Managing Employee Compliance with Information Security Policies: The Critical Role of Top Management and Organizational Culture*

We develop an individual behavioral model that integrates the role of top management and organizational culture into the theory of planned behavior in an attempt to better understand how top management can influence security compliance behavior of employees. Using survey data and structural equation modeling, we test hypotheses on the relationships among top management participation, organizational culture, and key determinants of employee compliance with information security policies. We find that top management participation in information security initiatives has significant direct and indirect influences on employees’ attitudes towards, subjective norm of, and perceived behavioral control over compliance with information security policies. We also find that the top management participation strongly influences organizational culture which in turn impacts employees’ attitudes towards and perceived behavioral control over compliance with information security policies. Furthermore, we find that the effects of top management participation and organizational culture on employee behavioral intentions are fully mediated by employee cognitive beliefs about compliance with information security policies. Our findings extend information security research literature by showing how top management can play a proactive role in shaping employee compliance behavior in addition to the deterrence oriented remedies advocated in the extant literature. Our findings also refine the theories about the role of organizational culture in shaping employee compliance behavior. Significant theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Direct and Indirect Links Between Organizational Work–Home Culture and Employee Well‐being

The extent to which an organization's culture exhibits support for its employees' efforts to balance work and personal responsibilities has been shown to influence a number of work‐ and home‐related outcomes. This study tests a model with a mix of mediated and moderated relationships to investigate direct and indirect routes by which work–home culture may affect employee well‐being. Sex differences in these relationships are also explored. Data collected from public sector employees in the UK indicate that a supportive work–home culture is significantly associated with lower levels of psychosomatic strain among employees. For women, this relationship is mediated by reduced levels of work–home interference. Different types of support demonstrate different effects for men and for women: managerial support has a more beneficial impact on women's well‐being, and organizational time demands have a more detrimental impact on men's well‐being. Recommendations for managers to boost employee well‐being include shifting the focus away from presenteeism and toward work outputs in order to reduce gender stereotypes and improve attitudes toward those using flexible work practices and family‐friendly initiatives, incorporating work–home supportiveness into the managerial performance appraisal process, and compensating or otherwise recognizing employees taking on absent colleagues' workloads.     

Workplace Change and Employee Mental Health: Results from a Longitudinal Study

This study is intended to improve understanding of the impact of workplace change on employee mental health and well‐being. We construct and test a comprehensive measure of organizational change, which is then applied in a prospective longitudinal study of nearly 5400 employees in six UK National Health Service Trusts. Self‐rated mental health was assessed using the 12‐item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Just under a quarter of the sample were at increased risk of psychiatric morbidity (‘cases’). After controlling for a wide range of personal characteristics and work variables, it was found that respondents who reported an increase in the amount of work over the previous year were more likely to be classed as GHQ cases, whereas increased training and promotion and improved job security had a beneficial effect on employee mental health (less likelihood of being GHQ cases). Quantity or degree of change showed a somewhat ambiguous relationship with GHQ status. Our findings challenge the assumption that change will necessarily have an adverse effect on health, indicating areas, such as promotion and development, where a positive impact might be anticipated.     

The Interplay Between Employee and Firm Customer Orientation: Substitution Effect and the Contingency Role of Performance‐Related Rewards

This paper identifies and explains a potential tension between a firm's emphasis on customer orientation (CO) and the extent to which employees value CO as a success factor for individual performance. Based on self‐determination theory and CO implementation research, the authors propose that firm CO may represent both autonomous and controlled motivations for CO, but that employees’ CO is more strongly linked to individual performance when employees experience solely autonomous motivation. Hence, the authors expect a substitution effect whereby the link between employees’ CO and their performance is weaker when firm CO is high. Furthermore, the authors examine a boundary condition for the previous hypothesis and propose that performance‐contingent rewards have a positive effect on the internalization of the extrinsic motivation stemming from firm CO. Two multilevel studies with 979 employees and 201 top management team members from 132 firms support these hypotheses. Against previous research, these findings offer a new perspective on the effectiveness of CO initiatives, propose employees’ motivational states as the theoretical explanation for the heterogeneity in the link between employee CO and performance, and reappraise the role of performance‐contingent rewards in CO research. Managerial implications for the effective implementation of customer‐oriented initiatives within firms are provided.     

Engaging leader – Engaged employees? A cross-lagged study on employee engagement

The goal of this study is to provide a cross-lagged examination of the relationships between engaging leadership, job resources and employee work engagement. We propose a mediation model and we postulate that engaging leadership can increase perceptions of three specific job resources (i.e. autonomy, support from colleagues and opportunities for learning and development) which theoretically correspond to the three facets of engaging leadership (i.e., inspiring, connecting and strengthening, respectively). Subsequently, in keeping with the extant body of Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) research, we link job resources to employee work engagement. Our hypotheses were tested on data collected at two time-points – T1 (N = 759) and T2 (N = 273) –from employees working for a hotel chain in the Netherlands. In line with our expectations, engaging leadership showed a significant cross-lagged relationship with autonomy and support from colleagues, but did not predict learning opportunities and work engagement across time. While we formulated specific hypotheses, we also tested reversed causation relationships. We found no direct effect from engaging leadership on employee work engagement, however, the reversed effect was significant; employee perceptions of engaging leadership were shaped by their own engagement experiences. Importantly, engaged employees at T1 reported more job resources at T2. By providing a cross-lagged examination of our model, we showed that engaging leaders as well as employees’ positive affective state of being engaged, are essential to shaping a resourceful work context. A comprehensive view on the triggers and outcomes of work engagement and engaging leadership is needed, as the traditional unidirectional cause-effect rationale fails to explain how these concepts relate to one another and to employee experiences of job resources.     

The relationship between organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying: A three-wave longitudinal study

ABSTRACT

While research has unravelled the association between organisational change and being a target of workplace bullying, scholars have still to shed light on the perpetrator perspective of this association. In the current study, we further the literature by investigating the relationship between exposure to organisational change and being a perpetrator of workplace bullying. We introduced perceptions of psychological contract breach as a mechanism that accounts for the process in which exposure to organisational change leads employees to direct bullying behaviours to other members of the organisation. Using three-wave longitudinal data from 1994 employees we estimated a between-subjects mediation model controlling for autoregressive effects. Results confirmed our hypothesis that exposure to organisational change at Time 1 was positively related to being a perpetrator of workplace bullying at Time 3 through perceptions of psychological contract breach at Time 2. These findings suggest that organisations should invest in factors that lower employees’ likelihood to perceive psychological contract breach in the aftermath of organisational change because these perceptions may indeed result in the enactment of workplace bullying towards other members of the organisation.     

Workplace Job Satisfaction in Britain: Evidence from Linked Employer–Employee Data

The paper examines the nature of workplace job satisfaction in Britain using an ‘overall’ and domain‐specific job satisfaction outcomes from linked employer–employee data. A measure of aggregate job satisfaction alone might mask domain‐specific differences in satisfaction, something the combined approach in this paper addresses. As well as controlling for a rich set of correlates on employees and their workplaces, the paper deploys alternative empirical models that account for employee‐ and workplace‐level unobserved heterogeneity. The paper reports interesting results on the link between job satisfaction and observed as well as unobserved characteristics of employees and their workplaces.     

权力距离导向与员工建言:组织地位感知的影响

员工建言对于组织运营和发展的作用是不言而喻的,然而在中国情境下往往事与愿违,员工常常会选择知而不言。采用问卷调查方式收集81名团队领导与其467名下属的配对样本,运用多层线性模型方法,从文化价值观的视角探讨中国情境下不同层级个体的权力距离导向对员工建言的效应以及领导组织地位感知和员工组织地位感知在其中的调节效应。统计分析结果表明,领导权力距离导向和员工权力距离导向对员工建言行为都具有显著的负向预测作用,领导组织地位感知显著调节领导权力距离导向与员工建言间的关系,员工组织地位感知显著调节员工权力距离导向与员工建言间的关系。研究结果有助于理解中国情境下员工建言的影响因素和边界条件,对于改变这种现状、实现组织的有效管理具有重要的现实意义。     

劳动关系氛围和员工工作满意度:组织承诺的调节作用

本文从组织行为层次探讨劳动关系氛围与员工态度之间的关系。基于60家企业1607名员工的问卷调查,本文探讨了劳资双赢、劳资对立和员工参与三种劳动关系氛围对员工内在和外在满意度的直接影响,以及员工组织承诺在上述关系中的调节作用。研究发现,劳资双赢氛围显著地提升员工的内在和外在满意度,劳资对立氛围显著地降低员工的内在和外在满意度,员工参与氛围仅能显著提升员工的内在工作满意度。同时,员工组织承诺中的情感承诺能显著增强劳资双赢氛围对内在和外在工作满意度的积极影响,但仅能显著降低劳资对立氛围对内在工作满意度的消极影响,而对员工参与氛围的影响不具有调节作用。此外,研究还发现交易承诺不存在调节效果。     

Employee Well‐being and the HRM–Organizational Performance Relationship: A Review of Quantitative Studies

There is a lack of consensus on the role of employee well‐being in the human resource management–organizational performance relationship. This review examines which of the competing perspectives –‘mutual gains’ or ‘conflicting outcomes’– is more appropriate for describing this role of employee well‐being. In addition, this review examines whether study attributes such as the measurement of key variables, the level of analysis and the study design affect a study's outcomes. The review covers 36 quantitative studies published from 1995 to May 2010. Employee well‐being is described here using three dimensions: happiness, health and relationship. The main findings are that employee well‐being in terms of happiness and relationship is congruent with organizational performance (mutual gains perspective), but that health‐related well‐being appears to function as a conflicting outcome. Directions for future research and theoretical development are suggested.     

Leading for change: line managers’ influence on the outcomes of an occupational health intervention

Line managers may play a central role in the success of occupational health interventions. However, few studies have focussed on the relationship between line managers’ behaviours and the outcomes of occupational health interventions. We examined the influence of both line managers’ attitudes and actions towards an intervention as well as their transformational leadership on the expected outcomes of the intervention (i.e. employee self-rated health and work ability). The intervention consisted of the implementation and use of a web-based system for occupational health management. A sample of 180 employees provided data for the analysis. Self-rated health and work ability were measured at the baseline (Time 1) and follow-up (Time 3), while employee ratings of line managers’ attitudes and actions, and transformational leadership were measured during the intervention process (Time 2). The results revealed that line managers’ attitudes and actions positively predicted changes in both self-rated health and work ability. The influence of transformational leadership was indirect and mediated through line managers’ attitudes and actions towards the intervention. Based on the results, we suggest using process measures that include aspects of both line managers’ attitudes and actions as well as their transformational leadership in future process evaluation.     

The effects of employee burnout on customers: An experimental approach

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the different effects of employee burnout dimensions (depersonalisation and emotional exhaustion) on customer service perceptions. We hypothesised that customers who interact with depersonalising employees will feel angry and hostile, which, in turn, should be related to low service perceptions. Emotional exhaustion was hypothesised to attenuate this effect because customers might perceive exhaustion as a reason for the depersonalising behaviour and may be affected less negatively. Each of the 156 study participants read 12 vignettes in which university employees displayed depersonalisation and emotional exhaustion symptoms. Multilevel analysis showed that employee depersonalisation negatively affected customer perceptions towards employee service and organisation service. Customer anger and hostility mediated this effect. Employee emotional exhaustion moderated the indirect effect such that depersonalisation had the strongest effect on customer service perceptions via anger and hostility when the employee did not display emotional exhaustion. Findings highlight the importance of studying the effects of depersonalisation and emotional exhaustion separately, and taking into account customer affective processes.     

Empirical Analysis of Farmers' Drought Risk Perception: Objective Factors,Personal Circumstances,and Social Influence

Drought‐induced water shortage and salinization are a global threat to agricultural production. With climate change, drought risk is expected to increase as drought events are assumed to occur more frequently and to become more severe. The agricultural sector's adaptive capacity largely depends on farmers’ drought risk perceptions. Understanding the formation of farmers’ drought risk perceptions is a prerequisite to designing effective and efficient public drought risk management strategies. Various strands of literature point at different factors shaping individual risk perceptions. Economic theory points at objective risk variables, whereas psychology and sociology identify subjective risk variables. This study investigates and compares the contribution of objective and subjective factors in explaining farmers’ drought risk perception by means of survey data analysis. Data on risk perceptions, farm characteristics, and various other personality traits were collected from farmers located in the southwest Netherlands. From comparing the explanatory power of objective and subjective risk factors in separate models and a full model of risk perception, it can be concluded that farmers’ risk perceptions are shaped by both rational and emotional factors. In a full risk perception model, being located in an area with external water supply, owning fields with salinization issues, cultivating drought‐/salt‐sensitive crops, farm revenue, drought risk experience, and perceived control are significant explanatory variables of farmers’ drought risk perceptions.     

Merit‐based Rewards,Job Satisfaction and Voluntary Turnover: Moderating Effects of Employee Demographic Characteristics

This paper draws on the reflection theory of compensation (Thierry, H. (1998). ‘Compensating work’. in P. J. D. Drenth, H. Thierry and C. J. de Wolff (eds), Handbook of Work and Organizational Psychology, 2nd edn, pp. 291–315, Psychology Press: Hove; Thierry, H. F. (2001). ‘Job evaluation systems and pay grade structures: do they match’, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8, pp. 1313–1324) to examine the influence of individual merit‐based rewards on voluntary turnover via job satisfaction. It also tests the moderating effects of employees’ gender, age and education level between merit‐based rewards and job satisfaction. Data were collected from 636 employees in Japan at three points in time over a 12‐month period. The findings show that merit‐based rewards have a direct, positive effect on job satisfaction and an indirect effect on voluntary turnover. The effect of merit‐based rewards on job satisfaction was moderated by gender and education, providing evidence that merit‐based rewards are more important for male and highly educated employees. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

中澳企业员工离职与激励认知的跨文化比较研究

将HOFSTEDE提出的国家文化理论运用到人力资源管理中进行实证检验,对中国和澳大利亚两国企业员工的离职和激励行为背后的文化影响进行了分析研究。研究分析显示,相比澳大利亚企业员工,中国企业员工的离职倾向较低;可选择工作机会的主观感知对中国企业员工离职倾向的影响较小;中国企业员工认为职业发展是较重要的激励因素,而澳大利亚企业员工认为工作本身是较为重要的激励因素。研究结果表明,国家文化理论提出的5个文化差异维度中的"权利距离"、"不确定性规避"和"长期取向",在中澳两国企业员工的离职和激励问题上基本得到印证。     

Employee feedback technologies in the human performance system

Many authors have noted that organizations are realizing that employees can be a major source of competitive advantage. A hidden source of advantage can be the improved utilization of existing human capital. A method common to most organizations for improving existing human capital is using employee feedback technologies. During a review of the literature it was found that employee feedback is an expanding and poignant subject. This paper describes some of the current leading technologies in employee feedback, including coaching, 360 degree feedback, as well as other techniques found in the literature. Methodologies of employee feedback including approaches and timeframes will be investigated at the system and process level. Finally, the opportunities for dealing with a problem employee using feedback are discussed.     

High-profile employees at universities and their intentions of commercializing research results

When university scientists consider their research results today, an entrepreneurial university wants them to explore more than the options for publication: invention disclosures and patent applications are increasingly becoming of interest as a step into the commercialization process. High-profile employees at universities face both the expectation and the opportunity to follow multiple careers: as scientists but also as drivers of the commercialization process and even as spin-off leaders. Organizational antecedents to such commercialization activities have largely been investigated to help universities design effective incentive systems that stimulate the inventive activity of their employees. However, it remains unclear to which set of incentives high-profile employees respond to. In applying Theory of Planned Behavior, the main contribution of our study is to demonstrate that attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control influence high-profile employee’s intention to disclose an invention as the first step in a commercialization process. More detailed results show which belief factors in turn influence attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control.     

Unfair,uncertain, and unwilling: How decision-making unfairness and unclear job tasks reduce problem-focused voice behavior,unless there is task conflict

In an attempt to expand extant literature devoted to employees' voice behavior, the current research unpacks the connection between their experience of procedural unfairness, such that organizational decision-making lacks transparency, and their problem-focused voice behavior. In this link, the authors predict that job ambiguity functions as a mediator, and coworker task conflict takes a moderating role. Survey data, collected among employees in a large Portuguese retail organization, affirm that perceptions about unfair decision policies can curtail employees’ propensities to raise their voice about organizational failures, because they develop the belief that their employer is failing to provide sufficient job-related information. If they can exchange conflicting viewpoints with others though, this detrimental process might not proceed. Organizations should take care to avoid accusations of unclear job roles, because they create a route by which frustrations about opaque decision-making can escalate into employee complacency; they also should encourage productive idea clashes within their ranks to help block that route.     

Gender and Employee Attitudes: The Role of Organizational Justice Perceptions

In this study, using path analysis, we tested whether procedural justice perceptions mediated the relationship between gender and distributive justice perceptions. Furthermore, we also tested whether the two forms of commitment (affective and normative) mediated the relationships between justice perceptions (distributive and procedural) and tenure intent. One hundred and eighty-three employees from Irish manufacturing organizations participated in the study. As hypothesized, we found support for the mediating role of procedural justice perception on the relationship between gender and distributive justice perception. Results also indicated that affective commitment mediated the relationships between justice perceptions and tenure intent and affective commitment. Finally, normative commitment did not mediate the relationships between justice perceptions and tenure intent. Further analysis using moderated regression analysis showed that gender moderated the relationships between distributive justice perceptions and affective commitment only. Gender did not have any moderating effect on normative commitment or tenure intent. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Employee Misuse of Information Technology Resources: Testing a Contemporary Deterrence Model

Recent research in information systems and operations management has considered the positive impacts of information technology (IT). However, an undesirable side effect of firms’ increasing reliance on IT to support the distribution and delivery of goods and services to customers is a greater exposure to a diverse set of IT security risks. One such risk is intentional employee misuse of technology resources. In this article, we draw upon modern deterrence frameworks to develop a predictive model of technology misuse intention that incorporates formal and informal sanctions as well as employment context factors. The model specifies previously untested relationships between formal and informal sanctions, thereby providing fresh insight into the role of sanctions in deterring technology misuse in organizations. Our results suggest that a predisposition toward the need for social approval and moral beliefs regarding the behavior are key determinants of technology misuse. Contrary to criminological research that has questioned the relative importance of formal sanctions in the deterrence process, we also found that the threat of formal sanctions has both direct and indirect influences on technology misuse intention. Further, from an employment context standpoint, employees who spend more working days away from the office (i.e., “virtual” mode) appear more inclined to misuse their organization's technology resources. The findings have implications for the research and practice of technology management.