The importance of an internal marketing orientation in social services

• The current research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the role of emotions in the successful delivery of social services. Survey data collected from 533 frontline social service providers were subjected to regression analyses. Findings reveal that emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between emotional labor and job stress, which in‐turn impacts job performance. The findings suggest that an internal marketing orientation is needed to better match the organization's products (i.e., jobs) with its internal customers (employees), and in‐turn improve the quality (job performance) of its offerings to its external customers.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Using the job demands‐resources model to predict burnout and performance

The job demands‐resources (JD‐R) model was used to examine the relationship between job characteristics, burnout, and (other‐ratings of) performance (N = 146). We hypothesized that job demands (e.g., work pressure and emotional demands) would be the most important antecedents of the exhaustion component of burnout, which, in turn, would predict in‐role performance (hypothesis 1). In contrast, job resources (e.g., autonomy and social support) were hypothesized to be the most important predictors of extra‐role performance, through their relationship with the disengagement component of burnout (hypothesis 2). In addition, we predicted that job resources would buffer the relationship between job demands and exhaustion (hypothesis 3), and that exhaustion would be positively related to disengagement (hypothesis 4). The results of structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for hypotheses 1, 2, and 4, but rejected hypothesis 3. These findings support the JD‐R model's claim that job demands and job resources initiate two psychological processes, which eventually affect organizational outcomes. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Exploring the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment: an instrumental variable approach

Abstract

The possible role of job satisfaction (JS) on organizational commitment (OC) has been a very important and hotly debated topic among experts. However, existing studies have yielded mixed results potentially due to utilization of small datasets, different methodological designs, estimation techniques that do not control for potential endogeneity between the variables, or a combination of these issues. Using a large matched employer-employee data-set from Britain (WERS2011), we find that increases in employees’ JS positively influence OC. We also show that this relationship holds when an instrumental variable framework (IV ordered probit/IV probit) is adopted to take into account the potential endogeneity of JS. However, throughout the analysis, the IV estimates are smaller in magnitude in comparison to where JS is considered as an exogenous variable. Moreover, utilising a two-stage probit least square (2SPLS) estimator, we support our previous findings i.e. increased JS is likely to lead to enhanced OC, but we also show that greater OC leads to higher levels of JS suggesting that JS and OC are likely to be reciprocally related. Overall, the IV estimates confirm the importance of addressing the endogeneity issue in the analysis of the relationship between JS and OC.     

A weekly diary study on the buffering role of social support in the relationship between job insecurity and employee performance

In this article, the authors used a within‐person design to examine the relationship between job insecurity and employee in‐role and extra‐role performance, and the buffering role of time‐varying work‐based support (i.e., supervisor and colleague support) in this relationship. Weekly diary data gathered over the course of three weeks from 56 employees confronted with organizational restructuring and analyzed with a hierarchical linear modeling approach showed that weekly fluctuations in job insecurity negatively predicted week‐level in‐role performance. As predicted, supervisor support moderated the intra‐individual relationship between job insecurity and in‐role performance, so that employees' in‐role performance suffered less from feeling job insecurity during weeks in which they received more support from their supervisor. No relationship between job insecurity and extra‐role performance was observed. This within‐person study contributes to research on job insecurity that has primarily focused on inter‐individual differences in job insecurity and their associations with job performance. Theoretical and practical implications for human resource management are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How work-related capabilities influence job performance: a relational perspective

Employee relationships with supervisors can be based upon both work-focused activities and outcomes, as exemplified by leader–member exchange (LMX), and personal, non-work activities, as exemplified by Chinese guanxi. The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of supervisor–subordinate guanxi (SSG) and LMX in the relationship between the work-related human and social capital of employees and supervisors’ ratings of their job performance. Data were collected from 372 employees and 127 supervisors in a range of companies in China. The study demonstrates how human and social capital might play differing roles in influencing SSG and LMX. In particular, LMX partially mediated the relationship between human capital and job performance, and the relationship between social capital and job performance was fully mediated by SSG and LMX. The findings enrich understanding of how personal capabilities influence work and non-work relationships and assessments of job performance. The unique content of the Chinese construct of guanxi has implications for research and practice in modern organizations where the barriers between work and non-work are permeable and relationships include affective attachment as well as instrumental considerations.     

The effects of supportive management and job quality on the turnover intentions and health of military personnel

To be competitive in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing envi‐ronment, organizations must retain personnel and promote the well‐being of employees. We examine the relationship of both support provided to person‐nel and job quality with employee health and turnover intentions among a sample of 450 military personnel. Factors involving the supportive manage‐ment of personnel (i.e., supervisory support, organizational support, and work‐life balance) and factors pertaining to job quality (i.e., work stimulation and job clarity) were indirectly related to health and to turnover intentions through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Why Do I Feel Valued and Why Do I Contribute? A Relational Approach to Employee's Organization‐Based Self‐Esteem and Job Performance

Drawing on the relational perspective and self‐consistency theory, we theorize how relationships involving work‐centric, off‐work‐centric, and/or personal components can affect an employee's organization‐based self‐esteem and job performance in Chinese organizational contexts. Matched data were collected from a multi‐source sample that included 219 employee–supervisor dyads from a Chinese bank. Results based on hierarchical regression analyses reveal that a high‐quality relationship with a supervisor through work and off‐work domains (leader–member exchange and guanxi) is positively related to organization‐based self‐esteem. Organization‐based self‐esteem plays a mediating role in the relationship between guanxi and job performance. Additionally, career mentoring from a supervisor (a work‐centric relationship involving personal components) moderates the relationship between organization‐based self‐esteem and job performance.     

Too much of a good thing: The interactive effects of cultural values and core job characteristics on hindrance stressors and employee performance outcomes

This study contributes to research on core job characteristics by examining when employees may perceive enriched jobs as a hindrance stressor and in turn may experience lower performance at work. Utilizing time-lagged data collected from a sample of 386 employee–coworker dyads and drawing on cognitive appraisal theory of stress and coping, we explore the mediating role of hindrance stressors on the relationship between core job characteristics and key employee performance outcomes (i.e., creativity, counterproductive work behaviors, in-role performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors) and the moderating roles of cultural values (i.e., power distance and uncertainty avoidance) in influencing this mediation. The results supported the hypotheses, providing evidence that the experience of hindrance stressors mediates the relationship between core job characteristics and job performance outcomes when employees score high on power distance and uncertainty avoidance cultural values, and not when their scores on these cultural values were low. Practical implications and future research are discussed.     

The roles of OCB and automation in the relationship between job autonomy and organizational performance: a moderated mediation model

This study examines the mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the relationship between job autonomy and organizational performance in the manufacturing industry. The study also investigates the moderating role of automation in those relationships. Although it is well known that job autonomy has an intimate relationship with employees’ attitudes at the individual level, no studies have yet elucidated the relationships of job autonomy with OCB and organizational performance at the organizational level. Moreover, no research has investigated the role of automation in an OB discipline, although automation constitutes an important contextual variable. Using a moderated mediation model, this study found that OCB mediated the relationship between job autonomy and performance, and that these relationships were stronger in less automated organizations. The findings offer implications regarding how job autonomy can improve organizational performance and which organizations benefit more from job autonomy.     

Crossing the level of employee's performance: HPWS,affective commitment,human capital,and employee job performance in professional service organizations

Extant research on high-performance work systems (HPWS) has primarily examined the effects of HPWS on firm-level performance from a macro perspective and mostly in manufacturing settings. This study extends this literature by integrating social exchange theory and human capital theory perspectives to examine how shop-level HPWS affect employee individual performance in the service context, especially focusing on the small-scale professional service organizations. Data collected from multiple sources included 97 hair salon shop owners and 284 hairdressers as well as objective job performance measured in terms of each hairdresser's average monthly service sales. Results from cross-level analysis indicated that the relationship between shop-level HPWS and employee job performance was mediated by employee affective commitment and their human capital. These findings shed new light on the mechanisms through which HPWS impact employee outcomes and serve to bridge between macro and micro perspectives of human resource management.     

Coworker support as a double-edged sword: a moderated mediation model of job crafting,work engagement,and job performance

Abstract

This research aims to test the mediating effect of work engagement on the relationship between job crafting and job performance, as well as the moderating effects of two forms of coworker support on the job crafting–work engagement relationship. We collected survey-based data from two South Korean samples. Study 1 was conducted on 175 flight attendants. The results of Study 1 were then replicated in Study 2 wherein 181 hotel employees reported their own job crafting and work engagement, and their supervisors rated their job performance one month later. In both studies, work engagement fully mediated the relationship between job crafting and job performance. The positive association between job crafting and work engagement was more pronounced when coworker emotional support was high than when it was low. In contrast, the positive link between job crafting and work engagement was stronger when coworker instrumental support was low than when it was high. Coworker emotional and instrumental support further moderated the indirect effect of job crafting on job performance through work engagement.     

Job security as a threatened resource: reactions to job insecurity in culturally distinct regions

As downsizing and restructuring have become global phenomena, the impact of job insecurity on employee attitudes has received significant attention. However, research examining the role of cultural dimensions has been largely unexplored. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we investigated whether the relationships between both quantitative job insecurity (i.e. the perceived threat of job loss) and qualitative job insecurity (i.e. the perceived threat of losing valued job features) and employee attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intention) differ in culturally distinct regions. This was examined using representative employee samples from two regions of Switzerland which differ in societal practices uncertainty avoidance and performance orientation: the German-speaking (n = 966) and the French-speaking (n = 307) regions. Our research indicates that whereas the relationship between quantitative job insecurity and turnover intention is stronger in the French-speaking region where there is higher societal practice uncertainty avoidance, the relationship between qualitative job insecurity and job satisfaction is stronger in the German-speaking region where there is higher societal practice performance orientation.     

A cross-national study of work engagement as a mediator between job resources and proactive behaviour

This study investigates the mediating role of work engagement (i.e. vigour and dedication) among job resources (i.e. job control, feedback and variety) and proactive behaviour at work. This mediating role was investigated, using Structural Equation Modelling in two independent samples from Spain (n = 386 technology employees) and the Netherlands (n = 338 telecom managers). Results in both samples confirmed that work engagement fully mediates the impact of job resources on proactive behaviour. Subsequent multigroup analyses revealed that the strengths of the structural paths of the mediation model were invariant across both national samples, underscoring the cross-national validity of the model     

Multi‐foci CSR perceptions,procedural justice and in‐role employee performance: the mediating role of commitment and pride

This study explores differential employee responses to perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) treatment of social and non‐social stakeholder foci of the community, customers, shareholders and environment along with first‐party employee justice perceptions. At a finance‐sector multinational, we test the mediating role of commitment and pride in accounting for the relationship between perceptions of stakeholder treatment and in‐role performance. We propose and pilot a new multi‐foci CSR measure and include this in a mediated model within a separate study. Socially responsible treatment of customers and the environment play a role in predicting performance; these foci are related to either pride or commitment. Community CSR, first‐party justice perceptions and commitment predict performance either directly or indirectly. Our research shows an absence of any positive employee response associated with CSR towards shareholders. The study uncovers new insights into our understanding of complexities in employee responses to CSR activities.     

Testing approach and avoidance motives and job satisfaction: psychological contract breach as a moderator of the mediating roles of tactics

This study tested the mediating roles of both voice and facades of conformity in the relationship between regulatory foci and job satisfaction and the extent to which the mediating roles is moderated by psychological contract breach among a sample of 271 military recruits in Taiwan. Results suggest that voice and facades of conformity mediated the relationship between regulatory foci and job satisfaction. Also, results suggest that perceived breach moderates this mediating pathway: Strong psychological contract breach increases the relationship between promotion focus and voice in the case of job satisfaction. On the other hand, psychological contract breach strongly moderates the relationship between prevention focus and facades of conformity in the case of low job satisfaction. Results are discussed in view of the importance of (a) including the measure of regulatory focus in future studies, (b) the mediating roles of different tactics in explaining the relationship between regulatory foci and job satisfaction and (c) the moderating role of psychological contract breach as a negative workplace event. Implications for the results are discussed.     

Co‐Worker Exclusion and Employee Outcomes: An Investigation of the Moderating Roles of Perceived Organizational and Social Support

When does social support alleviate or exacerbate the effects of being excluded by colleagues in the workplace? This study integrates belongingness and social support theories to predict and demonstrate the differential effects of work‐related support (i.e., perceived organizational support; POS) and non‐work‐related support (i.e., family and social support; FSS) on employee reactions to co‐worker exclusion. Consistent with our predictions, we found that employees reporting high levels of co‐worker exclusion and high levels of perceived organizational support demonstrate higher levels of performance and increased levels of self‐worth than those reporting low levels of POS. Alternatively, support from family or friends intensified the negative relationship between co‐worker exclusion and self‐esteem and the positive relationship between co‐worker exclusion and job‐induced tension. Unexpectedly, FSS did not influence the supervisor‐rated task performance of excluded workers, nor did POS mitigate the relationship between co‐worker exclusion and job‐induced tension. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Role overload,knowledge acquisition and job satisfaction: An ambidexterity perspective on boundary-spanning activities of IT employees

Abstract

Building upon the ambidexterity perspective, this study conceptualizes boundary-spanning activities as both transactional and learning to illuminate their different effects on IT employees’ job satisfaction. Specifically, we offer an overarching theoretical framework rooted in ambidexterity by connecting the role theory and knowledge acquisition perspective to reconcile the inconsistency of extant findings. Role overload has a mediating effect on the relationship between boundary-spanning activities (both transactional and learning) and job satisfaction, whereas knowledge acquisition mediates the relationship between learning boundary-spanning activities and job satisfaction. Furthermore, high achievement motivation and learning goal orientation moderate the positive effect of learning boundary-spanning activities on job satisfaction. The quantitative analysis of IT employees in Chinese state-owned enterprises largely supports our hypotheses. We conclude this paper by discussing theoretical and managerial implications for ambidexterity, boundary spanning, and job satisfaction.     

Embeddedness across contexts: A two‐country study on the additive and buffering effects of job embeddedness on employee turnover

Despite the growing body of literature on the effects of job embeddedness on turnover, there are few studies on how job embeddedness operates in different countries. This study, based on the Conservation of Resources theory, addresses this research gap by investigating both the additive and the buffering effects of on‐the‐job and off‐the‐job embeddedness using employee data from China (n = 373) and Switzerland (n = 268). Results showed that on‐the‐job embeddedness reduced the likelihood of turnover more strongly in Switzerland than in China (additive effect). Additionally, in China, the unsolicited job offer–turnover relationship was stronger when employees had lower levels of off‐the‐job embeddedness (buffering effect). This research contributes to the understanding of the relative role of on‐the‐job and off‐the‐job embeddedness for turnover in different countries.     

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.     

Social embeddedness and job performance of tenured and non‐tenured professionals

This study examines how different employment relationships in academic settings, ie tenured versus non‐tenured appointments, are associated with different types of job performance efforts. The social embeddedness model contends that employees' efforts to perform well depend on embeddedness in the social environment. Adopting this perspective, we ask what types of embeddedness are likely to improve job performance efforts, namely compliance and contextual performance, under the condition of different employment relationships. Regression analyses on the responses of both tenured and non‐tenured faculty members show that employees' efforts to perform well can be explained by social embeddedness. Temporal embeddedness appears to be important in explaining the job performance efforts of tenured faculty members, while, in contrast, network embeddedness seems important in explaining the efforts of nontenured faculty members; and institutional embeddedness explained the efforts of both groups of faculty members.