Trust,individualism and job characteristics as predictors of employee preference for teamwork

Employee resistance has long been recognized as a key constraint on the success of organizational change initiatives. However, it is only recently that employee attitudes towards working in teams has been specifically investigated as a factor influencing team effectiveness. Using data from 218 employees in 40 self-managing work teams, we examined the relationship between trust, individualism, job characteristics and team members' attitudes towards teamwork. Providing a partial test of Mayer et al.'s (1995) relational model of trust, the results indicate that the two situational forms of trust (trust in co-workers and trust in management) were stronger predictors of an employee's preference for teamwork than propensity to trust. Trust in co-workers was found to partially mediate the relationship between a person's propensity to trust strangers and their preference for working in a team. The importance of considering the dispositional variables of propensity to trust and individualism as factors that influence an employee's preference for teamwork, as well as their trust in management, trust in co-workers and their opportunity for skill utilization are discussed.     

Linking Belgian employee performance management system characteristics with performance management system effectiveness: exploring the mediating role of fairness

Based on expectancy theory, goal-setting theory and control theory, we propose a model in which perceived fairness mediates the relationship between characteristics of employee performance management (PM) systems and their perceived effectiveness by employees. PM system characteristics we propose are the frequency and length of formal reviews, the frequency of informal reviews and feedback, whether the formal conversation focused on evaluation or development and finally the degree of participation. The model was tested on a cross-industry sample of 3192 employees in Belgium. The measurement and structural models were simultaneously tested using structural equation modeling, and we used a bootstrapping approach to test the mediation hypothesis. Our findings indicate that performance review focus and employee participation strongly relate to perceptions of appraisal fairness and PM system effectiveness and that the frequency of informal performance reviews is stronger related to PM system effectiveness than the frequency of formal performance reviews. This suggests that the manifest expressions of PM have more impact on PM system effectiveness rather than the more latent characteristics of PM systems. The findings advance research to the role and functionality of PM systems by showing that (a) the manner in which PM systems are shaped and executed is of fundamental importance for their effectiveness, (b) fairness partially mediates the relationship between PM system characteristics and their effectiveness and (c) the three motivational theories appear useful for understanding the consequences of PM practices on individual employees.     

Pay level satisfaction and employee outcomes: the moderating effect of autonomy and support climates

The present study examined autonomy climate (AC) and support climate (SC) as moderators of the relationship between pay level satisfaction (PLS) and employee outcomes (i.e. job satisfaction, affective commitment and intention to stay). Survey data were collected from 5801 Belgian employees, representing 148 units. The hypotheses derived from distributive justice theory and from research on the meaning of money received partial support. Multilevel analyses revealed that AC buffered the negative effects of low PLS on all three outcomes, and that SC exacerbated the negative effects of low PLS on intention to stay. Theoretical and practical implications of this differential moderating effect are discussed.     

Management Accounting Research in the Wake of the Crisis: Some Reflections

This article offers some reflections on opportunities and challenges for management accounting research in the wake of the recent financial crisis, and especially the regulatory reforms and augmented disclosures the crisis has spawned. While challenging for the organizations facing them, I argue that especially the enhanced disclosures are likely to turn management accounting ‘inside out’ to a greater extent than has been the case before, which could be a boon for researchers studying hitherto mostly internal management accounting practices. As an undercurrent to the opportunities for research, however, I emphasize the importance of considering organizational design, comprised of both structure and culture, in understanding the inevitably intertwined effects of distorted incentives and information failings, among other problems that seem to all have contributed in some way to the crisis. In respect of the opportunities for management accounting research, I mainly discuss a continuing need to study incentives; a motivation to study risk management; an opportunity to reinvigorate budgeting research; and an invitation to study financial companies and the challenges of disclosures.     

Institutional Change of Accounting Systems: The Adoption of a Regime of Adapted International Financial Reporting Standards

Richard Mattessich, New York: Garland Publishing (New Works in Accounting History), 2000, £43.00, xii +179pp. ISBN: 0-8153-3445-1     

Stock Price Reaction to Non-financial News in European Technology Companies

Drawing upon a series of interviews conducted with leading practitioners and opinion formulators in the social, ethical and environmental audit arena, together with an extensive review of recent literature in the area, this paper offers a critical appraisal of current developments in the newly revitalized social audit movement. We particularly question whether in their enthusiasm for bringing social audit into the mainstream of current business thinking its advocates risk compromising the democratic ideals of the founding fathers of the movement. A particular concern raised is that without real change in corporate governance structures, social audit could become monopolized by consultants and/or corporate management and hence amount to little more than a skilfully controlled public relations exercise.     

Organizational differences in managerial compensation and benefits in Chinese firms

More than two decades of economic reforms have brought profound changes in human resource management practices in both the state and non-state sectors in China. This study focuses on the impact of organizational factors on compensation and benefits for Chinese managers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), publicly listed firms (PLFs), and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). The empirical investigation of 465 firms located in three major Chinese cities, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou, provides evidence that organizational factors, such as ownership, firm size, firm age, location and industrial sector, have significant impacts on the variances in Chinese managers' compensation levels, compensation structures and benefits. The trends in the development of compensation and benefits for Chinese managers are also discussed as the Chinese economy moves closer to a more globalized, highly dynamic economy after China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.     

The gap between research and practice: a replication study on the HR professionals' beliefs about effective human resource practices

In 2002 Rynes, Colbert and Brown asked human resource (HR) professionals to what extent they agreed with various HR research findings. Responses from 959 American participants showed that there are large discrepancies between research findings and practitioners' beliefs about effective human resource practices. The current research is a replication of the Rynes et al. study among 626 Dutch HR professionals. The results show remarkable similarities with the American study: there are large discrepancies between research findings and practitioners' beliefs in some content areas, especially recruitment and selection. Dutch practitioners are somewhat more likely to agree with research findings when there education level is higher, when they read HRM professional journals more frequently and when they have a positive attitude towards the applicability and usefulness of academic research.     

Security in a sea of insecurity: job security and intention to stay among service sector employees in Turkey

This article examines the association between job security and intention to stay for those who are employed in Turkey. There is a high level of unemployment in the country and many workers there are concerned about their job security. Job security refers to the objective dimensions of continuous contract, working full-time hours and paid and unpaid overtime. Job security also refers to the subjective dimension of perceived job security. We surveyed 407 employees in banking and related sectors' call centres, five-star hotel front-line staff and airline cabin crews. Results show that objective dimensions of job security are not associated with intention to stay. However, perceived job security is significantly and positively associated with intention to stay. We recommend that human resource managers focus on the perceived job security aspect of employment to keep valuable employees with the company.