HR practices for enhancing sustainable employability: implementation,use, and outcomes

Abstract

With the aging of the workforce, organizations need to maintain or improve the sustainable employability of their workforce throughout their working life. This raises the question which HR practices increase workers’ sustainable employability at work. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which organizations implement HR practices for enhancing sustainable employability in terms of workers’ health, motivation, and skills and knowledge from the employer’s perspective. In total, 312 owners/directors or HR managers (response rate 13%) filled out the questionnaire. The findings showed that most organizations implemented a range of HR practices to improve the health, motivation, and skills and knowledge of their employees. Perceived effectiveness of these practices were dependent on the number of HR practices that were implemented, employees’ use of and participation in designing these practices. Implementation of HR practices was also related to higher satisfaction with the current employability of employees, and to increased productivity of the organization. Implications for practice and examples of HR practices to enhance sustainable employability are given.     

感知价格影响公众乘坐高铁出行意向的机制研究

在高铁客运日渐普及,但高铁票价仍饱受争议的背景下,本文在构建行为意向模型的基础上,使用结构方程模型法,探讨感知价格影响公众乘坐高铁出行意向的机制。实证分析表明,公众乘坐高铁出行意向的形成规律表现为"感知质量→感知价值→满意度→乘坐意向",或"感知质量→满意度→乘坐意向"。感知价格对上述规律的影响表现在两个方面:第一,作为前置变量,感知价格不仅直接抑制了公众乘坐高铁出行的意向,还通过抑制感知价值间接影响了乘坐意向,而且感知价格对感知价值的抑制作用要大于感知质量的促进作用;第二,作为调节变量,感知价格影响了感知价值对满意度、满意度对乘坐意向作用的强度。这一结论对于理解感知价格作用于行为意向的机制、优化高铁的运营管理具有一定的启示。     

Testing two mechanisms linking work-to-family conflict to individual consequences: do gender and gender role orientation make a difference?

Based on social role theory and a gender role orientation perspective, this study extended the two mechanisms (i.e. resource depletion and source attribution) that link work-to-family conflict to perceived accomplishment in the family and work domains by testing the moderating effects of gender and gender role orientation on the relationships. Data were collected from managers via questionnaires in China, and 225 cases were analyzed with hierarchical regression models. The results showed that compared with female managers, the negative relationship between work-to-family conflict and perceived family accomplishment was stronger for male managers. Within the male group, we found that the negative relationship between work-to-family conflict and perceived family accomplishment was stronger for male managers with an egalitarian gender role orientation than those with a traditional gender role orientation. In addition, for male managers with a traditional gender role orientation, there was a positive relationship between work-to-family conflict and perceived work accomplishment. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

Consumer response to marketing channels: A demand-based approach

Abstract

Marketing channels have faced rapid structural and functional transformations during the last few decades. While a large body of research has been devoted to understanding the supply-side aspects of marketing channels, much less research has taken the demand-side perspective to study consumer perception of channel position and functions. This article extends the channel literature to a broader domain and develops a consumer-based theoretical framework reflecting factors that influence consumer perception of and reaction to channel strategies and decisions. The authors conceptualize that consumers’ perceived channel value is a critical factor in determining their loyalty behavior. Seven important channel features are identified that would positively influence the perceived channel value. The relationship between perceived channel value and channel preference is strongly dependent on the level of customer value co-creation. The article concludes with research implications and suggestions of avenues for future research.     

Mediating Role of Company Information in the Relationships among Perceived Risks and Purchase Intentions in an Online Retailing Context

The exponential growth of the online retail sector has attracted the attention of researchers across the globe. Understanding the consumer decision-making process in an online retail context is of vital importance to all online retailers. The objective of this study was to examine the direct and indirect impacts of perceived risks on consumers’ purchase intentions in an online shopping context. This study applied structural equation modeling to test the study model with data from 234 samples. We found a significant negative full mediating impact of performance risk, financial risk, physical risk, and psychological risk on consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, we found a partial mediating impact of social risk on purchase intentions. However, we did not find a mediating impact of time risk on purchase intentions. These empirical results may help online retailers to better understand their consumers, their intentions to purchase, and their level of risk perceptions. Accordingly, online marketers can frame contemporary strategies to attract retail customers, leading to greater profitability of the organization.     

Perceived organizational support and knowledge sharing: employees’ self-construal matters

Abstract

HR professionals are expected to become more involved in knowledge management and facilitate knowledge sharing among employees in the knowledge economy. In this study, we investigated the relationship between perceived organizational support and knowledge sharing by taking account of employees’ interdependent and independent self-construal. Our hypotheses were examined using a 2-wave survey data-set from 145 teachers working at 4 Dutch vocational education and training schools. The results showed that perceived organizational support was positively related to knowledge sharing for employees either with a high interdependent self or with a low independent self. However, this positive relationship disappeared for employees either with a low interdependent self or with a high independent self. Overall, the moderating effect of self-construal revealed a new avenue towards a better understanding of the relationship between organizational support and employees’ knowledge sharing. It provided a tentative answer to the question of why organizational support does not often succeed in motivating employees to share their knowledge in the workplace.     

不同产品类型下虚拟体验营销对品牌忠诚度影响研究 ——有调节的中介效应模型

以品牌在网上的虚拟品牌体验活动为主题,研究品牌创新感知在品牌体验与品牌忠诚度间的中介作用,并考察产品类型对品牌创新感知的调节作用。结果发现:(1)品牌创新感知能作为中介解释虚拟品牌体验对品牌忠诚度的影响,并确认品牌体验能有效引起消费者的品牌创新感知;(2)产品类型调节品牌体验中的感官体验、思考体验与行动体验,通过品牌创新感知起到对消费者品牌忠诚的影响;当产品类型为享乐型产品时,感官体验、思考体验与行动体验对品牌创新感知的正向效应更强。     

欧洲干涉主义的多角度透视

在国际关系里,欧洲和美国代表着西方资本主义国家的主要力量,多数国际干涉行为均由它们发动和实施。但与美国比较,欧洲人的干涉主义更加复杂也更难辨识。作者由世界近代史出发,着重当代国际政治现实,从六个侧面剖析了欧洲人在国际事务中采取强势干涉主义的内在原因。欧洲干涉主义不是单一层面的现象,也无法简单用对、错、好、坏加以判别;作为一种立体影像,欧洲的干涉主义表达着一种有广泛社会基础的利益、方式和共识,它同时隐含着军事-政治强权、工业和市场能量、现代文明传播、国际规范制定、全球话语创新、地区整合示范等方面的内涵。这些方面既有所区别,又相互增强,构成不可分离的整体。作者不仅提示了看待欧洲人国际角色的必要与难度,同时探索了自己的研究路径,用层层递进的分析框架和大量有说服力的事实,廓清了对欧洲干涉主义研究的一种新的综合视角。     

When employee performance management affects individual innovation in public organizations: the role of consistency and LMX

Abstract

Public sector challenges translate in more complex job demands that require individual innovation. In order to deal with these demands, many public organizations have implemented employee performance management. In a multilevel study, we examine when employee performance management affects individual innovation. We contribute by focusing on consistent employee performance management and Leader–Member Exchange (LMX). Based on goal-setting theory, we first argue that employee performance management fosters individual innovation when it entails consistent subpractices. Subsequently, LMX is theorized to function as a moderator in this linkage. We use multilevel data from 68 elderly homes and 1095 caregivers in Flanders to test our hypotheses. The study reveals that individual innovation is related to consistent employee performance management, and that LMX functions as a moderator in this relationship. Our findings contribute to scholars’ understanding of effects from employee performance management in public organizations.     

Conformist innovation: an institutional logics perspective on how HR executives construct business school reputations

In this paper, we explore whether Legge’s classic 1970s criticism of human resource (HR) executives as ‘conformist innovators’ is still relevant. Drawing on institutional logics, we analyse HR managers’ rationales for choosing particular university business schools to provide senior executive development. Our mixed-methods study demonstrates that senior HR managers socially construct and enact business school reputations by drawing on strategic rationales. These rationales are embedded in societal, field and organizational logics, especially the extant reputational rankings of international business schools and an ‘ideal’ template of elite business schools. We find that these rationales, and the decisions they evince, tend to confirm the traditional picture of conformist innovation among HR executives. We discuss the implications for the reputation of HR as a profession, their employers and business schools.