Employee Relations: An International Journal

Evans, Samantha; Pyman, Amanda; Byford, Iona

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-06-2016-0105

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the consequences of a managerial approach to renewal for a union’s behaviour by analysing the UK’s fourth largest trade union – The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW).Design/methodology/approachThe findings draw on in-depth semi-structured interviews with union officials.FindingsThe research findings show the significance of a managerialist approach to UDSAW’s renewal strategy and its correlation with existing renewal strategies of organising and partnership. However, this approach was not immune to context, with tensions between agency and articulation challenging the basic concept of managerialism and influencing union behaviour.Research limitations/implicationsThe data were collected from a single case with a small sample size.Practical implicationsThe authors’ findings suggest that tensions between bureaucracy and democracy will mediate the extent to which managerialist approaches can be used within unions adding support to the strategic choice theory and underlying arguments that unions can influence their fortune. However, institutional and external pressures could see managerialism becoming more prevalent, with oligarchic and bureaucratic forces prevailing, which could be particularly applicable to unions operating in challenging contexts, such as USDAW. The managerialisation of unions has consequences for union officers; with officers facing increasing pressure in their roles to behave as managers with attendant implications for role conflict, identity and motivation.Social implicationsIf managerialism is becoming more prevalent with unions, with oligarchic and bureaucratic forces prevailing, this has potentially wider societal implications, whereby collectivism and worker-led democracy could become scarcer within unions and the workplace, thus irretrievably altering the nature of the employment relationship.Originality/valueThis paper brings together disparate themes in the literature to propose a conceptual framework of three key elements of managerialism: centralised strategies; performance management and the managerialisation of union roles. The authors’ findings demonstrate how there is scope for unions to adopt a hybrid approach to renewal, and to draw upon their internal resources, processes and techniques to implement change, including behavioural change. Consequently, theories and empirical studies of union renewal need to better reflect the complexities of approaches that unions are now adopting and further explore these models within the agency and articulation principles that underpin the nature of unions.

Khoreva, Violetta; Vaiman, Vlad; Van Zalk, Maarten

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-01-2016-0005

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to enhance the theoretical and empirical understanding of the process through which talent management (TM) practice effectiveness impacts high-potential employees’ commitment to leadership competence development.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modelling was utilized to analyse survey data representing a sample of 439 high-potential employees from 11 Finnish multinational corporations.FindingsFirst, the authors found that the more high-potential employees perceived TM practices to be effective, the more they were committed towards leadership competence development. Next, the findings revealed that the association between TM practice effectiveness and commitment to leadership competence development operates by means of psychological contract fulfilment. Finally, the authors found that female employees possessed a stronger reaction to the effectiveness of TM practices by demonstrating higher levels of commitment to leadership competence development than male employees.Originality/valueThis study supports social exchange theory, which postulates that when organizations invest in their employees, the employees are likely to reciprocate these corporate investments in positive ways. The findings indicate that TM practices may help high-potential employees to make sense of their employment relationship and communicate to employees those attitudes and behaviours that organizations value. The authors thus advocate that in order to have the desired effect, such as for instance the increased commitment to leadership competence development, it is crucial for organizations to invest in those TM practices that are perceived as effective by employees.

Kloutsiniotis, Panagiotis V.; Mihail, Dimitrios M.

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-11-2015-0205

PurposeFollowing an “employee-centric” approach, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on employees’ work engagement and job satisfaction, and the mediating effect of these variables on employees’ affective commitment and intention of leaving their hospital.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modeling was used on a sample of 296 clinicians (doctors and nurses) across seven Greek regional hospitals.FindingsThe findings indicate a strong positive effect of HPWS on employees’ job satisfaction, affective commitment, and work engagement and a negative effect on their intention to leave. In addition, employees’ engagement and job satisfaction positively mediate the HPWS effects on employees’ affective commitment and negatively on their intention to leave.Practical implicationsThe findings not only validate previous studies’ conclusions, but also provide evidence for the potential fruitfulness of the HPWS approach in improving employees’ outcomes and well-being in turbulent times.Originality/valueAlthough the argument that HPWS has a positive effect on organizational performance and productivity is well established, there are considerably fewer studies that examine the positive effects of HPWS specifically on employees’ job attitudes and outcomes, and the processes through which HPWS influences health-related outcomes. Finally, this study confirms the argument that HPWS can be a fruitful approach even in a country severely affected by Europe’s debt crisis over the last five years.

Sahadev, Sunil; Purani, Keyoor; Kumar Panda, Tapan

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-11-2015-0213

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between managerial control strategies, role-stress and employee adaptiveness among call centre employees.Design/methodology/approachBased on a conceptual model, a questionnaire-based survey methodology is adopted. Data were collected from call centre employees in India and the data were analysed through PLS methodology.FindingsThe study finds that outcome control and activity control increase role-stress while capability control does not have a significant impact. The interaction between outcome control and activity control also tends to impact role-stress of employees. Role-stress felt by employees has significant negative impact on employee adaptiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe sampling approach was convenience based affecting the generalisability of the results.Practical implicationsThe paper provides guidelines for utilising managerial control approaches in a service setting.Originality/valueThe paper looks at managerial control approaches in a service setting – a topic not quite researched before.

Wesley, Scarlett C.; Jackson, Vanessa Prier; Lee, Minyoung

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-03-2016-0051

PurposeSoft skills which are a combination of personal qualities and interpersonal skills that help an employer perform their job are an increasingly important concern to businesses and academia, the purpose of this paper is to determine how students ranked the importance of soft skills and compare their rankings to retailing and tourism management faculty and businesses.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey of students, faculty and industry leaders was conducted using an existing survey instrument validated by Crawford et al. (2011). Faculty who were members of retailing and tourism management professional organizations were solicited to participate in the study. Retailing and tourism management students from the researchers’ university were sent a link to complete the survey. All participants were asked to rank the order of importance of the soft skills and their characteristics.FindingsVariations in the importance of soft skills were reported between the three groups. Variations in the importance of the soft skills characteristics were also identified between the students, faculty, and industry leaders. While communication was identified as the most important soft skill by all three sample groups, experiences was the least important for students and leadership was the least important for faculty and industry leaders.Research limitations/implicationsA limitation of the study was the variation in the sample sizes between the student, faculty, and industry sample. The strength of this study lies in the ability to provide evidence for the need to compare soft skills research results for retailing and tourism management students. Soft skills are found to be important to all three groups, but differences indicate faculty and industry need to work together to clarify exactly what soft skills students need to successfully compete for employment in the retailing and tourism management field.Originality/valueAs the work world continues to change, employers seek workers who have soft skills that support their knowledge base. While technical skills are a current part of educational curricula, soft skills need to be emphasized at the university level so that students gain expertise that prepare them to be successful in this changing workplace.

Gkorezis, Panagiotis; Kastritsi, Aikaterini

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-02-2016-0025

PurposeResearchers have long recognized that employee expectations play an important role in determining their levels of motivation. However, less is known about the relationship between newcomers’ expectations about their job and intrinsic motivation. Even more, there is limited empirical research on the underlying mechanisms that explain this relationship. Given the recent resurgence of interest concerning the construct of work-related boredom and drawing on several theoretical frameworks, the purpose of this paper is to address this gap by examining the mediating role of work-related boredom in the linkage between newcomers’ expectations and intrinsic motivation.Design/methodology/approachThe current study utilized a snowball approach in order to garner a diverse sample of newcomers. To examine the present hypotheses, bootstrapping analysis and Sobel test were used.FindingsThe results showed that unmet expectations enhance work-related boredom which in turn affects intrinsic motivation.Research limitations/implicationsGiven the cross-sectional and mono-source design of the study, the results may suffer from causality and common method variance issues.Originality/valueThe present study provides novel insights into the psychological mediating mechanisms that explain the relationship between newcomers’ expectations about their job and their intrinsic motivation.

George, Jessie; Wallio, Stephanie

2017 Employee Relations: An International Journal

doi: 10.1108/ER-11-2015-0208

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between distributive justice, procedural justice, and turnover intentions for Millennial employees working in the public accounting environment.Design/methodology/approachData collection utilized an online survey sent to members of a regional certified public accountant organization (n=75).FindingsLower levels of both distributive and procedural justice predicted higher turnover intentions, controlling for gender and job tenure. Procedural justice was found to have a stronger relationship with turnover intentions than distributive justice for Millennial public accountants.Practical implicationsThe public accounting industry is facing a crisis based on the shortage of staff and senior level accountants, which are primarily Millennial employees. The study results have practical implications for public accounting firms. The findings suggest that the fairness of organizational processes could impact Millennials’ turnover intentions more than the fairness of organizational rewards. Employers could use this information to manage levels of procedural justice, which could reduce turnover intentions, actual turnover, and other byproducts of the staffing shortage.Originality/valueThis study examined the relationship between organizational justice and Millennial turnover intentions in public accounting. The study replicated the findings of some prior studies in a purely Millennial sample in the public accounting context and addressed some of the contradictory results seen previously related to organizational justice. As the public accounting industry has an abnormally large percentage of Millennial employees, these findings may be applied to other environments as the Millennial population in the workforce increases.