The relationship of mentoring and network resources with career success in the Chinese organizational environment

The relationship of mentoring and network resources, the two components of social capital, with career success was investigated in a sample of 113 Chinese white-collar workers. The findings suggested that the prevalence of mentoring in the Chinese workplace is substantially higher than in the Anglo-Saxon workplace, and that Chinese employees do not distinguish their network ties or Guanxi into expressive and instrumental. These results were in line with the presumption that mentoring is an integral part of the Chinese culture and with the view that network ties or Guanxi in the Chinese society cannot exist in a purely instrumental form. In contrast to hypotheses, however, the findings suggest a limited relationship between social capital and career success. In particular, the amount of mentoring, participants reported they had received, was related to their intrinsic career success but not to their extrinsic career success; and the amount of network resources or Guanxi was related neither to extrinsic nor to intrinsic career success. These results were largely at odds with the accumulated knowledge on the benefits of social capital for career success. The findings are discussed with respect to the changing nature of the Chinese business and organizational environment, and their implications for human resource practices.     

Leader-member exchange,employee performance,and work outcomes: an empirical study in the Chinese context

In this study, we employed the multidimensional view of LMX (LMX-MDM) to develop a model that captured different antecedents and outcomes of task and contextual performance. We tested this model with a sample drawn from subjects from the People's Republic of China. The results indicated that the affect dimension of LMX-MDM was positively associated with task performance and contextual performance. The contribution dimension of LMX-MDM was positively related to the job dedication dimension of contextual performance. Supervisory ratings of the task performance and the interpersonal facilitation dimension of contextual performance predicted the promotability of subordinates, and task performance influenced subordinates' intention to quit. Limitations and future research are discussed.     

How supervisory support for career development relates to subordinate work engagement and career outcomes: The moderating role of task proficiency

Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this research investigates how and when supervisory support for career development relates to subordinate career outcomes. Using data collected from 228 supervisor–subordinate dyads across 3 phases, we proposed and examined a mediated moderation model in which the interaction between supervisory support for career development and task proficiency was mediated by work engagement in predicting career outcomes in terms of career satisfaction and promotability. Results showed that supervisory support for career development was positively related to career satisfaction and promotability. Results also supported the mediated moderation model. We outlined the theoretical contributions for future research and discussed the practical implications.     

Employee overqualification and manager job insecurity: Implications for employee career outcomes

In this study, we propose that manager job insecurity will moderate the nature of the relationship between perceived overqualification and employee career-related outcomes (career satisfaction, promotability ratings, and voluntary turnover). We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 124 employees and 54 managers working in a large holding company in Ankara, Turkey, collected across five time periods. The results suggested that average perceived overqualification was more strongly, and negatively, related to career satisfaction of employees when managers reported higher job insecurity. Furthermore, employee perceived overqualification was positively related to voluntary turnover when manager job insecurity was high. No direct or moderated effects were found for promotability ratings. Implications for overqualification and job insecurity literatures were discussed.     

Shopping motivations on Internet: A study based on utilitarian and hedonic value

Electronic commerce has been growing rapidly. Although business-to-consumer electronic commerce has created new opportunities for businesses, questions about consumer shopping motivations toward Internet shopping versus conventional shopping continue to persist. The purpose of this study is to investigate the Internet shopping motivations from both utilitarian and hedonic perspectives. The differential effects of these dual motivations on both search intention and purchase intention are examined. An integrated model of shopping motivations on the Internet is proposed. A structural equation model is developed to test the casual effects between variables.The study finds that utilitarian motivation is a determinant of consumer intention to search and intention to purchase. Hedonic motivation has a direct impact on intention to search and indirect impact on intention to purchase. While these dual motivations have significant effects, utilitarian motivation is the strongest predictor of intention to search and intention to purchase. Utilitarian motivation is influenced by convenience, cost saving, information availability, and selection; hedonic motivation is influenced by adventure, and authority and status. The study serves as a basis for the future growth of Internet marketing.     

Organizational career management practices and objective career success: A systematic review and framework

The theorization of the relationship between organizational investments in career development and individual success remains underdeveloped, and empirical tests of this relationship, which have been dispersed among several disciplinary areas, have produced inconsistent results. Addressing these issues, the purpose of this article is to propose a theoretical framework that illustrates why and how organizational career management practices translate into career success and under what circumstances the relationship is effective. Using a systematic review of empirical studies on career management practices and objective success, we identify three theoretical mechanisms - developmental, informational, and relational - and two groups of contingency factors that explain this relationship. Our framework advances the extant literature on organizational career management and provides suggestions to companies for designing effective career management systems.     

Social capital and career outcomes: a study of Chinese employees

This study examines the impacts of social capital on employees’ career outcomes in the Chinese context. Access to information and access to resources are hypothesized as the mediators in the relationships. A new measure of individual social capital is developed and used as the key predictor of the outcome variables. Data were collected from a survey administered to 184 employees in a state-owned enterprise. The results of regression analysis showed that individual social capital enhanced both career satisfaction and career achievement among Chinese employees. Further, access to information and access to resources were found to mediate the above relationships. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Skill development in reverse mentoring: Motivational processes of mentors and learners

Building on Murphy's (2012) model of reverse mentoring, we examine the psychological processes that contribute to skill development in initiatives where knowledge is transferred from younger to older individuals. We employ a sample of younger mentors (n = 457) and older learners (n = 293) participating in a digital skills initiative to test parallel moderated mediation models. Our findings show extrinsic motivation plays a dominant role in the development of younger groups' mentoring skills, while older learners' digital skills development is primarily driven by intrinsic motivation. We also find positive affect and self‐efficacy can serve as personal resources in this context, but only for mentors. Taken together, our results suggest motivational processes in reverse mentoring unfold differently for the two groups involved in the exchange. Recommendations for human resource practice, including specific guidelines for developing intergenerational learning initiatives, are discussed.     

Inclusion climate: A multilevel investigation of its antecedents and consequences

This study investigates the antecedents and consequences of organization‐level inclusion climate. A national sample of human resource decision‐makers from 100 organizations described their firms' formal diversity management programs; 3,229 employees reported their perceptions of, and reactions to, their employers' diversity management. Multilevel analyses demonstrate that identity‐conscious programs (programs that target specific identity groups) generate an inclusion climate. Moreover, the analyses provide evidence of multilevel mediation: In organizations with an inclusion climate, individual employees perceive the organization as fulfilling its diversity management obligations and respond with higher levels of affective commitment. This study represents an important step toward understanding how a shared perception of organizational inclusiveness develops and how inclusion climate facilitates the achievement of diversity management objectives. The findings also shed light on the important role of identity‐conscious programs in promoting organizational commitment within a diverse workforce.     

Exploring career commitment and turnover intention of high-tech personnel: a socio-cognitive perspective

Abstract

Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this study presents psychosocial functioning in which personal factors and social influences jointly influence career commitment as a mediator and then turnover intention as an outcome among high-tech personnel. Based on a two-wave survey of working professionals in high-tech industry, this study’s empirical results find that passion, social support, and perceived self-centered leadership indirectly relate to turnover intention through the full mediation of career commitment. At the same time, the effects of job self-efficacy and social support on career commitment are moderated respectively by passion. Finally, managerial implications and research limitations are discussed.     

The interactive effects of organizational and leadership career management support on job satisfaction and turnover intention

In the organizational career management literature, scholars have focused on career management policies, with little attention given to practices that can vary within organizations. And despite its recognized importance, research on the role of leaders in the career management process is also scant. In this study, we investigate the effects of career management practices (OCPs) and leadership career support (LCS) on employee attitudes. Grounded on coping theory, we propose that career support received from line managers can be particularly consequential when OCPs are lacking. We analyze the moderating effects of LCS on the relationship between OCPs and both job satisfaction and turnover intention in a sample of employees from a large Brazilian organization, applying multiple regression analyses. Results showed that OCPs and LCS are positively related to job satisfaction and that OCPs are negatively related to turnover intention. In addition, we confirmed that LCS moderates the relationship between OCPs and both job satisfaction and turnover intention. Finally, we observed that the relationship between OCPs and turnover intention is mediated by job satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Effects of perceived overqualification on career distress and career planning: Mediating role of career identity and moderating role of leader humility

In this study, we examined how perceived overqualification influences employees' career distress and career planning. Specifically, we drew on role identity theory to hypothesize that perceived overqualification is positively related to individuals' career identity. Based on internal self-processing dynamics of role identity, we further hypothesized that career identity predicts reduced career distress and increased career planning. We expected career identity to mediate the effects of overqualification on career distress and career planning. Based on the symbolic interactionism perspective of identity, we hypothesized that this mediation is moderated by leader humility so that overqualified employees exhibit stronger career identities in the presence of a humble leader. We found support for our hypotheses in a multi-wave time-lagged study of 220 supervisor–subordinate dyads from 50 groups. Overall, our studies highlight that perceived overqualification can have positive effects on employees and organizations under appropriate management conditions. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these results.     

Affective commitment among knowledge workers: the role of pay satisfaction and organization career management

Knowledge workers are highly sought after to help organizations establish their competitive advantage. However, getting them to want to stay with an organization is a challenge indeed. Furthermore, with claims that they are different from traditional workers, it remains unclear as to what will influence them to want to stay. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to determine whether pay satisfaction and career management (opportunity for skill enhancement and mentoring relationship) can influence the level of affective commitment among knowledge workers. Data measuring the abovementioned variables was gathered from 350 respondents representing varied occupation to ensure representation of all levels of knowledge work. Findings indicate that the proposed factors significantly influence the level of affective commitment among knowledge workers engaged in low knowledge work category. For their counterparts involved in high knowledge work, these factors had minimal influence. This paper implies that organizations should refrain from employing generic strategies to improve affective commitment among knowledge workers. Instead, attention should be paid onto the level of knowledge work when selecting the appropriate strategy. This paper incorporated the micro-level characteristic of knowledge work to traditional relationship with emphasis on how different strategies appeal to different knowledge work categories.     

Managerial career development in a developing host-country context: a study of American multinationals in Pakistan

This paper analyses the uptake of distinctly Anglo-Saxon protean and boundaryless careers in the specific organizational context of foreign multinationals operating in a culturally and institutionally distant developing economy. A qualitative case study approach is applied to two American subsidiaries operating in Pakistan. Findings reveal that these ‘new’ career concepts often coexist with, rather than replace, features of traditional, organizational careers both reflecting, and responding to, changing and dualistic individual, organizational and institutional values. Therefore, this paper suggests that all these three levels of analysis need to be considered in conjunction when analysing managerial career development in developing host countries.     

The effects of negative mentoring experiences on mentor creativity: The roles of mentor ego depletion and traditionality

The literature often focuses on the positive effects of mentoring, especially for protégés. When mentoring experiences are negative, the assumption is that these negative effects are less detrimental to the mentor than to the protégé, owing to the mentor's greater relative power in the relationship. This study uses ego depletion theory to examine the link between negative mentoring experiences (as rated by protégés) and mentor creativity and focuses on the mediating and moderating roles of mentor ego depletion and mentor traditionality on this link. The results are based on data from 227 protégés, 187 mentors, and 187 supervisors of mentors in Chinese organizations. The findings support a mediating effect of ego depletion on the negative relationship between negative mentoring experiences and mentor creativity. In addition, the study finds that traditionality attenuates both the positive relationship between negative mentoring experiences and ego depletion and the indirect effect of negative mentoring experiences on mentors' creativity through ego depletion. The implications for management theory and practice are discussed.     

高职院校辅导员职业生涯规划与职业发展的对策研究

高职院校辅导员作为开展大学生思想政治教育工作的骨干力量,在自身职业发展过程中存在一些困扰和问题,本文试图从辅导员自身出发,结合高职院校辅导员队伍建设发展就如何开展好辅导员的职业生涯规划与职业发展作初步探讨。     

Predicting protean and physical boundaryless career attitudes by work importance and work alternatives: regulatory focus mediation effects

Prediction of protean and physical boundaryless career attitudes (organizational mobility preference) was investigated through two work cognitions: work importance and work alternatives. Regulatory focus theory served to explore mediation effects in these predictive relations. Respondents were 336 engineers and computer scientists employed in Israel’s hi-tech industry in a post-organizational downsizing period. Results of the direct model showed that perceptions of work importance were related to protean career attitude and not to physical boundaryless career attitude, while perceived work alternatives were related to both career attitudes, but more to the physical boundaryless. The mediated model showed that the promotion motive predicted increase and the prevention motive predicted decrease in both career attitudes, implying that both were triggered more by motives for opportunities and gains than by fears. These results contribute to knowledge on career self-management in the context of repeated organizational downsizings, and underscore the importance of designing human resource career policies that consider employees’ work values and work alternatives.     

Promotion systems and career development in Thailand: a case study of Siam Cement

This paper examines the promotion systems and career development of managers of Siam Cement Public Company Limited, the largest manufacturing conglomerate in Thailand. Since the 1980s, the company has grown into a full-blown conglomerate and is widely considered to be Thailand's most modernized corporation. In the aftermath of the 1997–8 Asian crisis, the meltdown forced the company and other debt-addicted business groups to streamline their debts and organization structures drastically. However, just five years later, the company had bounced back into profitability and first-class corporate governance, and stands firmly in the front rank. Undoubtedly, the company's successful recovery and its current strengths have been driven by the capability and dedication of its managers. This paper focuses on interviews with the company's personnel managers during 1999–2001, and on the personnel profiles of 128 managers (general manager level), in order to examine Siam Cement's human resource management policies and practices, and to draw from this its overall strategies for the development of managerial careers. The main finding was that well-planned recruitment, competitive promotion, concrete performance appraisal and wide-ranging training and development programmes, including job rotation and sending managers to study abroad, are all essential career development strategies.     

Exploring professionals' motivation to lead: a cross-level study in the healthcare sector

The extant leadership research has paid increasing attention to the concept of motivation to lead (MTL) as an individual construct that strongly affects leadership processes and behaviors. However, despite its importance, scant knowledge is available about how individual characteristics and organizational structural features interact in influencing MTL in professional-based organizations. This article contributes to this line of research by adopting a multilevel perspective to study the MTL among individual professionals in the healthcare sector. We collected data from a sample of 791 physicians nested in 44 departments belonging to 27 hospitals. Using the hierarchical linear model, we tested the impact of individual and organizational variables on the motivation of physicians to engage in managerial positions. Our findings demonstrate that the physicians' MTL was positively associated with their individual self-efficacy. Departmental decentralization interacted with this self-efficacy, such that the effect of self-efficacy on the MTL was significantly lower when decentralization was high. We discuss the implications of these findings for human resource management and organizational (re)design within professional organizations.