Human Resource Research Research Articles

Work–family conflict, policies, and the job–life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for organizational behavior–human resources research.

This review examines the relationship among work-family (w-f) conflict, policies, and job and life satisfaction. The meta-analytic results show that regardless of the type of measure used (bidirectional w-f conflict, work to family, family to work), a consistent negative relationship exists among all forms of w-f conflict and job-life satisfaction. This relationship was slightly less strong for family to work conflict. Although confidence intervals overlap, the relationship between job-life satisfaction and w-f conflict may be stronger for women than men. Future research should strive for greater consistency and construct development of measures, examination of how sample composition influences findings, and increased integration of human resources policy and role conflict perspectives, including whether a positive relationship between w-f policies and satisfaction is mediated by w-f conflict.

Bandwidth–fidelity dilemma in personality measurement for personnel selection

This paper presents a discussion of the bandwidth–fidelity dilemma in personality measurement for personnel selection purposes. Should job applicants be assessed on fine-grained personality variables or on broader personality variables, such as the Big Five dimensions of personality? Most human resources practitioners and researchers appear to assume that more specific and narrow measures of personality traits result in better and more fine-grained understanding of the person, and therefore ought to be preferred over global measures. We review evidence that when the criterion of interest is job performance, broader personality measures may be preferable over narrowly focused ones. It appears that the alleged advantages of narrowly defined traits and narrowly constructed measures are mainly due to erroneous conventional beliefs predicated upon statistical artifacts. In personnel selection research and practice, we advocate the use of broader personality traits for both better prediction and explanation.

Human resources and the bottom line

The article focuses on human resource (HR) practices and research by Mark Huselid of Rutgers University. The study of firms in 35 industries in the United States found a connection between strategic HR management, employee turnover, and employee productivity that could improve profitability. High performance work practices--which relate to employee motivation, knowledge, and skills--reduce turnover and increase sales. According to Huselid's estimation, one standard deviation improvement in high performance work practices enhances profitability by $4,000 per worker and market value by $18,000 per employee.

Downsizing and the hyper-effective manager: The shifting importance of managerial roles during organizational transformation

This article describes how managerial roles change in importance during periods of significant organizational transition. An interdisciplinary approach reveals that (1) the competing values framework is a useful framework for examining this question; (2) the transformational roles increase as expected during downsizing; (3) three of four transactional roles also increase during downsizing. This last counterintuitive finding is illuminated by the interdisciplinary model developed. Overall, managers show significant evidence of hyper-effectivity—a state of high performance that is likely to be unsustainable in the long term. Implications for human resource practitioners and researchers are discussed. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Method Variance in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Research: Effects on Correlations, Path Coefficients, and Hypothesis Testing

This research simulates the effects of method variance on correlations, standardized regression (path) coefficients, and squared multiple correlation coefficients. The results show that method variance can have extreme effects on these measures of association, depending on assumptions made about the nature of the method factors. The analysis also indicated that method variance can have strong effects on the probability of obtaining significant findings in the absence of true relationships. The link between findings of the present study and current developments on method variance in organizational behavior and human resources management research is discussed.

Early Schooling and Childbearing Experiences: Implications for Postsecondary School Attendance

The purpose of this article is to examine whether the sequence of dropping out of high school and/or becoming an adolescent mother is important. To do this it is necessary to group women according to the order of those experiences, and then to test whether group membership varies by family background and individual factors. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY; Center for Human Resource Research,1987) demonstrate that there are significant differences between groups: Women from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are the most likely to drop out of school and/or to become teen mothers. Adolescent mothers who graduated from high school most resembled women who graduated and delayed childbearing, but were less likely to attend college than the latter.

The ‘New Agenda’ and Human Resource Management: A Roundtable Discussion With John Edmonds

John Storey and Nick Bacon discuss trade union reactions to HRM initiatives with John Edmonds and Phil Wyatt.John Storey and Nick Bacon are respectively Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Research Fellow at Loughborough University Business School. John Edmonds is General Secretary and Phil Wyatt Research Director of the General, Municipal and Boilermakers’ Union.

The case of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Population education programs in Latin America and the Caribbean are traced from their first inception around 1970 and express the diversity of strategies that would be appropriate to the variety of cultures development styles climates and geography. In the early 1970s this region had the highest growth rates in the world. The thinking embodied the notion that large populations were a sign of progress and geopolitical power; size was relevant only to the physical space available. The connections between population and economic development were not being made explicitly in policy or sectoral planning. There was some contention surrounding urban growth and the ability to meet the needs and the imbalance in the age structure. Initially educational sectors did not take population into accounting; international agencies were responsible for promoting attention to demographics. It was the medical profession that mobilized the education sector to start sex and family education due to the increasing number of abortions and their consequences. By 1974 education departments were engaged in curricula that included sex and family life issues in teacher education and training staff to implement these programs. The demographic situation has changed over the past 20 years and not includes reduced mortality and the beginning of fertility decline. Growth rates are now 1.9% annually compared with 2.8% in 1970 and population increases by 9 million/year. Population education is described in terms of styles motivations human resources administrative awareness teacher training training strategies and research needs and future management. Population education has advanced but the need is still there to reduce fertility among large numbers of people who "leave procreation to chance and fate." Education serves the purpose of changing values attitudes and knowledge that entails a different view of the value of children the relations between the sexes and the adoption and practice of effective birth control. Education has already been shown to be effective in reducing infant mortality. The challenge ahead is to educate the poorer social and economic classes and Indian groups that lack knowledge of preventive hygiene and believe fatalistically that deaths are natural and unavoidable. Development models must accommodate population issues.

Determinants of Spells of Poverty Following Divorce

Introduction Between 1967 and 1984, the proportion of single-parent families increased from 10 to 21 percent of all families (Congressional Budget Office, 1985). The poverty rate of all female-headed families in 1983 was 28 percent, compared to 8 percent for two-parent families. Female-headed households exhibit higher poverty rates than the elderly and disabled persons as well. Over one-half of black female-headed households fell below the poverty line in the same year (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1983). Although being a member of a female-headed household is not synonymous with being in poverty, the likelihood of a single-mother family being poor is much greater than for other demographic groups. In addition, the gap in the poverty rates between single-mother households and other groups has been widening over time (McLanahan, 1985; McLanahan, et al., 1987). This feminization of poverty has been the result of two factors: the improving economic health of other poor groups over time and the increasing proportion of people living in single-mother families (McLanahan and Garfinkel, 1989; Fuchs, 1986). While the feminization of poverty is a useful conceptual tool, the issue remains as to its root causes. Changes of family structure are by far the major cause of initial spells of poverty among female-headed households. Kniesner, et al. (1988) found that changes in family structure precede poverty spells in over 99 percent of the white single-mother families they studied, and in almost 97 percent of black families. Bane (1985) and Bane and Ellwood (1986), looking specifically at divorce, have estimated that 20 to 25 percent of the poor in the 1970's became poor as a result of changes in their family structure resulting from divorce. In a study of the economic health of women following divorce, Peterson (1985) found that failure to accumulate human capital was a significant factor in determining poverty status. He also found that, in general, nonwhites were more likely to be poor than whites and that human capital investments had less of an impact on the economic health of black female heads of household than their white counterparts. In addition, the holding of nontraditional attitudes about sex roles was correlated, ceteris paribus, with economic health following divorce. In this paper, we examine length of poverty spells following marital disruption for the resulting single-mother household. While never-married heads of household are also at economic risk, changes in family structure, particularly divorce, as discussed above, are significant determinants of poverty. For this reason, our analysis will focus on divorced women. Particular emphasis is placed on racial and cohort differences and the effect of women's accumulation of human capital on poverty status. Data and Model This analysis of the issues related to poverty following divorce uses data from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS). The National Longitudinal Surveys consist of five age-sex subsets of the United States population represented by the samples mature men/women, young men/women, and youth. Each of the five groups is represented by a national probability sample of approximately 5,000 individuals (1,500 nonwhites and 3,500 whites). The Center for Human Resource Research at the Ohio State University generates the data by conducting interviews at least once every two years. The first sample comes from the NLS for Young Women and consists of women who were aged 14 to 28 in 1968. The sample contains women who were married as of 1968 and divorced before 1982, or single (or divorced) in 1968 but (re)married and divorced (again) before 1982. For individuals who were divorced more than once, the latest divorce is used in the analysis. The sample size consists of 192 whites and 99 nonwhites. The second sample is taken from the NLS for Mature Women, women who were 30 to 44 in 1967. The same criteria for inclusion in the sample (vis-a-vis changes in marital status) as outlined above were used. …

LOWER BACK DISABILITY IN OCCUPATIONAL SETTINGS: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE FROM A HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT VIEW

Lower back disability (LBD) is a widespread phenomenon that has dramatic impacts on individuals' lives, as well as employers' costs. Despite this fact, specialists in the area of human resources have paid little attention to this critical, work‐related outcome. The need for human resource professionals to learn more about LBD has become even more urgent due to the recent passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act. Although the treatment of lower back pain falls within the domain of physicians, this paper adopts a bio‐psycho‐social approach and reviews the existing empirical literature on variables related to LBD at the preventative and rehabilitation stages. We identify five avenues (job design, selection, training, compensation, and organizational climate) through which human resource researchers and practitioners can influence lower back disability.

Attitudes toward employee participation in decision-making: A comparison of european and american managers in a united states multinational company

This article examines an American multinational company to uncover any crossnational differences in managerial attitudes toward employee participation in decision-making. Human resource practices of the parent company toward its European subsidiaries were also examined, especially those relevant to employee participation issues. Data were collected from the company's manufacturing facilities in Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States. Managers were interviewed and then surveyed regarding their attitudes toward participation. The interviews revealed resistance to the parent company's efforts to “export” an American vision of employee participation to its European subsidiaries. The survey data revealed attitudinal differences among European managers as well as among their American counterparts. Possible explanations, implications for human resource executives and research directions are discussed. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Resource Sharing Among Libraries in Southern Africa: Some reflections resulting from the Conference on Library and Information Services, for Future Development of Southern Africa, Pretoria, 1992

The first ever regional conference on library and information services’, to take place in south Africa, was held in Pretoria at the Human Resources Research Council Conference Centre (7,-8 May, 1992). The Conference, organised by Info Africa Nova, was attended by over 200 people from a cross-section of occupations. About 50 papers were presented by participants who were mainly drawn from the Anglophone SADCC zone, namely; Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, including ‘Homelands’.In attendance were information professionals, librarians, archivists, information officers and the like. Members of the teaching staff in library schools were well represented. Also present were researchers from other disciplines, peripheral to librarianship. Other participants included practitioners such as administrators from government departments and other individuals serving in various capacities in non-governmental organizations.

THE SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS RIGHTS OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FACULTY

American Business Law JournalVolume 28, Issue 4 p. 567-604 THE SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS RIGHTS OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FACULTY MICHAEL J. PHILLIPS, MICHAEL J. PHILLIPS Professor of Business Law, Indiana University. The research underlying this article was assisted by a grant from the Eli Lilly and Comapny Fund for Research in Human Resources Management.Search for more papers by this author MICHAEL J. PHILLIPS, MICHAEL J. PHILLIPS Professor of Business Law, Indiana University. The research underlying this article was assisted by a grant from the Eli Lilly and Comapny Fund for Research in Human Resources Management.Search for more papers by this author First published: December 1991 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1714.1990.tb01520.xCitations: 4Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume28, Issue4December 1991Pages 567-604 RelatedInformation

Earthquake Hazard Mitigation: The Need for Human Resources Development and Research

Most of California's population and industry are located in zones of high seismicity, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimated that a 7.5 to 8.3 Richter magnitude earthquake in an urban area could cause up to $60 billion in damage (1). Such an earthquake could cripple the state's public and private economies, and, as California's economy is the sixth largest in the world, have a negative effect on the world market. Building practices in California offer only minimal protection from seismic damage, however new technologies, such as seismic isolation, can mitigate damage and are becoming available to government and industry. There is a need for design professionals, building officials, planners, and building owners to become aware of these new technologies, and the legal constraints to their use, and incorporate them into practice, and for engineering and architectural educators to include new seismic design technologies in undergraduate curricula.

Another Look at No-Fault Divorce and the Post-Divorce Finances of Women

Recent studies by Weitzman (1985) and Peters (1986) suggest that no-fault divorce has harmed women. The research presented here tests these findings by examining the effects of no-fault divorce on the financial situation of women using data on salary and wage income, home ownership, and child support from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) of Labor Market Experience (Ohio State University Center for Human Resource Research [OSU], 1986) young women's cohort. The analyses do not support the hypothesis that no-fault divorce produces adverse financial effects. Rather, it appears that no-fault has had little effect on women's finances. Alternative models that might explain how divorce law affects the financial condition of women are suggested.

The impact of drug screening on selection decisions

This paper discusses the use of drug screening for employee selection decisions. Common methods of drug screening are described, and a recent study of drug screening accuracy is summarized. It is argued that drug screening is subject to the same standards as are other selection procedures, and that human resource professionals must assume responsibility for understanding the potential problems associated with drug screening. Issues relevant to determining the benefits of drug screening are discussed, and an illustration of the impact of drug screening on decision accuracy is presented. It is suggested that, in many instances, the value of drug screening in the selection process may be low enough to warrant serious concern. Implications for human resource research and practice are noted.

Contradictions in human resource commitment and employment-at-will policies

Employment in the U.S. appears to be subject to two broad, conflicting influences. Foreign competition and declining productivity have resulted in the suggested development of a commitment strategy in employment relations. Current administration policy towards employment, it is argued, combined with prevailing, notions of employment-at-will are in essential, tension with international standards of employment security and the content of the “new industrial relations” policies advocated by human resource practitioners and researchers.

Approaches to validating assessment centers

Performance + InstructionVolume 27, Issue 6 p. 14-16 Article Approaches to validating assessment centers Kenneth M. Nowack, Kenneth M. Nowack Organizational Performance Dimensions, 20950-38 Oxnard Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 Kenneth M. Nowack is the Director of Organizational Performance Dimensions, a behavioral sciences consulting company specializing in assessment, testing, career development, health promotion, and human resources research and evaluation. His current research interests include validation of computerized health risk appraisal and managerial work sample tests.Search for more papers by this author Kenneth M. Nowack, Kenneth M. Nowack Organizational Performance Dimensions, 20950-38 Oxnard Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 Kenneth M. Nowack is the Director of Organizational Performance Dimensions, a behavioral sciences consulting company specializing in assessment, testing, career development, health promotion, and human resources research and evaluation. His current research interests include validation of computerized health risk appraisal and managerial work sample tests.Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1988 https://doi.org/10.1002/pfi.4170270604 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume27, Issue6July 1988Pages 14-16 RelatedInformation

Further investigation of common knowledge effects on job analysis ratings.

Previous research (Smith & Hakel, 1979) raised the possibility that the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) only captures common knowledge, or stereotypes, about jobs, Cornelius, DeNisi, and Blencoe (1984) presented data to refute this, but found that the number of PAQ items rated docs not apply (DNA) was related to the agreement between naive raters and expert raters. The present study used data from 87 analysts and 24 jobs. Naive ratings were those obtained from analysts who had not studied the job, whereas expert ratings were those obtained from raters who had observed the job, interviewed incumbents, and written task statements describing the job. These ratings were then compared to target-score profiles obtained from PAQ services. Results confirmed earlier hypotheses that large numbers of DNA items artifactually inflate correlational estimates of agreement between expert and naive raters. In addition to this artifact, results also supported the view that the PAQ is less appropriate as a job analysis tool for some types of jobs. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Recently, questions have been raised about the validity of ratings obtained on structured job analysis instruments. The validity of these ratings has generally been taken for granted; however, given the range of applications for these ratings, these questions represent potentially serious problems for human resource practitioners and researchers. Most of the attention in this area has focused on the Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ; McCormick, Jeanneret, & Mecham, 1972). The PAQ is the most frequently used job analysis instrument in the published literature (Cornelius, 1987), and so it follows that there should be a great deal of concern about the validity of the data generated by the PAQ. Furthermore, PAQ ratings have been used in a variety of applications, such as those concerned with establishing wage and salary levels for jobs (Robinson, Wahlstrom, & Mecham, 1974), identifying aptitude tests that can be used as valid selection devices (McCormick, DeNisi, & Shaw, 1977), and establishing job classification systems (Taylor, 1978).

Log-linear probability models: an application to the analysis of timing of first birth.

Using data (the initial sample was 5533 women aged 14 to 24) from the National Longitudinal Surveys conducted by Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research, and the log linear probability technic, the impact of family background variables and personal characteristics on the timing of 1st birth are examined. These factors are expected to affect age at entry into motherhood directly, and indirectly, through education. A variable which increases the education attainment of either father or mother will indirectly delay childbearing. The study attempts to disentangle direct and indirect influences, and determine whether some effects may be nonlinear. Regarding other variables: 1) maternal employment only slightly increases the likelihood of an early 1st birth; 2) a broken home is associated with more than a 100% increase in the probability of an early birth; and 3) planning to be employed at 35 is associated with a higher likelihood of bearing the 1st child at an early age, confirming the human capital theory that the optimal amount of investment in human capital is a positive function of how long one plans to use it. Total effects of race on both age at transition to motherhood and school are great, being almost double for nonwhites for probabilities of an early 1st birth; the probability of having dropped out of school by the date of the 1st birth is 0.3185 for nonwhites, but only 0.2260 for whites. In conclusion, parental education, race, and whether the young woman grew up in an intact family are significant variables. Number of siblings and plans for age 35 have opposite direct and indirect influences. Nonlinearities in the impact of some explanatory variables on age at 1st birth and education are shown. This study illustrates the potential usefulness of log linear probability models, and may provide a framework for the statistical analysis of a wide range of economic issues.