Couple Formation in France: The Changing Importance of Labor Market Early Career Path

This article shows that couple formation and labor market early career path (as measured by unemployment, insecure employment, and characteristics of the first job) are intrinsically linked. We use data from the 1997 ‘Jeunes et Carrières’ survey to consider the experience of two different generations. We show that, with the arrival of mass unemployment, labor market early career path has become an important factor in couple formation, while the effect of education has diminished for young men in recent cohorts. The rise of the two-earner couple has gone hand-in-hand with greater symmetry between men and women in terms of couple formation: specifically, unemployment now reduces couple formation for both sexes. Some more traditional aspects persist however: (i) Women who are inactive on the labor market form couples earlier than do other women; (ii) Low wages in the first job encourage (discourage) couple formation for women (men); (iii) Higher education favors men's couple formation, but not that of working women; and (iv) Temporary work does not discourage couple formation by women. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Managed by the other: cultural anxieties in two Anglo-Americanized Swedish firms

This paper reports a study of how the co-workers in two major Swedish companies, Volvo Cars and AstraZeneca, respond to the cultural influences from an American and a British company, derived from an acquisition and a merger at the end of the 1990s. These responses are examined in terms of being ‘cultural anxieties’, a form of emotional coping with ambiguities regarding the future on the part of the co-workers. The paper shows that adapting to an alien culture is not a trivial matter but rather includes a series of re-evaluations of predominant values, norms and beliefs. The paper concludes that the organization culture literature needs to recognize the consequences of cultural changes, the movement from one largely taken-for-granted cultural regime to another, more heterogeneous and complex, and how co-workers cope with such experiences of uprooting enacted and agreed upon cultures.     

Travel agency employees' career commitment and turnover intention during the recent global economic crisis

One hundred and eighty-four travel agency employees in South Korea participated in this study to examine (1) the effect of career commitment (CC) on employee turnover and (2) the moderating effect of job insecurity on the relationship between CC and turnover intention. This study was conducted during the recent global economic crisis and found that the participants of this study had a tendency to stay in their organization even though they felt insecure at work while having high CC. Managerial implications on career development and commitment of travel agency employees were discussed on the basis of the results of this study.     

Does land lease tenure insecurity cause decreased productivity and investment in the sugar industry? Evidence from Fiji

Does land lease tenure insecurity cause decreased productivity and investment in the sugar industry? To answer this question, this study examined the impact of weak formal tenure lease arrangements on tenants’ investment and the productivity of sugarcane in Ba province, Fiji. After controlling for potential endogeneity in the choice of lease tenure using instrumental variables (IV), it was shown that tenants under insecure lease tenure (expiring in 0–5 years) achieve significantly lower yields of sugarcane, by 6.5–11 tonnes per hectare, and plant smaller areas of new sugarcane, by 0.14–0.25 hectares on average, than do tenants under secure lease tenure. Insecure lease tenure also negatively affects chemical fertiliser use, although this impact is not statistically significant. An intervention to improve tenure security would likely enhance the production efficiency of and investment in the Fijian sugarcane industry.     

The “Devil Theory” One More Time

Organized labor membership as a percentage of the labor force has been doing poorly during recent decades. Many managers still do not appreciate that union fortunes are closely related to workers' perceptions of their overall well-being. The Devil Theory of unions, i.e., they are punishment for employer insensitivity or worse, contains at least a grain of truth. Perceived job insecurity, unfairness and ill treatment generally—stimulated by new AFL-CIO leadership committed to active organizing—could well reverse a decades-long trend in union membership losses.     

Effects of hotel employees' perception of wage justice: the case of South Korea

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the results of the previous studies on the relationship between wage justice and employees' attitude are also found within Korean hotels that have adopted a unique wage system. The data were collected through a survey done with employees of five Korean hotels. The results are similar to those of previous studies. However, the present study found that employees' satisfaction with the wage system is also important, and job insecurity partially affects the relationship between wage justice and employees' attitude as well as the relationship between employees' satisfaction with the wage system and their attitude. Managerial implication, limitations and directions for future studies are suggested.     

A weekly diary study on the buffering role of social support in the relationship between job insecurity and employee performance

In this article, the authors used a within‐person design to examine the relationship between job insecurity and employee in‐role and extra‐role performance, and the buffering role of time‐varying work‐based support (i.e., supervisor and colleague support) in this relationship. Weekly diary data gathered over the course of three weeks from 56 employees confronted with organizational restructuring and analyzed with a hierarchical linear modeling approach showed that weekly fluctuations in job insecurity negatively predicted week‐level in‐role performance. As predicted, supervisor support moderated the intra‐individual relationship between job insecurity and in‐role performance, so that employees' in‐role performance suffered less from feeling job insecurity during weeks in which they received more support from their supervisor. No relationship between job insecurity and extra‐role performance was observed. This within‐person study contributes to research on job insecurity that has primarily focused on inter‐individual differences in job insecurity and their associations with job performance. Theoretical and practical implications for human resource management are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Workplace ostracism and turnover intention: A moderated mediation model of job insecurity and coaching leadership

Workplace ostracism is prevalent and has profound consequences for both organizations and individuals. Based on the conservation of resources and job demands–resources theories, we propose a moderated mediation model to examine when and how workplace ostracism induces employee turnover intentions in China. We collected 214 valid questionnaires from a two-wave survey conducted in 28 Chinese hotels. The results indicate that workplace ostracism is positively associated with employees' turnover intentions. Moreover, this relationship is mediated by job insecurity and is stronger when coaching leadership is low. These findings shed light on the role of job insecurity and coaching leadership in the relationship and the importance of mitigating the destructive effects of workplace ostracism. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.