The role of individual and organizational characteristics in feedback seeking behaviour in the initial career stage

The present study investigates whether the frequency by which employees seek informal feedback and the quality of the self-initiated feedback influences perceived career development. Furthermore, we investigated goal orientation and perceived learning culture, as antecedents of feedback seeking behaviour. Data were collected from 116 financial experts from various multinational corporations worldwide. Results show that particularly the quality of self-initiated feedback from supervisors positively affects perceived career development. The quality of self-initiated feedback from supervisors mediates the relation between the perceived learning culture and perceived career development. Furthermore, learning goal orientation directly relates to perceived career development. Last, our results highlight the significance of creating a learning culture in which informal feedback is stimulated. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Can good leadership be learned through business games?

This article explores the use of business games to question whether they can be used to learn good leadership. The answer comes in three parts: yes, no and maybe. By studying the use of a game to teach change management in the light of adult learning theory, the article discusses how different kinds of learning processes emerge and contribute. On the basis of qualitative interviews and observation, a case study is used to explore how the particular, didactic orchestration of a game-based learning process, together with emergent, informal learning processes, contributes to leadership learning. As participants are immersed in formal, non-formal and informal learning processes, these processes contribute to improving leadership in practice in a variety of different ways. The article concludes that (1) yes, game-based learning does contribute to teaching operational leadership in a formal manner; (2) no, in and of itself, the formal learning of games has a limited impact on leadership learning, but in combination with other didactic activities, its contribution is profound and (3) maybe, since by tapping into the extensive knowledge of other participants, games inspire informal discussions on leadership topics that are not directly relevant to the game, but are in other ways beneficial.     

基于正式结构与非正式网络的企业内部知识共享优化方法

从社会网络视角提出一种基于正式结构与非正式网络的企业内部知识共享优化方法;从解构企业内部社会网络的角度出发,对承载企业内部知识共享的正式结构、非正式网络及其4个子结构(被忽视的正式结构、被利用的正式结构、被利用的非正式网络和潜在的非正式网络)进行分析;依据网络特征识别关键的知识代理人和任务导向的知识共享缺口,在此基础上对企业内部知识共享进行优化。     

What triggers imposter phenomenon among academic faculty? A critical incident study exploring antecedents,coping, and development opportunities

Despite research on imposter phenomenon among graduate students, few researchers have explored how academic faculty copes with the psychological stress resulting from questioning their professional legitimacy and expertise. We examined the predicating events that trigger imposter tendencies among academic faculty, their applied coping skills at mitigating such experiences and types of institutional resources that could support faculty struggling with imposter phenomenon. We position our study within identity theory and suggest that the emergence of imposter phenomenon could be a formative part of how faculty form their professional identity. Using critical incident technique (CIT) to analyse faculty narratives (n = 16), we identified four specific incidents that triggered faculty imposter experiences, four distinct coping methods used to interrupt the imposter cycle, and perceived needs and resources around institutional support. We also identified gender differences in incidents and coping responses. Specific suggestions are offered for formal and informal learning interventions in dealing with faculty imposter phenomenon as it relates to work outcomes.     

Learning and development experiences of self-initiated expatriate women in the United Arab Emirates

The article explores self-initiated expatriate women's experiences of working and learning in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Adler's (Adler, N. 1987. Pacific basin managers: A Gaijin, not a woman. Human Resource Management 26, no. 2: 169–91) seminal study and Tung's (Tung, R.L. 2004. Female expatriates: The model of the global manager. Organizational Dynamics 33: 243–53) research suggest that expatriate women operating in a foreign host culture are categorized as a ‘Third Gender’: host nationals would perceive them as ‘foreign’ first and ‘women’ second, consequently according them different privileged treatment inworkplaces than host national women colleagues. This qualitative study of self-initiated expatriate women highlights how the women's constructions of themselves as ‘foreign’ and ‘female’ in the UAE provide a lens through which they reflect upon their own experiences of learning and development. In the absence of support from their own organizations and/or driven by their own aspirations, the women embarked upon their professional development initiatives; networking, coaching and formal qualifications. Key themes of vulnerability in being a foreigner, gendered workplaces, informal learning and women's agency in their own learning and development emerge from the analysis. The women's experiences suggest that their ‘Third Gender’ identity frames both constraints and opportunities within their social and work environment. The research focus on self-initiated expatriate women developing their professional practice, without the organizational Human Resource Development (HRD) support normally provided for assigned expatriates, is a key contribution to HRD, expatriate and international management literature where gender has tended to be ignored.     

Social Amplification of Wildfire Risk: The Role of Social Interactions and Information Sources

Wildfire is a persistent and growing threat across much of the western United States. Understanding how people living in fire‐prone areas perceive this threat is essential to the design of effective risk management policies. Drawing on the social amplification of risk framework, we develop a conceptual model of wildfire risk perceptions that incorporates the social processes that likely shape how individuals in fire‐prone areas come to understand this risk, highlighting the role of information sources and social interactions. We classify information sources as expert or nonexpert, and group social interactions according to two dimensions: formal versus informal, and generic versus fire‐specific. Using survey data from two Colorado counties, we empirically examine how information sources and social interactions relate to the perceived probability and perceived consequences of a wildfire. Our results suggest that social amplification processes play a role in shaping how individuals in this area perceive wildfire risk. A key finding is that both “vertical” (i.e., expert information sources and formal social interactions) and “horizontal” (i.e., nonexpert information and informal interactions) interactions are associated with perceived risk of experiencing a wildfire. We also find evidence of perceived “risk interdependency”—that is, homeowners’ perceptions of risk are higher when vegetation on neighboring properties is perceived to be dense. Incorporating social amplification processes into community‐based wildfire education programs and evaluating these programs’ effectiveness constitutes an area for future inquiry.     

More Formally: Rediscovering the Missing Link between Formal Organization and Informal Social Structure

Abstract

Although foundational organization theory recognized the role of both formal and informal elements, for the past two decades scholarship appears to have primarily attended to the role of informal social structures (i.e. social networks) in explaining organizational functioning. This trend, however, has left a disconnect between the literatures on formal organization and informal social structure such that crucial questions and problems at the intersection of the two streams of research have been neglected. In this essay, we make the case for rediscovering the inherent interplay between formal organization and informal social structure given their common basis of interactions in organizations. We argue that by bridging the gap between formal organization and informal social structure scholarship we can advance our understanding of both the origins and evolution of social networks and the design and effective functioning of organizations. As a first step towards achieving greater integration of research on formal organization and informal social structure we: consolidate existing scholarly understanding in this area, profile the few studies that have begun to bridge the disconnect between formal and informal elements, identify conceptual logics for linking formal and informal elements, and propose an agenda for future research.     

Does Modern Organization and Governance Threat Solidarity?

This article focuses on solidarity behaviours of employees to team members (horizontal solidarity behaviour) and to their manager (vertical solidarity behaviour). The question is asked to what extend and how are both types of solidarity related to three aspects of modern organization and governance: dual earner families, flexible labour contracts, and formal and informal governance structures. Survey data of 17 Dutch organizations (N = 1347) show in relation to dual-earner families that having children has a positive relationship with horizontal solidarity behaviour, and working overtime has a positive relationship with vertical solidarity behaviour. Related to the flexible labour contracts, no relationship was found with type of labour contract and expected years within the organization. Finally, some traits of informal and formal governance structures, namely information on rules and the presence of explicit fair play rules are fond to be positively related to solidarity.She worked on this article during a visit at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.     

Formal and Informal Risk Sharing in LDCs: Theory and Empirical Evidence

We develop and estimate a model of dynamic interactions in which commitment is limited and contracts are incomplete to explain the patterns of income and consumption growth in village economies of less developed countries. Households can insure each other through both formal contracts and informal agreements, that is, self‐enforcing agreements specifying voluntary transfers. This theoretical setting nests the case of complete markets and the case where only informal agreements are available. We derive a system of nonlinear equations for income and consumption growth. A key prediction of our model is that both variables are affected by lagged consumption as a consequence of the interplay of formal and informal contracting possibilities. In a semiparametric setting, we prove identification, derive testable restrictions, and estimate the model with the use of data from Pakistani villages. Empirical results are consistent with the economic arguments. Incentive constraints due to self‐enforcement bind with positive probability and formal contracts are used to reduce this probability.     

Developing the e-learning community

This paper considers aspects of the theory and practice of e-learning communities. To date much of the research and discussion in this area has been drawn from experiences in education where the prevalent model is best described as supported on-line learning. Propositions on the structure of the e-learning community, and on the role of the moderator, have been based largely on lessons drawn from practice in higher education. The growing importance of e-learning as a tool for informal learning and team development in business is leading to new types of e-learning communities with different objectives, different boundaries and membership, different demands on the moderator and different measures of effectiveness. Two e-learning communities are outlined and some key characteristics are presented.     

A multi-stakeholder view of social media as a supporting tool in higher education: An educator–student perspective

Social media in higher education is becoming increasingly important both in courses' delivery and assessment. This research explores the adoption of social media as a supporting tool in undergraduate (UG) education using both educators' and students' perspectives. The first study involves a survey of 205 educators who reported their views on the importance and use of social media within their management courses. The second study consists of four focus groups, which provides insights into students' perspectives and attitudes toward the use of social media by their educators in higher education. Results show that both educators and students acknowledge the importance of incorporating social media in delivery and assessment of courses and highlight its positive impact on students' deep learning experience and engagement, as well as their enhancement of collaborative and organizational skills. However, faculty is advised to keep a balance in terms of relevance of social media use, control, and usage level of social media platforms.     

Thank you!

The study focuses on the question of how HRD personnel employed in a large multinational company perceive learning at work. We are interested in how HR development staff describe learning at the individual, collective and organizational levels. The participants were Finnish and Chinese human resource professionals (n?=?17) who used an asynchronous web-based tool to study adult education. The empirical data consist of all the texts sent to a web-based discussion forum. The findings showed that the HRD practitioners' views of learning covered quite evenly all three levels of organizational learning. The practitioners paid special attention to practical learning taking place in connection with everyday work activities, to communication and collaborative learning and to the development of a learning organization. This reflects the multifaceted nature of learning at work and the necessity of using HRD to integrate individual- and organizational-level needs in order to enhance organizational learning. The participants frequently reported that they found this a demanding task that required a clear 'understanding of humans, people in the organizations and their learning'. If organizational learning is to meet its current challenges it should take note of messages like these from HRD practitioners, which emphasise the diversity of learning experiences. Promoting a shared understanding and especially awareness and recognition of the fundamental issues associated with learning at work is a possible first step.     

Realizing the Need for Rework: From Task Interdependence to Social Networks

Design rework is a core phenomenon in new product development (NPD). Yet carrying out design rework presupposes recognizing the need for it. I characterize the types of interpersonal knowledge transfer that help developers realize the need for design rework in NPD. As predicted by the NPD literature, I find that individuals who interact frequently with colleagues to address their task interdependences are more likely to realize the need for rework. I also learn that interacting with colleagues who have different expertise in process‐related knowledge (as opposed to product‐related knowledge) facilitates realizing the need for rework. However, to develop a deeper understanding of how individuals recognize the need for rework when interacting with others, we must expand our views beyond task interdependence and expertise‐related factors. In particular, organizational variables—both formal and informal—play a significant role. With respect to formal hierarchical structures, actors of superior rank are less likely to realize the need for rework regardless of whether or not their interacting partner is of superior rank; however, actors of superior rank are more likely to trigger realizing the need for rework when interacting with partners of subordinate rank. By examining an organization's informal structure, I discover that the social “embeddedness” of developers (i.e., the energy and attention invested in a dyadic relationship) significantly influences their propensity to realize the need for rework. Several hypotheses are tested in a sociometric study conducted within the development department of a software company, and I discuss the implications for behavioral operations in NPD.     

Rich Ties and Innovative Knowledge Transfer within a Firm

We show that contacts in formal, informal and especially multiplex networks explain transfer of innovative knowledge in an organization. The contribution of informal contacts has been much acknowledged, while that of formal contacts did not receive much attention in the literature in recent decades. No study thus far has included both these different kinds of contacts in a firm, let alone considered their combined effect. The exact overlap between formal as well as informal contacts between individuals, forming multiplex or what we call rich ties because of their contribution, especially drives the transfer of new, innovative knowledge in a firm. Studying two cases in very different settings suggests these rich ties have a particularly strong effect on knowledge transfer in an organization, even when controlling for the strength of ties. Some of the effects on knowledge transfer in an organization previously ascribed to either the formal network or the informal network may actually be due to their combined effect in a rich tie.     

Internationalization,institutional pressures in foreign markets,and environmental sustainability

This study contributes to the internationalization processes and sustainability literatures by looking into how, when, and why companies respond differently to formal and informal institutional pressures in favor of environmentally friendly practices during international expansion processes. When companies enter new foreign markets or expand their sales into existing ones they can be subject to increased formal and informal pressures. I show, theoretically and empirically, that in these cases the informal pressures' tacit and experiential nature affects the timing and the likelihood of compliance with these pressures. First, compliance with informal pressures takes longer than for formal ones. Second, companies that cannot afford learning about informal pressures, because of resource constraints or a limited learning efficiency due to a narrow previous international experience, tend to forgo compliance with these pressures. Failure to comply with these pressures or to do so in a timely manner can have devastating consequences for internationalizing companies' legitimacy.     

Building Strategic Technology Alliances for Teaching and Learning

There is a major need for higher education to confront intense competition, enhance academic programs to meet the challenges of this competition, and to develop new teaching and learning strategies to meet the demands of the global marketplace. Technology and the Internet are intended to break down the barriers of time and space and enable more students to participate and collaborate with faculty and other students. Critical thresholds must be met in order to use technology to communicate, collaborate, and transform teaching and learning. Strategic technology alliances establish a partnership between technology vendors and higher education that will achieve these thresholds to meet the teaching and learning needs of the 21st century student. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

民间金融与中国宏观经济——理论机制与实证分析

作为中小企业的主要融资渠道,民间金融对中国经济发展具有重要作用。本文理论探究了民间金融对中国主要宏观经济变量的作用机制,并以此为基础选取全国地区性民间借贷综合利率指数作为民间金融的代理指标,建立VAR模型分析了民间金融对这些宏观经济变量的影响。研究发现：民间金融在理论上能直接以及通过货币政策间接影响经济增长和通货膨胀;而民间金融与货币政策的互动依赖于宏观经济变量之间的联系或正规金融的传导。从实证分析来看,民间金融的发展对经济增长有显著影响,作用方式是先促进后抑制;同时民间金融也能显著影响通货膨胀,其利率升高会加剧通货膨胀;但是民间金融和货币政策无显著关系,这是由于经济增长和通货膨胀没有起到传递作用以及民间金融和正规金融无明显的互动,由此表明民间金融并不能通过货币政策间接影响经济增长和通货膨胀。本文的研究有助于深入理解民间金融与宏观经济的关系,对制定相应的经济政策和管控民间金融风险具有重要的借鉴意义。     

Dropping the Books and Working Off the Books

The paper empirically tests the relationship between underground labour and schooling achievement for Italy, a country ranking badly in both respects when compared with other high‐income economies, with a marked duality between North and South. In order to identify underground workers, we exploit the information on individuals' social security positions available from the Bank of Italy's Survey on Household Income and Wealth. After controlling for a wide range of sociodemographic and economic variables and addressing potential endogeneity and selection issues, we show that a low level of education sizeably and significantly increases the probability of working underground. Switching from completing compulsory school to graduating at college more than halves this probability for both men and women. The gain is slightly higher for individuals completing the compulsory track with respect to those having no formal education at all. The different probabilities found for self‐employed and dependent workers support the view of a dual informal sector, in which necessity and desirability coexist.     

The influence of learning activity on low-skilled workers’ skill improvement in the South Korean manufacturing industry

The main purpose of this study was to explore how low-skilled worker’s learning activity influences skill improvement. Using a unique 2007 Human Capital Corporate Panel data-set from the South Korean manufacturing industry, we operationalize skill improvement over time among low-skilled workers. A worker is classified as ‘low skilled’ if he or she has a low education level and poor technical skills. Regression models show that low-skilled workers’ informal learning positively influences their skill improvement. In contrast, we note that supervisors negatively influence skill improvement of low-skilled workers when measuring the change in technical skill proficiency. Quality circle programmes also have a positive influence on skill improvement. In conclusion, skills can be improved through planned interventions that increase collaboration on the job. The results from this study help to highlight the importance of designing learning interventions for low-skilled workers that take account of their underlying education and skills.     

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.