Tiet-Hanh Dao-Tran, Keith Townsend, Rebecca Loundoun, Adrian Wilkinson and Charrlotte Seib
This study aims to explore the intention to quit and its associations among ambulance personnel and to compare the intention to quit and its associations between paramedic and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the intention to quit and its associations among ambulance personnel and to compare the intention to quit and its associations between paramedic and non-paramedic staff.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 492 Australian ambulance personnel. Participants were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using phone interview-administered questionnaires. Descriptive analyses, bivariate associations and structural equation modelling were performed for data analysis.
Findings
The study found that 70% of ambulance personnel intended to quit their jobs. Intention to quit was similar between paramedics and non-paramedic staff. In both staff groups, supervisors' and colleagues' support was associated with mental health symptoms; job satisfaction was associated with the intention to quit. Supervisors' and colleagues' support was indirectly associated with the intention to quit via increasing job satisfaction and reducing the experience of mental health symptoms among paramedics only. Mental health symptoms were directly associated with the intention to quit and indirectly associated with the intention to quit via reducing job satisfaction among paramedics only.
Practical implications
The study findings provide evidence for resource allocation in human resource management. The findings suggest that interventions to increase job satisfaction may reduce the intention to quit for all ambulance personnel. Interventions to improve supervisors' and colleagues' support and to manage depression, anxiety and stress symptoms may help to reduce the intention to quit for paramedics only.
Originality/value
This is the first study to model and compare the direct and indirect associations of intention to quit between paramedics and non-paramedic staff in ambulance personnel.
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Luke Booker, Paula K Mowbray, Keith Townsend and Xi Wen Chan
The well-being of employees in distributed work has never been of more importance. This study aims to investigate the factors that empower or undermine the connectivity agency of…
Abstract
Purpose
The well-being of employees in distributed work has never been of more importance. This study aims to investigate the factors that empower or undermine the connectivity agency of teleworkers. Connectivity agency is an important form of autonomy for managing work–home boundaries, recuperation from work and psychological detachment. With this in mind it becomes vital to understand how connectivity agency is shaped by various contextual factors.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative study draws upon data collected from 27 teleworkers representing a variety of industries and roles. We employed a semi-structured interview protocol and analysed the data using Tracy’s (2013) iterative coding technique.
Findings
Factors that influence one’s likelihood or capacity to exercise connectivity agency exist at the individual, group or organisational level. Our data elucidate factors such as the provision of home and technological resources, the state of team norms and shared expectations and the level of organisational (dis)trust as having significant influence on whether a teleworker exercises connectivity agency, or whether attempts to do so fail altogether.
Originality/value
Whilst we have a comprehensive understanding of types of connectivity agency behaviours, it is unclear how one’s agency may be influenced by contextual factors. The originality and key contribution of our study is in enriching our understanding of connectivity agency to appreciate it as a dynamic phenomenon that is shaped by various contextual factors. This presents a variety of important insights for professionals leading, implementing or partaking in distributed work.
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David Peetz, Olav Muurlink, Keith Townsend, Adrian Wilkinson and Madeleine Brabant
The purpose of this paper is to explore differences in the degree of innovation in employment relations (ER) between emerging and established firms,
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore differences in the degree of innovation in employment relations (ER) between emerging and established firms,
Design/methodology/approach
A large national telephone survey (N=1,416) of both emerging (<5 years) and established firms was conducted.
Findings
Emerging firms were more casualised, less unionised, and experiencing higher levels of market expansion and unpredictability. Despite these differences, younger firms showed otherwise remarkable similarity to older firms across a range of ER practices, and both categories showed a reliance on business networks, rather formal training, for ER knowledge. While introducing ER changes more rapidly than older (and larger) firms, they were converging towards a suite of ER practices similar to that adopted by older firms. The results suggest that, if anything, established firms may have been engaged in greater innovation in more unusual ER practices.
Research limitations/implications
Only managers were surveyed. The data are cross-sectional rather than longitudinal. As the study was undertaken in only one country, replication in other settings would be desirable.
Originality/value
The results raise major doubts about the notion that new firms represent the cutting edge of innovation, and highlights the degree to which newer firms match or mimic older firms’ ER architecture.
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Kenneth Cafferkey, Brian Harney, Keith Townsend and Jonathan Winterton
Nomusa Dube and Takawira Munyaradzi Ndofirepi
Keeping happy and committed workers is an imperative goal for organisations in any field, including higher education. Institutions must, however, have a thorough understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
Keeping happy and committed workers is an imperative goal for organisations in any field, including higher education. Institutions must, however, have a thorough understanding of the elements that influence various organisational commitment levels before they can develop human resource management guidelines and procedures that work. Hence, by using social exchange theory, this study aimed to investigate the connection between work–life balance (WLB), job satisfaction and organisational commitment among a sample of Zimbabwean higher education institutions. These factors have received relatively minimal attention in academic institutions, particularly in developing nations.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using convenience sampling, to examine 224 members of the teaching staff from two universities in western Zimbabwe. The collected data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results revealed that WLB significantly predicted job satisfaction. Furthermore, the relationship between WLB and affective and normative commitment was found to be indirect and mediated by job satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study suggest that WLB and job satisfaction are crucial factors for higher education institutions that aim to secure their talented faculty's affective and normative commitment. Therefore, universities should implement firm policies and practices that encourage academic staff to maintain a healthy WLB and enhance job satisfaction.
Originality/value
The study's main contribution is the development of a conceptual model that contributes to the ongoing scholarly discourse on how to enhance organisational commitment among academic staff in under-resourced higher education institutions, as well as the concomitant implications for human resource policies within these institutions.