When Do Employees Cyberloaf? An Interactionist Perspective Examining Personality,Justice, and Empowerment

Cyberloafing—using the Internet for non‐work‐related activities—is a prevalent counterproductive work behavior in the workplace, but researchers have not yet paid sufficient attention to this issue, especially related to the role of personality in cyberloafing. Recognizing such a research gap, and using a trait activation theory framework, this study examines whether conscientiousness and emotional stability negatively relate to cyberloafing. We further investigate how organizational justice perceptions and psychological empowerment moderate the negative relationship between these personality traits and cyberloafing. Based on a sample of 247 employees, we find that those high in conscientiousness cyberloaf less when they perceive greater levels of organizational justice. In addition, highly conscientious individuals cyberloaf less when they have low, rather than high, levels of psychological empowerment. Implications for research and practice as well as future research directions are discussed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Bad bosses and self-verification: The moderating role of core self-evaluations with trust in workplace management

Who responds most strongly to supervisor social undermining? Building on self-verification theory (Swann, 1983, 1987), we theorize that employees with positive views of the self (i.e., higher core self-evaluations [CSEs]) who also maintain higher trust in workplace management are more likely to experience heightened stress and turnover intentions when undermined. We argue that this subset of employees (high CSE, high trust) are more likely to feel misunderstood when undermined by their supervisor and that this lack of self-verification partially explains their stronger responses to supervisor undermining. We find initial support for the first part of our model in a study of 259 healthcare workers in the United States and replicate and extend our findings in the second study of 330 employees in the United Kingdom. Our results suggest that the employees Human Resources often wishes to attract and retain—employees with high CSE and high trust in workplace management—react most strongly to supervisor social undermining.     

Cultural values and definitions of career success

This paper examines how national culture relates to the ways that individuals define career success. Data are drawn from interviews with 269 professional services employees in 15 countries. Interviews are content coded and linked with country‐level Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness measures of cultural values. We test our hypotheses using a multilevel multinomial logit model. The results demonstrate that the ways in which employees define career success vary across countries, due in part to differences in cultural values after controlling for gender, occupation, job level, and national economic development. We find that employees from countries high in future orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and performance orientation are more likely to define career success in terms of interpersonal outcomes, and those from countries high in collectivism (institutional and in‐group), humane orientation, and gender egalitarianism are more likely to prefer intrapersonal outcomes. We find that employees from countries that are high in assertiveness, uncertainty avoidance, and performance orientation are more likely to define career success in terms of achievement‐oriented outcomes. Finally, we find that employees from countries high in power distance report career success definitions in terms of safety and security outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for theories of cultural differences in careers across countries.     

The career competencies of self-initiated and assigned expatriates: assessing the development of career capital over time

Abstract

Building on a modern careers approach, we assess the effects of working abroad on individuals’ career capital. Given the dearth of longitudinal studies, we return to a sample of economics graduates in Finland eight years later. We measure changes in three dimensions of career capital; ‘knowing how’, ‘knowing whom’, ‘knowing why’ and find that company assigned expatriates learn more than self-initiated expatriates. All three career capital areas benefit from international experience and all are increasingly valued over time. Based on our findings, we conclude that a dynamic notion of career capital acquisition and use is needed. Managerial implications include the need for a wider view of talent management for international businesses.     

Mentoring as an antidote to stress during corporate trauma

This article examines mentoring as a potentially useful resource in an organization's adaptation to global competition and the need for improved learning capabilities. We were surprised to find that mentoring relationships were perceived as more desirable under conditions of corporate stress, low job challenge, and low job involvement. We were further surprised to find that individuals in early and later career stages were as likely, or more likely than, their midcareer colleagues to embrace the mentoring role. Thus, it appears that mentoring may be more readily available as an antidote to stress than previously considered, and that it may be an important form of coping with the stressful, nonrewarding conditions that typically characterize corporate downsizing. Not only is mentoring an important form of promoting development (for self and for others), but it also may represent a valuable vehicle for social support and learning during times of major corporate change.     

The anatomy of performance appraisals in Germany

We investigate the use of performance appraisal (PA) in German firms. First, we derive hypotheses on individual and job-based determinants of PA usage. Based on a representative German data set on individual employees, we test these hypotheses and also explore the impact of PA on performance pay and further career prospects. The results include that PA is positively linked to an individual's willingness to take risks. The performance of older employees and woman is evaluated less often. Furthermore, larger firms evaluate the performance of their employees more. We find evidence for a non-monotonic relation between the hierarchical level and usage of performance appraisal: The performance of employees with very high or very low responsibilities is assessed less often.     

Cognitive job crafting: A possible response to increasing job insecurity and declining professional prestige

Recent research has shown that job crafting, which describes individuals' attempts to craft a job to make it correspond more to personal inclinations, skills, and abilities, can generate significant work and nonwork benefits for individuals. Using the theoretical lens of activation theory, we examined whether professionals are prompted to cognitively craft their jobs in response to the increasing perception of precarisation of their profession, measured in terms of job insecurity and perceived external prestige. We adopted a mixed methods approach among professional accountants operating in Southern Italy and the results indicated the presence of two curvilinear relationships. More specifically, we found that accountants were more likely to engage in cognitive crafting when experiencing moderate levels of job insecurity (rather than high or low) and in the presence of both low and high levels of perceived external prestige (rather than a moderate level). Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

The early inception of labor market gender differences

This paper analyzes gender differences in jobs while in school using school-class-based samples, a setting in which education differences, “glass ceilings”, and career interruptions due to parenthood are irrelevant. I find that in this early stage of life boys already earn substantially more than girls. The earnings gap cannot be explained by differences in participation rates and hours of work, nor by gender wage gaps within job types. It is entirely due to the fact that girls work more in job types with relatively low wages, in particular babysitting. During the period considered, 1984–2001, the gender patterns of jobs while in school largely remained unchanged.     

National skill-creation systems and career paths for service workers: hotels in the United States,Germany and the United Kingdom

Creating sufficient opportunities for individuals to develop their capabilities and earn a living wage is one of the central challenges facing all countries. However, some types of vocational education and training (VET) institutions may be more effective than others in promoting the development of career-enhancing ‘transferable’ skills. In order to investigate the links between national skill-creation systems and individual career paths, this study focuses on three countries with very different VET systems: the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. The comparison is based on closely matched samples of three- and four-star hotels. The results suggest that individual career development and outcomes, such as wages and turnover rates, are strongly influenced by the interplay of three key elements – the breadth, relevance to employment and degree of standardization – of national initial VET systems. Our analysis identifies strengths and weaknesses of the different systems and key lessons for improvement.     

Leading corporate sustainability: The role of top management team composition for triple bottom line performance

Sustainable development at the corporate level requires balancing social, environmental, and financial performance goals. Achieving such “triple bottom line” (TBL) performance is a very challenging task. In this study, we explore the role the organization's top management team (TMT) plays in leading their organization towards corporate sustainability. We focus on how two distinct aspects of the TMT's structural composition—the presence of a “chief sustainability officer” (CSO) and the TMT's functional diversity—affect the organization's ability to reach high levels of TBL performance. We follow the presence of 22 global energy companies in Corporate Knight's “Global 100” sustainability index for a period of 11 years and find that, surprisingly, the presence of a CSO does not boost TBL performance. However, we do find a positive effect for TMT functional diversity, suggesting that more diverse TMTs are better able to lead their organization to higher levels of TBL performance.     

The Wage Effects of Being Raised in the Catholic Religion: Does Religion Matter?

This paper provides new empirical evidence about the existence of a Catholic wage premium. A simple allocation-of-time model provides two explanations for the observation that those persons raised in the Catholic religion earn more than their non-Catholic counterparts. The Catholic religion may add to a person's stock of human capital and/or it may act as a signal of desirable labor market characteristics such as discipline, honesty, trustworthiness, and high motivation.     

Pay dispersion and the financial performance of the firm: evidence from Korea

Pay dispersion has been found in prior research to negatively affect both individual and workplace performance. In this study, we examine whether the relationship between horizontal pay dispersion and firm financial performance is curvilinear in nature, with moderate levels of dispersion leading to more positive outcomes than either low or high levels. Using data from a government-sponsored survey of Korean firms, we find support for the hypothesized curvilinear relationship between pay dispersion and firm financial performance. We further find that this curvilinear relationship is moderated by firm and human resource system characteristics. Where the firm had more incumbents in the rank being examined, where pay level was higher, and where there was greater organizational investment in performance evaluation and feedback, the positive slope (within the curvilinear relationship) inverted at a higher level of dispersion.     

Recruiting across cultures: A value-based model of recruitment

With globalization intensifying, knowledge of cultural differences becomes increasingly critical. In the area of recruitment, a cross-cultural knowledge base is vital as the demand for international talent poses escalating challenges to effectively attracting desirable applicants. However, we know very little about the effectiveness of recruitment practices across cultures because most studies have been conducted in the U.S. We propose a theoretical framework of recruitment exploring how cultural values influence the effectiveness of recruitment practices in different cultural contexts. We argue that cultural values may moderate relationships between recruitment practices and recruitment outcomes across all phases of the recruitment process and suggest implications for future research directions.     

Self-employment: the new solution for balancing family and career?

We examine the hypothesis that white married women, particularly more educated women, are increasingly choosing self-employment as a strategy to balance family and career. We test two models using data from the CPS, NLS and NLSY, to examine the determinants of self-employment for women in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Our findings suggest that married women with greater family responsibilities are more likely to be self-employed, and these impacts are stronger for more educated women. However, we find little support for the hypothesis that women are more likely in recent years to choose self-employment in response to family demands.     

Labor Market Effects from Involuntary Job Losses in Layoffs, Plant Closings: The Role of Human Capital in Facilitating Reemployment and Reduced Wage Losses

Abstract . Wage loss and reemployment following involuntary Job loss are examined, using a nationally representative sample of young men and women in their late twenties. Workers with increased human capital are less likely to suffer wage loss and unemployment after job termination. Workers characterized as having little commitment to the labor market—low skill levels, clerical and sales workers, females, and low contributors to family income—are more likely to suffer unemployment and wage loss after job loss. This suggests that human capital characteristics serve as a signal of desirable, or undesirable, worker traits to a new firm.     

Average and Marginal Returns to Upper Secondary Schooling in Indonesia

This paper estimates average and marginal returns to schooling in Indonesia using a semiparametric selection model. Identification of the model is given by geographic variation in access to upper secondary schools. We find that the return to upper secondary schooling varies widely across individuals: it can be as high as 50% per year of schooling for those very likely to enroll in upper secondary schooling, or as low as ?10% for those very unlikely to do so. Average returns for the student at the margin are substantial, but they are also well below those for the average student attending upper secondary schooling. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中国股市的最大值效应

本文证实我国股市的投资者们长期存在对股票历史业绩的反应过度现象。我们发现历史上拥有最高收益率的股票在之后业绩都表现不佳。其主要原因是我国股市的投资者们在做投资选择时都遵循一条简单的规则:即在其他条件都相同的情况下,选择拥有最高的历史收益率的股票进行投资。集中投资使拥有最高的历史收益率的股票被过高评价,导致其后来的业绩表现要比那些拥有较低历史收益率的股票差。我们称之为"最大值效应"。通过使用Fama and Macbeth(1973)横断面回归分析方法,我们确认了"最大值效应"要比CAPM理论,Blitz and Pim van Vliet(2007)发现的"波动性效应"等更为有效地解释我国股市横断面股票收益率。     

The burden of glory: Competing for nonmonetary incentives in rank‐order tournaments

In an environment in which elite, highly paid professionals compete for nonmonetary rewards, we find evidence of underperformance. Our analysis suggests that choking under pressure from high‐stakes nonmonetary rewards is behind the underperformance. This implies that high stakes nonmonetary rewards can create meaningful pressure on individuals and lead to worse performance, a distinct issue that has yet to be adequately examined. These findings come from an examination of the behavior of top U.S. golfers competing to earn a place on the U.S. Ryder Cup team via their performance in PGA Tour tournaments with differing allocations of Ryder Cup qualifying points.     

Career mentoring in context: A multilevel study on differentiated career mentoring and career mentoring climate

This study explores how supervisor career mentoring contributes to contemporary organizational career development, which strives to foster employees' promotability while strengthening their intention to stay. Specifically, we focus on the implications of career mentoring in team contexts. Applying a multilevel framework, we distinguish between individual‐level differentiated mentoring (i.e., an employee's mentoring perceptions as compared to those of other team members) and group‐level career mentoring climate (i.e., the average perception across all group members). In a workplace setting, we collected data from vocational job starters (N ranged from 230 to 290) and their company supervisors (N ranged from 56 to 68). We find that career mentoring climate positively relates to promotability, more so than differentiated career mentoring. Both career mentoring climate and differentiated career mentoring are positively related to the intention to stay. At the individual level, this relationship is mediated by job satisfaction. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of differentiated and group‐level mentoring.     

Job rotation and employee performance – evidence from a longitudinal study in the financial services industry

Job rotation, i.e. a lateral transfer of an employee between jobs within a company, is frequently used as a means to develop employees, learn about their abilities as well as to motivate them. We investigate the determinants and performance effects of job rotation empirically by analyzing a large panel data-set covering the German banking and financial services sector. In particular, we study (i) how prior individual performance affects the propensity to rotate and (ii) how performance changes after the rotation. We find that while both, low- and high-performers rotate, lateral moves are more frequent among low performers. However, those having been rotated between jobs achieve a higher performance in subsequent years as compared to other non-rotating employees in a comparable position. Interestingly, this effect is driven by high performers, whereas for low performers, we find no significant relationship between job rotation and future performance. The results thus suggest that firms should focus their job rotation programs on high performers and should not expect that low performers achieve performance gains when being rotated to a different function.