Enhancing perceived employability

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Veld ◽  
Judith Semeijn ◽  
Tinka van Vuuren

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of employees’ willingness to invest in training and development and willingness for mobility on the relationship between human resource (HR) management practices and employability. As such, the study takes an interactionist perspective, building on human capital theory and social exchange theory. Investigating possible interaction effects is highly relevant as little is known yet on how organizational efforts (i.e. policies and activities) and individual effort of employees might strengthen each other in their aim of enhancing employability. Design/methodology/approach – Analyses were based on a sample of 1,346 respondents from 91 primary school locations in the Netherlands. Hypotheses were tested using regression analyses controlling for nesting of the data. Findings – The results indicate that HR activities and employees’ willingness are positively related to employability. Furthermore, only employees’ willingness for mobility strengthens this relationship, not their willingness for training and development. These results indicate that both organizations and employees are responsible for enhancing employability. Practical implications – Both HR activities and employee willingness appear to play a significant and interactive role for enhancing employability. Therefore, explicit cooperation between employee and organization in light of optimizing employability seems warranted. Originality/value – This study extends current research on enhancing employability, by theorizing and testing the combined efforts of organizations and employees from an interactionist perspective.

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 617-630
Author(s):  
Xiaofeng Xu ◽  
Ho Kwong Kwan ◽  
Miaomiao Li

PurposeDrawing on social exchange theory and a cultural perspective, this study examines the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement by focusing on the mediating role of felt obligation and the moderating role of collectivism.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave survey was conducted over four months in a private service business in China. The participants comprised 108 Chinese employees.FindingsThe results indicate that workplace ostracism has a negative relationship with job engagement through a reduced sense of felt obligation. Collectivism strengthens the main effect of workplace ostracism on felt obligation and its indirect effect on job engagement via felt obligation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to understanding of the internal mechanism of the workplace ostracism–job engagement model by identifying the mediating role of felt obligation. It also emphasizes that collectivist cultures can enhance the effects of workplace ostracism. However, the generalizability of our findings may be limited due to this cultural factor.Practical implicationsOur findings show that workplace ostracism plays a significant role in reducing job engagement. Therefore, it is essential to reduce the incidence of ostracism in the workplace.Originality/valueBy addressing the previously unexplored mechanism that mediates the relationship between workplace ostracism and job engagement, this study provides new directions for research on workplace ostracism and job engagement.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-342
Author(s):  
Hakan Erkutlu ◽  
Jamel Chafra

Purpose Drawing on the social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and employee’s quiescent silence. Specifically, the authors take a relational approach by introducing employee’s relational identification as the mediator. The moderating role of psychological distance in the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and quiescent silence is also considered. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from nine universities in Turkey. The sample included 793 randomly chosen faculty members along with their department chairs. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to test the proposed model. Findings The results of this study supported the positive effect of leader Machiavellianism on employee’s quiescent silence as well as the mediating effect of employee’s relational identification. Moreover, when the level of psychological distance is low, the relationship between leader Machiavellianism and quiescent silence is strong, whereas the effect is weak when the level of psychological distance is high. Practical implications The findings of this study suggest that educational administrators in the higher education should be sensitive in treating their subordinates, as it will lead to positive interpersonal relationship, which, in turn, will reduce workplace silence. Moreover, they should pay more attention to the buffering role of psychological distance for those subordinates with high distrust and showing silence. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on organizational silence by revealing the relational mechanism between leader Machiavellianism and employee quiescent silence. The paper also offers a practical assistance to employees in the higher education and their leaders interested in building trust, increasing leader–employee relationship and reducing workplace silence.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inam Ul Haq ◽  
Usman Raja ◽  
Imtiaz Alam ◽  
Dirk De Clercq ◽  
Sharjeel Saleem

PurposeWith a foundation in social exchange theory, this study examines the relationship between servant leadership and three types of workplace mistreatment – bullying, incivility and ostracism – while also considering a mediating role of trust in the leader and a moderating role of the ethical climate.Design/methodology/approachThree time-lagged sets of data (N = 431) were collected among employees working in various sectors.FindingsServant leadership relates significantly to trust in the leader, as well as to workplace bullying, incivility and ostracism. In turn, trust in the leader mediates the relationship between servant leadership and all three types of workplace mistreatment. The results also indicate the presence of moderated mediation, in that the indirect effect of servant leadership on workplace mistreatment is moderated by the ethical climate.Originality/valueThis study adds to extant research by examining the mediating mechanism of trust in leaders with servant leadership and workplace mistreatment, along with interactive effects of ethical climate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (7) ◽  
pp. 879-899 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naveed Iqbal ◽  
Mansoor Ahmad ◽  
Matthew M.C. Allen

Purpose This study draws upon social exchange theory to explore the role of impersonal trust as an intermediate value-creating factor between electronic human resource management (e-HRM) and productivity. The purpose of this paper is to seek the antecedents and consequences of impersonal trust within organisations to provide a holistic view of e-HRM and employee productivity. This is the first study to examine how impersonal trust mediates the relationship between e-HRM and employee productivity. Design/methodology/approach The data were collected through a large-scale survey of 700 line managers in Pakistani banks. The data were analysed using structure equation modelling. Findings The empirical results validate all of the study’s hypotheses, including the role of impersonal trust, which partially mediates the relationship between e-HRM and employee productivity. The results provide empirical evidence that technology-enabled HRM supports organisations by enhancing organisational trust and productivity outcomes. Originality/value Such findings contribute to the HRM literature: e-HRM and organisational trust are key predictors for improving employee productivity. The existing literature suggests that e-HRM has a positive impact on employees’ trust in the HRM department. The results provide valuable insights for HR practitioners allowing them to enhance employee productivity by using e-HRM to improve employees’ trust in the organisation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhee Jung ◽  
Norihiko Takeuchi

Purpose Although 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/approach To 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. Findings In 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 implications These 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/value The 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.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chaoqun Zhang ◽  
Donglan Zha ◽  
Guanglei Yang ◽  
Fu Wang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to test the mediating role of perceived insider status (PIS) on the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work, and the extent to which this mediating role is moderated by proactive personality. Design/methodology/approach This study conducts a questionnaire with 332 employees from China, taking certain traditional cultural factors and social exchange theory into consideration. This paper then analyzes the responses using a structuring equation model with SPSS 24.0 and LISREL 8.7. Findings The results show that PIS mediated the relationship between differential leadership and thriving at work. In addition, proactive personality was found to moderate this mediating pathway, whereby a high proactive personality increased the mediating role of perceived insider status. Originality/value This study explores how and why differential leadership is positively related to thriving at work. This paper verifies the moderated mediation model relationship among the research variables and contributes to the literature on differential leadership.


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 1115-1123 ◽  
Author(s):  
KeXin Guan ◽  
ZhengXue Luo ◽  
JiaXi Peng ◽  
Zhen Wang ◽  
HaiTing Sun ◽  
...  

We examined the relationship among team networks, leader-member exchange (LMX), and team identification in the workplace. Social network theory, social exchange theory, and social identity theory served as references for our theoretical propositions and analyses. We collected data from a sample of 223 teams of military personnel, serving in the artillery in West China. We found that the team networks had a significant effect on team identification. Further, the variance and the mean for LMX in teams interacted in influencing team identification (β =-.893, p < .01). Our findings indicated that creating productive networks in teams would be useful to enhance team identification, the effect of which may be carried on through to building exchange relationships between leader and follower.


2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (6) ◽  
pp. 1041-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Li ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
Taiwen Feng

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among suppliers’ trust and commitment, transaction-specific investment, switching cost, and customer involvement within the context of relational governance mechanism and the social exchange theory. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use survey data from 214 Chinese manufacturing firms and employ the structural equation model to verify the conceptual model. Findings – Relational governance benefits customer involvement. Transaction-specific investment mediates the relationship between trust and commitment of suppliers. Switching costs negatively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ trust and customer involvement, but positively moderate the relationship between suppliers’ commitment and customer involvement. Research limitations/implications – The authors focus on two key elements of relationship, namely, trust and commitment of suppliers, but neglect other relational factors, such as relational norms and interdependence. Originality/value – These findings broaden the understanding and present new directions for the implementation of customer involvement from the perspective of relational governance and social exchange theory.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishfaq Ahmed ◽  
Wan Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail ◽  
Salmiah Mohamad Amin ◽  
Talat Islam

Purpose – Applying the social exchange theory at educational institution, this research endeavor is aimed to find out impact of organizational (institutional) support on teachers’ responsive behavior, and ultimately outcomes of responsiveness in form of students’ satisfaction and academic performance. Design/methodology/approach – This study was conducted on 20 teachers and 353 students, from the biggest public sector University of Pakistan. These teachers and students belong to ten faculties. A questionnaire was used to elicit response of both the respondent groups. Findings – Findings of the study reveal that provision of supportive environment (high perceived organizational/institutional support) positively influences teachers and they respond well toward the needs of students. This responsive behavior increases both satisfaction and academic performance of students. Originality/value – This research highlights the role of educational institutions in improving the quality of their product (students).


2019 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Belanche ◽  
Luis V. Casaló ◽  
Carlos Flavián ◽  
Miguel Guinalíu

PurposeWith social exchange theory as a basis, the purpose of this paper is to seek a better understanding of advice processes in online travel communities, which offer crucial advice for travelers’ decisions. It also predicts that relational capital variables (commitment, reciprocity perceptions) moderate the main relationships.Design/methodology/approachData from a web survey of 456 users of online travel communities affirm the scale’s validity and provide the input for structural equation modeling and multisample analyses of the hypotheses.FindingsHigher levels of commitment reinforce the effect of following past advice on passive and active participation intentions. Users’ perceptions of reciprocity in the community strengthen the influence of following past advice on active participation. However, a high level of reciprocity causes users following past advice to reduce their intentions to continue following that advice.Practical implicationsManagement tactics should specify active and passive participation in online travel communities. Specifically, to encourage the creation of high-quality new content, community managers should create interactive environments marked by high levels of reciprocity and commitment.Originality/valueThis research elucidates the role of relational capital variables in advice processes and advances understanding of online travel communities.


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