Antecedents Of Employees Research Articles

Antecedents of Employees’ Involvement in Work-Related Learning

Involvement in work-related learning seems to be more complex than a simple supply–demand fit. An interplay of several factors can influence this involvement at different stages of the decision-making process of the employee. The aim of this systematic review is to examine which antecedents of work-related learning have been identified in previous research. In total, 56 studies met the criteria for inclusion. In the current study, we describe how work-related learning was measured and what the empirically observed relationship is between learning intention and actual participation in work-related learning. The results show a positive relationship between intention and participation. A learning intention is most related to the attitude, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and career-related variables of the employee. Important predictors of actual participation in work-related learning are firm size, initial level of education and self-efficacy of the employee, support by managers, and opportunities within the organization.

When Does Management’s Support for a Change Translate to Perceptions of Fair Treatment? The Moderating Roles of Change Attributions and Conscientiousness

Organizational change creates uncertainty and stimulates fairness judgments of employees, which are important determinants of employee attitudes and behaviors. This study investigated the antecedents of employees’ change-related fairness perceptions. Drawing on change implementation literature, attribution theory, and personality research, the authors examined how the effect of management’s change support on individuals’ change fairness perceptions is moderated by change attributions and employees’ conscientiousness level. Using multilevel data from 693 employees in 29 organizations engaged in a variety of changes, hierarchical linear modeling analysis indicated that the relationships between managements’ change support and individual employees’ change fairness perceptions were positive in most conditions. The exception was when the change was externally attributed to conditions not controllable by the management and when the affected employees had lower levels of conscientiousness.

Corporate Social Performance and Employees: Construed Perceptions, Attributions and Behavioral Outcomes

Successfully managing employees' corporate social performance (CSP) perceptions requires insights into their antecedents. However, not much is currently known on the subject. We contribute to the micro-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature in two ways: (a) we investigate the antecedents of employees' CSP perceptions; (b) we integrate both customers' perceptions of CSP-as these are construed by employees-and employees' own CSP perceptions into a comprehensive framework. Specifically, we examine (a) the antecedent role of employee-customer CSR causal meta-attributions (i.e., what employees think customers think about the company's motives underlying CSR programs); and (b) the antecedent and moderating role of employee-customer CSP meta-perceptions (i.e., what employees think customers think about the company's overall social performance) on employees' CSP perceptions and, in turn, on employees' affective organizational commitment. Our study highlights that employees' CSR assessments are more complex than previously thought with employees guessing the perceptions (and attributions) others make about their firm.

An empirical study on the role of context factors in employees' commitment to change

The study attempts to address the gap of exploring the possible antecedents of employees' commitment to change and its three dimensions. The role of context factors – participation in decision making, quality of communication, trust in management and history of change – are tested on overall commitment to change and also on its three dimensions – affective, continuance and normative commitment to change. Data were collected via survey from employees who have been part of major transformational changes such as restructuring, merger and acquisition from various organisations across manufacturing and IT sectors. A total of 305 responses were obtained and the hypothesised relationships were tested using multiple regression analysis. Among the context factors, participation in decision making was found to be a significant predictor, whereas quality of communication was found to be insignificant. Hence while implementing the change process, employees should be actively involved in it rather than being just informed.

Unfriendly customers as a social stressor – An indirect antecedent of service employees’ quitting intention

Summary Recent management research suggests that unpleasant work experiences of service employees cause problems with job performance, affect the bottom line and contribute to high rates of employee turnover. Although various job stressors have been studied as antecedents of employees’ decision to quit, less attention has been given to customer behavior as a possible predictor of quitting intentions. The author proposes a model of service employees’ intention to quit their job. The model includes a new construct, perceived customer unfriendliness, which is linked with several employee-related variables. An empirical study of more than 200 service employees demonstrates that perceived customer unfriendliness has an indirect and direct impact on employees’ job satisfaction which in turn affects quitting intentions. Theoretically, the study complements service research by others that have focused on organizational job stressors in relation to employees’ quitting intentions. Managerially, the findings improve service managers’ understanding of the drivers of employee turnover.

Job insecurity, leadership empowerment behaviour, employee engagement and intention to leave in a petrochemical laboratory

Orientation: Engaging individuals at work plays an important role in retaining them. Job security and leadership empowerment behaviour are antecedents of employee engagement.Research purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between job insecurity, leadership empowerment behaviour (as perceived by the employees who report to leaders), employee engagement and intention to leave their jobs in a petrochemical laboratory.Motivation for the study: Knowledge of the effects of job insecurity and leadership on employee engagement and turnover intention will contribute to improved talent management.Research design, approach and method: A correlational design was used. A total of 169 employees in a petrochemical laboratory were studied. The measuring instruments included the Job Insecurity Index, the Leadership Empowerment Behaviour Questionnaire, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Two questions were used to measure intention to leave.Main findings: The results showed that job insecurity was not statistically significantly related to employee engagement and turnover intention. Leadership empowerment behaviour contributed statistically significantly to employee engagement and low turnover intention. Employee engagement partially mediated the relationship between leadership empowerment behaviour and turnover intention.Practical implications: Leaders should be developed to show empowerment behaviour, because it affects employee engagement, which in turn affects their turnover intentionContribution: This was the first study that demonstrated the effect of empowerment behaviour of leaders on the engagement and turnover intention of employees.

Motivated Compliance With Bases of Social Power

This contribution examines the degree of compliance with hard and soft power bases (Raven, Schwarzwald, & Koslowsky, 1998) as a function of target motivational and personal orientations. Four field studies were conducted in different European organizations where intrinsic–extrinsic motivational orientations, desire for control, self‐presentational styles, and self‐esteem were respectively considered as antecedents of employees’ compliance with their supervisors’ power strategies. Results show that compliance with soft power strategies is positively related to intrinsic motivation, desire for control, “getting‐ahead” style, and self‐esteem; and negatively related to the “getting‐along” style. Compliance with hard power strategies is positively related to extrinsic motivation and to the getting‐along style, but negatively related to intrinsic motivation, desire for control, and self‐esteem.

Regulatory Focus Theory: Implications for the Study of Emotions at Work

Previous theory and research have shown that people have two distinct self-regulatory foci. When promotion focused, people are motivated by growth and development needs in which they attempt to bring their actual selves (their behaviors and self-conceptions) in alignment with their ideal selves (self-standards based on wishes and aspirations of how they would like to be). When prevention focused, people are responsive to security needs in which they try to match their actual selves with their ought selves (self-standards based on felt duties and responsibilities). Strategically, eagerness or ensuring gains predominate for promotion-focused persons, whereas vigilance or ensuring nonlosses predominate for prevention-focused persons. People's regulatory focus influences the nature and magnitude of their emotional experience. Promotion-focused people's emotions vary along a cheerful-dejected dimension, whereas prevention-focused people's emotions vary along a quiescent-agitated dimension. We consider the implications of the relationship between regulatory focus and emotions for such topics as person/organization fit, goal-setting theory, expectancy-valence theory, behavioral decision theory, and employee resistance to organizational change. Possible antecedents of employees' regulatory focus also are discussed.

Antecedents of employees' mental health—The role of career and work satisfaction

It was hypothesized that individual and situational variables, as a whole, will show stronger relationships with work-related attitudes than with mental health indices. Work-related attitudes, on the other hand, were expected to contribute more strongly to mental health than the individual and situational variables. Results obtained from two groups of staff professionals and retail store managers, using primarily questionnaire data, supported these hypotheses. Career and work satisfaction emerged as the strongest contributors to mental health. Situational variables such as job characteristics, supervisory style, and pay related more strongly to the attitudinal variables than to mental health. This pattern suggests that career and work satisfaction may serve as intervening variables in the relationship between situational variables and mental health.