Crescendo Model of Career Motivation and Commitment: Identity, Insight, and Resilience

This paper provides an experiential exercise to increase understanding of employees' career motivation and commitment and its relation to employees' perception of identity, insight, and resilience. Three separate conditions influencing employee attraction to career orientation are self-identity, insight, and resilience. These three component dimensions of employee career motivation are outlined and used to define an eight-phase crescendo model through which individuals tend to pass in their decision to form an affective career commitment. The analysis supports the notion of a stepwise movement from identity to insight to resilience in strengthening employees' career motivation and demonstrates how progressive phases are associated with career commitment. Although the levels and phases are progressively prepotent and valenced in predicting employee propensity to form an enduring career commitment, different patterns and paths through the phases for individuals are indicated.     

民航顾客资产驱动因素与顾客满意感和忠诚感关系的实证研究

作者在我国17个民航公司进行了一次实证研究,探讨顾客资产驱动因素和子驱动因素与顾客满意感、归属感和忠诚感的关系。聚类分析与罗吉斯蒂回归分析结果表明,资产价值不同的两类顾客对各类顾客资产驱动因素与子驱动因素的评估存在显著的差异,对民航公司的满意感、归属感和忠诚感也存在显著的差异。顾客对民航公司的满意感、归属感和忠诚感主要是由各类顾客资产驱动因素和子驱动因素决定的,而并非是由顾客的人口统计特点决定的。因此作者指出,民航公司可根据顾客重视的顾客资产驱动因素与子驱动因素细分顾客,针对不同的顾客采取不同的营销策略。     

Psychological Approaches to Values in Organizations and Organizational Behavior Management

Researchers studying individual and organizational value congruence are concerned with the degree to which the values of the employee and the organization for which he or she works agree and the affective outcomes that more or less agreement might predict. While a robust area of research, the applications following from it are somewhat limited. This paper reviews the concepts and research findings concerning value congruence, discusses various behavioral interpretations of the values construct, applies those interpretations to the organizational level, and offers recommendations for how these interpretations might point to more successful organizational change initiatives.     

A review of: “Basic Guide to System Safety.” By J. W. VINCOLI, (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993), £27 50. Market: Managers and novice safety engineers.

This paper explores the issue of loyalty and commitment of team workers in industrial collaboration. The similarities and differences between normal and extended or virtual teamwork are described. Extended teams are different from normal teams in terms of location, diversity and composition over time. A comparison of the antecedents of commitment in normal situations reveals that commitment seems to be stimulated by industrial collaboration, because of some enriching job characteristics. However, questions arise related to the focus (organization, work group/collaboration team, occupation) and the form (affective, continuance, normative) of commitment. Further research in this relatively under researched area is needed. Despite the lack of specific research, some organizational policies are pointed to that enhance commitment, such as employee involvement, shared values and socialization practices.     

Relational commitments in employee–supervisor dyads and employee job performance

We investigated employee commitment to the supervisor and supervisor commitment to the employee within employee–supervisor dyads. We examined the relationships among four commitment mindsets (affective, normative, continuance-sacrifices, and continuance-alternatives) across members of the dyads and their relationships to employee job performance. Using a sample of 300 employee–supervisor dyads from health care organizations, HLM analyses revealed that supervisor positive commitments (i.e., affective, normative, continuance-sacrifices) generally related significantly to employee positive commitments. Moreover, supervisor commitment moderated the relationship of employee affective commitment to job performance, such that when supervisor affective, normative, and continuance-sacrifices commitments were high, the relationship between employee affective commitment and performance was weaker. We discuss the implications of these findings for the understanding of employee–supervisor relationships.     

Initiating structure leadership and employee behaviors: The role of perceived organizational support,affective commitment and leader–member exchange

The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS) and affective organizational commitment (AOC) in the relationship between initiating structure (ISL) and employee behaviors. In addition, we also analyzed the moderator role of leader–member exchange in this relationship along three dimensions (affect, loyalty and professional respect). We conducted a survey-based study of 484 employees of a retail business and the results of the multiple regression analyses indicate that POS and AOC act as mediators in the relationship between ISL and two employee behaviors (extra-role organizational citizenship behaviors and turnover). Further, our results support the moderator effect of professional respect in the positive relationship between ISL and POS. This study makes an interesting contribution to the literature on ISL and its effects by construing POS as a consequence of this leadership style, and by adding professional respect among the possible moderators. Research avenues, limitations, and the practical implications of our findings are discussed.     

Do Human Resource Practices Enhance Organizational Commitment in SMEs with Low Employee Satisfaction?

This paper considers a large matched employee–employer data set to estimate a model of organizational commitment. In particular, it focuses on the role of firm size and management formality to explain organizational commitment in British small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) with high and low levels of employee satisfaction. It is shown that size ‘in itself’ can explain differences in organizational commitment, and that organizational commitment tends to be higher in organizations with high employee satisfaction compared with organizations of similar size with low employee satisfaction. Crucially, the results suggest that formal human resource (HR) practices can be used as important tools to increase commitment and thus, potentially, effort and performance within underperforming SMEs with low employee satisfaction. However, formal HR practices commonly used by large firms may be unnecessary in SMEs which benefit from high employee satisfaction and positive employment relations within a context of informality.     

Exploring the effect of national cultures on organizational commitment of bicultural employees

Many organizations today operate globally and employ a significant number of bicultural employees. Consequently, it is extremely important to conduct research that furthers our understanding of bicultural employees in an organizational context. In addition, research that furthers our understanding of an employee attitude such as the organizational commitment of bicultural employees will have practical significance for organizations seeking to maximize employee commitment. This paper presents two profiles of biculturals based on predominant identification to individualist or collectivist national cultures and offers rationale to support the premise that organizational commitment will differ between collectivist and individualist biculturals. Exploring the national cultural dimensions of organizational commitment of bicultural employees as conceptualized in this paper provides human resource development (HRD) an excellent opportunity to research these two constructs that significantly impact organizational outcomes.     

Circadian Rhythm and the Business Person

Each human being has an internal timekeeping mechanism. To date, over 100 so-called circadian rhythms have been detected. Perhaps the most significant is body temperature. There is an apparent connection between this rhythm and the efficiency with which we do things in the course of the working day. Within individuals, patterns have been discovered which give credence to the popular notions of a morning or an afternoon person, and so on. Our memory changes from morning to afternoon: short-term memory is stronger in the morning, and long-term memory stronger in the afternoon; in schools, morning students have higher grades than students who have other time-of-day preferences. Therefore, a strong case can be made in support of flexible time schedules. It is reported that productivity went up on the introduction of such a scheme. Employee stress has been seen to decline also. When flextime was offered, parents with small children took advantage of the benefit as well as unmarried employees. The only drawback is ensuring that, with so many individual variations in preferences, the needs of the company are fully met. If such a scheme can be devised, however, the research suggests that productivity and efficiency will increase.     

Supervisor commitment to employees: Does agreement among supervisors' and employees' perceptions matter?

Using 322 matched employee–supervisor dyads, we investigate how level and direction of employee–supervisor (dis)agreement on supervisor's affective commitment to the employee relate to organizational commitment, emotional exhaustion, leader–member exchange, and job performance. Results from polynomial regression and response surface analyses indicate that level of employee–supervisor agreement matters: the most beneficial outcomes appear when supervisors and employees agree that the supervisor is highly committed to the employee whereas the least favorable outcomes appear when dyads' members agree that the supervisor has low commitment to the employee. Direction of employee–supervisor disagreement is also important as employee overestimation of supervisor commitment is associated with more favorable outcomes than employee underestimation. However, for two of the outcomes (organizational commitment and emotional exhaustion), the effect of employee–supervisor disagreement was attributable to a main effect of employee perceptions of supervisor commitment. We discuss the implications of these findings for the understanding of employee–supervisor relationships.     

Human resource practices of multinational organizations in Belgium

This study uses data from a survey of 117 large organizations located in Belgium to examine the relationship between corporate ownership and personnel practices. Results obtained from multivariate analyses supported the general hypothesis that personnel policies and practices vary as a function of ownership and nationality. For example, foreign-owned firms are found to be more advanced in their adoption of methods to gain employee loyalty and commitment than domestic enterprises. In addition to ownership effects, the moderating effects of some key organizational characteristics were examined. This shows that large differences exist with respect to the human resource practices used in firms as a function of management philosophy, creative strategy and industry sector.     

Human resource development practice: the paradox of empowerment and individualization

The main objective of the current paper is to point to the dualistic nature of HRD practice: employee empowerment strategy juxtaposed with high levels of individualization. HRD practice contributes to a series of dualities in organizations such as flexibility vs. loyalty, commitment vs. individualization and responsibility vs. alienation. The paper will argue that current HRD strategies have an individualistic role rather than an interactive and interpersonal influence for better knowledge sharing and organizational learning. The research implies that HRD should change its interventions in terms of how the individual is conceptualized to make knowledge actionable in social contexts to create favourable conditions for knowledge sharing and organizational learning.     

Do leaders reap what they sow? Leader and employee outcomes of leader organizational cynicism about change

Despite increased attention given to the attitude of organizational cynicism, few studies have examined the impact of leader cynicism in organizations. The present study sought to investigate relationships between leader cynicism about organizational change (CAOC) and outcomes relevant to both the leader (performance and organizational citizenship behavior ratings) and his/her employees (employee organizational commitment and CAOC). Using data from 106 manufacturing managers, leader CAOC was found to negatively influence both leader and employee outcomes. Of particular importance, transformational leader behavior was found to fully mediate these relationships and thus served as an important explanatory mechanism. A discussion concerning the potential consequences of these findings for organizations is provided.     

Training and organizational commitment among nurses following industry and organizational change in New Zealand and the United States

This survey study examines the relationship between employee attitudes related to training and organizational commitment among a sample of nurses in New Zealand and the United States. The magnitude of recent restructuring to New Zealand's public health system allows for an examination of employee attitudes towards training and organizational commitment in comparison to nurses from similar sized hospitals in the United States. Results show that perceived access to training, supervisory support for training, motivation to learn from training and perceived benefits of training were positively related to the affective and normative components of organizational commitment. Several significant differences were found on both training and organizational commitment variables between New Zealand and the United States. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical application to human resource development (HRD) outcomes and the management of HRD in health care settings.     

支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进:情感倾向的调节作用

基于组织支持理论和资源保存理论,构建了支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进模型,通过对40家制造业企业员工的问卷调查,采用多元调节回归的方法进行统计分析。研究结果表明,支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进对员工组织情感承诺、工作满意度和离职意向有显著影响;情感倾向对支持资源作用下的工作-家庭促进与结果变量之间的关系有调节作用。当个体的情感倾向处于积极时,由组织支持资源带来的工作-家庭促进会显著提高员工的工作满意度、组织情感承诺,降低离职意向。     

Learning organization,organizational culture,and affective commitment in Malaysia: A person–organization fit theory

ABSTRACT

Based on person–organization fit theory, this article moves beyond theories of motivation and social exchange relationships that have often been used in commitment literature. This article contributes to understanding perceptions of organizational culture (OC) and affective commitment (AC) through perceptions of a learning organization (LO). Such understanding helps to tackle current commitment issues in Malaysia through strategic human resources development (HRD) planning and deploying organization development activities. We examined: (a) the extent to which organizations with an embraced LO mediated OC and AC, (b) the most influential component of OC in promoting employee AC, and (c) the most important component of LO for influencing OC and AC. We obtained 516 respondents (64.5% response rate) in selected Malaysian private organizations. It was concluded that LO mediated the relationship between OC and AC. Respect for people was an influential factor of OC for AC, while empowerment played a significant role in LO culture mediating the relationship between OC and AC. HRD practitioners should strategically plan organizational activities, norms, and policies that promote organizational learning processes and a learning culture to enhance AC.     

员工个人特性对组织承诺与离职意愿的影响研究

本论文运用组织行为学的理论,在大量的问卷调查基础上,通过对我国员工的组织承诺和离职意愿的实证分析,揭示了员工的性别、年龄、学历、婚姻状况、户口等人口学特征变量和职位、连续工龄、离职次数、晋升概率、晋升次数等职务相关变量对员工的组织承诺有显著影响。同时,指出员工的组织承诺对离职意愿有显著影响。研究结果对提高员工的组织承诺以及预防员工离职具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Giving as Good as They Get? Organization and Employee Expectations of Ethical Business Practice

Corporate malpractice and malfeasance on an unprecedented scale have brought ethical issues to the fore and accentuated demands from activists, governments, and the public for greater corporate social responsibility (CSR). The predominant response of researchers and policymakers has been to focus on the external impact of business operations and the merits of regulation or persuasion in achieving more responsible practice in these areas. In this article, we focus on a less well explored aspect of CSR, namely the evaluation of an organization's CSR activities by its internal stakeholders (i.e., employees). Salient CSR literature is reviewed to differentiate between CSR and ethical business practice (EBP), conceptualizing the latter as the internal manifestation of CSR as represented by an organization's values and vision, strategy and policy, systems and procedures, and people management practices. This article assesses organizational espousal of EBP in three ways: how successfully it is communicated to employees, how closely espousal aligns with employee expectation, and how this evaluation impacts on employee commitment. Our research approach aligns with and extends previous work in this area that identifies the likelihood of a “false consensus bias” by managers in assuming congruence between organization espousal of EBP and employee expectation. A conceptual model is offered to explain possible employee responses to an organization's EBP. This relates organization espousal of EBP to employee assessment of its salience to identify three positions on commitment that employees can adopt—abrogated, continuance, and affective commitment—together with their likely behavioral implications. The analysis generates a series of research questions and related areas of exploration to empirically test the conceptual model.     

Organizational cynicism: Spillover effects on supervisor–subordinate relationships and performance

Organizational cynicism has grown in contemporary Western organizations. However, its impact on interpersonal relationships and consequently on organizational functioning remains understudied. The present study addresses these gaps by: a) exploring the spillover effect of organizational cynicism on supervisor–subordinate relationships, and b) examining if the spillover effect extends to employee performance. Specifically, it examines if affective commitment to the supervisor mediates the relationship between the PSS × organizational cynicism interaction effect and performance (i.e., mediated-moderation). Data were collected from both employees and supervisors (N = 274) from 45 organizations. Our results generally support our hypotheses. This study provides evidence that organizational cynicism interferes in the relationship employees develop with their supervisors, with consequences to performance. This study opens new avenues for research on organizational cynicism and carries implications for theory and practice.     

Organizational commitment: a critique of the construct and measures

Organizational commitment has been at the centre of studies into individual and organizational performance for several decades. During this time, much has happened to the ways in which organizations behave, including the evolution of new forms of employee relations and new psychological contracts. Against a transformational background for organizations, developments in the ways that commitment is measured have been incremental and arguably detached from the broader context of 'new deals' for employees. This paper examines classical approaches to defining and measuring organizational commitment and, in the context of strategic human resource management, argues for its continued importance. Classic approaches, however, are criticized on the basis of diminished utility in light of revised employee–organization linkages. Suggestions for improving the relevance of commitment research to contemporary management research and practice are given.