The effects of employee engagement and self-efficacy on job performance: a longitudinal field study

Abstract

Self-efficacy’s influence on individual job performance has been well documented in laboratory studies. However, there have been very few rigorous field studies of self-efficacy’s relationship with objectively measured individual job performance in organizational settings. This research history might account for the low take-up of self-efficacy within the business literature as well as within business itself. When it comes to studies of employee engagement, the same lack of rigorous individual studies applies, although several organizational-level studies link employee engagement to organizational performance, while its claimed benefits have been widely discussed in the business literature. Finally, the degree to which employee engagement and self-efficacy have independent and additive effects on individual-level job performance remains unknown. In order to address these issues, a longitudinal field study was undertaken within an Australian financial services firm. Using survey data linked to objectively measured job performance, we found the additive effects of self-efficacy and employee engagement explained 12% of appointments made and 39% of products sold over and above that explained by past performance. This finding suggests human resource management (HRM) practitioners should address both self-efficacy and employee engagement in order to boost job performance while encouraging HRM scholars to incorporate both measures when conducting job performance studies.     

Conceptualizing the processes,benefits, and challenges of organizational lifelong learning at Yuhan-Kimberly,Korea: the notion of anticipative affordance

This research investigates, reports, and theorizes Yuhan-Kimberly's journey to establish its organizational lifelong learning program in Korea. Based on a four-year longitudinal study and the principles of grounded theory, we propose the notion of anticipative affordance to elaborate the process through which benefits derived from an organization's lifelong learning are created, interconnected, and amplified through the gradual and long-term building and accumulation of shared understanding and commitment. Main theoretical contributions derived from this study are threefold. First, the concept of anticipative affordance enhances our understanding about the key process and challenges related to organizational lifelong learning. Second, anticipative affordance serves as a bridge to synthesize the separation between the cognitive and situated aspects of learning. Third, our research empirically illustrates how collective benefits of organizational learning are actualized over time through the development of learning mechanisms and through the integration of its individual members' learning.     

中美政府绩效审计比较:基于案例的视角

本文对中美政府绩效审计的六个案例进行了比较研究。研究发现中美两国政府绩效审计在审计项目选择、审计目标、审计标准和审计建议方面存在很大的差异。在比较分析的基础上，对今后我国开展政府绩效审计提出了五条合理化建议。     

In at the deep end: Conducting processual research on organisational change

This article provides a series of reflections on the practice of carrying out processual research on organisational change. At a broad level, some of the main tasks associated with conducting company case studies are described and the benefits of this approach for dealing with complex change data are outlined. At a more specific level, the article addresses three main areas tied to the actual “doing” of processual research. First, the notion of tacit knowledge and “getting your hands dirty” by engaging in ongoing in-depth fieldwork. Second, the design and implementation of a longitudinal case study research programme. Third, the advantages and concerns of combining a range of different data collecting techniques in carrying out processual studies. Overall, the main intention is to provide some useful reflections and practical insights, as well as providing something of the flavour of carrying out this type of research.     

Patterns of psychological contract and their relationships to employee well-being and in-role performance at work: longitudinal evidence from university employees

Abstract

This study identified patterns of psychological contract (PC) and examined how these patterns were related to employee well-being and in-role performance over time (T1–T3). PC was measured at T1 based on cross-sectional data and well-being and performance longitudinally in two consecutive years (T1?T3) among university employees. Latent profile analysis revealed six different patterns of PC at T1. These were labelled (1) strong and balanced (n = 131), (2) average and balanced (n = 382), (3) employer-focused (n = 79), (4) employee-focused (n = 59), (5) balanced transactional (n = 224) and (6) employee-focused relational (n = 322). The longitudinal findings showed that the employees in PC patterns 1 and 2 experienced more vigour at T1–T3 than those in pattern 5, while the employees in pattern 2 reported higher proficiency at work at T1–T2 than those in pattern 6. Employee job satisfaction did not vary between patterns. Altogether, the PC pattern that included many different obligations on the part of both employee and employer seemed to result in better employee well-being and in-role performance.     

Civic Engagement in the Performance Evaluation of the Public Sector in China: Building horizontal accountability to enhance vertical accountability

Abstract

This article accounts for the logic of building of an accountability mechanism with elements of civic engagement in an authoritarian regime. It is elaborated by a performance evaluation programme ‘Democratic Review of Administrative and Business Style’ (DRABS) in Wuhan in central China. The author argues that the DRABS does help form government agencies’ responsiveness to the public with various public scrutiny instruments including mass media and the internet, and that it is more accurate to frame the mechanism as having the function of building horizontal accountability to enhance vertical accountability.     

Improving demand forecasting in the air cargo handling industry: a case study

Air transportation plays a crucial role in the agile and dynamic environment of contemporary supply chains. This industry is characterised by high air cargo demand uncertainty, making forecasting extremely challenging. An in-depth case study has been undertaken in order to explore and untangle the factors influencing demand forecasting and consequently to improve the operational performance of an air cargo handling company. It has been identified that in practice, the demand forecasting process does not provide the necessary level of accuracy, to effectively cope with the high demand uncertainty. This has a negative impact on a whole range of air cargo operations, but especially on the management of the workforce, which is the most expensive resource in the air cargo handling industry. Besides forecast inaccuracy, a range of additional hidden factors that affect operations management have been identified. A number of recommendations have been made to improve demand forecasting and workforce management.     

管理变革的和谐管理路径剖析——L研究所的案例研究

和谐管理理论具有目的性、关注人的能动性与积极性在不确定性消减中的作用以及双规则机制的互动耦合使用三大特色。在和谐管理理论的指导下,2001年以来,L研究所进行了一系列管理变革,并取得了一定的成功,但仍存在着变革缺乏系统性等问题,与和谐管理解决管理问题的思路有所不一致。研究结果认为:如果正确运用和谐管理理论指导该研究所的管理变革实践,将能够为其提供更为系统全面的管理变革方案,并避免上述问题的出现,快速有效地促进其战略目标的实现。     

The Road to Sustainability: Exploring the Process of Corporate Environmental Strategy Over Time

We explore corporate environmental strategy over time, investigating the patterns of evolving environmental investment decisions. Longitudinal case studies provide evidence that environmental strategy evolves through a feedback process, wherein outcomes of earlier decisions have an impact on subsequent decisions. Specifically, positive feedback from outcomes like innovation triggers higher goals, enhancing the undertaking of advanced investments, whereas negative feedback from outcomes, such as increased costs, decelerates the adoption of further investments. The study points to an emergent view of environmental strategy, where capabilities that are gradually developed in concomitance with environmental outcomes lead to an upgrading of environmental goals, thus triggering the feedback process. The process eventually culminates in higher levels of environmental conduct, being more and more integrated with business strategy and competitive advantage. Managers' values and environmental attitudes influence environmental decisions and actions, affecting the acceleration of the feedback process and the magnitude of responses. Managerial implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Work transformation and the HR ecosystem dynamics: A longitudinal case study of HRM disruption in the era of the 4th industrial revolution

Disruption in human resource management (HRM) practices necessitates processes of mutual adjustment within the organization that seeks to address these changes properly, overcome tensions, and fit strategic needs. In our single longitudinal case study of a new HRM practice development concerning blue-collar worker talent management, we examine how HR professionals and managers interact and develop new HRM practices as a response to disruptive work transformation. Considering these interactions from the perspective of HR ecosystem alignment dynamics, we find that both managers and HR professionals engaged in fruitful collaboration processes along three differentiated steps to provide value for the whole organization. We propose a grounded theorizing of HR ecosystem alignment that is based on the progression of successive convergent and divergent phases and introducing collaborative spaces of work.     

Defining,achieving, and evaluating collaborative outcomes: a theory of change approach

Governments have repeatedly claimed that collaboration improves public service outcomes. However, defining, achieving, and evaluating collaborative outcomes is often problematic. Analysis of multi-sectoral projects in Wales, which were supported by the European Social Fund, exemplifies these challenges. Shifts in policy discourses and the interplay between national and local agendas produced complex and contested understandings of outcomes which made difficult to evaluate the projects’ achievements. We argue that the pursuit of collaboration needs to be understood not simply as an attempt to improve public service effectiveness but also ‘cultural efficacy’. The conclusions offer reflections relevant for theory and practice.     

Typology of structural change in a regional economy: a temporal inverse analysis

Earlier studies have investigated the hollowing-out phenomenon of the Chicago economy, in which the manufacturing sectors in Chicago have decreased their intermediate dependency within the region while the service sectors have increased their dependency. In this paper, a series of annual input–output tables for the Chicago metropolitan economy during the period of 1980–1997 was again employed for a further investigation of the structural change using an alternative tool, the temporal Leontief inverse analysis, that can assist in exploring trends and uncovering tendencies in individual sectors or groups of sectors within the context of an economy-wide system of accounts. The results are compared with the earlier studies for examining the nature and details of the hollowing-out phenomenon.     

The presence of a feedback-seeking role model in promoting employee feedback seeking: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

Despite an increasing number of studies that show a positive relationship between the supportiveness of a feedback source and feedback seeking, little is known about the impact of supervisors’ demonstration of feedback-seeking behavior on promoting employees seeking feedback from them. In addition, although previous studies have shown that feedback seeking is an interactive process and is emotionally charged, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the role that the source’s emotion regulation played in the feedback seeker’s seeking frequency. The present article developed a moderated mediation model to fill this void and tested it with data from a sample of 215 supervisor–subordinate dyads from China. We hypothesized and found that supervisors’ feedback seeking from subordinates were positively related to subordinates’ feedback seeking from supervisors, mediated by the perceived value and cost of the feedback seeking. The results also supported the moderating roles of supervisors’ emotion regulation in the mediation model.     

论我国政府绩效评价主体体系的构建——基于政府公共受托责任视角的分析

政府内外部的公共受托责任关系是确定政府绩效评价主体的基本依据.具体而言,政府公共受托责任关系链中不同层次的委托人及其代表均应构成政府绩效评价的主体.在西方,许多国家已经构建起合理的多元化政府绩效评价主体体系,但我国政府绩效评价主体仍然较为单一.为此,我国应当根据政府公共受托责任的具体要求,并参考西方发达国家的成功经验,构建一个多元化的政府绩效评价主体体系,从而促使政府更好地履行公共受托责任.     

The Puzzle of Firm Performance in China: An Institutional Explanation

China has achieved phenomenal economic growth in an institutional environment that defies conventional economic rationales. Researchers offer different theories to explain this puzzle. But so far, due to the lack of data, little effort has been made to test these theories at the firm level. We develop a framework of endogenous institutional change to explain this puzzle and we test our framework with firm-level data. We argue that the decentralization from the central to the local governments and from government to firms are the driving forces behind China's institutional changes that have shaped the roles of government and market, which in turn significantly affect firm performance. We then submit our theory to a vigorous empirical test using data from China's industrial census, covering all 2000 counties and over 500 manufacturing industries. The test shows that two results of decentralization, the involvement of low-level governments in business and the process of privatization, positively affect firm performance.     

Variance estimation in the change analysis of a linear regression model

We study a “direct test” of Chu and White (1992) proposed for detecting changes in the trend of a linear regression model. The power of this test strongly depends on a suitable estimation of the variance of the error variables involved. We discuss various types of variance estimators and derive their asymptotic properties under the null-hypothesis of “no change” as well as under the alternative of “a change in linear trend”. A small simulation study illustrates the estimators' finite sample behaviour.     

Performance appraisal politics from appraisee perspective: a study of antecedents in the Indian context

Appraisee's perception of appraisal politics (APAP) is conceptualized to be formed by three perceptual dimensions. First is appraiser's manipulation of ratings to achieve their self-serving ends such as own reputation, maintaining good relationships, building in-groups, and handling dependency threats from appraisees. Second dimension constitutes fellow appraisees' upward influence behaviors to get higher ratings and rewards. Third dimension relates to the outcome of appraisal, i.e. pay and promotion decisions that can be discriminatory when performance is ignored. Such actions are detrimental for good performers and performance culture. Drawing from the organizational justice theories, it is proposed that APAP can be mitigated by those appraisal-related structural (e.g. criteria), process (e.g. voice) and contextual antecedents (e.g. relation with appraiser) that enhance appraisee's perceived control, understanding, and prediction of appraisal decision and process. These hypotheses were tested in the Indian family-owned organizations. The data were collected using survey questionnaire method from six organizations. Multivariate and structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that overall APAP had significant negative correlation with downward communication, and appraiser–appraisee relations. Importantly, these are appraiser-centric or appraiser-driven variables, thus implying appraiser's criticality in influencing perceptions. Post hoc SEM analysis revealed that communication processes (such as feedback) mediated effect of structural variables (such as criteria relevance), implying criticality of procedures over structural variables. The significance of communication processes implemented by appraiser implies that understanding cultural context is important when studying perceptual reactions such as APAP. Interestingly, post hoc analysis revealed that downward communication mediated the effect of voice on APAP, a result that may be idiosyncratic to the Indian cultural context. Specifically, higher appraiser–appraisee power distance in the Indian context may influence the perceived relevance and utility of processes such as voice (e.g. appeal), which may put appraisee in a slightly adversarial situation with appraiser. Further, higher paternalistic orientation may make processes like downward communication more desired by appraisee because these processes project superior as a guide and a coach, who is keen to handhold and support their subordinates. The implications of these results for practitioners are discussed.     

Corporate sustainability and innovation in SMEs: Evidence of themes and activities in practice

Recently, innovation processes towards sustainable development have received increasing attention in academic literature. This research introduces the combination of insights from innovation theory, sustainable development practice and small business characteristics to unlock new knowledge on factors that influence the translation of sustainable innovation within small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) into practice. The sustainability themes and activities as described for large companies (i.e. in the sustainability reporting and management literature) were used as starting point in this study. It presents empiric results of the PRIMA Project conducted within the rubber and plastics industry (RPI) on sustainable innovation activities. It will show that many sustainable innovations are directed at the improvement of technological processes (eco‐efficiency) and to lower costs of production. These innovations can be seen as incremental. Companies with sustainability integrated in their orientation and innovation processes show value creation: the development of products new to the market (radical innovations) and cooperation with stakeholders. The PRIMA project shows that more insight in SME innovative characteristics and (e)valuation of sustainable innovation efforts provides opportunities to improve the sustainability performance of SMEs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Effects of two national environmental factors on e-commerce functionality adoption: a cross-country case study of a global bank

In order to offer new services and gain competitive advantages, e-commerce has been widely adopted, particularly in the banking industry. Unfortunately, despite the growing adoption of e-commerce in the banking industry, the issue that web-based B2C e-commerce functionality adoption varies between banks or a bank's branches across nations has not received sufficient attention. Many factors affect e-commerce functionality adoption. However, two national environmental factors (information infrastructure and demographics) are particularly important because they relate to the availability of technologies in use and the characteristics of customers, respectively. This research conducts a cross-country case study of a global bank's Beijing (China), Chicago (USA), and Dubai (UAE) branches to investigate how the two national environmental factors affect e-commerce functionality adoption. The specific objectives are to discover how information infrastructure (measured by number of PCs per 1000 people and Internet access cost) and demographics (measured by population composition and income) affect e-commerce functionality adoption of the global bank's three branches. Secondary data were collected for information infrastructure and demographics; additionally, focused interviews with these three branches' IT and business managers provided sources for answering ‘how’. The key finding demonstrates that the differences in e-mail ordering and online shopping adoptions between these branches are mainly attributed to proposed factors of population composition and Internet access cost, and the new factor of individual credit reference system. This research contributes to theory development in this emerging important research subject.