Reflection as a facilitator of teachers' innovative work behaviour

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of reflection as a preparatory mechanism for employees' engagement in innovative work behaviour (IWB). This issue was explored in a study with 67 teachers at the highest level of German secondary education. Specifically, we investigated whether teachers who reflected on work tasks, the social context and their work performance were more engaged in the exploration of opportunities for innovation as well as the generation, promotion and realization of innovative ideas. By applying path modelling, we found that work‐related reflection facilitated all dimensions of IWB. Teachers' IWB most strongly depended on their performance‐related reflection. Also, reflecting on work tasks and the social context affected teachers' IWB indirectly by benefitting their performance‐related reflection. As a consequence, reflection should be valued as a resource for innovation and professional development as well as a vital component of work routines, organizational cultures and job training.     

Promoting employees’ pro-environmental behaviour through empowering leadership: The roles of psychological ownership,empowerment role identity,and environmental self-identity

This study develops a theoretical model to investigate when and why empowering leadership promotes employees’ pro-environmental behaviour (PEB). Synthesising psychological ownership theory and role identity theory, we propose that empowering leadership positively affects the employees’ PEB and that this relationship is mediated by psychological ownership. Furthermore, we examine the moderating roles of empowerment role identity and environmental self-identity in this relationship. By employing 203 leader–follower dyads as a sample, we find that empowering leadership is positively related to employees’ PEB and that employees’ psychological ownership mediates this relationship. Besides, we find that empowerment role identity plays a moderating role in the relationship between empowering leadership and employees’ psychological ownership such that the relationship is positive and significant when empowerment role identity is high but not significant when it is low. Finally, we observe that environmental self-identity moderates the relationship between employees’ psychological ownership and PEB such that the relationship is positive and significant when environmental self-identity is high, but not significant when it is low. Practically, we offer new insight into how and when organisations can leverage the positive effect of empowering leadership in the pursuit of promoting employees’ PEB.     

Smart technology and service employees’ job crafting: Relationship between STARA awareness,performance pressure,receiving and giving help,and job crafting

Owing to the rapid spread of smart technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and algorithms (STARA), service jobs are being replaced by these technologies. Despite the potential effect of STARA awareness on employee outcomes, surprisingly few studies have explored its role service employees' work outcomes. Addressing this gap, our research assessed the mediating relationship between STARA awareness, performance pressure, and job crafting, as well as the moderating effects of help-receiving and help-giving on this relationship. We conducted a quantitative study for 301 South Korean service employees using surveys collected at two points in time. The results indicated that service employees' STARA awareness positively affected job crafting through performance pressure. Furthermore, the association between STARA awareness and performance pressure was more prominent for higher levels of help-receiving than for lower levels of help-receiving. Help-receiving further moderated the indirect effect of performance pressure on the STARA awareness and job crafting relationship. While the mitigating effect of help-giving was not supported, we observed a significantly positive association between STARA awareness and performance pressure only when help-receiving was high and help-giving was low. These findings contribute to the literature on technology in the retailing sector by uncovering how STARA awareness affects service employees’ performance pressure and job crafting and the roles played by help-giving and help-receiving in this relationship.     

The role of job design and mechanism in motivating feedback-seeking behaviour in transportation service

Employee feedback-seeking behaviour is important to improve job performance and organizational effectiveness. This study investigates the mediating role of psychological meaningfulness on job design and feedback-seeking behaviour. The study draws on empirical data gathered from 681 employees in a transportation service company in Taiwan, and uses structural equation modelling to test our proposed model. Empirical results suggest that psychological meaningfulness plays a crucial and mediating role in the relationships between job enrichment, work-role fit and feedback-seeking behaviour. The implications for practitioners are to stress the role of job design and its mediating process for feedback-seeking behaviour.     

Exploring job crafting: Diagnosing and responding to the ways employees adjust their jobs

Recent research has developed an in-depth understanding of how workers change their jobs on their own to improve their performance and well-being, a process called job crafting. This research suggests that managers, coworkers, and organizations need a better understanding of how to manage job crafting to capitalize on its benefits and reduce costs. This article will help organizations diagnose the occurrence of job crafting, recognize the differences between goal-oriented approaches to job crafting as opposed to withdrawal-oriented avoidance job crafting, and identify the seven specific types of job crafting: work role expansion, social expansion, work role reduction, work organization, adoption, metacognition, and withdrawal. We conclude with recommendations for managers, coworkers, and organizations on how to diagnose and manage job crafting.     

Comparing Innovation Capability of Small and Medium‐Sized Enterprises: Examining the Effects of Organizational Culture and Empowerment

This study analyzes the impact of organizational culture and empowerment on innovation capability, and examines the peculiarities of these effects. The study's hypotheses are tested by applying both individual and firm‐level analyses to survey data collected from 743 employees from 93 small and medium‐sized firms located in Turkey. For medium‐sized enterprises on both the individual and firm level of analysis, results suggest that collectivism and uncertainty avoidance are positively associated with empowerment, whereas power distance is negatively related to empowerment. Assertiveness focus has no relations with empowerment and innovation capability, yet among cultural dimensions, only uncertainty avoidance is related to innovation capability. For small‐sized enterprises, findings suggest that both power distance and uncertainty avoidance are linked to both empowerment and innovation capability on the individual level, whereas two new paths between collectivism and innovation capability and between assertiveness focus and empowerment are found on the firm level. Also, empowerment is found to be positively related to innovation capability for both small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) on both the individual and firm level. In terms of managerial practice, our study helps clarify the key role played by cultural dimensions in the process of shaping an empowering and innovative work environment. Findings also reveal that managers should focus on participative managerial practices (e.g., empowerment) to promote innovation capability of SMEs.     

Generation Y employees' retail work experience: The mediating effect of job characteristics

This research examines Generation Y employees' retail work experience. Based upon Brown and Peterson's [Brown SP, Peterson RA, Antecedents and consequences of salesperson job satisfaction: meta-analysis and assessment of causal effects. J Mark Res 1993; 30: 63-77; Brown SP, Peterson RA, The effect of effort on sales performance and job satisfaction. J Mark 1994; 58: 70-80.] job satisfaction model, Gen Y employees work experience framework encompasses the work environment variables of role conflict, role ambiguity, supervisory support, and work involvement to predict job performance, job satisfaction, and, ultimately, retail career intention. Drawing from the job crafting perspective in management theory [Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001], this research tests the mediating effect of job characteristics between work environment and job outcomes using structural equation modeling. Study participants were members of a national sample of students (n = 803) from 14 universities in the United States. The findings indicate that job characteristics have a critical mediating role on the relationships for Gen Y employees, suggesting a paradigm shift from passive to active employees who craft their jobs, roles, and selves within a retail organizational context.     

工作重塑对工作投入的影响：基于优势比较分析方法

文章旨在探讨三维工作重塑量表与四维工作重塑量表、同一量表不同维度对工作投入相对解释力。采用问卷调查,以327名员工为被试,运用回归分析、优势比较分析对假设进行检验。结果表明：(1)任务重塑、认知重塑与工作投入显著正相关,关系重塑与工作投入不相关,且任务重塑、认知重塑与关系重塑对工作投入的解释力依次递减;(2)增加结构性工作资源、增加挑战性工作要求正向预测工作投入,而减少阻碍性工作要求、增加社会性工作资源对工作投入的影响不显著,且增加结构性工作资源、增加挑战性工作要求、减少阻碍性工作要求、增加社会性工作资源对工作投入的解释力依次递减;(3)四维工作重塑量表对工作投入的解释力高于三维工作重塑量表,但差异不大。     

When innovation in education works: stimulating teachers' innovative work behaviour

The twenty‐first century labour market requires employees that proactively shape innovations and solve complex problems. Professionals in the education sector are expected to perform innovative behaviour that not only entails the generation, but also the realization and sustainable implementation of new ideas. In a sample of 458 employees in Dutch secondary and higher vocational education (abbreviated in Dutch to MBO and HBO, respectively), this study investigated the relation between environmental factors (namely task variety, management support and exposure to innovation) and Innovative Work Behaviour (IWB) across the different phases of the innovation process, including a sustainability phase. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that management support and exposure to innovations served as a predictor for all phases of IWB. Teachers with supportive managers and a high degree of exposure to innovations showed higher scores on innovative behaviour across all phases. Linear regressions revealed a significant relationship between task variety and IWB. In the hierarchical model, only management suport and exposure to innovations showed significant relations. Background characteristics, such as gender, age, tenure, number of working hours and type of education, for which we controlled during the analyses, played a role in how much IWB is displayed. It can be concluded that a work environment, in which employees are exposed to innovation and are supported is crucial. Additionally, in view of the role background characteristics play, it is recommended to select teachers with specific profiles for the different phases of the innovation process.     

不合规任务对员工工作绩效的影响研究:一个被调节的双中介模型北大核心

基于认知—情感个性系统理论和资源保存理论构建了一个被调节的双中介模型,探讨了不合规任务对员工工作绩效的影响机制。通过对建筑行业239份领导与员工配对数据的分析发现:(1)不合规任务对员工工作绩效具有显著的负向影响;(2)工作目标进展和情绪耗竭在不合规任务与员工工作绩效间起中介作用;(3)时间管理技能不仅弱化了不合规任务与工作目标进展的负向关系,还削弱了不合规任务与情绪耗竭的正向关系;(4)时间管理技能负向调节了工作目标进展在不合规任务与员工工作绩效间的中介作用,对情绪耗竭在不合规任务与员工工作绩效间中介作用的负向调节效应不显著。本研究的结论为企业进行员工压力和任务管理,提高工作绩效提供实践指导。     

The impact of espoused national cultural values on innovative behaviour: an empirical study in the Chinese IT-enabled global service industry

In this article, we explore the different roles that knowledge sharing and exploitative learning play in employees’ innovative behaviour, and investigate the different moderating effects of employees’ espoused national cultural values on the relationship between exploitative learning and innovative behaviour in the Chinese IT-enabled global service firms with different ownerships. We propose a theoretical model to characterize these antecedents of innovative behaviour. A structured research survey was conducted and data were collected from a sample of 484 full-time employees in 3 IT-enabled global service firms in the PRC. Results indicate that knowledge sharing is positively associated with innovative behaviour in multinational corporations and private IT-enabled global service; espoused power distance has a significant positive moderating effect on exploitative learning–innovative behaviour relationship in state-owned and private firms; espoused collectivism has a significant moderating effect only in state-owned firms in China. Last, we explore the implications of our findings for theory and practice of innovation.     

Seasonal employees' intention to return and do more than expected

Seasonal employment is important in the service industries. Having motivated and satisfied employees is fundamental when front-line employees play a key role for the customers' perceived service quality. Seasonal work differs from permanent employment in many aspects and if managed properly, this could be a competitive advantage and contribute to the success of an organization. This study focuses on seasonal employees' intention to return and to do more than expected at work as well as the relationships between certain motivational factors and job satisfaction. A survey was carried out at four ski resorts with 477 respondents. Correlation and regression analyses indicate that job satisfaction influences the intention to return but does not have a strong influence on organizational citizenship behaviour (i.e. doing more than expected at work). The results improve our understanding of seasonal workers' motivation and behaviour. The concluding part discusses managerial implications.     

Innovation,network services and the restructuring of work organisation in customer services

The information and communication technology revolution has had important qualitative effects on the manner in which the output of new products and services is managed. This is in part associated with leveraging the knowledge of a broader group of employees. Through a case study of customer services in a major telecommunications firm, it is shown that integrating broader groups of employees into the innovation process can be vital. However a case is made that transforming work-related institutions in the firm has proved a challenging process, particularly when management are required to broaden the powers of decision making granted to employees, allowing greater discretion at the workplace and changing the manner in which work tasks are enforced.     

Work-Related Behavioral Intentions in Macedonia: Coping Strategies, Work Environment, Love of Money, Job Satisfaction, and Demographic Variables

Based on theory of planned behavior, we develop a theoretical model involving love of money (LOM), job satisfaction (attitude), coping strategies/responses (perceived behavioral control), work environment (subjective norm), and work-related behavioral intentions (behavioral intention). We tested this model using job satisfaction as a mediator and sector (public versus private), personal character (good apples versus bad apples), gender, and income as moderators in a sample of 515 employees and their managers in the Republic of Macedonia. For the whole sample, both coping strategies and helpful work environment were related to high job satisfaction. The relationship between work environment and job satisfaction was the strongest link in all subsequent analyses. High LOM is associated with unfavorable work environment for employees in the private sectors and people with low income and is positively associated with coping strategies for bad apples. A favorable work environment was related to less corrupt intent for people in the public sectors, good apples, and with low income, but not for their counterparts. Coping strategies were related to high job satisfaction for males, but not for females. Our counterintuitive results showed that bad apples?? high LOM was related to low corrupt intent. Our theoretical model sheds new light and provides novel theoretical, empirical, and practical implications to Macedonian managers?? corrupt intent.     

Associations Between Organizational/Individual Factors and the Intentions of Employees

Abstract

This study of a university school foodservice operation examines whether a positive or negative association exists between the individual and organizational factors and the intentions to stay or leave the current job for foodservice employees or internal customers. The individual factors include job status, service length, age, education level, and job position. The organizational factors include several job characteristics, intrinsic motivation, formalization, participative decision-making and psychological stress. Job characteristics indicated a significant positive impact on university retention across the job characteristics of autonomy, feedback, dealing with others, and variety. The organizational factors of perceived formalization and participative decision-making also had a significant positive impact on university employee retention. The organizational factors of intrinsic motivation, task identity, and friendship opportunities did not have a statistically significant positive or negative impact on university employee retention yet had the directions of relationship that was expected. Finally, psychological stress had a negative impact on university employee retention. The article ends with suggestions for future research and limitations of the current study.     

Global employees and exogenous shocks: considering positive psychological capital as a personal resource in international human resource management

While positive psychological capital (PsyCap) is a significant antecedent of favorable work outcomes, it is unclear whether this is true for global employees during an exogenous shock. Applying conservation of resources theory, we found that, under conditions of crisis-induced role novelty, global employees leveraged PsyCap to follow a resource-gain route to job satisfaction, whereas their ability to mitigate resource loss was limited. We differentiate among global employees, finding that role novelty compensated for lower PsyCap in motivating job engagement for those with higher travel obligations. Our results stress the importance of PsyCap in international human resource management scholarship and practice.     

The emotional benefits and performance costs of building a psychologically safe language climate in MNCs

How employees cope with the requirement to work in a foreign language has received little scholarly attention. To narrow this gap, we conducted an ethnographic study at KONE and NOKIA, companies using English as a lingua franca. Results indicate that employees who are non-native lingua franca speakers may cope collectively with the language demands by building a psychologically safe language climate. Although benefitting them emotionally, psychologically safe language climate may simplify the lingua franca and, in turn, decrease innovative performance. Our findings contribute to research on language-coping mechanisms and psychological safety in adding language as a potential barrier to innovativeness.     

The impact of natural disaster on absenteeism, job satisfaction, and job performance of survival employees: An empirical study of the survivors in Wenchuan Earthquake

Natural disasters cause serious damage to businesses in the stricken areas and greatly affect survivors’ psychology and behaviors. Based on data from 206 survival employees in 33 affected firms in Wenchuan Earthquake, this study analyzes the impact of natural disaster on absenteeism, job satisfaction, and job performance of survival employees. Results indicate that after the earthquake, survival employees’ absenteeism and job satisfaction (including intrinsic, extrinsic, and general job satisfaction) decrease significantly, but their task performance, contextual performance, and overall job performance improve significantly. Employees’ learning and innovative performance have no significant change in comparison with that before the earthquake. The authors thus suggest that the affected businesses need to communicate with the survival employees actively, focus more on job security, compensation and working conditions, in order to maintain these employees’ job satisfaction. In addition, enterprises outside the affected areas should give priority to the recruitment of the survival employees given the same conditions, because it is beneficial to both the employing enterprises and the reconstruction of affected areas.     

Exhaustion and emotional demands in China: a large-scale investigation across occupations

As the Chinese economy moves toward a market-based model, employees are likely to face more emotional demands and exhaustion at work. However, there are some unique aspects to the emotional demands of work in the Chinese cultural context. We investigate emotional demands and exhaustion in China with a large-scale sample across the six major occupations identified by the Holland classification system. Results show that incumbents of social and enterprising jobs face higher emotional demands. Unexpectedly, exhaustion differs significantly between conventional and other types of jobs. Building on the Job Demand-Resources (JD-R) model, job crafting and the cultural context, we propose that the nonlinear relationship of emotional demands and exhaustion exists only when emotional intelligence is low. Our study may inform practitioners and policy makers in Chinese enterprises about emotional demands and exhaustion for various occupations and the importance of selection and training programs in emotional intelligence.     

How authentic leadership influences employee proactivity: the sequential mediating effects of psychological empowerment and core self-evaluations and the moderating role of employee political skill

This study aims to examine the relationship between authentic leadership and employee proactive behavior. Based on self-determination theory, we argue that such a relationship is sequentially mediated by psychological empowerment and core self-evaluations. In addition, political skill plays a moderating role in the third stage. These hypotheses are validated by a sample of 65 leaders and 275 subordinates from two private enterprises in mainland China. Results show that authentic leadership (Time 1) influences employees’ proactive behavior (Time 3) through the psychological empowerment (Time 1) and core self-evaluations of employees (Time 2), and the relationship between core self-evaluations and proactive behavior is positively moderated by employees’ political skill. In addition, bootstrapping results also verify the moderating role played by employees’ political skill in the indirect relationship between authentic leadership and proactive behavior through core self-evaluations. Theoretical and managerial implications are further discussed in the light of these findings.