Lowering the Threshold for Feeling Mistreated: Perceived Overqualification Moderates the Effects of Perceived Age Discrimination on Job Withdrawal and Somatic Symptoms

This study examines whether and how perceived overqualification affects the relationships between perceived age discrimination from one's supervisor and two outcome variables: job withdrawal and somatic symptoms. Using a paired sample (of employees and a paired participant who knew them well, N = 235 pairs), results show that employees who feel overqualified, compared to those who do not feel overqualified, react more negatively to perceived age discrimination by engaging in greater withdrawal behaviors and experiencing higher somatic symptoms. Findings extend both relative deprivation theory and the age discrimination literature by indicating that perceived overqualification is not only a trigger for relative deprivation, but also a factor that seems to lower an employee's threshold for tolerating discriminatory treatment. We conclude with a discussion on practical implications that incorporate strategies for reducing perceptions of age discrimination and overqualification. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Relative deprivation of temporary agency workers in the public sector: The role of public service motivation and the possibility of standard employment

Although public service organisations have increasingly relied on nonstandard employees, little research has investigated their work experiences and job attitudes. This paper examines the mechanism by which temporary agency workers' experience of relative deprivation affects their organisational attachment toward their client firm in the public sector. Based on data collected from temporary help agencies working with an international airport in Korea, we found that the perceived likelihood of standard employment mediated the negative relationship of relative deprivation to organisational attachment. Moreover, the indirect relationship of relative deprivation with organisational attachment via perceived likelihood of standard employment was strong and significant among those with high public service motivation but was not significant for those with low public service motivation. We discuss the implications of this study in building a better understanding of relative deprivation and nonstandard work arrangements in the public sector.     

From schoolyard to workplace: The impact of bullying on sales and business employees' machiavellianism,job satisfaction,and perceived importance of an ethical issue

Bullying can precipitate many negative outcomes at work, but previous research does not adequately address how such misbehavior affects employee dispositions and attitudes; how these characteristics impact ethical decision making is also underexplored. Given these research gaps, the purpose of this study is to assess (1) the impact of bullying on Machiavellianism and job satisfaction, and (2) the influences of Machiavellianism and job satisfaction on perceived ethical issue importance, a measure of ethical decision making. Three hundred eighty‐four sales and business employees working for different firms operating in the United States answered a self‐report questionnaire. The findings showed that, after accounting for social desirability bias, workplace bullying was positively associated with Machiavellianism and negatively associated with job satisfaction. Machiavellianism was negatively related to the perceived importance of an ethical issue embedded in a vignette highlighting Machiavellianism and latent bullying behaviors. In addition, job satisfaction was positively related to ethical issue importance. Finally, both Machiavellianism and job satisfaction mediated the relationship between bullying experiences and importance of an ethical issue, as evidenced by their significant indirect effects. HR professionals should minimize bullying and Machiavellianism to reduce the corrosive effect on the ethical environment and enhance work attitudes and ethical decisions.     

Employee attitudes,customer satisfaction,and sales performance: assessing the linkages in US grocery stores

Using store‐level panel data for a major supermarket company, we investigate the linkages between employee attitudes, customer satisfaction, and sales performance, while controlling for observed and unobserved differences across stores. We find that employee attitudes positively affect customer satisfaction with service but do not affect customer satisfaction with quality or value. Additionally, we find that customer satisfaction with service positively affects sales performance. Our results suggest that employee attitudes affect sales performance through their impact on customer service. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The influence of greenwash on green word-of-mouth (green WOM): the mediation effects of green perceived quality and green satisfaction

The study discusses the influence of greenwash on green word-of-mouth (green WOM) and explores the mediation roles of green perceived quality and green satisfaction. The research object of this study focuses on Taiwanese consumers who have the experience to purchase information and electronics products in Taiwan. This research utilizes structural equation modeling to undertake an empirical study. The results indicate that greenwash negatively affects green WOM. Besides, this paper proves that greenwash negatively impacts green perceived quality and green satisfaction which would positively influence green WOM. This study demonstrates that green perceived quality and green satisfaction mediate the negative relationship between greenwash and green WOM. It means that greenwash does not only have a directly negative effect on green WOM, but also have an indirectly negative effect on it via green perceived quality and green satisfaction. Thus, this study suggests that companies should decrease their greenwash behaviors and enhance their consumers’ green perceived quality and green satisfaction to increase their consumers’ green WOM.     

Exploring alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development,perceived supervisor support and employee outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED), perceived supervisor support (PSS), and employee outcomes in the form of attitudes (affective commitment and turnover intention) and work performance (work effort, work quality and organisational citizenship behaviour). A cross-sectional survey among 331 employees from a Norwegian telecommunications organisation showed that the relationship between PSS and employee attitudes was partially mediated by PIED. In addition, PSS was found to moderate the relationship between PIED and three self-report measures of work performance. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for high levels of PSS. These findings suggest that line managers are of vital importance in implementing developmental HR practices, either because they influence how such practices are perceived by employees, which, in turn, affects employee attitudes, or because positive experiences with both line managers and HR practices seem to be needed in order for developmental HR practices to positively influence employee performance.     

Relative deprivation,reference groups and the assessment of standard of living

This paper proposes two new indices of relative deprivation, derived from an extension of the concept of generalized Gini to the measurement of distributional change. Population- and income-weighted relative deprivation indices are then defined and, using panel data from the Consortium of Household Panels for European Socio-Economic Research (CHER), we check which of the various ways of defining individual deprivation best fits the answers given by individuals on the degree of their satisfaction with income. We find that the deprivation indices proposed are consistently and negatively correlated with income satisfaction as reported by respondents, that income weighted measures fit better than population weighted measures and that this fit improves with countries that experienced deep institutional changes such as the transitional economies of Eastern Europe.     

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.     

The life satisfaction of teachers at work place,research of structural equation modelling regarding general and organized cynicism

This research aims to determine both the predictive role and level of teachers’ life satisfaction, as well as general and organizational cynic perceptions in their workplace. The study sample was composed of 457 teachers who worked in the middle schools in the center and districts of Konya in 2016, who were randomly selected by group sampling. Analysis of the research data was conducted using the statistical program AMOS 18.0, according to structural equation modeling. In the research, loneliness in teachers’ professional lives was considered in two dimensions: as “emotional deprivation” and “social friendship.” According to the research findings, it is evident that organizational cynicism is the most important variable affecting teachers’ emotional deprivation and social companionship levels. The second most important variable affecting teachers' levels of emotional deprivation is general cynicism, while social companionship levels are more affected by life satisfaction. It is also seen that there is a negative relationship between the emotional deprivation and social friendship and life satisfaction variables. The results also demonstrate a slight but statistically significant relationship between the general cynicism and the social friendship levels of teachers.     

Compensation or Right: An Analysis of Employee “Fringe” Benefit Perception

Past research suggests that employee perceptions of the benefits provided to them by their organization can influence employee attitudes. Three factors that appear to influence the perception of benefits by employees are benefit satisfaction, benefit importance, and the perceived motive of the organization in providing the benefit to employees. However, it also appears that some benefits are perceived as rights that are owed to employees by the organization. This study proposes and tests a model of benefit perception that incorporates all of these factors. Results suggest that benefit satisfaction and the perceived motive of the organization in providing a benefit both have a direct relationship with employee attitudes. The perceived right status of a benefit appears to moderate this relationship.     

Friend or Foe? The effects of contingent employees on standard employees' work attitudes

Using data from a large-scale national survey of employers and employees in Britain, we examine the impact of the presence of contingent employees on work attitudes of standard (full-time, indefinite-term) employees. Drawing on differing explanations for the increased use of contingent employment arrangements, we derive competing hypotheses about how this use affects standard employees' work perceptions and attitudes, and explore the impact of a number of potentially intervening factors. We find that contingent employees have little effect on standard employees' perceptions of work overload, but strongly reduce perceived job security, which in turn, mediates the negative effects of contingent employees on job satisfaction and organizational loyalty.     

The effects of flexible work practices on employee attitudes: evidence from a large-scale panel study in Germany

We explore the effects of flexible work practices (FWPs) on the work attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intention) and non-work attitudes (leisure satisfaction and perceived health) of employees based on representative large-scale German panel data. Because unobserved individual characteristics can easily act as confounders, we estimate both pooled ordinary least squares models and individual fixed-effects models. Controlling for time-constant individual heterogeneity, we find that the three considered FWPs – flexitime, sabbaticals, and working from home – significantly increase job satisfaction and that sabbaticals and working from home (but not flexitime) significantly decrease turnover intention. In addition, sabbaticals but not flexitime or working from home significantly increase leisure satisfaction. The effects of FWPs on health are mostly weak and statistically insignificant. Models that do not control for such individual heterogeneity either underestimate the positive effects of FWPs or find detrimental effects. Our findings indicate that organizations in Germany can increase job satisfaction and decrease employee turnover intention by offering FWPs.     

Work-life balance policy and practice: Understanding line manager attitudes and behaviors

Work-life balance (WLB) is receiving increasing attention in the human resource management field. Line managers are playing a more active role in HRM decision-making, including work-life balance decisions, with the devolution of human resource management responsibility. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior, this paper develops a conceptual model explaining what affects line manager WLB policy and practice behaviors and the consequent impact on employee WLB experience in their organizations. Line manager WLB policy involvement, policy awareness, perceived policy instrumentality, and personal policy utilization are variables which are proposed to impact line manager attitudes towards WLB policies. These attitudes, in turn, are proposed to affect three employee WLB policy outcomes: employee WLB policy awareness, policy uptake, and policy satisfaction. The implications for future research and practice are set out.     

Fine‐tuning what we know about employees' experience with flexible work arrangements and their job attitudes

Prior research has generally found positive relationships between flexible work arrangements (FWAs) and employee attitudes. However, we know relatively little about organizational contingencies that affect the strength of these relationships, as there is little multilevel, multicompany research on FWAs. This study explores three aspects of employees' experience with FWAs—perceived availability of the number of FWAs, different types of FWAs, and actual use of FWAs—and their corresponding effects on employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Using a large multicompany data set (1,799 companies, 17,895 workers), we found that employees who perceive more FWAs available to them have higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment, especially in organizations that report offering fewer formal FWA policies. Among different types of FWAs, perceived availability of flexible scheduling is more positively associated with job satisfaction than flexible location and hours, and both flexible scheduling and location are more positively associated with organizational commitment than flexible number of hours. We also found that employees who actually use flexible scheduling have lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment than those who have it available but do not use it. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Scarred from the past or afraid of the future? Unemployment and job satisfaction across European labour markets

Previous research has shown that both past unemployment and anticipated future unemployment have a detrimental impact on employees' attitudes and behaviours, which may affect organisational performance. Surprisingly, however, very little is known about the relative impact of past unemployment compared with current job insecurity. Although it is possible that both effects operate simultaneously, this paper – focused on employees' job satisfaction and utilising a set of cross-sectional data derived from the European Social Survey 2006–2007 – reports on a strongly pronounced insecurity effect: anticipated unemployment substantially reduces employees' job satisfaction. Interestingly, inclusion of the perceived risk of future unemployment as a separate predictor variable in ordered probit regressions relegates the experience of past unemployment to a statistically insignificant coefficient and thus weakens the ‘scarring’ hypothesis. These results hold true even when several socio-demographic characteristics and proxies for individual personality traits are controlled. Implications for organisations and human resource practitioners and scope for future research endeavours conclude the analysis of the paper.     

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.     

感知服务质量与顾客满意和顾客忠诚关系的实证研究

在实践中,中国服务业发展迅速,但营销水平有待提高,很多管理人员对营销以及服务管理的理解有限。在理论中,对感知服务质量各个维度、顾客满意和顾客忠诚之间的关系讨论很多,尚无定论。实证研究发现,是顾客满意正向影响感知服务质量各个因子,而不是相反,说明基于交易的顾客满意会影响对服务进行长期综合评价的感知服务质量。只有忠诚度一个因子影响顾客忠诚,因此企业在培养忠诚顾客上应该有所侧重。顾客满意和顾客忠诚的关系被验证并非线性关系,在线性方程模型中未能验证成功。     

Too old or too young? The impact of perceived age discrimination

This article examines the impact on employee attitudes of perceived age discrimination, drawing on a study of a local authority. Survey respondents report that discrimination on the grounds of being ‘too young’ is at least as common as discrimination on the grounds of being ‘too old’. Findings suggest that perceived age discrimination, whether for being too old or too young, has negative consequences for affective commitment to the organisation. Those who feel that they have been discriminated against because they are considered too old have higher levels of continuance commitment. There is partial support for the hypothesis that older workers who feel that they have been discriminated against have a stronger intention to retire early.     

The benefits,satisfaction, and perceived value of small business membership in a chamber of commerce

• Nonprofit chambers of commerce have a long history in western culture but little if any empirical research has been conducted to explore why a small business would join one. This study focuses on members' evaluation of chamber assistance programs and benefits and how they mediate the impact of satisfaction and the perceived customer value of paid membership for chamber services. A mail census survey of all 2019 members, in a large category‐four chamber of commerce, provided valid and reliable representation of existing membership demographics. Factor analysis identified four main benefits, whereas a LISREL model was applied to identify the mediating impact of relational benefits on satisfaction and perceived value. All four dominant benefits significantly correlated with both membership satisfaction and perceived value as did the correlation between satisfaction and perceived value. However, perceived value was found to have higher correlations with relational benefits than that of satisfaction. This study is important as it provides managers with a framework to identify and balance the benefits desired by the membership and adjust the level of expected satisfaction with perceived value in a nonprofit service‐oriented assistance organization.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Immigration, Labor Market Mobility, and the Earnings of Native-Born Workers

A bstract .   This article seeks to improve on previous estimates of the impact of immigration on native wages by using an occupational segmentation approach that directly controls for regional migration and other shifts in the native-born U.S. labor supply. The U.S. labor market is segmented by occupation in order to determine which, if any, native workers tend to be vulnerable to increased immigrant competition for jobs. The results suggest that native-born workers in the primary sector are the main beneficiaries of increased immigration, while native-born Hispanic females in the secondary sector are the most susceptible to downward wage pressures.