Corporate social responsibility and employee outcomes: The role of country context

This study examined the association between employee perceptions of two foci of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and work attitudes in different countries. Using data collected as part of a multinational research project with a core team in the United States, we found that perceptions of externally focused CSR enactment were positively associated with employee engagement and affective commitment. Perceptions of internally focused CSR enactment were positively associated with affective commitment but not with employee engagement. Analyses across countries revealed more cultural than economic differences. For example, perceptions of internally focused CSR enactment were consistently associated with affective commitment across cultural contexts, indicating that they might serve as a general foundation for building commitment. Perceptions of externally focused CSR were more strongly associated with affective commitment in Anglo than in Confucian and Latin American countries, suggesting a need for country-specific tailoring. Based on these results, we provided recommendations for planning and implementation of CSR.     

Returning to the workforce after retiring: a job demands,job control,social support perspective on job satisfaction

Despite growing interest in the aging of the workforce, few investigations have explored a key aspect of diversity among older workers: whether or not they consider themselves retired. Using a sample of workers ages 50 and older from the National Study of the Changing Workforce (2008), we apply career development theory and the job demand–control(–support) framework to investigate potential differences between working retirees (i.e. employed older adults 50+ who consider themselves retired) and working non-retirees (i.e. employed older adults 50+ who do not consider themselves retired) in terms of their job characteristics (i.e. demands, control, support) and how these job characteristics are related to job satisfaction. We find that working retirees report lower job demands and higher social support, and that there is limited evidence for the buffering hypothesis. Implications for researchers and employers are discussed.     

Individual job‐choice decisions and the impact of job attributes and recruitment practices: A longitudinal field study

The present research is intended to contribute to the understanding of how job‐choice decisions are made and the role of effective and ineffective recruiting practices in that process. The issues are examined by tracking job seekers through the job search and choice process. At multiple points in the process, structured interviews are used to elicit information from the job seekers pertaining to how they are making their decision and what factors play a role. Results provide theoretical and practical insights into the organizational and job attributes important to job choice, as well as how specific recruiting practices may exert a significant influence, positive or negative, on job‐choice decisions. For example, our findings reinforced the importance of providing job seekers the opportunity to meet with multiple (and high‐level) organizational constituents, impressive site‐visit arrangements, and frequent and prompt follow‐up. Also, imposing a deadline (i.e., “exploding offer”) showed little effect on job‐choice decisions. Recommendations for recruitment practice and continued research are provided. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The nature of the new employment relationship: A content analysis of the practitioner and academic literatures

At a general level, there appears to be almost universal agreement that the nature of the employment relationship is undergoing fundamental changes that have potentially enormous implications for how companies attract, motivate, and retain talent. This article is intended to assist HRM professionals in understanding, evaluating, and responding to those changes. The results of a study that evaluates current thinking regarding the nature of the new employment relationship by systematically analyzing the content of relevant articles are reported. Implications of the results for the management of employee relationships are discussed, and specific recommendations are provided. © 2000 John Wiley and Sons, Inc.     

Opportunities to improve skills and to teach and train others: employee outcomes in the United States and Japan

Opportunities to improve skills and opportunities to teach or train others may be associated with job satisfaction, work engagement and organizational commitment. The analysis reported in this paper used a subsample of 823 employees within two Japanese and three American worksites. We tested not only the direct relationships of each type of training opportunity (to improve skills and to teach or train others) with each of three outcomes (job satisfaction, work engagement and organizational commitment) but also the potential moderating roles of performance orientation, job security and age. The relationships were assessed separately for Japanese and American respondents. The results highlight the importance of opportunities to improve skills for all three outcomes and of opportunities to teach and train for job satisfaction and work engagement. Performance orientation, job security and age generally were not significant moderators and, when they were, the effects were typically restricted to one country. The consistently positive coefficients for training opportunities should provide insight for cross‐national organizations seeking to identify human resource policies effective across varying cultural, economic and demographic contexts.     

The effect of training on organizational performance: differences by age composition and cultural context

This paper examines the effects of two training-related measures (i.e. average days spent on training an employee per year and the extent of concentration) on three aspects of organizational performance: level of productivity, rate of innovation, and rate of turnover for organizations in Anglo, Germanic, Nordic, and Eastern European cultures, as defined by the Global Leadership and Organization Behavior Effectiveness project. Analysis of the 2004 Cranet survey data indicates that both training-related measures positively affected the level of productivity in Anglo nations, but that the effect of extent of concentration was smaller for organizations with older age profiles.     

Access to and Utilization of Flexible Work Options

Many workers do not utilize the flexible work options to which they have access nor do they necessarily have access to all options officially provided by their organizations. This study sheds light on these gaps using probit models with sample selection to predict access to and utilization of fourteen flexible options. The findings highlight the roles of supervisor support, occupation, and work‐life culture. The influence of each of these factors on access and utilization differs.