HR,perceived organisational support and organisational identification: an analysis after organisational formation

Academic research has rarely investigated the role that people management plays in encouraging employees to identify with their employing organisation. This article reports on a study investigating the role that employee perceptions of the HR environment plays in encouraging organisational identification and the importance of perceived organisational support in this relationship. Two research surveys are discussed, one carried out shortly after the formation of the new organisation within the UK National Health Service, and one is a replication study undertaken 13 months later. The results show that key HR‐related factors predict organisational identification; this effect is both direct and indirect through perceptions of organisational support. The findings also demonstrate that, as the organisation matures, there are some interesting changes in which aspects of the HR environment predict identification and perceptions of organisational support.     

Procedural justice and identification with the acquirer: the moderating effects of job continuity,organisational identity strength and organisational similarity

This study examined factors influencing whether acquired employees identify with their acquirer and the complex role that the different types of continuity play in moderating relationships between procedural justice and post‐acquisition identification. Data were obtained (n = 156) from a three‐country sample of employees working for a recently acquired multinational. Multiple regressions showed that expected job continuity moderated the relationship between acquirer procedural justice and post‐acquisition identification. Analysis examined combinations of two organisational identity‐related continuity forms (organisational similarity and acquirer organisational identity); results showed complex interactional effects of organisational similarity and acquirer organisational identity on the relationship between justice and identification with the acquirer.     

Effect of participative intervention on organisational justice perceptions: a quasi-experimental study on Finnish public sector employees

Changes in the perception of organisational justice have received limited attention in earlier studies. The purpose of this study is to examine whether a 2-year large-scale participative intervention had an effect on justice perceptions among employees. We conducted surveys in three towns (two case towns, one control town) on a total of 1584 municipal employees in 114 work groups that were observed before and after the interventions. Multilevel regression analysis showed that the participative intervention approach was associated with improvement in employees' justice perceptions. Moreover, the employees' evaluation of the implementation of intervention played an important role. Only among those who evaluated that the intervention had been successful, there was an improvement in their perceptions of interactional and procedural justice. The changes in organisational justice were seen at both individual and work group levels.     

Justice source and justice content: evaluating the fairness of organisational career management practices

This article presents part of the findings of a multi‐method study into employee perceptions of fairness in relation to the organisational career management (OCM) practices of a large financial retailer. It focuses on exploring how employees construct fairness judgements of their career experiences and the role played by the organisational context and, in particular, OCM practices in forming these judgements. It concludes that individuals can, and do, separate the source and content of (in)justice when it comes to evaluating these experiences. The relative roles of the employer, line manager and career development opportunities in influencing employee fairness evaluations are discussed. Conceptual links with organisational justice theory are proposed, and it is argued that the academic and practitioner populations are provided with empirical evidence for a new theoretical framework for evaluating employee perceptions of, and reactions to, OCM practices.     

The role of pay secrecy policies and employee secrecy preferences in shaping job attitudes

Although pay secrecy continues to garner attention in human resource management, little research examines how these policies impact employees. Research inconsistently links secretive pay policies to unfavourable outcomes but has yet to consider that employees may have varying attitudes toward these policies. We examine how employee preferences modify the effect that organisational pay secrecy policies have on employee attitudes in a sample of 431 employed adults. To accomplish this goal, we create measures of pay secrecy policies and pay secrecy preferences that each differentiate two facets of pay secrecy: distributive pay non‐disclosure and communication restriction. Polynomial and moderated regression analyses indicated that disparities between employee preferences and organisational pay secrecy policies can reduce job satisfaction and perceptions of informational, interpersonal, and procedural justice under certain circumstances. These results simultaneously highlight the importance of employee attitudes toward pay secrecy policies and the challenges human resource practitioners face in managing employees with diverse preferences.     

Consistency Matters! How and When Does Corporate Social Responsibility Affect Employees’ Organizational Identification?

Despite the increasing attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the management literature, little is known about the mechanisms and boundary conditions explaining employees’ responses to CSR. Drawing on social identity and cue consistency theory, we develop a mediated moderation model that explains how and under which conditions perceived CSR affects employees’ organizational identification. We test the model by carrying out a three‐wave longitudinal study on employees of an international utility company. The findings indicate that perceived CSR interacts with overall justice to predict organizational identification through the successive mediation of perceived external prestige and organizational pride. The study clarifies and advances some of the theoretical foundations surrounding the micro‐level approach of CSR and has key implications for management research and practice.     

Talent management and organisational justice: employee reactions to high potential identification

We examined how perceived distributive and procedural justice affected the relationship between an employee's identification as a high potential (drawn from archival data), job satisfaction and work effort. A questionnaire was distributed within one large company among employees who were and employees who were not identified as a high potential (n = 203). The results indicated that perceptions of distributive justice were significantly higher for employees identified as a high potential. Moreover, perceived distributive justice fully mediated the relationship between an employee's identification and his or her level of job satisfaction. The results also revealed that perceptions of procedural justice moderated the relationship between perceived distributive justice and work effort. Theoretical and practical consequences of these findings are discussed.     

Opportunity,fair process and relationship value: career development as a driver of proactive work behaviour

In line with recent findings from organisational justice theory, we hypothesised that employee proactive behaviour and careerist orientation is predicted by the interplay of perceived favourability of career development opportunities, the perceived fairness of the procedures used to decide them, and employee organisational commitment. Employees (N = 325) of a large financial services organisation responded to a self‐completion questionnaire. As predicted, when career development opportunities were viewed unfavourably, perceived procedural justice was significantly and positively related to individual proactive behaviour and significantly and negatively related to careerist orientation but only when organisational commitment was high. It appears that high procedural justice may only ‘offset’ the negative effects of unfavourable career development opportunities when employees identify with, and are committed to, their organisation. Further support is presented for a relational, rather than instrumental, model of procedural justice when reflecting on employee reactions to their employers’ policies and decision‐making. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Managing organisational culture: insights from the hospitality industry

Despite the widespread criticism of the culture management approach by respected academics, recent surveys indicate that managers are continuing to engage in planned cultural interventions. Indeed, reports demonstrate that managing organisational culture is one of the most popular forms of managerial intervention, with one survey concluding that over 90 per cent of organisations engage in planned cultural change. This study describes and analyses organisational culture interventions in four companies within a single industry. It argues that the conceptualisation of organisational culture and culture change should be differentiated in ways that recognise the significance of contextual factors. It presents an analysis of interventions in the hospitality industry and delineates four insights from this sector that are pertinent to the theory and practice of managing cultural change.     

High‐commitment human resource practices and employee outcomes: The contingent role of organisational identification

In this paper, we examine whether the relationship between high‐commitment human resource (HR) practices and two employee outcomes, quit intentions and organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs), is contingent on organisational identification. Incorporating insights from both social exchange and social identity theories, we propose that the relationship between high‐commitment HR systems, intention to quit, and OCBs is attenuated when employees strongly identify with their organisation. This proposition was tested and supported with employees of a Swedish relocation company and a Greek shipping organisation. For high identifiers, as perceptions of HR practices deteriorated from high to low, they were associated with smaller increases in quit intentions and smaller decreases in citizenship behaviours. But overall, high identifiers always had lower quit intentions and higher citizenship behaviours than low identifiers, which is managerially reassuring.     

The perceived fairness of work–life balance policies: A UK case study of solo‐living managers and professionals without children

The ability to reconcile work and private life is a matter relevant to all employees, though not all may seek “balance.” Research indicates that organisational work–life balance policies and flexible working arrangements often focus on the needs of working parents, with one potential outcome being “family‐friendly backlash,” or counterproductive work behaviour from those without caring responsibilities. This paper analyses data from 36 interviews with childless solo‐living managers and professionals, exploring perceptions of fairness in relation to these policies. In contrast to previous studies, despite recognising a strong family‐care orientation in employer provisions, perceptions of unfair treatment or injustice were not pronounced in most cases, and thus there was little evidence of backlash/counterproductive work behaviour. The paper uses and develops organisational justice theory to explain the findings, emphasising the importance of situating individual justice orientations within perceived organisational policy and wider regulatory contexts. It also emphasises the importance of evaluating fairness of work–life balance policies and flexible working arrangements in relation to other aspects of the employment relationship, notably opportunities for career development and progression.     

Trusting the fair supervisor: the role of supervisory support in performance appraisals

Applying social exchange theory and organisational support theory to a performance appraisal context, we hypothesised that perceived supervisory support would mediate the relationships between both interpersonal and informational justice, and trust in the supervisor. The data were collected from 526 full‐time working adults, who answered questions about the fairness of their organisation's current performance appraisal process. Using structural equation modelling, both calibration (n = 278) and cross‐validation (n = 248) field samples showed that perceived supervisory support mediated the justice–supervisor trust relationships. Our findings suggest that perceived supervisory support serves as a mechanism through which perceptions of interpersonal and informational justice foster trust in supervisors. Implications for organisational practice and areas for future research are discussed.     

The link between perceived HRM practices,performance and well‐being: the moderating effect of trust in the employer

The present study examines the interaction between perceived HRM practices and trust in the employer on employee performance and well‐being. Specifically, the study tests whether trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceptions of HRM practices and task performance (as rated by employees’ supervisors), organisational citizenship behaviour, turnover intentions and employee well‐being. Support was found for the majority of the hypotheses using data from 613 employees and their line managers in a service sector organisation in the UK. Trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceived HRM practices and task performance, turnover intentions and individual well‐being, but not organisational citizenship behaviour. Implications of the findings for organisations and future research are discussed.     

The HR department's role in organisational performance

Research into how HR contributes to organisational performance is plentiful yet plagued by challenges. Alongside the ‘black box’ issue between HRM and performance, the time‐lag effect and the range of performance indicators applied, the role of the HR department in this relationship is critical although often ignored. A longitudinal case study is presented here that focuses particularly on this issue, and shows a complex picture of improving HR department importance alongside high‐level financial performance, but declining employee commitment and morale. The article suggests that the tensions between the rhetoric of HRM strategy, the grim reality of the employee experience and a lack of focus on human capital meant the outstanding financial performance was not sustainable in the longer term. The inherent conflict in serving both management and employees in process‐and peopleorientated roles is highlighted.     

Work context and employee behaviour as antecedents for intrapreneurship

Intrapreneurial employees and intrapreneurial projects are considered to be an important driver of innovation and strategic renewal within companies. While many studies addressed the top-down implementation of innovative projects, analyses of employee initiatives in promoting innovation within companies are scarce. This paper therefore takes a bottom-up approach and focuses on employee behaviour and how it can be stimulated towards intrapreneurship. We propose and test a two-step model where formal and informal work context affects employees’ intrapreneurial behaviour, which then provides the basis for bottom-up initiated intrapreneurial projects. Our empirical data consist of questionnaire responses of 176 employees in six Dutch companies. The results of structural equation model estimations indicate that formal organisational factors (horizontal participation, resource availability) affect employees’ intrapreneurial behaviour, but also highlight informal factors such as trust in the direct manager. We also find that innovativeness and personal initiative, but not risk taking, play a role for an effective translation of employees’ behaviour into intrapreneurial projects.     

‘No strings attached?’: How attribution of disinterested support affects employee retention

Appearance of disinterestedness is a social norm that has long been recognised by social scientists as essential to the development of social exchange relationships. Despite the predominance of social exchange theory within the field of management, management scholars have so far largely overlooked the role of this norm in their models. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating how employees' attribution of disinterested organisational support (i.e. support perceived by employees as not resulting from an underlying calculation) is related to employee retention. The hypotheses were tested in a longitudinal study of 151 management‐level employees. Results showed that perceptions of disinterested support decrease employee voluntary turnover through enhancing perceptions of organisational support and organisational commitment, and lessening turnover intention.     

Working below and above the line: the research–practice gap in diversity management

In HRM, a line can be drawn that distinguishes research on formal organisational programmes (above‐the‐line research) from research on organisational practices as they are experienced by employees (below‐the‐line research). Diversity management research has heavily emphasised below‐the‐line research using methodologies that measure employee perceptions of diversity management activities. This research demonstrates an impact of diversity management on employee reactions and identifies unit‐level factors (e.g. leader behaviour) that impact the effectiveness of diversity management activities. However, below‐the‐line research is not able to answer HR professionals' questions about which diversity management activities should be adopted when, and so a research–practice gap is developing. I explain how both academics and practitioners would benefit from more above‐the‐line research examining the impact of formal organisational diversity management activities as reported by senior managers or documented in organisational records.     

Systemic justice and burnout: A multilevel model

With the aim of extending organisational justice research to embrace significant and enduring aspects of the workplace context, this study examines organisational culture and human resource management (HRM) as constitutive dimensions of systemic justice and relates them to employee health. Bridging organisational justice, HRM, organisational culture, and occupational health research, we advance and test a multilevel model relating systemic justice to burnout. Data collected from 60 organisations; 89 employee groups; and 1,976 employees provide support for the hypothesised relationships between justice‐oriented culture, in terms of organisational values and group culture, and justice‐oriented HRM. In turn, justice‐oriented HRM related directly to employee burnout and indirectly through employee perceived job control and supervisor social support.     

Selective perception,unions and organisational change

This article uses a large scale body of survey data to investigate the proposition that reported management perceptions of the extent to which unions constitute a constraint on organisational change will vary systematically according to certain personal and organisational characteristics. The resulting evidence of selective perception has a number of implications for survey work that seeks attitudinal based responses to questions, particularly from a single management respondent per employment establishment.     

Navigating Ambivalence: Perceived Organizational Prestige–Support Discrepancy and Its Relation to Employee Cynicism and Silence

Drawing on the social identity literature, this study offers theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to understand reactions to divergent perceptions of organizational external prestige (PEP) and organizational support (POS) – two crucial bases of employees’ social worth. Across three studies, using both experimental and field data, we find that PEP‐POS discrepancy contributes to employees’ perceptions of organizational cynicism and silence behaviour, especially when PEP is high and POS is low (rather than the reverse). Consistent with our social identity perspective, we find that ambivalent identification, that is, the simultaneous identification and disidentification of an individual with an organization, is a key mediating mechanism that transfers the interactive relationship of PEP and POS to cynicism and silence. These findings contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of individuals’ social worth at work.