Comparing motivating work characteristics,job satisfaction,and turnover intention of knowledge workers and blue-collar workers,and testing a structural model of the variables' relationships in China and Japan

This research examines motivating work characteristics, job satisfaction, and turnover intention of knowledge workers and blue-collar workers in China and Japan. The differences in these three variables were, respectively, compared between knowledge workers and blue-collar workers in China and Japan. A structural model of the relationships among the three variables was particularly proposed and investigated. Based on data from an international survey, the characteristics of knowledge workers were first compared with those of blue-collar workers in the same country, and then compared with those of knowledge workers in the other country. Finally, the structural model of the three variables' relationships was examined using a multi-sample analysis of the LISREL method across the countries. There were many significant differences found between knowledge workers and blue-collar workers and between China and Japan. As fundamentally predicted, knowledge workers were found to have higher motivating work characteristics than blue-collar workers in each country. More importantly, a similar structural model of the relationships among the variables was found across the countries.     

Growth,productivity and diversification in Africa

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship among economic growth, productivity and diversification. Our results have shown that deepening diversification leads to improvements in total factor productivity among other determinants in African economies. The significance of the link between diversification and economic growth in the case of African economies cannot be gainsaid. It means that African countries can scale up their economies’ growth by raising their total factor productivity through pursuing policies that enhance diversification.     

A comparative analysis of the work values of Greece's ‘Millennial’ generation

This study adds to the growing body of international evidence concerning the millennial generation (i.e. those born after 1980), by documenting the work values of millennial-aged undergraduate students (N = 649) in Greece, using an adapted version of the Lyons Work Value Survey. Our results show that millennial-aged Greeks place most importance on intrinsic and social aspects of work, and less importance on extrinsic and prestige values. We statistically compare our results to those of published studies of millennial-aged respondents from other countries and find that Greek respondents hold a unique work value profile, although they demonstrate some similarities to counterparts in other countries. Our findings do not clearly support the notion of a ‘global youth generation’, as young people in various countries hold different work value priorities. This suggests that employers seeking to recruit, engage and retain young workers internationally must tailor their offerings to the specific cultural context.     

The same yet different: Worker reports on labour practices and outcomes in a single firm across countries

This paper examines cross-country differences in labour policies and practices and employee performance and attitudes toward work from a sample of nearly 30,000 employees in a large multinational manufacturing firm. The analysis shows: 1) large establishment and country differences in work practices, performance, and attitudes toward work across countries; 2) qualitatively similar responses of workers to work practices across countries; 3) a strong link between the establishment average of employee reports on the quality of labour-management relations and establishment average measures of employee performance 4) a positive relation between average employee performance and average employee-management relations at the country level, but no relation between country level performance in the firm and measures of the extent of national labour regulations or practices.     

回归价值原态：“劳动价值论”之争的哲学解决

“劳动价值论”在马克思批判资本主义制度时才有其“政治意义”,置放于现代社会主义社会中,其“政治意义”自然消解。而从哲学的立场或用哲学的思维和方法来解决关于“劳动价值论”的纷争,就会正好看到:“价值”的真实形态本来就是“使用价值”,“劳动”的真实形态本来就是“具体劳动”。因而,所谓“使用价值和抽象价值”、“具体劳动和抽象劳动”在其经济意义上就成为了“假问题”,而围绕“假问题”的所有争论将毫无意义。哲学视域中的“劳动价值论”要着力表明的结论是:所有参与创造“使用价值”的“要素”在价值财富的创造和分配中都具有公平的地位;所有参与“具体劳动”的“要素”在劳动财富的创造和分配中都具有公平的地位。新的经济制度应在此意义上而创新。     

“80后”知识型员工的个性特征与激励模型探讨

"80后"知识型员工已经成为企业知识型员工的重要组成部分。由于在特定的经济和社会环境下成长起来的"80后"一代有着区别于以往员工的独特性,旧的激励理论和模型的生搬硬套对其缺乏有效性和针对性。因此需要从"80后"知识型员工崇尚自由、追求自我、易于冲动和愤世嫉俗等个性特征着手,在激励的过程模型中着重体现对这些个性特点的重视,注意激励资源的有效均衡配置,并在整个激励过程的每个阶段都体现激励。     

Employers' attitudes,practices and policies towards older workers

Despite policy emphasis on the importance of older workers (i.e. those aged 50 and above) to current and future labour markets, relatively little is known about the ways in which employers' attitudes, policies and practices influence their recruitment and retention. Drawing upon previous work by Taylor and Walker, this article reports qualitative research among employers across Scotland, which sought to investigate further the relationships between employers' policies, practices and attitudes towards older workers. The findings indicate a complex set of relationships, and challenge the simplistic causal link between attitudes and practice. The conclusions discuss the implications of these findings for the future employment of older workers, and assess the extent to which the forthcoming age discrimination legislation in the UK is likely to tackle discriminatory attitudes, practices and policies.     

Changes in Japanese managers' work values and attitudes: a comparison of 1995 and 2009

The aim of this study is to investigate how the work values and attitudes of Japanese managers changed between 1995 and 2009. In the last 15 years, the economic environment has drastically changed in Japan and resulted in profound changes in companies' structures and HR practices. In response to such changes, Japanese managers' work values and attitudes toward employing organizations have also changed. Traditional Japanese management systems and practices, which once sustained the competitiveness of Japanese firms are no longer suitable. A new management model must be implemented to fit the changing competitive environment and managers' new work values.     

Legal rights,information sharing,and private credit: New cross-country evidence

Using improved measures and recent data from Doing Business, this paper reexamines the effects of legal systems and information-sharing on private credit. The results indicate that stronger legal rights, better contract enforceability and better information sharing are associated with higher private credit to GDP ratios across countries. These effects are significant even when the sample is restricted to include either developing countries only or poor countries only, but the effects of both legal rights and enforcement are stronger the richer the countries. Still, there is no evidence of substitution patterns among credit market institutions in poor countries. Overall, this paper may be viewed as enhancing the robustness as well as the generalizability of earlier evidence aimed at establishing a link between legal and information-sharing institutions on one hand, and the size of credit market on other hand.     

The joint effect of leader–member exchange and emotional intelligence on burnout and work performance in call centers in China

We examined the joint effect of LMX and emotional intelligence (EI) on burnout and work performance. Results based on data collected from 493 leader-member dyads in the call center of a large Chinese telecommunication company indicated that LMX was negatively related to burnout, yet was not significantly related to objective work performance. Moreover, we examined the effects of the four dimensions of EI (self-emotion appraisal, other-emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion) on burnout and performance, and found that burnout mediated the link between use of emotion and work performance. Results also showed that LMX was associated with burnout and work performance more strongly for service workers with lower levels of self-emotion appraisal. More surprisingly, the link between LMX and work performance was stronger for service workers with higher levels of use of emotion.     

Social Capital and Organizational Change in High‐Involvement and Traditional Work Organizations

We present new evidence indicating that changing from a traditional human resource management (HRM) environment to an innovative one entails a change not only in formal work practices, but also in the informal networks and patterns of interaction among employees. We focus on differences in the social capital of these workplaces and measure differences in the structure of interactions and information transfer among employees across a sample of manufacturing lines with a common production technology and different HRM systems. We then consider the implications of these differences and show that the change from one form of workplace practices to the other is therefore not just a matter of paying for the direct costs of a new set of HRM practices. Rather, it would involve a disruptive overhaul in the entire network of interactions among all workers at the plant.     

Evolution of the Government–Business Relationship and Economic Performance in the Former Soviet States – Order State, Rescue State, Punish State

The objective of this paper is to elucidate the relationship between the reform process and economic performance in the states of the former Soviet Union (FSU). There were two strategies used by the former Soviet states to cope with the collapse of the USSR. Some of the FSU countries, in an effort to overcome the institutional vacuum caused by the disintegration of the federal economy, centralized their government authority to manage industry. Others decentralized power in an attempt to regain economic independence for domestic enterprises. To evaluate the essential differences and progress gaps among transition strategies, FSU countries can be divided into three groups, which reflect variations in institutional control of the government-business relationships. The differences in economic performance in FSU countries can be explained to some extent by examining the diversity of institutional patterns that characterize each category. The results of various empirical analyses positively support the validity of such an analytical framework. In this sense, this paper presents a new viewpoint on the transition process in FSU countries that may complement that shown in existing literature.     

Influence of unplanned versus planned factory locations on worker commitment to industrial employment in Nigeria

The level of commitment to industrial employment of a purposive sample of Nigerian factory workers is found to be higher among workers in factories located in the unplanned commercial and residential areas than among workers in factories located on specially planned industrial estates. This relationship persists when certain variables were in turn held constant. These variables are (1) the workers gross income, (2) the number of fringe benefits available and (3) their valuation of material possessions. That the original relationship is best interpreted within the framework of the principle of acculturation rather than in the light of an economic theory of motivation is indicated by the tendency for the relationship to decline in strength when a number of socio-cultural integration variables are used as control variables. These variables are (1) the political and economic role of the migrants from the ethnic communities from which the workers originate play in the receiving urban communities, (2) the number of friends and acquaintances workers have in their work neighbourhood and (3) the number of voluntary associations to which workers belong. Implication of finding for economic, industrial and political development of the new nations is indicated.     

Ageing of routine jobs in Europe

We study how the de-routinisation of jobs affects workers at different ages in 12 European countries. We combine O*NET occupation content data with EU-LFS individual data for the 1998–2015 period to construct five task content measures: non-routine cognitive analytical, non-routine cognitive interpersonal, routine cognitive, routine manual, and non-routine manual physical. We find that the shift away from routine work and toward non-routine work occurred much faster among workers aged between 25 and 44 than among older workers. In the majority of countries, the ageing of the workforce occurred more quickly in occupations that were initially more routine-intensive, as the share of older workers in these occupations was rising and the share of young workers declining. At the same time, the unemployment risk related to the routine task intensity was increasing, especially among individuals between the ages of 15 and 34, and to a larger extent in countries with fast ICT capital growth and in countries not increasing their participation in global value chains.     

中国与加拿大新一代管理者的文化差异实证研究

随着经济全球化的发展,中国成为了世界的投资热点,因此,中西方文化差异成为国外投资者非常关切的一个问题。在众多的研究中,Hofstede提出的文化四维度以及对各国的文化差异分析是被广为接受的研究成果。但是由于数据的不可比性,不能客观地反映中国和加拿大两国的文化差异。此外,中国经济环境的变化必然带来文化的不断发展和变化。因此,在新的经济环境下研究中西方文化差异具有现实意义。本文基于对中国和加拿大商务专业大学生的调查,采用Hofstede的文化四维度对比分析中、加新一代管理者的文化差异新趋势及其对企业管理的影响,从而为中西文化的了解提供借鉴。     

Taxes,economic conditions and recent trends in male self-employment: a Canada–US comparison

North American workers have increasingly turned to self-employment since the 1970s. Using microdata for the period 1983–1994 from Canada and the United States, I assess the importance of macroeconomic conditions and the tax environment in explaining the trends in male self-employment in these two countries. My findings suggest that higher income tax and unemployment rates are associated with an increase in the rates of self-employment among North American men. Changes in the tax environment account for a considerable amount of the secular trends in male self-employment over this period, while changing economic conditions played a smaller role in determining these trends.     

Who's got the balance? A study of satisfaction with the work–family balance among part-time service sector employees in five western European countries

Working part-time is frequently considered a viable strategy for employees to better combine work and non-work responsibilities. The present study examines differences in satisfaction with work-family balance (SWFB) among professional and non-professional part-time service sector employees in five western European countries. Part-time employees were found to be more SWFB than full-time employees even after taking varying demands and resources into account. However, there are important differences among the part-timers. Employees in marginal part-time employment with considerably reduced working hours were the most satisfied. Professionals were found to profit less from reduced working hours and experienced lower levels of SWFB than non-professionals. No significant differences in SWFB were found between male and female part-time workers.     

浅论新形势下企业工会发挥作用的途径

企业工会是党联系职工群众的桥梁和纽带,在实现企业和谐、促进社会和谐方面的责任十分重大。重点在服务中心工作、维护职工合法权益、培养"四有"职工队伍三个方面下功夫,是企业工会在新形势下发挥作用的有效途径,是推进企业持续有效和谐发展的重要保障。     

Understanding the development of temporary agency work in Europe

This article develops an explanatory framework for understanding the growth and development of temporary agency work (TAW) and the related industry. The analysis shows that explanations based on economic logic are helpful in understanding the choice of TAW in general. These explanations, however, fall short when trying to explain the growth of agency work over time or the variation in its use among European countries. To cope with these shortcomings, we extend our explanatory base to include a variety of sociocultural dynamics. Our analysis shows how deep‐seated national work‐related values (‘deep embeddedness’) affect the way TAW is regulated nationally. It also demonstrates how differences in more changeable norms, attitudes and practices (‘dynamic embeddedness’) affect the process of embedding agency work as a societally acceptable phenomenon, providing a basis for its subsequent proliferation.     

In Search of Late Career: A Review of Contemporary Social Science Research Applicable to the Understanding of Late Career

Concerns expressed in the mid-1990s about the lack of research on late career are no longer valid. There is a growing body of research; however, it is scattered across a range of disciplines. In an effort to gather current thinking on late career, this review draws upon work addressing chronological aging, labor economics, sociology and social psychology, retirement research, human resource management, and career theory. Several cross-disciplinary observations were made: (1) Cognitive declines with age are not sufficient to impact work performance; (2) Current economic models assume declining productivity among older workers, but this reflects perceptions rather than reality; (3) Aging may be better understood as a series of discrete transformations rather than as a continuous process of decline; (4) A productive use of older workers recognizes individuals' specific strengths and the increasingly distinctive individual differences among older workers.