Culture,industrialisation and multiple domains of employees' job satisfaction: a case for HR strategy redesign in India

This paper explores the link between cultural behavioural traits, the potential effect of industrialisation and multiple domains of job satisfaction, utilising survey data collected from public and private service sector employees in Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya in the North East Region (NER) of India. Results from ordered probit regressions demonstrate a statistically significant impact of both, extrinsic and intrinsic moderating factors on Indian employees' job satisfaction. In view of India's widely reported collectivistic cultural traits, which are assumed to emphasise primarily the importance of extrinsic job aspects, our findings are surprising. They suggest that in the wake of India's significant economic developments the impact of intrinsic job rewards has played ‘catch-up’ with that of their extrinsic counterparts. As such, the study provides evidence in support of embracing human resource management (HRM) practices that incentivise Indian employees not only through their traditional methods aimed at extrinsic job rewards but also by explicitly addressing individual ambitions, needs and aspirations.     

What factors influence the organizational commitment of public sector employees in China? The role of extrinsic,intrinsic and social rewards

This study investigates the relationship between extrinsic, intrinsic and social rewards, and the organizational commitment of 239 Chinese public sector employees. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that although variables included to measure extrinsic and social rewards were strongly related to organizational commitment, variables included to measure intrinsic rewards had limited influence. These findings suggest that the antecedents of organizational commitment in the Chinese public sector are significantly different from those in the Chinese private sector and public sector organizations in the West.     

Targeted employee retention: Performance‐based and job‐related differences in reported reasons for staying

What makes employees stay with a particular employer? To find out, we developed a content model of 12 retention factors in the context of previous theory and research and analyzed open‐ended responses from 24,829 employees in the leisure and hospitality industry. Our coding of their comments supported the identified framework and revealed that job satisfaction, extrinsic rewards, constituent attachments, organizational commitment, and organizational prestige were the most frequently mentioned reasons for staying. High performers and nonhourly workers were more likely to cite advancement opportunities and organizational prestige as reasons for staying, whereas low performers and hourly employees were more likely to cite extrinsic rewards. These findings highlight the importance of differentiating human resource management practices when the goal is to retain valued employees. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The impact of corporate entrepreneurship and high-performance work systems on employees' job attitudes: empirical evidence from Greece during the economic downturn

In turbulent times, corporate entrepreneurship (CE) and high-performance work systems (HPWSs) are expected to expand and flourish. However, research on the influences of both CE and HPWSs on employees' job attitudes has generally been neglected. The aim of this study is twofold. First is to investigate the effects of CE and HPWSs on facets of job satisfaction and the three components of organisational commitment. Second is, consistent with the social exchange theory, to examine whether psychological contract act as an important mediator for the CE, HPWSs and employees' job attitudes relationships. Empirical evidence was obtained from 424 employees in the Greek manufacturing industry. Results indicate that both CE and HPWSs positively impact employees' level of job satisfaction and organisational commitment. In addition, we find evidence that psychological contract theory provides a coherent theoretical framework for understanding these relationships. Theoretical and practical implications for HR managers conclude the article.     

Linking people management and extra‐role behaviour: results of a longitudinal study

This article examines the validity of the assumption that employees' perceptions of those people management activities of their supervisor that impact on employees' abilities, motivation and opportunities to perform influence employee extra‐role behaviour. The results of a longitudinal survey with data from 3,368 employees provide support for this assumption. This study's distinctive features – the concept of people management that involves the management of HR implementation, the longitudinal research design, and the use of the AMO framework for specifying the linkages between HRM and performance – make it possible to address the core questions in the HRM‐performance debate that still remain unanswered according to Guest.     

Influence of high performance work systems on employee subjective well-being and job burnout: empirical evidence from the Chinese healthcare sector

Over the last two decades, high performance work systems (HPWSs) research has been dominated by examining the effects of these systems on firm performance. Research on the impact of HPWSs on employees has been marginalised. This study examines the impact of HPWSs on two psychological outcomes for employees, namely, subjective well-being (SWB) and workplace burnout, by utilising data collected from 1488 physicians and nurses in 25 Chinese hospitals. It also examines the moderating effects of employees' organisational based self-esteem (OBSE), as an individual intervention and physician–nurse relationships, as an organisational intervention, on the relationship between HPWSs and employee outcomes. HPWS is found to increase employees' SWB and decrease burnout. Such well-being-enhancing and burnout-relieving effects are stronger when employees have high OBSE. The positive effect of HPWS on SWB is also stronger when there is a collaborative relationship among employees in an organisation. The major contribution of this study is to unpack the ‘black box’ of how HPWS influences employee well-being in the Chinese healthcare sector context.     

The effects of family-friendly practices and gender discrimination on job attitudes: the moderating role of supervisor support

This study examined the effects of family-friendly practices and gender discrimination on female employees' job attitudes and the moderating role of supervisor support. The results of our analysis, based on a sample of 1556 female employees in Korea, indicate that family-friendly practices and workplace environments reflecting gender discrimination are significantly related to their job satisfaction and workplace benefits stress. In addition, supervisor support moderated the effects of family-friendly practices and workplace environments reflecting gender discrimination on Korean female employees' job satisfaction and work stress. These results suggest that perceived organizational support has considerable influence on the job attitudes of Korean female employees through its interactions with supervisor support. Therefore, firms should consider the ‘fit’ between organizational support and supervisory roles to enhance Korean female employees' job satisfaction and to reduce their work stress.     

How organisational image affects employee attitudes

Organisational image has mostly been studied using an external perspective focused on strategy and marketing issues. Given its salience in employees' symbolic environment, however, image may also have internal as well as external consequences. Yet, the potential impact of image on internal HR aspects has received only pminimal interest from researchers. This article presents the results of a study that explored the impact of perceived external prestige (PEP) on three individual outcomes: job satisfaction, affective organisational commitment and affective well‐being at work. It is based on a survey of 527 French managers. The findings show that all individual outcomes are related to PEP. Moreover, it was found that the impact of corporate image on some of the outcomes was stronger for individuals working in sales/marketing than for other employees.     

Extrinsic motivation as a determinant of knowledge exchange in sales teams: A social network approach

This paper investigates extrinsic motivation as a determinant of knowledge exchange among employees in sales teams. Applying a social network approach, we study different forms of knowledge-exchange behaviors from the perspective of a focal employee and from the perspective of the dyad. From the focal employees' perspective, we disentangle knowledge seeking from knowledge providing, and argue that these two behaviors are affected differently by employees' extrinsic motivation. From the dyad perspective, we take similarity in motivation of tied-to employees and reciprocity of exchange ties into account. To test our hypotheses, we apply exponential random graph models to data gathered from 138 employees in five different sales teams distributed across three companies in Central Europe. The results of our analysis from the focal employees' perspective show that extrinsically motivated employees generally engage in less knowledge exchange. The dyad perspective further highlights that sales employees proceed purposefully when they exchange knowledge with coworkers. For instance, two employees' relative levels of extrinsic motivation determine their willingness to engage in reciprocal knowledge exchange. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on the microfoundations of organizational knowledge management and draw conclusions concerning HRM practices used to foster extrinsic motivation, thereby affecting knowledge exchange.     

Intercultural competence and expatriates

This study examines the simultaneous effects of employees' fit with their organization, job and supervisor on their job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention in Turkish banks by paying special attention to the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in these relationships. Survey data collected from 213 employees who work in five different banks operating in Istanbul, Turkey, show that employees' value fit with their organization increases their job satisfaction and organizational commitment significantly while having no direct effect on their turnover intention. The results also suggest a positive association between employees' fit with their job (needs–supplies fit) and their job satisfaction along with the negative, direct impact of job fit on turnover intention. The hypothesized relationships between employees' value fit with their supervisor and selected employee outcomes are not supported. With respect to the moderating role of POS, the overall findings indicate that a high level of organizational support suppresses the effects of employees' value fit with their organization on their job satisfaction and organizational commitment as well as reducing the relationship between their job fit and job satisfaction and turnover intention.     

Linking rewards to commitment: an empirical investigation of four UK call centres

Rewards being an important component of exchange theory, this research examines relationships among frontline employees' perceptions of rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic) and the three components of organizational commitment (i.e. affective, normative and continuance). The investigation is conducted by the help of a large survey in four call centres of a major retail bank in the UK. The results of the study support the contentions of exchange theory, and highlight the significance of both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to develop affective, normative and continuance commitment in call centre employees. This research also helps to identify the antecedents that develop each component of commitment. The findings of this research have key messages for practitioners, and contribute to the fields of HRM, rewards, commitment and exchange theory.     

Employee voice: does union membership matter?

Industrial relations research has traditionally viewed trade unions as the primary mechanism for employee voice. With the decline in unionism in many advanced industrial economies over the past two decades, new direct non-union voice mechanisms have been introduced by employers. This focus on the mechanisms for employee voice, however, fails to take account of employees' perceptions of voice. We suggested that employee perceptions of voice vary between the different levels of an organisation and proposed that trade union membership will be more likely to enhance individual employee perceptions of voice at the wider organisational level. Contrary to our expectations, our analysis of 2,949 employees of a public sector scientific research organisation found that union membership had a significant negative impact on employee voice at the organisational level. The article concluded by offering possible explanations for this unexpected finding and the implications for theory, management and future research.     

Mentors,supervisors and role models: do they reduce the effects of psychological contract breach?

Psychological contract breach has become a significant problem for many organisations in today's business environment because it fosters a belief within employees that the organisation does not support them. Accordingly, we examine whether organisations can diminish the negative impact of psychological contract breach on perceived organisational support (POS) by providing employees with mentors, supportive supervisors and role models. In Study 1, we found that mentor relationships moderated the relationship between psychological contract breach and POS six months later. In Study 2, we showed that mentor relationships and supervisor support reduced the negative impact of contract breach on POS. Contrary to expectations, employees who maintained relationships with role models reported lower levels of POS in response to psychological contract breach than those employees who reported that they did not have role models in their organisations. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Comparing the impact of leader–member exchange,psychological empowerment and affective commitment upon Australian public and private sector nurses: implications for retention

This study uses Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) theory to test the associations between the supervisor–subordinate relationship, psychological empowerment and affective commitment amongst 1283 nurses working in Australian public and private hospitals. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, analysed and presented. The findings show that the quality of LMX is more important in public sector nursing contexts than in the private sector with regard to the relationship between empowerment and affective commitment. Furthermore, the relationship between empowerment and affective commitment is stronger for nurses in public sector organisations with low-quality LMX than for nurses in public sector organisations with high-quality LMX. As empowerment and affective commitment are both predictors of staff retention, the findings can assist in developing targeted current and future retention strategies for healthcare management.     

Implementation of empowerment in Chinese high power-distance organizations

The importance of empowerment in service industries is recognized by practitioners and scholars in the West but there has been limited investigation of its impact on the willingness of service personnel in a high power-distance culture. This study examines how empowerment can be facilitated in the high power-distance context of China. Regression and path model analysis using a sample of 290 service employees from six 4-star to 5-star hotels in the Macau SAR China indicate that empowerment positively leads to higher service willingness and this relationship is mediated by performance-based rewards, and organizational and supervisor support. These findings have implications for HR managers considering or using empowerment.     

心理资本对民营企业新生代员工绩效的影响——以浙江3家民营上市公司为例

通过定性与定量研究,本文认为心理资本与新生代员工绩效有显著正相关关系。回归分析发现,员工心理资本中自信维度对于新生代员工任务绩效、人际促进、工作投入三维结构均有显著的正向促进作用;乐观、坚韧对于任务绩效达成有显著正向影响;希望维度对于人际促进有显著正向影响;而坚韧维度有助于新生代员工工作投入的增强。新生代员工不只看重物质待遇,也重视精神需求的满足。     

How do industrial relations climate and union instrumentality enhance employee performance? The mediating effects of perceived job security and trust in management

In this study, we examine the effects of two key variables associated with union effectiveness on the job performance of employees, and the mechanisms that explain such effects. More specifically, we investigate whether employees' perceptions that their union has a constructive relationship with management (industrial relations climate) and is able to act as an agent for their concerns (union instrumentality) promotes their job performance by enhancing their perceived job security and trust in management. Drawing on three waves of data from 303 employees and their immediate supervisors within 17 private enterprises in China, we find employees' perceptions of union effectiveness influence their job performance by enhancing both their perceived job security and trust in management. These findings are consistent with social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory. This article contributes to the literature by improving our understanding of how unions influence employees' work performance and by explaining how employees' perceptions of the industrial relations climate and union instrumentality influence their job performance. It also sheds light on the important issue of the effectiveness of unions in China, a country where the centrality of the Chinese Communist Party is often considered to have reduced the instrumentality of unions.     

Why do employees hold their vested stocks while they can sell them?

We proposed an integrated model of risk-balancing arguments and the emergence of psychological ownership to investigate employees' propensity of holding awarded stocks under a broad-based stock incentive plan. Analysis was conducted using a sample of 391 employees of a semiconductor foundry located in Taiwan. The results provided strong indication that psychological ownership motivation contribute to explain employees' willingness to hold vested stocks from broad-based stock plans. This study provide stimulating insight into the psychological mechanisms through which the individual's risk-aversion and wealth effects influence employees' intentions to hold vested stocks and further extends our understanding on how broad-based stock plans can develop an employees sense of ownership.     

Middle Manager Leadership and Frontline Employee Performance: Bypass,Cascading, and Moderating Effects

We investigated the relationship between middle managers' transformational leadership and the performance of frontline employees who are two levels below the middle managers. We identified two pathways through which this cross‐level influence occurs and tested two moderators operating on these two pathways. The first pathway is a direct effect from middle managers to employees, bypassing the influence of employees' immediate supervisor (the bypass effect). We further hypothesized that the bypass effect is moderated by the employees' collectivistic value. The second pathway is a cascading of leadership behaviours from middle managers to first‐line supervisors, whose transformational leadership then enhances employees' performance (the cascading effect). We further hypothesized that this cascading effect is moderated by the supervisors' power distance value. These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 491 frontline employees, 98 frontline supervisors, and 30 middle managers in three organizations in China. The three‐level hierarchical linear modelling results supported the four hypotheses.