Perceived Investment In Employee Development Research Articles

How does employee development affect turnover intention? Exploring alternative relationships

AbstractThis study explores alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and turnover intention by including affective commitment, perceived internal employability, and perceived external employability as potential mediators. Data were collected through a structured survey from 337 employees working in two large companies in Italy. The factorial validity and dimensionality of the latent constructs studied were evaluated in a confirmatory factor analysis framework, and the mediation hypotheses were tested in a full structural equation model. Results show that the overall effect of PIED on turnover intention is negative and almost fully mediated by external employability and affective commitment, whereas the path through internal employability is not supported. More specifically, PIED increases commitment, which in turn limits the likelihood of turnover. In addition, although perceived external employability is positively associated with turnover intention, PIED seems to reduce this effect by negatively affecting employee perceptions of their marketability in the labour market. The study supports the assumptions of social exchange theory in explaining turnover behaviour as a consequence of employee development support. Contextually, it questions the existence of the employability paradox because it does not reveal either a retention path via perceived internal employability or a turnover risk via perceived external employability.

Qualitative job insecurity and extra-role behaviours: The moderating role of work motivation and perceived investment in employee development

This article examines how qualitative job insecurity, work motivation and perceived investment in employee development (PIED) are associated with employees’ contextual performance in terms of extra-role behaviours (ERBs). The authors propose a three-way interaction model and suggest that the way qualitative job insecurity relates to employees’ ERBs is contingent upon their work motivation and PIED. Results showed that there was a significant three-way interaction between job insecurity, PIED and intrinsic motivation (but not for extrinsic motivation) for ERBs. Employees who reported high qualitative job insecurity but had low intrinsic motivation engaged in more ERBs when they were given ample opportunities for development, while highly intrinsically motivated individuals exhibited fewer ERBs when the organization supported their professional development. This study contributes to the job insecurity and motivation literatures. To increase ERBs, organizations are advised to reduce qualitative job insecurity and to provide ample learning opportunities for employees who have low levels of intrinsic motivation.

The Impact of Training & Development on Work Engagement: A Study in the Banking Sector

Employees play a crucial role in delivery of service quality and retention of satisfied and loyal customers. Of the various factors that contribute towards this end, work engagement among employees has gained a great deal of interest from both practitioners and academics in the fields of business, human resource development, and organizational psychology, based on the perspective that engaged employees are likely to display high quality performance in the workplace. Meanwhile, Training and Development (T&D) practices are considered to contribute to the employees’ engagement in their work environment. This paper examines the potential impact of Perceived Training Opportunities (PTO) and Perceived Investment in Employee Development (PIED) on work engagement. A research model has been developed and empirically tested, using primary data from a survey of 185 bank employees working in Greece. Empirical results reveal a strong relationship between PTO and PIED with work engagement. Banks should invest in training and development opportunities as a means to enhance work engagement and gain a competitive edge in delivering high quality services to the customers.

Know Your Stars Before They Fall Apart: A Social Network Analysis of Telecom Industry to Foster Employee Retention Using Data Mining Technique

Social network analysis (SNA) has emerged as a significant paradigm for research in data mining community for measuring and analyzing human dynamic network structure. At organizational level, SNA can enhance our understanding of work place social interactions and unveil the hidden stars embedded in informal networks by investigating nodes and edges of complex networks. For this study, we aim to formulate a network centrality based quantitative method to identify the High potential employees (HiPos) and Influencers of telecom sector and explore the relationship between degree centrality of these star employees and their turnover intention by modeling the dynamics of their workplace social ties and predictive data mining technique. We investigated the multiplex work and advice network in two leading telecom operators of Pakistan i.e. Ufone and Zong. For the statistical analysis we conducted a quantitative and visual network analysis in UCINET along with correlation and regression. Our results showed a negative correlation between HiPos out-degree centrality and turnover intention and a positive correlation between influencer’s in-degree centrality and turnover. Whereas perceived investment in employee development (PIED) was found to mediate the relationship between in-degree centrality of influencer and turnover intention. The correlation results were then verified in regression model. These findings will guide the telecom operators in designing an optimal structure for business intelligence by providing critical insights of their star employees and help them to investigate the influence of central nodes on dynamical processes of its heterogeneous networks and thus enhance employee retention before a star falls out.

When investment in employee development promotes knowledge sharing behavior in an uncertain post-Soviet context

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of perceived investment in employee development (PIED) on knowledge sharing (KS) behavior by examining the mediating role of psychological capital and moderating role of organizational identification.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were used to collect data from 340 employees from largest MNCs working in Kazakhstan.FindingsThe results show that psychological capital mediates the relationship between PIED and knowledge sharing behavior (KSB). Moreover, it was found that organizational identification moderates the association between individuals’ psychological capital and their KSB. The mediated moderation analyses supported the hypothesized model.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to a more complete understanding of how investment in employee development may support or build employees’ psychological capital which in turn facilitates KS.

Testing mediation effects of social and economic exchange in linking organizational training investment to employee outcomes

PurposeAlthough social exchange theory has long been used to explain employees’ positive work attitudes in response to perceived investment in employee development (PIED), few studies have examined this theoretical mechanism by introducing a direct measure of social exchange between employees and their personified organization. Furthermore, most studies have focused solely on one type of exchange (i.e. social exchange) and have ignored another type of exchange characterized as economic exchange. The purpose of this paper is therefore to uncover the process by which PIED affects employees’ attitudes, including affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction, by examining the mediating roles of both social and economic exchanges.Design/methodology/approachTo test the hypothesized mediating model, this study conducted a three-phase, time-lagged questionnaire survey and collected data from 545 full-time employees. The model was tested based on structural equation modeling with a bootstrap test of indirect effects.FindingsIn line with social exchange theory, the findings showed that social exchange perceptions positively mediated the relationships between PIED and affective commitment/job satisfaction, whereas economic exchange perceptions negatively mediated them. Additionally, social and economic exchange perceptions were found to partially mediate the relationship between PIED and affective commitment but fully mediate the relationship between PIED and job satisfaction.Practical implicationsThese results suggest that employers would benefit from investing in employee development, provided workers see the training investment as the employer’s side of social exchange, which in turn leads to increased affective commitment and job satisfaction. When employers do not achieve the expected returns from the training investment, they should check not only hard data (e.g. training attendance rate, hours of training, etc.) but also soft data (e.g. employees’ perceptions of training investment, social exchange, etc.) by conducting employee surveys and communicating with line managers.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this study is that it provides important empirical support for social exchange theory in the context of organizational training investment and employees’ attitudinal outcomes, by directly testing the positive mediating role of social exchange and the negative role of economic exchange.

Promoting employee entrepreneurial attitudes: an investigation of Chinese state-owned enterprises

Drawing from social information processing theory, we explain the relationship among perceived investment in employee development (PIED), psychological climate, and employee entrepreneurial attitudes (EEA). We test our hypotheses by conducting two survey studies of two different Chinese state-owned enterprises (N = 157; N = 112). The results indicate that climates for autonomy and innovation mediate the relationship between PIED and EEA. Furthermore, we differentiate between two types of supervisor behaviour for encouraging creativity in the workplace: promoting collaboration and intellectual stimulation. We find that promoting collaboration enhances the effects of PIED on the climate for autonomy, while intellectual stimulation amplifies the effects of PIED on the climate for innovation. Our research not only extends the current academic literature by investigating the processes (how) and contingencies (when) whereby PIED affects EEA, but also reveals factors for promoting corporate entrepreneurship in the context of Chinese SOEs. Our findings also offer critical insights for managers by suggesting that they can use human resource management practices and supervision tactics to create a working environment that allows corporate entrepreneurship to flourish.

Perceived investment in employee development and taking charge

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the relationship between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and taking charge is moderated by perceived job autonomy.Design/methodology/approach– Self-report data were obtained from 737 employees. In addition, manager ratings of taking charge were obtained for 154 employees from their respective managers. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.Findings– The results revealed a positive relationship between PIED and both self-reported and manager-rated taking charge only for employees who perceived high levels of job autonomy.Research limitations/implications– Given the cross-sectional nature of the data, no causal inferences can be drawn.Practical implications– Managers and organizations may benefit from providing work conditions that facilitate a felt obligation to reciprocate, but at the same time provide sufficient levels of perceived job autonomy to actually do so with respect to increasing the levels of employees’ voluntary and constructive efforts to improve work situations.Social implications– Greater levels of employee taking charge behaviors may offset the decline of businesses and thus aid in reducing long-term unemployment in the society at large.Originality/value– This study contributes to a more complete understanding of how job characteristics may facilitate or inhibit the influence of antecedents for taking charge.

Employees' perceptions of HR investment and their efforts to remain internally employable: testing the exchange-based mechanisms of the ‘new psychological contract’

This study investigates the relationship between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and the internal employability efforts that such perceptions are assumed to influence under the terms of the ‘new psychological contract’. A cross-sectional survey among 238 employees in a Norwegian IT and management consulting firm provides support that PIED relates positively to employees' openness to develop themselves and adapt to changing work requirements (‘internal employability orientation’) and their active pursuit of new competencies and career trajectories within the organization (‘internal employability activities’). However, our findings challenge widely held claims that investment in employee development elicits these responses by way of the reciprocal mechanisms of a social exchange relationship. While PIED is found to relate positively to employees' perceptions of a social exchange relationship with their organization, these positive exchange experiences are not supported to influence internal employability outcomes. Our findings do support, however, that PIED relates negatively to perceived economic exchange relationships that in turn undermine internal employability orientations. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.

A Life Span Perspective for Understanding Employee Career Orientations and Success

This longitudinal study documented age differences in careerism from a lifespan perspective. Furthermore, we examined the extent to which the interactive effect of career self-management (CSM) and perceived investment in employee development (PIED) on subjective career success was matched between younger and middle-aged people. Using a sample of Japanese employees working for privately owned firms in Japan, we found a three-way interaction effect between age, CSM, and PIED when predicting subjective career success 6 months later. As hypothesized, the positive relationship between CSM and subjective career success was stronger for younger employees with high PIED than it was for those with low PIED, whereas for middle-aged employees the reverse was true. Using the findings, we discuss the possibility of integrating lifespan theory into the framework of careerism and subjective career success, both within and across organizations.

Perceived supervisor support climate, perceived investment in employee development climate, and business‐unit performance

AbstractPerceived supervisor support (PSS) has been found to predict employee in‐role and extra‐role performance at the individual level of analysis. With respect to the unit level of analysis, the research on the predictive role of PSS remains limited. In particular, calls have been made for research on the role of leadership in facilitating perceived HR practices at the business‐unit level and on the role of line managers as implementers of such systems. In response to such calls, this study investigated the associations between PSS climate, perceived investment in employee development (PIED) climate, and business‐unit performance among 75 gas stations located in Norway. The results showed that the PSS climate was positively related to both the PIED climate and the business‐unit performance. This study contributes to research on PSS by extending the prior findings at the individual level to the unit level of analysis. Also, the study contributes to the research on perceived HR practices by demonstrating the facilitative role of the PSS climate. Finally, the study contributes to the research on shared perceptions of HR practices generally and the concept of the “strength” of the HRM system in particular. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Perceived Investment in Employee Development and Work Outcomes: A Person-Environment Fit Perspective

Drawing on person-environment fit theory, this study documents the mediating effects of person-organization (P-O) fit and person-job (P-J) fit on the relationships between a firmfs employeesf perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and their work outcomes, including organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Using a sample of Korean employees, our longitudinal empirical analyses showed evidence that both P-O fit and P-J fit mediated the relationship between PIED and work outcomes. We use the findings to discuss the role of person-environment (P-E) fit in the effectiveness of employee development practices that organizations offer. We also discuss the studyfs limitations and directions for future studies.

Investment in staff development within an emergency services organisation: comparing future intention of volunteers and paid employees

Path models were evaluated to explore the impact of job satisfaction as mediator of the relationship between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and the adequacy and availability of training on turnover intention. Models were compared for volunteers (n = 2,306) and paid employees (n = 274) within the one emergency services organisation. Results indicated that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between PIED and intention to stay for both volunteers and paid employees. PIED was a stronger predictor of job satisfaction for paid employees, while support and recognition was a stronger predictor of job satisfaction for volunteers. Results highlight the indirect role of PIED on turnover intentions. Findings also support the notion of tailored employee development programmes that enhance job satisfaction. Further, PIED may be more salient to the turnover intentions of paid employees, while support and recognition may be a key motivator of volunteers' ongoing commitment to the organisation.

Exploring alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development, perceived supervisor support and employee outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED), perceived supervisor support (PSS), and employee outcomes in the form of attitudes (affective commitment and turnover intention) and work performance (work effort, work quality and organisational citizenship behaviour). A cross‐sectional survey among 331 employees from a Norwegian telecommunications organisation showed that the relationship between PSS and employee attitudes was partially mediated by PIED. In addition, PSS was found to moderate the relationship between PIED and three self‐report measures of work performance. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for high levels of PSS. These findings suggest that line managers are of vital importance in implementing developmental HR practices, either because they influence how such practices are perceived by employees, which, in turn, affects employee attitudes, or because positive experiences with both line managers and HR practices seem to be needed in order for developmental HR practices to positively influence employee performance.