Hierarchical Plateau Research Articles

Will career plateau lead to employee silence? A moderated mediation model

PurposeCareer plateau and employee silence are negative employee management phenomena that should be overcome but are challenging. However, relatively speaking, when employees reach a particular career stage, it is inevitable that the hierarchical plateau in the career plateau will occur, while the phenomena of employee silence have the chance to improve. This paper aims to study the influence mechanism of the career plateau on employee silence in an uncertain environment and then provides theoretical support for enhancing the organizational phenomenon of employee silence.Design/methodology/approachAfter considering the effects of career plateau and social desirability of employee silence, this paper obtained 313 samples based on the pilot survey, which were collected anonymously online and offline. Based on passing the data quality test, this experiment uses hierarchical regression, Bootstrap method, interaction graph and slope test to test the mediating variableFindings The results show a significant positive correlation between career plateau and employees' silent behavior. Affective commitment plays a partial mediating role between career plateau and employees' silent behavior. Organizational justice not only negatively moderated the relationship between career plateau and affective commitment but also negatively moderated the indirect effect of career plateau on silent behavior through affective commitment.Originality/valueFirst, based on the theory of uncertainty management and social exchange theory, this paper develops a behavioral response to the organizational environment based on the principle of fair exchange when employees perceive an uncertain environment. This study innovatively applied the two theories together in one study, establishing a link between the two theories. Second, this study explores the influence of career plateau on employee silence and empirically tests the silent behavior based on the previous division of three dimensions of career plateau. The third study explores affective commitment, the black box of the relationship between career plateau and employee silence. This research also enriches the related research on affective commitment.

Career plateauing and work engagement of university faculty members: The mediating role of organizational identification

Research on career plateau has rarely addressed university faculty. However, given the negative outcomes of such a plateau, it is important to explore its effects. Drawing on social identity theory, this study examined the mediating effect of organizational identification in the relationship between career plateau and work engagement. Three-wave data were collected from a sample of 389 university faculty in China. The results indicate that hierarchical plateau and job-content plateau had negative effects on work engagement. Moreover, organizational identification was found to mediate the relationship between jobcontent plateau and work engagement. The theoretical and practical implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.

Workplace hierarchical plateau and employees' work engagement: Mediating effect of forgone identity dwelling

In the workplace, a lack of promotion opportunities causes a hierarchical plateau for some employees, which can lead to decreased work engagement. Using conservation of resources theory, we proposed that employees' repetitive and circular reflection on their work identity (forgone work identity) would mediate the relationship between hierarchical plateau and work engagement. We also argued that promotion regulatory focus could serve as a moderator in this relationship. We collected data from 423 Chinese employees via an online survey conducted in two waves. Results showed that hierarchical plateau was negatively related to work engagement, and forgone identity dwelling mediated this relationship. Additionally, promotion regulatory focus moderated the indirect relationship, such that the mediating effect was significant only for employees with high promotion regulatory focus. These findings highlight the need to consider forgone work identity when examining the negative effects of a hierarchical plateau on work attitudes and behaviors.

A meta-analytic study of subjective career plateaus

We reviewed and synthesized the existing empirical research on correlates of two types of subjective career plateau (SCP): (1) hierarchical plateau (HP) and (2) job content plateau (JCP). Based on 126 independent samples, we found positive relationships between potential antecedents (career adaptability, person-environment fit, psychological capital, and workplace support) and SCPs, as well as relationships between SCPs and a variety of work outcomes. Specifically, SCPs were positively associated with counterproductive work behavior, job insecurity, psychological distress and turnover intentions but negatively associated with career satisfaction, extra-role performance, in-role performance, job involvement, job satisfaction, mentoring support of one's protégés, organizational commitment, and work engagement. SCPs were also related to other covariates, including age, gender, job tenure, race, and role ambiguity. Effect sizes were generally smaller for HP than for JCP, except for job insecurity and psychological distress. Finally, the scale used to measure SCP moderated some of these relationships. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Understanding the dynamic relationship between career plateauing, organizational affective commitment and citizenship behavior

The research has long assumed that the perception of career plateauing triggers negative affective and behavioral reactions (i.e., normal effect perspective), and that the models hold at the between-person and within-person levels. However, some scholars suggest that the affective and behavioral engagement of employees may also affect their career experiences (i.e., reverse relationship perspective), and caution us not to infer homology across levels. To test these competing perspectives, we analyzed 1227 observations from three longitudinal survey waves conducted over 42 months with 409 employees of a Canadian financial/insurance company. The results indicate that higher than usual occasion reports of content plateauing were related to decreased affective commitment and OCB, while hierarchical plateauing perceptions were only negatively related at the between-level to affective commitment. This study found support for an inverse association between OCB and content plateauing, such that lower than usual reports of OCB were related to increased perceptions of content plateauing (reverse relationship perspective). Across times, OCB was found to be a more proximal predictor of content plateauing than affective commitment. This study contributes to the literature on career plateauing by demonstrating the dynamic nature of content plateauing perceptions and the limited role of hierarchical plateauing when the role of content plateau and time is considered.

Factors related to plateauing among Yogo teachers

Objectives The purpose of this study was to identify the factors related to plateaus to support the career development of Yogo teachers (school nurses).Methods In March 2017, 1,000 elementary, junior high, and high schools in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba prefectures were stratified and randomized. Questionnaires were sent to 1,000 Yogo teachers in each school. Plateaus among Yogo teachers were analyzed by hierarchical multiple regression analysis and path analysis by creating a conceptual framework that leads to plateauing through work engagement from professional autonomy (innovative behavior), social support in the workplace, and work-related stressors.Results Data from 335 Yogo teachers were included in the analysis. The path analysis indicated that the factors that influenced content plateau among Yogo teachers were work engagement, self-learning of professional autonomy (innovative behavior), and years of experience. Work engagement was influenced by self-learning, pursuit of better practice, informational support, instrumental support, emotional support, role ambiguity, and job position. The developed model was a substantial fit to the data: CFI=1.00, RMSEA=0.00, SRMR=0.01. The coefficient of determination was R2=0.41 for the content plateau phenomenon and R2=0.45 for work engagement. Factors that influenced hierarchical plateau among Yogo teachers were work engagement, self-learning, education, job position, and the absence of a school counselor. Work engagement was influenced by self-learning, pursuit of better practice, informational support, instrumental support, emotional support, role ambiguity, and job position. The model was a substantial fit to the data: CFI=1.00, RMSEA=0.00, SRMR=0.01. The coefficient of determination was R2=0.25 for the hierarchical plateau phenomenon and R2=0.45 for work engagement.Conclusions This study found that the low plateau phenomenon among Yogo teachers was associated with high self-learning of professional autonomy (innovative behavior) and work engagement. To prevent the plateau phenomenon, it is necessary to support them to enhance self-learning, create a conducive work environment, and consider training for Yogo teachers that takes into account their years of experience.

The Influence of Career Plateau on Knowledge Hiding of Knowledge Workers

This study takes the cognitive-affective system theory of personality as the whole logic, integrates resource preservation theory and cooperation and competition theory to investigate the influence mechanism of Career Plateau on knowledge workers' knowledge hiding. The results show that career plateau (including its three dimensions：hierarchical plateau, work content plateau and inclusive plateau) has a significant positive impact on status anxiety and knowledge hiding of knowledge workers, and status anxiety plays a complete mediating effect between career plateau (including hierarchical plateau, work content plateau and inclusive plateau) and knowledge hiding of knowledge workers. Cooperative goal dependence positively moderates the relationship between hierarchical plateau and status anxiety, and negatively regulates the relationship between work content plateau and status anxiety. In addition, cooperative goal dependence positively moderates the indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on the knowledge workers' knowledge hiding through status anxiety, and negatively moderates the indirect effect of work content plateau on the knowledge workers' knowledge hiding through status anxiety. The results of this paper provide theoretical support and management enlightenment for further exploring the mechanism of career plateau and knowledge hiding in Chinese enterprises.

Moderating Role of Person Job-Fit Facet between Hierarchical Plateau and Turnover Intention

This study aims to examine the impact of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention with moderating role of person job-fit facet. Hierarchical plateau is a point of an individual's career life where the probability of being promoted further is low. The theory of work adjustment (TWA) is applied in this research study which measures that satisfaction level of an employee and leaving a company when needs and desired system of the person and the organization system mismatched at the workplace. Overall 260 employees participated by filling the self-administrated questionnaires from three different industrial sectors of Karachi, Pakistan including banking sector, pharmaceutical and insurance employees but result of completely and accurately filled questionnaires of 223 employees were tested. The results are generated through using Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results show that hierarchical plateau has positive impact on turnover intention. However, moderating role of person job fit facet (neither demand abilities nor need supplies) moderates' relationship between independent and dependent variable. This study provides a model to management leaders and practitioners who can extremely look into this growing issue not only in Pakistan but worldwide. Certain actions need to be implemented by management to foster a positive attitude towards turnover intention through proper recruitments, development strategies and career training programs over the span of time. Furthermore, the study also provides the guidelines to HR departments to design the policies to resolve hierarchical plateau issues in their organization.

Origin of subdiffusions in proteins: Insight from peptide systems.

Subdiffusive kinetics are popular in proteins and peptides as observed in experiments and simulations. For protein systems with diverse interactions, are there multiple mechanisms to produce the common subdiffusion behavior? To approach this problem, long trajectories of two model peptides are simulated to study the mechanism of subdiffusion and the relations with their interactions. The free-energy profiles and the subdiffusive kinetics are observed for these two peptides. A hierarchical plateau analysis is employed to extract the features of the landscape from the mean square of displacement. The mechanism of subdiffusions can be postulated by comparing the exponents by simulations with those based on various models. The results indicate that the mechanisms of these two peptides are different and are related to the characteristics of their energy landscapes. The subdiffusion of the flexible peptide is mainly caused by depth distribution of traps on the energy landscape, while the subdiffusion of the helical peptide is attributed to the fractal topology of local minima on the landscape. The emergence of these different mechanisms reflects different kinetic scenarios in peptide systems though the peptides behave in a similar way of diffusion. To confirm these ideas, the transition networks between various conformations of these peptides are generated. Based on the network description, the controlled kinetics based only on the topology of the networks are calculated and compared with the results based on simulations. For the flexible peptide, the feature of controlled diffusion is distinct from that of simulation, and for the helical peptide, two kinds of kinetics have a similar exponent of subdiffusion. These results further exemplify the importance of the landscape topology in the kinetics of structural proteins and the effect of depth distribution of traps for the subdiffusion of disordered peptides.

Stuck in My Career: Hierarchical plateau and knowledge territorial behavior

This study investigates whether experiencing hierarchical plateau can increase individuals’ tendency to engage in knowledge territorial behavior. Findings from two experiments and one organizational survey study demonstrated that employees who are hierarchically plateaued are more likely to mark and defend their knowledge and ideas from infringement. Additionally, our findings showed that this effect can be explained through two psychological mechanisms: activated zero-sum mindset and perceived threat. Moreover, the findings from survey study suggest that although job content plateau did not moderate the relationship between hierarchical plateau and knowledge territorial behavior, it had an additive and independent positive influence on one’s tendency to engage in knowledge territorial behavior.

“That's not what I signed up for!” A longitudinal investigation of the impact of unmet expectation and age in the relation between career plateau and job attitudes

Career plateau is often associated with undesirable outcomes, but the reasons for this association remain unclear and the evidence for the effects of plateau has mainly been cross-sectional. The current study adopts a three-wave longitudinal design to explore a potential mechanism of the negative effects of career plateau on job attitudes. Drawing on the psychological contract and careers literature, we hypothesised that unmet expectations would mediate the effects of two key forms of career plateau, namely hierarchical plateau and job content plateau, and that these mediated effects would vary by age. Regression analysis on 110 individuals over an 8-month period revealed only two main effects, with job content plateau associated with lower job satisfaction and higher turnover intentions. However, there were indirect effects of both types of plateau on job satisfaction and turnover intentions, and indirect effects of hierarchical plateau on organisational commitment, via unmet expectations. Although the experience of career plateau was positively related to workers' age, the mediated effects of career plateau on job attitudes were observed irrespective of workers' age. This study contributes to the field by offering a new explanation as to why plateaued individuals develop unfavourable job attitudes, by offering evidence of the longitudinal links between career plateau and job attitudes, and by suggesting that organisations need to be mindful of the damaging effects of career plateau for employees of all ages.

The Mediating Influence of Fit Perceptions in the Relationship Between Career Adaptability and Job Content and Hierarchical Plateaus

Very little research has examined how career constructs are related to career plateaus. Given the dysfunctional consequences of plateauing, it is important to understand how career constructs, such as career adaptability, influence plateauing. Drawing on career construction theory and the theory of work adjustment, we propose that fit perceptions will mediate the career adaptability and plateauing relationship. Using data collected from 294 banking employees from the Punjab Province of Pakistan, we used the PROCESS macro to test for mediation. Results indicate that career adaptability reduces the likelihood of experiencing job content and hierarchical plateaus. Perceptions of fit related negatively to perceptions of plateauing, with one exception—demands–ability fit perceptions were unrelated to hierarchical plateaus. Mediation analysis indicated that needs–supply fit perceptions mediate the influence of career adaptability on both job content and hierarchical plateaus, whereas demands–ability fit perceptions mediate the influence of career adaptability on job content plateau but not hierarchical plateau. Implications of results for theory and practice are discussed.

ASSESSING INTENTION TO LEAVE AMONG PUBLIC HOSPITAL NURSES IN MALAYSIA

Insufficient number of nurses in many health care institutions especially in public hospitals is not a new issue and still remains as an unsolved issue. In fact, it has been a global issue and it is projected that many developed and developing countries will suffer from nursing shortage that is expected to exacerbate since the demand for health care is growing intensely. Studies show that there are various factors that can influence intention to leave feeling among employees, thus, this study would examine the influence of job satisfaction, hierarchical plateauing, organizational commitment and turnover opportunity and their relationship with intention to leave among public hospital nurses. There were 436 nurses working in public hospitals participated in this study. The results revealed that there were relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, hierarchical plateauing, turnover opportunity and intention to leave and the relationships were statistically significant. The findings are significant to be scrutinized by managers and policy makers in order to promote retention rate among employees. Keywords: Intention to Leave, Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Hierarchical Plateauing, Turnover Opportunity

Networking and development idiosyncratic deals

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of development idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) from an organizational politics and a situationist perspective. The paper tests a moderated mediation model in which networking skills is indirectly related to development i-deal in a context of high hierarchical plateau.Design/methodology/approachThe authors test the research model with a sample of 252 engineers, 88 percent male, who work in an economically wealthy region of France and who are thus well positioned to negotiate development i-deals.FindingsThe authors lead analyses with the Preacher et al.’s macros on SPSS. Results support the hypotheses. The authors find that support-seeking behaviors partially mediate the relationship between networking skills and development i-deals, and that this relationship is significant only in a context of high plateauing.Originality/valueOverall, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of i-deal antecedents by bridging the literatures on i-deals and careers. It also shows that socially skilled employees are able to seek support and in turn, to proactively negotiate development i-deals. This process is a way to cope with perceptions of hierarchical plateau.

Hierarchical plateau and turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage

PurposeApplying the theory of work adjustment (TWA), the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the effect of hierarchical plateau on the turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage is mediated by job satisfaction and moderated by person-job fit.Design/methodology/approachA survey method was used and data were collected from 248 Chinese employees at the career establishment stage. Hierarchical regression analysis and moderated mediation analysis were used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results demonstrated that hierarchical plateau was positively related to the turnover intention of employees at the career establishment stage and that job satisfaction played a mediating role in the relationship. Person-job fit moderated the relationship between hierarchical plateau and job satisfaction, and the indirect effect of hierarchical plateau on turnover intention via job satisfaction.Originality/valueThis research offers new insights into the links between hierarchical plateau and employees’ work attitudes and withdrawal behaviour within the TWA. The results suggest that managers can lessen the negative effects of hierarchical plateau on employees’ attitudes and withdrawal behaviour by improving employees’ overall person-job fit.

Does Double Plateau Always Lead to Turnover Intention? Evidence From China With Indigenous Career Plateau Scale

Drawing on the inducement–contribution employment model, this article examines the mediation of affective commitment on the relationship between hierarchical plateau and turnover intention and how job content plateau moderates the relationship. The hypotheses are tested in a sample consisting of 288 Chinese employees from a variety of industries. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that hierarchical plateau is positively related to turnover intention, and affective commitment fully mediates the relationship. The moderated mediation analysis reveals that the mediation of affective commitment on hierarchical plateau–turnover intention relation is conditional upon job content plateau. Specifically, job content plateau weakens rather than strengthens the effect of hierarchical plateau on affective commitment and the resultant turnover intention. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.

Antecedents and outcomes of career plateaus: The roles of mentoring others and proactive personality

Although mentoring others and career plateaus are both common experiences for seasoned employees, they are rarely examined together. In this study, we considered mentoring others as an antecedent of career plateaus and emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions as outcomes of career plateaus for mentors. We also examined the moderating role of mentors' proactive personality. Results of hierarchical regression analyses based on 188 mentoring dyads indicated that career-focused mentoring alleviated both hierarchical and job content plateauing perceptions. Mentors' proactive personality moderated the relationship between career-focused mentoring and hierarchical plateauing such that the negative relationship is stronger for low proactive personality mentors. Hierarchical plateaus were positively related to mentors' emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions whereas job content plateaus only positively related to turnover intentions. Proactive personality moderated the relationship between job content plateaus and mentors' work-related attitudes such that the positive relationships were stronger for more proactive mentors. The implications and future research suggestions are discussed.

Career Plateauing: Is It Still A Matter of Concern?

Hierarchical plateauing has been an issue and a challenge for most organizations in almost all sectors. The volatile global market conditions and the limited availability of higher positions has made the competition for openings much more intense. Many researchers have associated plateauing with negative consequences such as lower levels of job satisfaction, poor commitment, high absenteeism, greater stress, low motivation and high employee turnover. The literature also indicates that in most organizations, plateauing is often considered as one of the contributing factors to employee’s intention to leave in most organizations. However, very few realize that plateaued employees can actually be turned into the most valuable assets and can enhance an organization’s competitiveness if the employers are able to manage this group effectively. This paper investigates the relationship between hierarchical plateauing and intention to leave among nurses in public hospitals. Questionnaires were distributed to 700 nurses in 11 public hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia to examine the current perception of employees towards hierarchical plateauing in their career . The results showed that hierarchical plateauing was not significantly related to the intention to leave. The results provide some new insight in the sense that they support the recent notion that the plateauing phenomenon has become unavoidable and that many employees have no choices but to experience it sooner or later in their career and sometimes even earlier than they anticipate. The implications of the study and future research suggestions are also discussed. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n7p224

Stress, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, and Coping: Comparisons Among Plateaued and Non-Plateaued Employees

Results of this study extend research on the outcomes of hierarchical and job content plateaus by considering stress and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Plateaus were positively related to stress and negatively related to OCBs. We also examined differences in coping strategies by incorporating responses from non-plateaued as well as three groups of plateaued employees. Non-plateaued employees reported higher usage of non-work coping strategies compared to double plateaued employees and those reporting no hierarchical plateau had higher usage of non-work coping strategies than hierarchically plateaued employees, offering some initial insights on how non-plateaued employees might be successfully avoiding plateaus in their careers. Lastly, job involvement and non-work coping strategies were negatively related to stress. Implications of these results for research and practice are also discussed.

Career management strategies among IT professionals in offshore outsourced IT firms in Sri Lanka

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is explore career management strategies used by information technology (IT) professionals full‐time employed in offshore outsourced IT firms in Sri Lanka; and to evaluate those against hierarchical plateau, job content plateau, firm size, and individual demographic characteristics that may predict the use.Design/methodology/approachSurvey methodology was used and a random sample of 119 IT professionals responded. Multiple regression was used for the data analysis.FindingsCareer management strategies used by IT professionals could be broadly categorised into four areas. Hierarchical career plateau and age significantly predict the use of career strategies.Originality/valueThe study provides useful information for both practitioners and academics to better understand career strategies used by IT professionals in managing their own careers and factors that predict the use of career strategies.