Does positivity enhance work performance?: Why,when, and what we don’t know

There is evidence, spanning many decades of research, that the subjective well-being (SWB) of workers, including life satisfaction, job satisfaction, and positive affect, positively correlates with the performance of workers and organizations. However, the size of the relationships is typically small to moderate. In this review we address the question of why the relationships are not stronger. We first review evidence of a relationship moving from well-being to performance through various pathways. Workers who are high in SWB are now understood to have: 1. better health, 2. lower absenteeism, 3. greater self-regulation, 4. stronger motivation, 5. enhanced creativity, 6. positive relationships, and 7. lower turnover. Each of these variables can predict individual and organizational performance. However, the sheer number of known and possible pathways means the relationships are bound to be complex, and there are mitigating conditions at every turn. Thus, second, we review the evidence of moderators of these mediators, hypothesizing when a happier workforce is a more productive one, and when not. Future research is needed to firmly establish the pathways from different types of SWB through the mediators to metrics of performance, to further establish the moderating conditions in which these relations are most likely to occur, and to evaluate how much SWB is needed to maximize effectiveness. We end by urging scholars to conduct this future research using the highest standards of scientific integrity.     

Employer brand building for start-ups: which job attributes do employees value most?

Although attracting talented personnel is one of the biggest challenges for start-ups, little is known about how nascent ventures can successfully build an employer brand. This study investigates which distinctive job attributes start-ups can use for their employer branding. We identify the unique job attributes distinguishing entrepreneurial firms from large firms and calibrate the relative value of these job attributes from the potential employees’ perspective. Using conjoint analysis we demonstrate that a communal team climate and the early assignment of responsibilities are a start-up’s most attractive job attributes for prospective applicants. We contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing literature by bringing forward the concept of entrepreneurial employer branding, by examining entrepreneurial firms’ unique and attractive job attributes, and by discussing how start-ups can make use of these attributes in their recruiting and employer branding activities.     

Embedded leadership: How do a leader's superiors impact middle-management performance?

This study uses a low-fidelity simulation to test the effect superiors can have on the leadership style and cognition of their subordinates who also are leaders. These leaders within the organization, often referred to as middle managers, occupy an important, albeit overlooked position within an organization. In order to emphasize the leadership that occurs at the middle levels of management the term ‘embedded leader’ is used. Using a sample of 224 undergraduates, three variables were manipulated to examine their effects on participant sensemaking, confidence, and participative leadership. The variables manipulated were the severity of individual level consequences (high vs. low), the severity of organizational consequences (high vs. low), and the superior's motivational strategy (coercive vs. supportive vs. passive style). It was found that a leader's superior can influence their leadership behaviors in a complex manner. Participant sensemaking was higher when their superior emphasized low levels of individual (or personal) consequences. Participative leadership was higher when the supervisor framed organizational level consequences as being high. Findings for participant confidence were complex, but generally suggest that one's superiors can promote or hinder confidence in a variety of situations.     

When do leaders matter? Ownership,governance and the influence of CEOs on firm performance

Leadership and strategic management research suggests that the extent to which CEOs influence performance largely depends on the presence or absence of certain factors. These factors may include the characteristics of the task at hand, subordinates, the organization itself or the external environment. Among these factors, a fundamental contingency that has received little empirical attention is an organization's ownership and governance structure—that is, who owns and monitors the organization. In this paper, we outline how different ownership and governance structures can present the opportunity for, or limit, leader influence and empirically examine the extent to which CEO effects on financial performance depend on these structures. Examining organizations in the same industry but with different ownership and governance structures, our results suggest that these structures are closely aligned with the degree to which CEOs influence firm performance. Our findings support the notion that leaders matter most when ownership and governance structures correspond with a weak or ambiguous institutional logic. This study contributes new insight into the “opportunity structure” of CEO influence, that is, the organizational factors that shape leader discretion and, hence, condition the CEO's level of influence over firm performance.     

Education,training and development policies and practices in medium-sized companies in the UK: do they really influence firm performance?

This paper sets out to examine the relationship between training and firm performance in middle-sized UK companies. It recognises that there is evidence that “high performance work practices” appear to be associated with better performance in large US companies, but argues that this relationship is less likely to be present in middle-sized companies. The paper's key contribution is to justify the wider concept of education, training and development (ETD) as applicable to such companies. It then finds that clusters of some ETD variables do appear to be associated with better middle-sized company performance.     

The governance of strategic networks: how do different configurations influence the performance of member firms?

Journal of Management and Governance - The purpose of this paper is to analyze how different configurations of network governance influence the performance of member firms. To achieve this...     

How do mobile,internet and ICT diffusion affect the banking industry? An empirical analysis

Based on the World Development Indicators data provided by the World Bank, we investigate the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on the profits and risk of financial distress of the EU 28 banking industry. Specifically, we address the question of whether and how ICT diffusion, adoption and infrastructure (e.g., ATM penetration) affect banking profitability and stability over the period 1995–2015. Our results show that ICT exerts a positive role in improving these performance measures. In addition, we find that overall financial stability in the banking industry is enhanced with the intensive adoption of both IT and financial technologies, which increase the distance to default.     

The effect of objective job demands on registered sickness absence spells; do personal,social and job-related resources act as moderators?

Abstract

This study applied Karaseks demand-control model, using sense of coherence (SOC), social support and job control as moderators of effects of job demands on ensuing sickness absence spells in a 3-year follow-up of 856 municipal employees. Among men the results supported the active learning hypothesis. Passive jobs predicted a high number of sickness absence spells and active jobs predicted a low number of spells. for short spells (1-3 days), the demand-control interaction, however, depended on SOC. In active jobs SOC was negatively associated with sickness absence spells; in passive jobs no such association was found. For long spells (3 days), the demand-control interaction depended on occupational level; active jobs were predictive of low absence spells among blue collar men. Among women, the results supported the strain hypothesis. The demand-control interaction, however, depended on household size. In small households, high-strain jobs predicted a high number of spells, while no increase in spells was found in active versus low-strain jobs. In larger households, the number of spells correlated positively with increasing demands even when control was good. The demand-control interaction, however, depended on SOC and spouse support. With strong SOC or spouse support, absence spells in active jobs remained on a relatively low level, otherwise active jobs led to a high number of spells. This suggests that SOC and spouse support may act as protective factors against female role conflicts associated with active jobs     

Chronic strain,daily work stress and pain among workers with rheumatoid arthritis: Does job stress make a bad day worse?

The structure of the job and the daily experience of work are challenges for workers with rheumatoid arthritis. Yet little is known about how these two factors interact to put workers with chronic pain at risk for worse pain on a given day. This exploratory 20 workday diary study of 27 workers with rheumatoid arthritis used hierarchical linear modelling to examine how the structure of the job and neuroticism moderate the relationship between daily undesirable work events (daily stressors), and pain reports within a day. On days with more undesirable work events compared to days with fewer events, individuals with jobs associated with job ‘strain’ (high demand/low control) reported greater midday pain, irrespective of neuroticism and negative mood, than workers with other combinations of demand and control. These findings demonstrate the utility of analysing fluctuating within-person relationships among pain, mood and daily work stressors within the context of the structure of the job, and helps to explain why daily work stressors result in worse health outcomes for some but not all workers with RA.     

Is the Employment Function Structurally Unstable? An Empirical Test: Italian Manufacturing Industry, 1970–1984

Abstract. This paper tests the hypothesis that the high variability of the real input prices (especially real wage) coefficients in the empirical employment equations reflects structural characteristics of the economy considered, namely the balance of power between trade unions and fums. A dynamic equation with output, real wage and real prices of raw materials as explanatory variables is estimated using Italian manufacturing industry data 1970-1984. The model appears to be well specified and consistent with the literature. However, extensive parameter stability analysis yields results compatible with the view of the employment equation as structurally unstable. The fact that the equation appeared to be well specified and representative arouses the suspicion that other equations for different periods and economies could be equally unstable.     

An update on the Kevorkian-Reding 93 physician-assisted deaths in Michigan: is Kevorkian a savior,serial-killer or suicidal martyr?

This report presents an update of the Kevorkian-Reding physician-assisted (or physician-aided) deaths to include the ninety-three publicly acknowledged cases as of November 25, 1998. These deaths are divided into ten distinct time phases. The following trends emerge. Over two-thirds of the decedents are women, the ratio of females to males varying widely with phase. The proportion of women seems to be the highest when Kevorkian is free to act as he wants and lowest when he seems to be acting under legal or political restraints. Based on autopsy results, only 29.0 percent of the cases are terminal, this percentage being higher among men (37.9%) than among women (25.4%). However, 66.7% of the decedents were disabled, no significant difference emerging between men and women. Further, five out of the six decedents showing no apparent anatomical sign of disease at autopsy were women. Over 80 percent of the physician-assisted deaths are cremated, approximately twice as high a proportion as that emerging for suicides in Michigan and four times as high as cremations occurring with regard to overall deaths. Finally, death by carbon monoxide decreases dramatically with time phase while the use of the contraption dubbed the "suicide machine" increases, suggesting an increasing routinization over time. Finally, during the ninth and tenth phases, Kevorkian's aims and his own suicidality emerge more clearly involving 1) harvesting organs and 2) threat of starving himself in prison if he is convicted. Phase 10 can be seen as an escalation from assisted death to overt euthanasia, repeating the same need for a demonstration (Thomas Youk) that was first exhibited in Phase I (Janet Adkins).     

How can we ascertain,understand and interpret the performance level of a production system? A visual method: 'The plan of preferences'

The general context of this study is the parameterizing of the production system. The aim is to regulate the physical flow according to objectives, usually expressed in terms of performance indicator values. Performance control requires mastery of the consequences of the choices made. It then becomes essential to be able to articulate the potential effects of the various decisions. The existing approaches to solving this problem all imply the use of means of simulation capable of assessing the value of the performance indicators for each configuration of the action parameters. Taking this assumption as a basis, and focusing on the user, a multiple criteria approach is developed towards the understanding and schematization of the behaviour of a given system. The particularity of this approach lies in combining both data analysis and user expertise. The instrumentation approach uses tools for data analysis and assistance in decision making to achieve an original visualization of the structure of performance levels in a plan, called the plan of preferences .