Fits in strategic human resource management and methodological challenge: empirical evidence of influence of empowerment and compensation practices on human resource performance in Canadian firms

This study attempts to answer three questions: 1) How does the methodological approach used to measure fit among practices influence the results obtained? 2) To what extent do bundles of empowerment and compensation practices individually influence human resource outcomes? and 3) Does the fit between these bundles of practices increase the prediction of the level of discretionary effort, turnover and productivity? Following a two-wave survey strategy, statistical analyses performed on 128 Canadian companies suggest that the statistical methods used to measure fit are not interchangeable. The findings reveal that the use of an extensive relational empowerment strategy is significantly and negatively related to voluntary turnover when accompanied by a compensation program that rewards performance. In contrast, a compensation strategy that supports good working conditions or the use of financial incentives seems sufficient to influence human resources performance. Nonetheless, the results militate in favour of adopting a configurational approach with empirical deviation profile to fit to better understand the complexity of the equifinality effect of HR strategies. Lastly, the polynomial regression results question the linearity assumption of the relationship between empowerment, working conditions and productivity.     

Comparing the impact of leader–member exchange,psychological empowerment and affective commitment upon Australian public and private sector nurses: implications for retention

This study uses Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) theory to test the associations between the supervisor–subordinate relationship, psychological empowerment and affective commitment amongst 1283 nurses working in Australian public and private hospitals. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, analysed and presented. The findings show that the quality of LMX is more important in public sector nursing contexts than in the private sector with regard to the relationship between empowerment and affective commitment. Furthermore, the relationship between empowerment and affective commitment is stronger for nurses in public sector organisations with low-quality LMX than for nurses in public sector organisations with high-quality LMX. As empowerment and affective commitment are both predictors of staff retention, the findings can assist in developing targeted current and future retention strategies for healthcare management.     

Wage delegation in the field

By conducting a natural field experiment, we analyze the managerial policy of delegating the wage choice to employees. We find that this policy enhances performance significantly, which is remarkable since allocated wage premiums of the same size have no effect at all. Observed self‐imposed wage restraints and absence of negative peer effects speak in favor of wage delegation, although the chosen wage premium levels severely dampen its net value. Additional experimental and survey data provide important insights into employees' underlying motivations.     

Women self-help groups and intra-household decision-making in agriculture

This study examines the effect of women-centric agricultural self-help groups (SHGs) on intra-household decision-making in agriculture. Using data collected from an intra-household survey of 815 households, we analyze the effect of women's membership in different types of SHGs on 14 decisions related to farms and households. Specifically, we investigate the discord in decision-making, which is the difference in the perceived decision-making roles of spouses within a household. Our results show that women's participation in SHGs has increased their role in decision-making by 8–13%. However, the effects vary according to the type of intervention and the decision. We found fewer discords in intra-household decision-making in seed SHGs than in micro-finance SHGs. In conclusion, our study suggests that women's engagement in agriculture-based SHG interventions can encourage joint decision-making, but the magnitude of this effect depends on the type of SHG. Development agencies can use this information to design interventions targeted at empowering women through the improvement of the agricultural value chain.     

Support for part-time work as a channel to female employment: the moderating effects of national gender empowerment and labour market conditions

Using a multi-source data set collected across eight European countries, this article examines how characteristics of both the organizational environment and the larger national context relate to the organizational-level variable of women's employment. Our study revealed that, in countries that were high in gender empowerment measure (GEM), establishments that were more supportive of part-time work options also employed a higher proportion of women. One reason for this relationship may be that in high-GEM countries offering part-time employment is a way for an organization to signal its support for work–life balance, something that makes it more attractive to women. In countries with low GEM, an establishment's greater support for part-time work was associated with employing a greater proportion of women only when establishments experienced recruitment difficulties. Key differences in gender empowerment between countries are discussed.     

核心自我评价与授权型领导对员工寻求上级反馈的交互影响研究——基于对上海30家公司162名员工的调查

基于上海30家不同行业公司的数据探讨和验证员工核心自我评价、企业授权型领导和员工寻求上级反馈行为之间的关系。实证研究的结果表明:核心自我评价对员工寻求上级反馈行为有显著正向影响;授权型领导在两者关系中起到调节作用,在高授权环境中,核心自我评价对寻求上级反馈存在积极影响,而在低授权环境中,两者的显著关系不复存在。     

Empowerment and intimate partner violence: Domestic abuse when household income is uncertain

Intimate partner violence is an important global health problem that remains ill understood. Several studies have documented that female empowerment may increase violence against women—the so‐called “male backlash.” We propose a utilitarian explanation for this phenomenon, based on the assumption that violence may be used as an instrument to affect the distribution of the household surplus between the spouses. Our main result is that promoting norms of gender equity (or otherwise enhancing the prospects of divorced women) may inadvertently promote violence against women in settings where production outcomes are uncertain.     

Women empowerment and infant mortality in Bangladesh

This study attempts to investigate the effects of women empowerment on infant mortality in Bangladesh. Four indicators have been considered to measure four dimensions of women empowerment: the level of education, participation in household (HH) decisions, autonomy in movements and employment status. The rotated factor analysis technique is used to construct the last three dimensions. The Weibull parametric survival model has been specified and estimated using the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data of 2011. The results show that three measures of empowerment (the level of education, participation in HH decisions and autonomy in movements) contribute significantly to the reduction of infant mortality. But women employment is associated with increased mortality for infants. The findings of this study have a number of policy implications on this issue for a developing country like Bangladesh.     

Exploring the impacts of employee advocacy on job satisfaction and organizational commitment: Case of Taiwanese airlines

The accessibility of information through the Internet has enables flight attendants to become more informed, as well as developing more control of their own affairs. Employee advocacy is related to the transparency of airlines' employment offers and the airlines' willingness to do what is best for their employees. After reviewing the relevant literature, this study focuses on how employee advocacy is influenced by the way employees are treated by their airlines. We explored strategies that airline administrations apply to employee advocacy, developed a research setting, analyzed the factors involved, and developed a casual model of the antecedents and consequences of employee advocacy. We formulated 5 hypotheses. Data were collected, using a questionnaire survey of flight attendants in Taiwanese airlines. All hypotheses were verified with data from a sample of the respondents, by using a structural equation model. Our results indicated that employee advocacy is positively related to flight attendants' job satisfaction and commitment to the organization. Organizational innovation, supervisor support, and employee empowerment are positively related to employee advocacy. Finally, this study concludes by discussing managerial implications and providing suggestions for future research.     

The empowering,the empowered,and the empowerment disparity: A multilevel analysis of the integrated model of employee empowerment

This study aims to examine an integrated research model of employee empowerment from the perspectives of managers (the empowering) and employees (the empowered) with a newly proposed construct, empowerment disparity that captures a difference in employees' perception of empowerment within a team. A multilevel analysis was conducted using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) to test the hypotheses using a matched sample of 286 restaurant employees along with 51 managers and 2129 customers from five tourist cities in Thailand. The findings show that psychological empowerment and the psychological contract have a positive effect on customers' assessment of interaction quality, and empowerment disparity moderates the links between a manager's empowering behavior and psychological empowerment, and psychological empowerment and the psychological contract. The theoretical and managerial implications suggested by the findings are provided for researchers and practitioners.