Containing conflict: a relational approach to the study of high-involvement work practices in the health-care setting

This study extends strategic human resource management research by focusing on the effects of high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) on relational outcomes with customers (patients). The authors provide evidence that relational dynamics among employees act as a mediating mechanism for the relationship between workplace practices and these outcomes. In particular, we propose that human resource management practices designed to increase employees' involvement at work reduce the level of organizational conflict among employees, which, in turn, affect employees' conflict with patients and their families. Using a two-wave longitudinal survey of 378 patient care providers at 20 nursing homes, the authors argue that the effect of HIWPs on conflict between nursing home staff and patients and their family members is mediated by task and relationship conflict among employees. The results provide strong support for the mediating role of organizational conflict among employees by documenting that the negative effect of HIWPs on employees' conflict with patients and their families is mediated by the reduced levels of task conflict and relationship conflict among employees. The study's findings shed new light on the relational mechanism through which HR practices affect employees and customers. Scholarly and practical implications are discussed.     

悖论思维对创造力的“过犹不及”效应研究

悖论思维帮助个体发现对立事物间的联系,有利于创造性想法或创意的生成,但过高水平的悖论思维极易导致认知过载,使个体无暇顾及需要想象力和灵感的创造性活动。基于"过犹不及效应",本文提出悖论思维对员工创造力产生非线性影响。同时,根据能力-动机-机会(AMO)的理论框架,探索个人学习能力在这一关系中的中介作用,以及领导调节聚焦行为的调节作用。本文认为:悖论思维与员工创造力呈倒U型关系,个人学习能力在上述关系中起中介传导作用,领导促进型聚焦行为强化了变量间的间接关系,而领导防御型聚焦行为削弱了变量间的间接关系。通过对313名员工的三阶段调查分析,数据支持了本研究提出的假设。虽然适度的悖论思维有助于员工提升学习能力,但过度的悖论思维反而会降低员工学习效率进而削弱员工创造力,领导调节聚焦行为决定了员工是否能完成学习能力到创造力的转化。研究结论为员工创造力的影响因素研究提供了新思路,引导企业通过甄选员工和调整领导行为来激发员工创造力。     

Is Competition Engaging? Examining the Interactive Effects of Goal Orientation and Competitive Work Environment on Engagement

Contemporary work environments are growing increasingly competitive. However, some employees may “fit” with such environments better than others. This study examined how the relationship between employees’ goal orientations (learning, proving, and avoidance) and engagement is influenced by the competitive environment of their workplace. By investigating the interactive effect of goal orientation and competitive work environment, this research expands our understanding of factors leading to engagement. We tested our model using a sample of 345 working adults from a variety of organizations across several different industries. Results indicate that learning goal orientation was positively related to engagement while avoidance goal orientation was negatively related to engagement. Competitive work environment (CWE) interacted with learning orientation and proving orientation to predict engagement. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our results for human resource management. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Leader creativity expectations motivate employee creativity: a moderated mediation examination

This study presents a moderated mediation model of leader creativity expectations to investigate the effects of leader creativity expectations on employee creativity. Using matched data from 255 employees and their supervisors in the R&D center of an automotive company in China, we found that creative self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship between leader creativity expectations and employee creativity. By integrating social cognitive theory and the interactionist perspective, we further identified job involvement and job autonomy as personal and situational moderators in the relationship between leader creativity expectations and employee creative self-efficacy. As the level of job involvement and job autonomy rose, the relationship between leader creativity expectations and employee creative self-efficacy was stronger. Furthermore, we also found job involvement served as a moderator in the mediational chain for the path from leader creativity expectations to employee creativity via creative self-efficacy. We discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications for human resource management.     

Does structuring of human resource management processes enhance employee creativity? The mediating role of psychological availability

In this study, we develop a theoretical conceptualization and an operational definition of structuring of human resource management (HRM) processes and examine how this structuring enables employee creativity at work. Analyzing the data collected from employees and their managers in knowledge‐intensive workplace settings, we examine a mediation model that suggests that the relationship between structuring of HRM processes and employee creativity is best explained in terms of the intervening variables of perceived uncertainty, stress, and psychological availability. Results suggest that structuring of HRM processes is negatively associated with perceived uncertainty and stress. These perceptions produce a sense of psychological availability, which in turn enhances employee creativity. This study offers new insights about diagnosing the level of structuring of HRM processes and the ways managers and HR directors facilitate its implementation in their organization. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Crafting job demands and employee creativity: A diary study

People are more creative on some days than others. Studying how individuals generate creative ideas from day to day could contribute to knowledge regarding the causes of such within-person variations and have practical implications for improving employee creativity across time. By adopting a dynamic resource allocation perspective and a repeated-measure diary design, we developed and examined a theoretical model focusing on the within-person processes of employee creativity. Specifically, we hypothesized that momentary role-breadth self-efficacy predicts daily changes in increasing job challenges, which, in turn, predicts daily changes in employee creativity, and that the latter relationship is accentuated by decreasing hindering demands. Results, based on 818 pairs of matched morning–afternoon observations from 91 employees over 10 workdays, provided support for our predictions. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results for improving employee daily creativity.     

Fostering green product innovation through green entrepreneurial orientation: The roles of employee green creativity,green role identity,and organizational transactive memory system

Developing new green products is critical to an organization's achievement of sustainable goals as well as competitive advantage. This study aims to unravel the mechanisms through which organizations with green entrepreneurial orientation (green EO) can foster green product innovation. The dataset for testing these mechanisms was garnered from employees and managers who worked in manufacturing firms based in an Asia-Pacific market. Through a multilevel analysis of the data, the study revealed the positive nexus between organizational green EO and green product innovation. The results of the study further lent credence to employee green creativity as a mediation path for such a relationship. Furthermore, employee green role identity and organizational transactive memory system were found to fortify the linkage between green EO and employee green creativity. These results suggest to organizations how to optimally translate their green entrepreneurial strategy into new green products that met customer preferences and societal expectations.     

The relationship between high performance work systems and employee proactive behaviour: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation as mediating mechanisms

Drawing on the contextual perspective, this study provides novel empirical evidence on how the organisational context (specifically, the firm's human resource strategy) has an effect on employee proactivity. We use matched data from managers and employees in 102 Spanish professional service firms to examine how high performance work systems contribute to enhance employee proactive behaviours through two motivational variables: role breadth self‐efficacy and flexible role orientation. Results of a multilevel study demonstrate that role breadth self‐efficacy mediates between HPWS and employee proactivity, but flexible role orientation does not mediate this relationship.     

Work hour congruence: the effect on job satisfaction and absenteeism

This study examines the effect of work hour congruence on employee job satisfaction and absenteeism using a large, longitudinal sample from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey (WES). An employee is said to have work hour congruence when they actually work the number of hours that they desire. Results indicate a difference between employees who desire more hours and those who desire fewer hours: employee desire for and receipt of more hours was related to positive changes in job satisfaction, while employee desire for and receipt of fewer hours was related to reduced absenteeism. In addition, the results suggest that employees respond to employers who at least try to meet their needs, those who desired more hours and received some, but not all of these additional hours showed a positive increase in job satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by using of a precise measure of work hour preference and change, differentiating employees who desire fewer hours from those who desire more and examining both full and partial work hour congruence.     

The role of pay secrecy policies and employee secrecy preferences in shaping job attitudes

Although pay secrecy continues to garner attention in human resource management, little research examines how these policies impact employees. Research inconsistently links secretive pay policies to unfavourable outcomes but has yet to consider that employees may have varying attitudes toward these policies. We examine how employee preferences modify the effect that organisational pay secrecy policies have on employee attitudes in a sample of 431 employed adults. To accomplish this goal, we create measures of pay secrecy policies and pay secrecy preferences that each differentiate two facets of pay secrecy: distributive pay non‐disclosure and communication restriction. Polynomial and moderated regression analyses indicated that disparities between employee preferences and organisational pay secrecy policies can reduce job satisfaction and perceptions of informational, interpersonal, and procedural justice under certain circumstances. These results simultaneously highlight the importance of employee attitudes toward pay secrecy policies and the challenges human resource practitioners face in managing employees with diverse preferences.     

How do flexible work arrangements alleviate work-family-conflict? The roles of flexibility i-deals and family-supportive cultures

Flexible work arrangements (FWAs) are becoming common in emerging economies, though it is not clear if and how employees benefit from them in terms of their work-family balance and well-being. In contrast to previous work that used structural-functional explanations, we argue that FWA implementation should be depicted within its socio-political and socio-cultural context. We used survey data collected from 213 professionals in Istanbul, Turkey to examine the roles of flexibility i-deals and perceived family-supportive culture in the relationship between FWA availability and these employee outcomes. Results supported the hypothesis that i-deals mediate the relationship between FWAs and work-to-family conflict. Furthermore, perceived family supportive cultures predicted both work-to-family and family-to-work conflict and moderated the relationship between i-deals and family-to-work conflict. Finally work-to-family conflict mediated the relationship of flexibility i-deals and family supportive cultures with perceived general health. These finding are discussed for their implications for employees who are trying to balance their work and family lives and for organizations who are considering implementing FWAs.     

When and why does transformational leadership influence employee creativity? The roles of personal control and creative personality

This study develops and tests a model of the underlying mechanisms linking transformational leadership and employee creativity using a sample of 240 matched middle‐level manager and front‐line supervisor dyads from a large foreign joint‐venture company in China. We propose that personal control and employee creative personality serve as a unique psychological mechanism and an important boundary condition to simultaneously influence the relationship between transformational leadership and employee creativity. Results of moderated‐mediation analyses provided support for our conceptual model, showing that transformational leadership was positively related to personal control, which also had a positive impact on employee creativity. Furthermore, creative personality was found to moderate the relationship between transformational leadership and personal control, which in turn, mediated the joint effect on employee creativity. Findings of this study provide insights into the research on leadership development and work design in HRM, which can inform human resource managers to design effective strategies and systems that can increase employees' creativity.     

The Social‐Cognitive Underpinnings of Employees’ Ambidextrous Behaviour and the Supportive Role of Group Managers’ Leadership

Although research on organizational ambidexterity has exploded in the past several years, the determinants of individual‐level ambidexterity have received little scholarly attention. This is surprising given that management scholars increasingly highlight the benefits of combining explorative and exploitative activities in individual employees’ work roles. Using data collected by a two‐wave survey of 638 employees nested in 173 groups across 34 organizations, our research demonstrates that both psychological factors and leadership predict employees’ ambidextrous behaviour. Our results demonstrate that general self‐efficacy positively predicts ambidextrous behaviour through learning orientation. In addition, we show that employees exhibit higher ambidexterity when their group managers demonstrate paradoxical leadership; that is, a leadership style that couples strong managerial support with high performance expectations. Paradoxical leadership also moderates the relationship between learning orientation and individual ambidexterity such that employees’ ambidextrous behaviour is highest when paradoxical leadership and employee learning orientation are simultaneously at high levels.     

Knowledge sharing,work–family conflict and supervisor support: investigating a three-way effect

Despite the importance of knowledge sharing in competitive environments, there is a paucity of studies examining the relationship between employee knowledge sharing and work–family conflict. Drawing on insights from conservation of resources theory, this study investigated how employees may reduce their knowledge-sharing behaviors when they experience resources lost from work interference with family (WIF) or family interference with work (FIW). Furthermore, the role of supervisor support in the relationship among WIF, FIW and knowledge sharing was explored as a valuable resource. Using data collected from 159 employees in South Korea, we found support that WIF is negatively related to knowledge sharing. In addition, the role of supervisor support in the relationship among WIF, FIW and knowledge sharing was the strongest when WIF is low and FIW is high, thus supporting the hypothesized a three-way effect. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Firm Productivity Moderated Link Between Human Capital and Compensation: The Significance of Task‐Specific Human Capital

The human capital of a firm as manifested by employee knowledge and experience represents a key resource of a firm's capabilities. Prior empirical studies have found that firms composed of high levels of human capital experience superior firm performance. Human capital theory proposes that an individual's general or firm‐specific human capital is positively related to compensation. However, empirical studies examining firm‐specific human capital's association with higher employee compensation have been inconclusive. The current study proposes that firm‐specific human capital be categorized as task‐specific and non‐task‐specific. Employees accumulate task‐specific human capital through duties conducted in their current position. Non‐task‐specific human capital represents experiences gained in prior positions to an employee's current job within the firm. Utilizing human capital data from 38,390 employees representing 76 firms in the IT sector, this study examines the association between forms of human capital and employee compensation at different levels of firm productivity. Results show that task‐specific human capital is associated with higher employee compensation. In addition, firm productivity moderates this association.     

Mapping the relationships between high-performance work systems,employee resilience and engagement: a study of the banking industry in China

Abstract

There is now growing interest in employee resilience in the organizational context and its contribution to organizational performance. However, little is known the extent to which high-performance work systems (HPWS) contributes towards enhancing employee’s resilience as well as their levels of engagement. This study examines the relationships among HPWS, employee resilience and engagement, using a sample of 2040 employees in the Chinese banking industry. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and strategic/high-performance human resource management theory, we develop three hypotheses to test the relationship between HPWS and employee resilience, resilience and employee engagement, and the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between HPWS and engagement. All hypotheses are supported and suggest that HPWS can be used as a job resource to positively affect resilience and subsequently employee engagement. The key message of the paper is that employee resilience can be viewed as a set of skills and attributes that can be developed through the effective use of HPWS to benefit both individuals and the organization.     

Value congruence and job-related attitudes in a nonprofit organization: a competing values approach

Researchers have highlighted the importance of the nonprofit sector, its continued growth, and a relative lack of literature particularly related to nonprofit organizational values. Therefore, this study investigates organizational culture in a human services nonprofit organization. The relationship between person-organization value congruence and employee and volunteer job-related attitudes is examined (N = 227). Following initial qualitative enquiry, confirmatory factor analyses of the Competing Values Framework and additional values revealed five dimensions of organizational values. The relationship between value congruence, and employee and volunteers' job-related attitudes was examined using polynomial regression techniques. Analyses revealed that for employees, job-related attitudes were influenced strongly by organization values ratings, particularly when exceeding person ratings of the same values. For volunteers, person value ratings exceeding organization value ratings were especially detrimental to their job-related attitudes. Findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.     

Can green behaviors really be increased for all employees? Trade‐offs for “deep greens” in a goal‐oriented green human resource management intervention

This study explores the complex interaction between psychological and goal‐relevant boundary conditions that influence levels of individual engagement in a green human resource management (HRM) intervention designed to encourage employee green behavior (EGB). Data were collected from 1,112 employees in an automobile manufacturing plant. Consistent with goal‐setting theory, the level of feedback received predicts EGB. However, a three‐way interaction demonstrates how employees with high levels of autonomous motivation do not gain the expected benefits of high feedback and high goal commitment in the enactment of EGB. Instead, only those with weak autonomous motivation are affected by these goal‐related constructs. Findings suggest that both goal‐setting and self‐determination theories are relevant to green HRM interventions. Managers should consider that interventions that are effective for employees who do not have strong autonomous motivation towards the environment may not be effective for those who do.     

企业人力资源效率的影响因素研究

企业人力资源效率的影响因素是管理研究领域探讨的一个重要问题。企业人力资源效率影响因素内容由四个纬度构成:员工管理、个人与组织契合、工作条件及员工责任。其中,员工管理对管理人员的任务效率影响是负向显著,对专业/技术人员的任务效率水平的影响是正向显著;个人与组织契合对整合效率有显著方向影响;工作条件对企业员工的任务效率有显著正向影响,对组织潜效率有强显著负向影响;员工责任对企业员工的任务效率、整合效率、组织潜效率水平都有显著正向影响。     

Creativity and social alienation: the costs of being creative

Although creativity is a widely praised merit, the psychological costs that an employee may pay for being creative are less examined. The present study advances the research paradigm on the dark side of creativity by focusing on the negative psychological state (social alienation) of creative employees. By building on the studies on the homophily principle and on the cultural perspective of creativity, we investigated why creative employees are more likely to experience social alienation. Drawing on the social capital theory, we point out that social alienation of creative employees depends on their networking ability and harmony enhancement motive. A two-wave survey among 311 employees from 59 Chinese organizations supported the hypotheses. Implications of the findings are discussed for creativity and alienation literature as well as management practice.