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.     

CONTINUOUS PREFERENCE ORDERINGS REPRESENTABLE BY UTILITY FUNCTIONS

This paper surveys the conditions under which it is possible to represent a continuous preference ordering using utility functions. We start with a historical perspective on the notions of utility and preferences, continue by defining the mathematical concepts employed in this literature, and then list several key contributions to the topic of representability. These contributions concern both the preference orderings and the spaces where they are defined. For any continuous preference ordering, we show the need for separability and the sufficiency of connectedness and separability, or second countability, of the space where it is defined. We emphasize the need for separability by showing that in any nonseparable metric space, there are continuous preference orderings without utility representation. However, by reinforcing connectedness, we show that countably boundedness of the preference ordering is a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a (continuous) utility representation. Finally, we discuss the special case of strictly monotonic preferences.     

External cooperation and entrepreneurial orientation in industrial clusters

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between external cooperation and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). This relationship is explored in cluster environment, wherein entrepreneurial organizations compete and cooperate simultaneously to pursue opportunities. The following hypothesis is tested: External cooperation is positively correlated with entrepreneurial orientation. The hypothesis is tested with a correlation analysis on a sample of 77 small-sized enterprises operating in the Malopolska region in Poland, wherein several clusters are active. Additionally, the regression analysis is conducted to examine the associations between inter-organizational cooperation and EO dimensions. The findings confirm that external cooperation is positively correlated with EO. This observation is confronted with a pro-competitive approach that is a constitutional element of the entrepreneurship concept. Moreover, the findings show that the correlation between external cooperation and a firm’s performance is stronger than between some other EO dimensions and performance. Additionally, the findings show the important role of relationships between organizations and their clients. In the paper, several remarks for development of the theory are discussed, including the need for incorporating inter-organizational cooperation into a set of entrepreneurial traits and reflecting it in entrepreneurial orientation scales. The findings confirm the importance of that direction of theory development that focuses on inter-organizational collaboration in the context of entrepreneurship.     

Does knowledge explain trust behaviors and outcomes? The different influences of initial knowledge and experiential knowledge on personal trust interactions

This paper examines the influences of initial knowledge and experiential knowledge on trust behaviors and trust outcomes, respectively, at an interpersonal level. We use an experimental dynamic trust game, and our results show that (1) the initial knowledge that exists a priori between a trustor and a trustee helps to explain the trustor's trust behaviors toward the trustee, and (2) the experiential knowledge gained directly by a trustor during a specific trust interaction with a trustee influences the trust outcome, i.e. the difference between the original expectations of the trustor and the subsequent trust behaviors. Our results contribute to human resource literature by clarifying the specific influences of different types of knowledge on interpersonal trust relationships (e.g. between managers and employees) and by supplementing the traditional notion that trust within a firm develops slowly by showing that personal expectations have an immediate and important influence on trust output.     

Perceived compensation discrimination against physically disabled people in Andalusia

This study proposes and tests a model that explains the job dissatisfaction of the physically disabled as a result of their general perception that they are treated inequitably by their employer, and their specific perception that they have experienced discrimination in compensation. These three variables have not previously been studied in combination. Using the theoretical framework of organisational justice, we apply structural equation models to test our hypotheses in a sample of 220 employed people with physical disabilities in Andalusia. We show that the perception of discrimination in compensation follows the perception of inequity and mediates the relationship between that perception and job dissatisfaction.     

Public Employee Acceptance of New Technological Processes: The case of an internal call centre

Abstract

The present work explores employee acceptance of process innovation in a public administration from a complementary three-fold theoretical perspective, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Cognitive Model of Satisfaction (CMS) and the Satisfaction-loyalty Model (SLM). The proposed model integrates these approaches, and considers the moderating effect of employees' perceived experience with the new process. Although findings support that behavioural intentions are determined by perceived usefulness, satisfaction and attitude towards the new technology, we find that as employees' perceived experience increases, use intention becomes a routine, and the evaluation of the new process proves irrelevant in terms of usefulness or quality.     

Motivations and differences upon reconciling professional and personal life: an empirical study of businesswomen and businessmen in the Valencian Community

According to the last report “Women FTSE 2009” developed by Cranfield School of Management and the IE Business School and sponsored by Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, Sainsbury, Enlivens, HSBC and Pearson, the number of European companies with women in positions of executive direction has been reduced from 16 to 15 and the number of women in the board meetings from 39 to 37 has fallen. Moreover, there has been a decrease in the number of total of businesses with women in their counsels, since 1 of each 4 businesses has an exclusively male counsel. The study, reveals a pessimistic panorama for women from the analysis of the number of guidelines that work in the companies that belong to FTSE 100, the British index that includes the 100 main values of the London stock market. The study also reflects a descent in the number of women that occupy key positions in the businesses of the FTSE 100. In the year 2008 there were only 5 women CEOs and 3 regional executive directors. In the 2009 only there were 4 CEOs. The purpose of this article is to see if the origin of this situation is a direct consequence of businesswomen confronting more difficulties than the businessmen upon putting in common its professional and personal life or if by contrast this corresponds to an stereotyped perception of gender inequality. With this end we conducted a study using a sample of businesswomen and men with experience analyzing its motivations to create business, difficulties that they find, and the solutions to improve the conciliation of its professional and personal lives. The results show that there are no significant gender differences in the motivations, regardless of who the head of the family is (bearing main responsibility for the house and children). On the other hand, we show that businesswomen diverge from businessmen in the perception of motivations and challenges they have. Indeed, businessmen agree with businesswomen in the motivations and difficulties that these have, and consider that they give to them more importance than women themselves.     

Cooperative Credit in Spain: An Analysis of Credit Sections of Cooperatives

The long history and deep-rooted tradition of co-operative credit in Spain (credit co-operatives and credit sections of co-operatives) and the lack of detailed studies of the latter suggest the need to reflect on them and highlight their potential. This study examines the ways in which the credit sections can access the financial markets, describes their financial and economic structure and the sources of their income and expenditure and analyses their competitiveness in terms of efficiency.     

The effect of relative performance feedback on individual performance in team settings under group-based incentives*

This study reports the results of an experiment that analyses the behavioural effect of relative performance feedback (RPF) on individual performance when compensation is based on team performance. Specifically, it investigates whether RPF affects individual performance differently when the comparison focuses on other members of that individual’s team (within-group RPF) or on other teams (between-group RPF). We predict a negative effect of within-group RPF on individual performance. We also predict that between-group RPF moderates that negative effect, since it encourages individuals to focus on group goals rather than individual goals. Consistent with our predictions, results show that the negative effect of within-group RPF on individual performance is mitigated by between-group RPF. Our results can help accountants to better understand how the effects of relative performance feedback differ according to the predominant comparison target.