Proactivity Directed Toward the Team and Organization: The Role of Leadership, Commitment and Role-breadth Self-efficacy

Employees' proactive behaviour is increasingly important for organizations seeking to adapt in uncertain economic environments. This study examined the link between leadership and proactive behaviour. We differentiated between organizational leadership and team leadership and proposed that transformational leadership by team leaders would enhance commitment to the team, which would predict team member proactivity. In contrast, transformational leadership by leaders of the organization would enhance commitment to the organization, which we expected to predict organization member proactivity. Transformational leadership on both levels was expected to increase employees' role-breadth self-efficacy, the confidence necessary to engage in proactive behaviour. Our results demonstrate the importance of leadership as an antecedent of proactive work behaviour and suggest that leadership at different levels influences proactivity via different mediators. Transformational team leaders seem to facilitate proactivity by increasing employees' confidence to initiate change. Transformational organizational leaders on the other hand increase proactivity by enhancing employees' commitment to the organization.     

Employees' perceptions of high-performance work systems and innovative behaviour: The role of exploratory learning

This paper analyses the influence of employees' perceptions of high-performance work systems (HPWSs) on employees' exploratory learning and innovative behaviour. Furthermore, the mediating role of exploratory learning in this relationship has also been studied. To achieve these objectives, a quantitative analysis was conducted with a sample of 304 researchers from the Spanish public sector. Results showed the relevance of employees' perceptions of HPWSs in promoting exploratory learning and employees' innovative behaviour. The mediating role of exploratory learning in the relationship was assessed. The paper mentions the importance of workers' perceptions on the implementation of HPWSs and their impact on employees' behaviour. The paper also presents practical and theoretical implications.     

The dynamics of proactivity at work

As the organizational literature on specific proactive behaviors grows, researchers have noted inefficiencies and redundancies in the separate study of different proactive behaviors when their underlying nature, antecedents, processes, and consequences may be similar. We develop a framework designed to generalize across specific manifestations of proactivity, describing the nature, dimensions, situational antecedents, psychological mechanisms, dispositional moderators, and consequences of proactive behavior. We conclude by discussing implications and recommendations for organizational scholars to take a more proactive approach to constructing, evaluating, and cumulating theory about proactive behavior. Our chapter thus answers recent calls for integrative theory about the general dynamics of proactivity, and fits with current trends emphasizing the increasing importance of proactivity in organizational life.     

Capital Mobilization of Skilled Migrants: A Relational Perspective

A central issue for understanding skilled migration in the management literature is human capital. This emphasis ignores other important forms of capital mobilization that skilled migrants from developing countries deploy in dealing with the barriers to their international career mobility. There is therefore a need to develop a holistic understanding of capital mobilization of skilled migrants. In order to develop a more holistic picture, we deploy a relational and multilevel perspective to explore how skilled migrants from developing countries mobilize capital in their efforts to undertake an international career. Career is a central construct in this study. Drawing on a qualitative study of skilled Lebanese in Paris, the paper offers two main contributions to the research on human resource management, in particular to the literatures on skilled migration and self‐initiated expatriation. First it extends our understanding of the strategies that skilled migrants use to relocate from a developing country to an industrialized country. Beyond the traditional human capital perspective, it offers insights about migrants' capital mobilization experiences of undertaking international mobility. Second, using Bourdieu's theory of capital, it offers a relational explanation of their capital mobilization in a way to encompass micro‐individual, meso‐organizational and macro‐contextual influences that affect their career choices.     

Exploring the Career Capital Impact of International Assignments within Distinct Organizational Contexts

The existing expatriation literature concentrates on what individuals need to perform in an international assignment (IA) but neglects what they gain from their foreign work experience. Using a dual‐dependency perspective this study presents results from 26 in‐depth interviews with international secondees within two UK‐based organizational contexts. The paper explores the perceived impact of an IA on the career capital of individuals, showing that the outcomes of IAs can be equivocal for expatriates. Each firm concentrated their human resource mechanisms on developing different types of career capital and this focused individual behaviour on diverse career capital activities. In one of the organizations there was an internal misalignment between organizational and individual assignee focus. Based on the research a number of propositions were developed. This study provided an exploratory insight into points of departure rather than complementarity in individuals' international careers in organizations, which has been at the core of much recent research and writing. A more complex, contextualized picture of the effects of IAs on the careers of individuals emerged.     

Research into the psychological contract: Two Australian perspectives

Despite their increasing relevance, employees' psychological contracts have attracted little research attention in Australia. The present paper presents two studies, which examined the psychological contracts of specific cohorts of professional employees and those in a managerial career track. The first study was an in-depth qualitative investigation of research scientists in an Australian public sector research organisation. They were found to have a strong professional affiliation and had developed psychological contracts that were best understood by reference to the ‘ideological currency’ of the scientific community. The second study was a quantitative examination of 156 MBA students at an Australian university, and how their psychological contracts could be related to perceptions of the contextual variables of organisational justice, perceived organisational support and external employability. Organisational justice and perceived organisational support were found to be related to the nature of the psychological contracts measured, but perceptions of external employability were not.     

Why and when does inclusive leadership evoke employee negative feedback-seeking behavior?

Why and when do employees respond to inclusive leadership by actively seeking negative feedback from their leaders? Beyond the perspectives proposed in previous studies, we offer a new angle based on a social identity perspective and propose that inclusive leadership increases employees' negative feedback-seeking behavior (NFSB) by facilitating employees' organizational identification. We also theorize that employees' supervisor organizational embodiment (SOE) influences the extent to which employees identify with the organization, which in turn triggers their NFSB. The results from a three-wave survey study conducted in China showed that inclusive leadership fostered employees' organizational identification, thereby facilitating employees' NFSB, and that the effect of inclusive leadership was stronger when employees’ SOE was higher. Our findings provide implications in theory and practice.     

Leaders's language and employee proactivity: Enhancing psychological meaningfulness and vitality

Today's volatile environment and pressure for continuous improvement require leaders to play a central role in fostering and nurturing employee proactivity. Effective leaders use their communication skills as a key tool to motivate employees to achieve organizational goals. In this study, we tested a model in which leader motivating language (manifested as direction-giving, empathetic, and meaning-making language) fosters the development of employee proactive behavior by shaping a psychological context of meaningfulness and cultivating a motivational state of employee vitality. The findings indicate that the leader motivating language is related directly and indirectly, through psychological meaningfulness, to employee vitality. We also found that psychological meaningfulness and employee vitality are mediating mechanisms through which leader motivating language can result in enhanced employee proactivity. This study advances theory and research on employee proactivity as a contingency of leadership motivating language by integrating three emerging streams of research—relational leadership, relational communication, and proactivity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Objective career success among paramedics: interaction effects of location and race

The purpose of the present study is to examine objective career success for paramedics. Specifically, it examined the effects of race (Minority versus White) and location of work (rural versus non-rural) on the objective career success of paramedics, as measured by salary. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on 10 years of data from nationally representative samples of paramedics. Results showed that the human capital variables of hours worked, experience, and education predicted objective career success. In addition, rural paramedics earned significantly less than do their counterparts in non-rural areas. Although far fewer in number than White paramedics, Minority paramedics appeared to earn more than White paramedics. The study concludes with suggestions for human resource development (HRD) practitioners and for further research.     

‘One MBA?’ How context impacts the development of post-MBA career outcomes

Using survey data from alumni of one of the UK's earliest and largest MBA programmes we explore how career capital, career outcomes and career satisfaction are impacted by learner context. We adopt comparative capitalisms theory to investigate whether graduates from a standardised programme marketed as ‘One MBA’ report broadly similar career outcomes irrespective of their work and study location. We find that despite the rhetoric around globalisation in management education there are differences that fit the theories of comparative capitalisms literature; thus supporting the view that, despite the global nature of MBA branding, context still plays a role in shaping learning and career outcomes as evidenced by differences reported here. Significant findings are reported in terms of the reported development of career capital ‘knowing how’; career satisfaction and perceived organisational support, however differences in terms of the achievement of objective career success (promotion and career mobility) were less pronounced.     

Personality traits and career satisfaction of human resource professionals

Occupational choice frameworks suggest that personality factors influence person-job fit. This paper focuses on personality factors and career satisfactions of human resources (HR) managers. ‘Big Five’ and narrow personality traits as well as managerial style variables were drawn from an archive of 1846 HR managers and 1375 non-managers. Results indicated that HR managers differed from 51,297 individuals in other occupations and from non-managerial HR specialists on many of the study variables, most of which were also related to career satisfaction. Implications for differentiation selection and development of HR managers were discussed.     

Are skilled contingent workers neglected? Evidence from a cross-sector multiple case study on organizational career management practices

The study aims to discover the extent to which organizations support the careers of skilled contingent workers (SCWs) by providing them with organizational career management (OCM) practices. Analyzing three Belgian companies from different sectors, we find that SCWs do benefit from OCM practices. Such practices cover three dimensions: formalization, individual focus, and differentiation. Subsequently, we explain the three dimensions, respectively, through three contextual variables: the legal and regulatory framework, companies’ human resource management (HRM) configurations and the value of human capital, and the roles of third-party actors. The association of the variables with such dimensions enables the development of three research propositions. This study paves the way for additional research on SCWs and their careers as well as incorporating this population in HRM strategies, including that of OCM practices.     

The relationship between HRM practices and organizational commitment of knowledge workers. Facts obtained from Swiss SMEs

This paper explores the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices in Swiss small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). More specifically, the main objective of this study is to assess the impacts of HRM practices developed in Swiss SMEs upon the commitment of knowledge workers. Using data from a survey of over 198 knowledge workers, this study shows the importance of looking closer at HRM practices and, furthermore, to really investigate the impacts of the different HRM practices on employees' commitment. Results show, for example, that organizational support, procedural justice and the reputation of the organization may clearly influence knowledge workers' commitment, whereas other HRM practices such as involvement in decision-making, skills management or even the degree of satisfaction with pay do not have any impact on knowledge workers' commitment.     

Relationships between personality variables and burnout: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Most burnout research has focussed on environmental correlates, but it is likely that personality factors also play an important part in the development of burnout. Previous meta-analyses, however, have been limited in scope. The present meta-analysis examined the relationship between personality and three dimensions of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI): emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment. Consistent with our hypotheses, self-esteem, self-efficacy, locus of control, emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, positive affectivity, negative affectivity, optimism, proactive personality, and hardiness, each yielded significant relationships with burnout. Type A Personality, however, was only related to personal accomplishment. Furthermore, regression analysis found that core self-evaluations, the Five-Factor Model personality characteristics, and positive and negative affectivity explained significant variance in each of the burnout dimensions. Finally, moderator analyses found several instances in which the strength of personality–burnout relationships depended upon whether burnout was assessed with the Human Services Survey of the MBI or the General Survey version of the MBI. It is concluded that employee personality is consistently related to burnout. Given the practical importance of employee burnout, it is recommended that personality variables be included as predictors in future research on burnout.     

Human and organizational factors in offshore safety

The role of human and organizational factors in predicting accidents and incidents has become of major interest to the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Some of these factors had been measured in an earlier study focusing on the role of risk perception in determining accident involvement. The current study sought to extend the methodology by focusing on perceptions of organizational factors that could have an impact on safety. A self-report questionnaire was developed and distributed to 11 installations operating on the UK Continental Shelf. A total of 722 were returned (33% response rate) from a representative sample of the offshore workforce on these installations. The study investigated the underlying structure and content of offshore employees' attitudes to safety, feelings of safety and satisfaction with safety measures. Correlations and step-wise regression analysis were used to test the relationships between measures. The results suggest that 'unsafe' behaviour is the 'best' predictor of accidents/near misses as measured by self-report data and that unsafe behaviour is, in turn, driven by perceptions of pressure for production.     

What drives alignment between offered and perceived well-being initiatives in organizations? A cross-case analysis of employer–employee shared strategic intentionality

This study investigates the conditions of alignment between an organization's business strategy and the well-being initiatives (WBIs) offered to employees and employees' perceptions of the latter. We conducted a comparative study on the conditions of alignment between offered and perceived WBIs in three companies with different business strategies. Findings highlight that the alignment between offered and perceived benefits depends on what we label as “shared strategic intentionality”: (1) how employers use their understanding of the organization's business strategy to craft WBIs and (2) employees' attributions about why their employers offer WBIs the way they do and of the broader understanding of the organization's business strategy. We contribute to the strategic HRM literature by proposing an integrative position with regard to the macro (i.e., employer-focused) and micro (i.e., employee-focused) research traditions. Our position has the advantage of looking at employers' intentions and at employees' attributions of intentions simultaneously, and unravels the central role of business strategy in shaping their alignment. From a practical standpoint, not only do we bring a more nuanced understanding of the strategic HRM challenges faced by employers and employees in settings with different business strategies, but we also initiate a discussion about the traps and best practices associated with configuring effective WBIs in organizations.     

Do emotionally perceptive leaders motivate higher employee performance? The moderating role of task interdependence and power distance

Extant emotional intelligence research has examined the relationship between employees' emotional intelligence and their job performance. We developed theory to extend this line of research to the domain of leader–employee relationships. Integrating emotional intelligence research with social exchange theory, we contended that leaders' emotion perceptions enhance employees' job performance. Drawing from social impact theory, we further argued that the strength of this relationship depends upon two contextual variables: within-group task interdependence and power distance. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 350 employee nested in 74 workgroups. Hierarchical linear modeling results supported the hypothesized relationships between leaders' emotion perceptions and employees' job performance, and revealed that this relationship was strengthened by task interdependence and attenuated by power distance.     

核心自我评价、组织支持对主客观职业成功的影响:人-情境互动的视角

以212名企业员工为研究对象,考察了核心自我评价、组织支持以及二者的交互作用对主客观职业成功的影响。研究结果表明:主观职业成功(工作、职业和生活满意度)和客观职业成功(收入、晋升次数和速度)是2种相关但不同的职业成功类型;核心自我评价和组织支持对主客观职业成功均有一定的影响,但它们对客观职业成功的影响效果弱于社会-人口和人力资本特征;与特质激发理论相一致,核心自我评价和组织支持在对职业成功的影响上存在一定的交互效应,表现为组织支持会强化核心自我评价对职业成功的正向影响,且高核心自我评价的员工在得到高组织支持时有最高的职业成功水平。     

Why Do Women's Wages Increase So Slowly Throughout Their Career? A Dynamic Model of Statistical Discrimination

Abstract. The aim of this paper is to explain the growing wage differentials between men and women during their working careers. We provide a dynamic model of statistical discrimination, which integrates specific human capital decisions: on‐the‐job training investment and wages are endogenously determined. We reveal a small wage differential at the beginning of women's career, but women's wages increase more slowly; this is partly due to a lower level of human capital investment by women and partly because firms smooth training costs between different periods.     

A Matter of Reputation and Pride: Associations between Perceived External Reputation,Pride in Membership,Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions

This study investigates how job satisfaction and turnover intentions are related to external reputation as perceived by employees and their pride in membership. Based on a cross‐sectional survey including 439 employees, it also provides insights into external reputation as a possible source of collective pride. Study results indicate that, in agreement with social identity theory, outsiders' views of the organization are closely associated with employees' pride in organizational membership as well as job satisfaction. Both pride and job satisfaction mediate the relationship between perceived external reputation and turnover intentions. Hence, a favourable reputation matters in managing turnover intentions and is closely related to employee pride and satisfaction. Tenure of employees is positively associated with pride while intensive customer contact is negatively related to perceived external reputation and pride. Implications pinpoint the need for alignment of reputation management and human resources management. Furthermore, managers need to focus on new staff and employees with frequent customer contact and should implement pride‐building strategies according to the tenure of employees and intensity of customer contact.