Job demands and work-related psychological responses among Malaysian technical workers: The moderating effects of self-efficacy

Abstract

Job design has long been found to affect the work-related psychological responses of employees, such as psychological strain, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions, but scholars have begun to question whether established theoretical relations regarding job design continue to hold given the enormous changes in the nature of work during the past two decades. It is also increasingly recognized that individual differences affect work behaviours in substantial ways, but few studies on work design have investigated these differences. We addressed these concerns with a two-wave longitudinal study among 245 technical workers at a telecommunications company in Malaysia, a country that has a collectivist culture and a high power distance between managers and subordinates. We examined the moderating effects of job control and self-efficacy on the relationships between job demands and employee responses. The results failed to support the job demands-control model, as job control variables did not moderate the impact of demands on employee work-related psychological responses. However, self-efficacy moderated their impact on psychological strain (although not on job satisfaction or turnover intentions). Our findings provide insight into the moderating effect of self-efficacy, and suggest that practitioners interested in reducing psychological strain should consider making efforts to increase self-efficacy among employees.     

The effect of exposure to bullying on turnover intentions: the role of perceived psychological contract violation and benevolent behaviour

This study analyses the relationship between exposure to workplace bullying and turnover intentions. We hypothesised that this relationship is mediated by perceptions of psychological contract violation, and that employee benevolence acts as a moderator. A survey design was employed and data were collected among business professionals (n?=?1148). The analyses confirmed that perceived psychological contract violation partially explains the relationship between exposure to bullying and turnover intentions. The mediation process was stronger for those reporting more benevolent behaviour, suggesting that the importance of perceived psychological contract violation is greater among those scoring high on benevolent behaviour. The results also show that highly benevolent employees are more affected by exposure to bullying behaviour, although the effects were equally detrimental, irrespective of benevolent behaviour, when employees were exposed to very high levels of bullying. The study advances understanding of the mechanisms that govern outcomes of exposure to bullying, highlighting in particular the role of perceived psychological contract violation, and examining differences concerning high or low benevolence employees.     

Nurse safety: How is safety climate related to affect and attitude?

Occupational accidents and injuries continue to be a critical concern for nurses, given the hazardous healthcare environment. This study advances the research on workplace safety by studying the process variables (i.e. job-related negative affect (JRNA) and job satisfaction) in explaining the relationship between safety climate and various safety criteria in nurses. Based on survey data from 326 nurses, our findings suggest that psychological safety climate is negatively related to JRNA, turnover intentions, safety workarounds, and workplace hazards. In addition, structural equation modelling indicated general support for a model in which psychological safety climate influences employee strain through job attitudes, including JRNA and job satisfaction. More specifically, job attitudes were found to mediate the relationship between psychological safety climate and turnover intentions, experience of hazards, and injuries. Safety workarounds did not significantly relate to injuries. The present study contributes to the ongoing improvement of interventions aimed at mitigating nurses’ injuries by integrating job attitudes into the safety climate–safety outcome framework.     

Task Design,Team Context,and Psychological Safety: An Empirical Analysis of R&D Projects in High Technology Organizations

High technology organizations need to develop new products or processes that address the dual goals of exploration and exploitation. The competing viewpoints and the asymmetric nature of market returns associated with these goals in R&D projects can heighten stress levels among project team members and reduce their psychological safety. While current research calls for greater focus on task design for improving psychological safety, we know little about how team contextual factors affect this relationship. This study develops and tests a conceptual framework that examines the moderating role of R&D team contextual factors, namely, relative exploration and project‐organization metric alignment on the relationship between a key task design variable, namely, team autonomy, and psychological safety. Relative exploration captures the extent to which exploration goals are emphasized over exploitation goals in an R&D project, while project‐organization metric alignment measures the extent to which project metrics are aligned with broader organizational metrics. Furthermore, we examine the performance consequences of psychological safety in R&D projects. The empirical analysis is conducted using primary data collected from multiple informants across 110 R&D projects in 34 high technology business units. Our results indicate that relative exploration and project‐organization metric alignment have contrasting moderating effects. Furthermore, the effect of psychological safety on project performance is found to be indirect and mediated through team turnover. Implications of the study findings, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Leadership coaching,leader role-efficacy,and trust in subordinates. A mixed methods study assessing leadership coaching as a leadership development tool

In this study, we used a two-phase exploratory sequential design consisting of qualitative and quantitative research methods to assess leadership coaching as a leadership development tool. A focus group study combined with a review of theory resulted in hypotheses linking coaching to increased leader role-efficacy (LRE) and leader's trust in subordinates (LTS). Using data from leaders participating in a six month coaching program and a control group, the results showed that LRE and LTS increased in the coaching group, but not in the control group. We also hypothesized that increased trust in subordinates would be related to subordinates' psychological empowerment and turnover intentions. A significant relationship between increased LTS and reduced turnover intentions was found. Finally, we found that the degree of facilitative behavior from the coach positively affected the changes in both leader role-efficacy and trust in subordinates. While the results should be interpreted with caution as the sample is small, our findings support claims that coaching represents a promising leadership development tool. Furthermore, the results regarding trust in subordinates represent contributions to the development of a relational perspective on leadership development.     

Transformational leadership and optimal functioning at work: On the mediating role of employees' perceived job characteristics and motivation

This study aimed to deepen our understanding of the motivational mechanisms involved in the relationship between transformational leadership (TFL) and employee functioning. Drawing on the TFL literature, the job demands–resources model and self-determination theory, we propose an integrative model that relates TFL to employee psychological health (burnout and psychological distress), attitudes (occupational commitment and turnover intention) and performance (professional efficacy, self-reported individual and objective organizational performance) through two explanatory mechanisms: perceived job characteristics (job demands and resources) and employee motivation (autonomous and controlled). This research was conducted in two occupational settings (nurses and school principals), using a distinct variable operationalization for each. Results of both studies provide support for the hypothesized model, suggesting that TFL relates to optimal job functioning (psychological health, job attitudes and performance) by contributing to favourable perceptions of job characteristics (more resources and less demands) and high-quality work motivation (more autonomous motivation and less controlled motivation) in employees. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications as well as directions for future research are presented.     

Managerial support for basic psychological needs,somatic symptom burden and work-related correlates: A self-determination theory perspective

Somatic symptom burden, or the experience of physical symptomatology without a medical explanation, is related to functional disability and poor quality of life. The consequences of somatic symptom burden extend beyond the individual and affect society, as manifested in higher medical utilization and lower job productivity. Using self-determination theory, we posited that employees' perceptions of managerial support for basic psychological needs may be associated with lower levels of somatic symptom burden among employees, in part because such contexts promote autonomous self-regulation (a type of motivation) at work. Also, we posited that somatic symptom burden among employees would explain some of the relations of managerial need support and autonomous self-regulation at work to indices of work-related functioning, namely emotional exhaustion, turnover intention and absenteeism. Results from 287 Norwegian employees confirmed these hypotheses. These findings not only identify a theoretical mechanism that may explain (in part) the origin of somatic symptoms, but also offer a model by which social-contextual and motivational factors affect important work-related outcomes. These findings also bespeak the importance of developing workplace interventions that provide support for satisfaction of the basic psychological needs.     

从留职视角预测离职:工作嵌入研究述评

工作嵌入作为源于映像理论和离职展开模型的一个新构念,为员工留职提供了更广阔的解释空间,并展示了预测离职的一个新视角。本文通过文献梳理,从三个方面对国内外工作嵌入研究的最新进展进行了综述:工作嵌入的涵义与测量,工作嵌入的认知基础及其与展开模型的关系,工作嵌入的效应、影响因素及其拓展研究进展。最后,在分析工作嵌入研究现有问题的基础上,提出了未来研究方向和建议。     

多元化、公司业绩与总经理变更

总经理变更是公司内部治理的重要手段,其业绩敏感性受到多种因素的影响,以2002年～2007年沪深两市702家A股上市公司的数据为样本,探讨多元化经营对总经理变更绩效敏感性及其业绩改进效应的影响,为公司经营模式对公司治理效率的影响提供经验证据,利用传统的Logistic回归、边际效应分析以及面板数据随机效应回归对多元化和总经理变更的关系进行研究。实证结果表明,多元化降低了总经理变更的业绩敏感性,多元化公司总经理变更的概率与资产收益率代表的多元化公司业绩变化没有显著的关系,即使在公司业绩下降的条件下,股东替换总经理的动机也弱于集中化公司;多元化公司总经理变更后的资产重组行为规模显著弱于集中化公司,带来的业绩改进也小于集中化公司。     

Unweaving leaving: the use of models in the management of employee turnover

This paper offers a review of the literature on labour turnover in organizations. Initially, the importance of the subject area is established, as analyses of turnover are outlined and critiqued. This leads to a discussion of the various ways in which turnover and its consequences are measured. The potentially critical impact of turnover behaviour on organizational effectiveness is presented as justification for the need to model turnover, as a precursor to prediction and prevention. Key models from the literature of labour turnover are presented and critiqued.     

Optimal and dysfunctional turnover: toward an organizational level model

Dysfunctional turnover is defined here as the level that produces a divergence between the organization's optimal balance of costs associated with turnover and the costs associated with retaining employees. Under this approach, the optimal level of aggregate turnover for most organizations will be (1) greater than zero and (2) variable across organizations, contingent on particular factors influencing retention costs and quit propensities. The model presented posits that individual, organizational, and environmental attributes influence individual quit propensities of employees and, hence, expected turnover rates for the organization.     

Explaining Labour Turnover: Empirical Evidence from UK Establishments

Abstract. This paper investigates the determinants of labour turnover using establishment‐level survey data for the UK. The main contribution of our paper is that it estimates the impact of wages, unionization, training and other aspects of working conditions on labour turnover. Our main findings are: (i) turnover is inversely related to the relative wage; (ii) unionism reduces turnover: this is due mainly to the ability of unions to improve conditions of work rather than the voice‐exit model of Freeman; (iii) there is a complex relationship between turnover and training; and (iv) turnover is lower in the ‘high‐tech’ sector.     

CEO变更与企业价值关系的实证模型

委托代理理论认为CEO变更是由于代理人没有实现委托人对企业价值的预期,委托人以解除契约的形式来体现其约束机制的威力。为验证委托代理理论对CEO变更与企业价值关系的解释力,基于委托代理理论的两个前提假设,即委托代理关系的成立和企业价值低于股东的预期,构建CEO变更与企业价值关系的Logistic回归模型。选取2005年至2009年中国资本市场发生CEO变更、A股持续经营的上市公司样本,依据样本企业价值和企业性质的不同对Logistic回归模型进行分组检验。研究结果表明,企业价值水平较高时,股东对企业价值的预期通常能够得到满足,导致股东依据企业价值水平变更CEO的可能性较小;民营企业由于公司治理水平较低,CEO与股东之间的委托代理关系不一定成立,这两种情况均会降低委托代理理论对CEO变更与企业价值关系的解释能力,因此仅用委托代理理论来解释CEO变更与企业价值关系具有一定的局限性。     

A model of completed length of service

The measurement of labour turnover is important both because high turnover is regarded as a sign that something is wrong in a firm and also because quantitative information is important in planning recruitment programmes. This paper describes a statistical technique which has proved useful for the measurement and prediction of turnover.     

Public sector managers: the decision to leave or remain in a job

The public sector faces a grave problem as far as managerial retention as the result of the increasing number of retirements and of voluntary resignations. Despite the vital interest in managerial turnover in the public sector, research is scarce. This study, which increases our understanding of why public sector managers leave their positions, takes a qualitative and narrative research approach in examining voluntary turnover. Interviews were conducted with operations managers (in education, social care, and technical activities) at three Swedish municipalities. We identify a multitude of environment push and pull factors with a focus on administrative support, supervisory support and illegitimate tasks. The narratives of managerial turnover reveal the complexity of the decision to leave or remain in a job, containing a mixture of push and pull factors, negative feelings, unmet expectations and extraordinary events. Three possible HRD actions to decrease undesirable managerial turnover are identified: re-work organizational structures; re-model job characteristics; and re-examine managerial turnover decisions as a long and complex process. Our hope is that the findings are used for ultimately create healthy organizations.     

Executive turnover – Firms’ subsequent performances and the moderating role of organizational characteristics

I apply context-emergent turnover (CET) theory to investigate how different organizational characteristics moderate the effect of executive turnover on firm performance. I suggest and investigate different organizational characteristics as contextual factors. I find that executive turnover reduces future sales and employment growth, and show that three organizational characteristics (the firm's age, top management tenure, and employee tenure) moderate this effect. These results contribute to our understanding of the role of context in moderating executive turnover. Previous studies that examined the performance effects of executive turnover have often struggled to prove the causality between this event and a firms' post-turnover performance conclusively. The problem is that executive turnover is often correlated with a firm's current performance and expected future challenges. I address this endogeneity problem by exploiting the exogenous variation in firms' performances following 516 top managers' unexpected deaths. I use a matched sample to investigate which organizational characteristics that mitigate the negative effect on the firms' subsequent performances resulting from these executive turnovers. I obtained this sample randomly from a comprehensive dataset containing yearly observations of all Danish firms from 1995 to 2007.     

上市公司总经理更换、高管团队重组与企业绩效改进

本文针对以往总经理更换理论研究存在的关键问题,特别是对高管团队重组现象的忽视,构建了新的理论假设,并利用中国上市公司数据进行了检验.研究发现,总经理被迫离职时企业绩效呈现改进之面貌,但常规离职时无此效应;国有控股阻碍了企业绩效改进而内部董事则反之,且在总经理被迫离职情况下,前者负效应减弱而后者正效应增强;总经理是否为竞争者继任对企业绩效改进无显著影响,而选择外部继任对其有显著负面效应;总经理更换后的高管团队重组总体上不利于企业绩效改进,但受到继任类型的调节作用,在外部继任情形下消极影响尤为明显,而对竞争者继任则具有积极作用.     

Exploring turnover intentions among three professional groups of employees

Abstract

Although considerable research effort has been devoted to understanding work attitudes, behaviours and outcomes regarding turnover intentions, little has been done to explore it across different professions. This study takes a step in this direction and examines the effect of affective commitment, job satisfaction and job performance on turnover intentions across three professions. To this end, we surveyed three professional groups of employees and managers: financial officers and social workers employed in the public sector and lawyers employed in the private sector. The results of these three studies show that turnover intentions vary across these professions. Social workers exhibit lower turnover intentions than financial officers and lawyers, who tend to exhibit high turnover intentions. In addition, we found that job satisfaction and affective commitment are negatively associated with turnover intentions, while no significant relationship was found to exist between job performance and turnover intentions. The implications of this study suggest that both researchers and practitioners should take into consideration not only the organizational context, but also the occupational context while exploring the process of voluntary turnover.     

The double-edged sword of CEO/chairperson duality in corporatized state-owned firms: evidence from top management turnover in China

This study examines how board leadership structure (CEO duality) affects the corporate governance of corporatized state-owned firms where the state shareholders use these firms to serve both profit and non-profit objectives. We propose that CEO duality will generate a positive (negative) significant impact on the firms’ corporate governance when state owners tend to monitor their CEOs on the basis of profit (non-profit) considerations. We test our hypotheses by examining the relations between CEO duality and CEO turnover in Chinese listed companies that are ultimately controlled by central or local governments. We find that CEO duality is negatively related to turnover in marginal profit-making firms where turnover would be value-enhancing. This suggests that CEO duality is detrimental to these firms’ corporate governance because it entrenches relatively poorly performing CEOs. Duality is also negatively related to turnover in high-profitability firms where turnover would be non-value-enhancing. This suggests that CEO duality might positively contribute to the corporate governance of these firms by reducing the occurrence of non-value enhancing turnover. Overall, our study suggests that CEO duality is a double-edged sword in corporatized state-owned firms.     

The Intervention Project on Absence and Well-being (IPAW): Design and results from the baseline of a 5-year study

This paper presents the background, design and baseline results of the Intervention Project on Absence and Well-being (IPAW). IPAW is a 5-year psychosocial work environment intervention study including 22 intervention and 30 control work-sites from three different types of work-site (a large pharmaceutical company, municipal technical services, and municipal nursing homes) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The baseline survey reported in this paper was conducted in 1996-97, and the cohort was followed until 2002. Interventions took place during 1996-98 at the organizational and interpersonal level and focused on psychological demands, social support, control, meaning of work, and predictability. The main end-points are self-rated health, perceived stress, absence from work, job satisfaction, and labour turnover. Analyses of the baseline data show good reliability of the psychosocial scales and a number of clear associations between psychosocial work environment factors and health indicators. The baseline data also demonstrate several discrepancies between the planned design of the study and the actual implementation of the project in practice.