarchy constrains legitimacy more in the private sphere than it does in the business sphere. Legitimacy in the business sphere can fulfil the need to feel competent and enhance job satisfaction, while legitimacy in the private sphere can fulfil the need to feel related and enhance job commitment. The account contributes to a two-level contextualization of experiences: micro-level embedding in networks that are nested in macro-level embedding in gender hierarchy.     

The relationship between perceived training and development and employee retention: the mediating role of work attitudes

Abstract

This paper considers how utilizing a model of job-related affect can be used to explain the processes through which perceived training and development influence employee retention. We applied Russell’s model of core affect to categorize four different forms of work attitude, and positioned these as mediators of the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay. Using data from 1191 employees across seven organizations, multilevel analyses found that job satisfaction, employee engagement and change-related anxiety were significantly associated with intention to stay, and fully mediated the relationship between perceived training and development and intention to stay. Contrary to our hypotheses, emotional exhaustion was not significantly associated with intention to stay nor acted as a mediator when the other attitudes were included. These findings show the usefulness of Russell’s model of core affect in explaining the link between training and development and employee retention. Moreover, the findings collectively suggest that studies examining employee retention should include a wider range of work attitudes that highlight pleasant forms of affect.     

Using a dual system of reasoning in small businesses: Entrepreneurial decisions and subjective risk intelligence

This study aims at introducing subjective risk intelligence (SRI) in the context of small businesses to analyze how both rationality and intuition may influence the entrepreneurial decision-making process, particularly in affecting firms’ financial equilibrium.

SRI aggregates four dimensions: two positive attitudes (imaginative capability and problem-solving self-efficacy) and two detrimental ones (emotional stress vulnerability and negative attitude towards uncertainty). In particular, we argue that imaginative capability and emotional stress vulnerability refer to Kahneman’s System 1 (the intuitive), while problem-solving self-efficacy and negative attitude towards uncertainty appertain to System 2 (the rational).

We conducted an empirical investigation collecting data from an ad hoc survey administered to owners and managers of small businesses and their balance sheets over 2013–2017. After testing the proposed constructs’ reliability, we tested the influence that both Systems 1 and 2 have on SMEs’ financial structure through a pooled OLS regression estimator.

Results show that the intuitive and the rational components of risk intelligence affect entrepreneurs’ decision-making differently. The rational component seems to stimulate the entrepreneurial orientation to risk tolerance. The intuitive component limits the entrepreneurial propensity to take financial risks due to the desire for stability attached to this cognitive process. Accordingly, we highlight the importance of enhancing a balance between the two systems of thinking. Practical implications suggest that entrepreneurs with a dominant attitude towards problem-solving self-efficacy, or a positive attitude towards uncertainty, should invest in developing imaginative capabilities or emotional control, and vice versa.

     

Feeling successful as an entrepreneur: a job demands — resources approach

This cross-sectional study among 277 Dutch entrepreneurs investigates how entrepreneurs’ job demands relate to their work-related strain and work engagement, as well as their feelings of subjective success. As such it contributes to the literature firstly by focusing on psychological rather than business outcomes of entrepreneurship, and secondly by contextualizing demands and resources for entrepreneurs, e.g. capturing the general but also the specific factors that are demands and resources in entrepreneurial work. Results of the study show that work-related strain is related to both less personal and less financial subjective business success. Work engagement is related to higher personal, but not financial subjective business success. As predicted by the JD-R Model, both high job demands and low job resources predicted work-related strain. In contrast to findings of other studies, high job demands are not related to low work engagement, only having low job resources did. The practical implication of these findings is that entrepreneurs can achieve an important competitive advantage over other entrepreneurs if they can learn to deal effectively with job demands and work-related strain. The challenge for policy makers is to get more information about how to assist business owners in eliminating and preventing work-related strain in order to achieve higher subjective financial and personal success.     

Trust in the supervisor and the development of employees’ social capital during organizational entry: a conservation of resources approach

Abstract

This article aims to understand how trust in the supervisor contributes to the development of employees’ social capital using Conservation of Resources theory as a theoretical framework and networking ability as an indicator of social capital development. We hypothesize that the relationship between newcomers’ trust in the supervisor and networking ability will be mediated by feedback seeking from the supervisor and moderated by emotional exhaustion. Based on a three-wave time-lagged study of newcomers (N = 224), we found trust in the supervisor to be indirectly and positively related to networking ability through the mediating influence of feedback seeking from the supervisor. In addition, feedback seeking interacted with emotional exhaustion in predicting networking ability such that it was more positively related to it at high levels of emotional exhaustion. The indirect relationship of trust to networking ability as mediated by feedback seeking was also stronger at high levels of emotional exhaustion. We discuss this study’s implications for our understanding of supervisors’ role and newcomers’ experience during entry, as well as for social capital research.     

The role of assessment centers in job satisfaction and organizational commitment: a case of the Korean government

While many studies have shown how assessment centers affect employees’ career success or job performance, these studies do not demonstrate how employees’ attitudes are affected by their perception of assessment centers. This study aims to investigate the influence of employees’ perception of assessment centers on their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, which are the key elements in predicting working behaviors, such as job performance, job involvement, and turnover intentions. To analyze the nature of the influence, 306 employees who had been evaluated by an assessment center in the Korean Rural Development Administration (KRDA) were surveyed. Regression analysis revealed that although there is no influence on their organizational commitment, employees with a positive perception of assessment centers experience higher levels of job satisfaction (p < .01). These results suggest that the positive perception of assessment centers affects the general feeling of organizational members about their work even though it does not affect their emotional attachment to the organization or dedication to organizational values. Thus, assessment centers can be used as a tool not only to select capable candidates but also to yield positive effects on organizational members’ job attitudes.     

Driving factors for eco-innovation orientation: meeting sustainable growth in Tunisian agribusiness

The agricultural and agri-food sectors have substantial environmental impacts due to the great volumes of food, energy, water, and packaging waste that these businesses generate. Eco-innovations present an important opportunity to mitigate this effect. Even though eco-innovation seeks to reduce environmental damage in the food and agri-food sectors, researchers have paid slight attention to the role of eco-innovation in agribusiness; however, several insights suggest that it would be worthwhile to examine the motivation drivers toward the adoption of eco-innovations. The current study sheds light on the driving forces of eco-innovation and its impact on sustainable business growth. This paper tests a set of hypothesized relationships that focus on a sample of 306 Tunisian enterprises. We harness structural equation modelling to examine the relationship between the driving factors of eco-innovation and enterprises’ sustainable business growth by analysing the eco-innovation strategy's mediating effects. The findings reveal: (1) regulatory-side drivers constitute the most influential factor that motivates entrepreneurs to adopt an eco-innovation strategy, (2) there is a positive relationship between eco-innovation strategy and enterprises’ sustainable business growth, and (3) eco-innovation strategy plays a fully mediating role between the driving factors and enterprises’ sustainable business growth. The present study led us to consider that an entrepreneur with an emotional attachment to the environment is designed as a decisive driver for eco-innovation.

     

Job demands,control and support: Meta-analyzing moderator effects of gender,nationality, and occupation

The job demands-control (-support) model (JDC(S)) remains one of the most influential to HR-related issues of work stress, organizational behavior, and job design. However, despite over 37 years of research, the first meta-analysis of the model was conducted only recently. It examined interrelationships between the model's three workplace characteristics: demand, control and support in order to better understand how employees view relationships between these prominent work dimensions. A rather surprising result was the near-zero demand-control relationship, which was found to be moderated by gender. The current analysis extends our understanding of DCS interrelationships to include examination of nationality and occupation as additional moderating variables. We also build on the initial review by extending moderator analysis to relationships between demand-control-support dimensions and job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion — the two most examined psychological outcomes in primary studies. The present meta-analysis narrows the field of studies to 141 studies (N_{(Individuals)} = 145,424) of Karasek's model which include these outcomes. Our findings show additional patterns of gender moderation, including moderation of the demands-job satisfaction relationship. Additionally, both nationality and occupation moderate every DCS interrelationship, and relationship with job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in some way. Our results offer new understanding as to the boundaries of these relationships, and the JDC(S) model; and invite further theory building and meta-analytic investigation.     

Effects of job stress on self-esteem,job satisfaction,and turnover intention

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on female inbound call center counselors who are easily exposed to emotional labor when customers express anger and hostility and use swear words toward invisible targets on the phone. Our study is based on 244 responses from female inbound call center counselors. Job stress has a significantly negative effect on job satisfaction and self-esteem. It was shown that self-esteem has a partially mediating effect, and turnover experience had a moderating effect. It is important to shed new light on the roles of self-esteem among determinants of job satisfaction.     

Women in the migrant economy. A positional approach to contextualize gendered transnational trajectories

ABSTRACT

Drawing on the life histories of migrant women entrepreneurs in the Netherlands and Spain, this article explores the influence of transnational trajectories on their social positions and business strategies. A translocational positional approach enables us to research the transnational strategies of women entrepreneurs more effectively in addition to examining the changes in social positions and gendered identities between the country of origin and the country of destination. This approach contributes to scholarship on ‘context’ by offering a transnational gendered dimension in relation to the effects of social, spatial and institutional factors. Our findings demonstrate how female migrant entrepreneurs redefine their social status in different contexts by establishing a business and challenge, contest or comply with gender relations in their transnational entrepreneurial journeys.     

Perceptions of high‐involvement work practices and burnout: the mediating role of job demands

This study examined the impact of perceived high‐involvement work practices on job demands (role conflict, role overload and role ambiguity) and burnout (emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation). The study was conducted in a Canadian general hospital. Findings from structural equation modelling (N = 545) revealed that perceived HIWPs were significantly and negatively related to job demands and burnout. Role conflict and role overload have a significant positive association with emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation. Finally, role conflict and role overload partially mediate the relationship between perceived HIWPs and burnout. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings for our understanding of how HIWPs influence the job demands and burnout of employees.     

Entrepreneurs’ achieved success: developing a multi-faceted measure

Firm performance is typically measured via objective financial indicators. However, researchers increasingly acknowledge that entrepreneurs do not measure their success solely in financial terms but that a range of often subjective indicators matter to them. This article contributes to the debate on entrepreneurial performance by studying how entrepreneurs assess their achieved success. ‘Entrepreneurs’ achieved success’ was conceptualized as a multi-faceted construct that includes entrepreneurs’ self-reported achievement of firm performance, workplace relationships, personal fulfilment, community impact, and personal financial rewards. It was measured via the Subjective Entrepreneurial Success–Achievement Scale (SES-AS). Over the course of three studies (N?=?390) the factorial structure of ‘entrepreneurs’ achieved success’ was established and largely replicated in two cultures. Based on a nomological network, we documented relationships among ‘entrepreneurs’ achieved success’, quasi-objective indicators of firm performance, and entrepreneurs’ financial satisfaction, creativity, and health. Based on our research, we propose a new conceptual framework to study performance in the context of entrepreneurship. This framework acknowledges both the success criteria that entrepreneurs wish to achieve and those that they actually achieve, and extends our understanding of firm performance.

     

Organizational culture and work–life integration: A barrier to employees’ respite?

Abstract

The management of work–life boundaries is portrayed in the literature as being a matter of individual choice. Accordingly, organizational influence has been underestimated. The first objective of this article is therefore to determine whether an organizational culture of integration (e.g. expectations about taking work home) can influence individuals’ ability to act on their personal preference for segmentation. The second objective is to determine whether a mismatch between culture and personal preferences can influence the emotional state of employees and, if so, in what way. A study of 243 employees showed that the perception of an organizational culture of integration reduced the effect of preference for segmentation on employees’ ability to detach themselves from work during rest periods. Further, a path analysis highlighted a moderated mediation, indicating that preference for segmentation was associated with reduced emotional exhaustion in employees by promoting a high level of psychological detachment, and this reduction was even stronger among those who perceived a weak culture of integration in their organization. This study proposes that jointly with individual preference for segmentation or integration, the norms and expectations of an organization have considerable influence on employees’ ability to detach and recover during non-work time.     

Exploring the psychological mechanisms linking work-related factors with work–family conflict and work–family facilitation among Taiwanese nurses

Based on the logic of the job demands-resources model, we argue that work-related factors that demand workers’ resources, such as job overload and organizational constraints, may lead to work–family conflict through emotional exhaustion. Other work-related factors that generate resources for workers, such as job autonomy and task significance, may lead to work–family facilitation through job satisfaction. Analyzing survey data collected from different sources among professional nurses in Taiwan, we use structural equation modeling technique to find support for our hypotheses. Our study complements the work and family literature by demonstrating the mechanisms through which work-related factors may demand or provide workers with resources that lead to work–family conflict and work–family facilitation, respectively.     

Emotional intelligence,job satisfaction,well‐being and engagement: explaining organisational commitment and turnover intentions in policing

This study examines the effect of emotional intelligence upon the job satisfaction, well‐being and engagement of police officers in explaining their organisational commitment and turnover intentions. Survey responses from 193 police officers in Australia were analysed using partial least squares path modelling. As predicted, emotional intelligence leads to job satisfaction and well‐being, with positive path relationships leading to employee engagement and organisational commitment, thereby affecting turnover intentions. Organisational commitment was found to partially mediate the causal relationship between employee engagement and turnover intentions. The findings of this research have important theoretical and practical implications for police officer retention.     

International business travelers’ psychological well-being: the role of supportive HR practices

This study examines the effects of the job demands and job resources typical of international business travel (IBT) on psychological well-being (job exhaustion, vigor and satisfaction with work-related travel) among 232 Finnish IBTs. The study is theoretically based on the job demands-resources model and both health impairment and motivational processes were examined alongside the interaction effects of job demands and job resources. Path analysis based on structural equation modeling showed that, of the job demands, workload and pressure experienced in work demanding IBT predicted job exhaustion, but risks related to travel destinations did not. Viewed as job resources, supportive HR practices for traveling (well-functioning and safe travel arrangements and an opportunity for post-travel recovery) predicted vigor and satisfaction with traveling work. They also provided a buffer against the negative effects of the risks of travel destinations on job exhaustion and boosted satisfaction with work travel under circumstances of high risk related to travel destinations. Our findings indicate that organizations should pay greater attention to the workload and the pressure under which IBTs work, and develop supportive HR practices, especially for IBTs who experience high safety and health risks, for example, at their destination.