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The strength-based approach is promulgated as a management practice that improves individual productivity and performance. This study's purpose is to explore the prospective applicability of the strengths-based approach to managing and developing employees in small businesses. The study focuses on four domains of practice: selection, training, performance evaluation and task assignment.

The study employed semi-structured, face-to-face interviews to obtain data. The units of analysis were managers and employees of small businesses. Eleven managers and 19 employees were interviewed. Data analysis involved thematic analysis with the NVivo 12 software program.

First, the small businesses used a strengths-based approach for employee selection during employees' temporary status of employment and in employee task assignment. However, managers did not employ a strengths-based approach to employee selection during selection interviews, training or performance evaluations. Second, the managers perceived strengths identification as a difficult task. Based on personal observations, they perceived employees' positive character traits, job-related skills and work-related efficiency as employee strengths.

This study informs managers about a potential alternative to the traditional weakness-based management practice. The findings and conceptual arguments suggest that a strengths-based approach can provide a cost-effective alternative to the resource-intensive approaches commonly employed to enhance employee productivity and performance.

The study provides the first empirical evidence on the prospective applicability of the strengths-based approach to small businesses and explores conceptually the suitability of the said approach to this context.

The purpose is to contribute to the debate on how job satisfaction might influence small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) employees' propensity to engage in innovative work behaviours. The authors examine the relations between job satisfaction and innovative work behaviour and each of its sub-dimensions: idea generation, promotion and realisation. Additionally, the authors explore the potential moderating effects of openness to experience and conscientiousness on the relations between job satisfaction and innovative work behaviour and each of the sub-dimensions of innovative work behaviour.

Paper-based questionnaires were used to collect data from employees in 28 SMEs located in the Aargau region of Switzerland. All the SMEs were part of the high-tech manufacturing industry. The authors’ hypothesized model was tested using hierarchal regression analysis on a sample of 125 employees.

Job satisfaction was positively related to innovative work behaviour and to each of its sub-dimensions: idea generation, promotion and realisation. Openness to experience moderated the relationships between job satisfaction and innovative work behaviour and job satisfaction and the sub-dimensions idea generation, idea promotion and idea realisation. However, conscientiousness did not moderate the relationship between job satisfaction and innovative work behaviour, nor between job satisfaction and each of the sub-dimensions of innovative work behaviour.

Findings demonstrate that supportive work environments in SMEs which help develop job satisfaction among employees can have positive effects on the discretionary performances of employees.

Studies that examine relationships between job satisfaction and innovative work behaviours in SMEs are extremely sparse. This study makes novel contributions to this line of inquiry by examining how job satisfaction relates to each of the three sub-dimensions of innovative work behaviour and by exploring the potential moderating roles of two important personality traits in these relationships.

There is an absence of research examining job embeddedness in SMEs. Results of job embeddedness studies may not apply to SMEs, because the process of managing a SME differs from that of the large firm. The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between on-the-job embeddedness, as well as each of its sub-dimensions, and turnover intentions; and group cohesion, on-the-job embeddedness and turnover intentions.

Data were collected from 147 employees in SMEs located in Perth, Western Australia and 350 employees from SMEs operating in four business centres in South Africa. After invariance testing, data from the two countries were combined to increase statistical power of the analysis.

On-the-job embeddedness and each sub-dimension were negatively related to turnover intentions. Group cohesion was positively related to composite on-the-job embeddedness. Findings suggest that while group cohesion on its own does not reduce turnover intentions, it does contribute to development of on-the-job embeddedness that, in turn, reduces turnover intentions.

Future research should control for the effects of external influences on turnover intentions. Findings imply that managerial actions related to antecedents of group cohesion could foster the on-the-job embeddedness of employees.

This study is perhaps the first that tests the operation of on-the-job embeddedness in SMEs located in two countries. The conceptual arguments for links between each of the sub-dimensions of on-the-job embeddedness and turnover intentions are based on distinctive characteristics of SMEs and can serve as a theoretical foundation for future research on embeddedness in SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between task-based and interactional informal learning practices in small professional services firms and the moderating role of proactivity in the relationship.

Job demand-resources theory was used to develop theoretical arguments for a link between informal learning and work engagement. Data were collected from 203 employees in professional services firms and analysed using structural equation modelling.

Analysis of the data showed that opportunities to learn through task-based learning processes and through interactions with supervisors and colleagues were positively related to employees’ levels of work engagement. Furthermore, the strength of relationships between these informal learning practices and work engagement was influenced by employees’ proactivity.

The limitations pertain to the non-random sampling procedure, cross-sectional nature of the study and the use of self-report measures. These limitations were mitigated by employing rigorous analytical procedures.

The results suggest that managers are able to influence the quantity and quality of informal workplace learning through strategies such as selecting employees who have a propensity for proactive behaviour, encouraging proactive behaviour, enabling experimentation and reflection and fostering positive interpersonal relations.

The study links two streams of research that have seemingly not been connected previously. The results suggest that small firms are sites with abundant potential for development of employees’ knowledge and skills and the associated experiences of work engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between organisation embeddedness and life satisfaction, and community embeddedness and life satisfaction. The study also examined relationships between each sub-dimension of organisation embeddedness and community embeddedness and life satisfaction. These sub-dimensions are “links”, “fit” and “sacrifice”.

Data were collected from 549 employees in organisations located in four major business centres in South Africa. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling.

Both organisation embeddedness and community embeddedness were positively related to life satisfaction. Regarding the sub-dimensions of organisation embeddedness, only organisation fit and sacrifice were positively related to life satisfaction. As regards the sub-dimensions of community embeddedness, only community fit was positively related to life satisfaction.

Adopting practices which embed employees in the organisation and communities where they live is potentially beneficial for both organisations and employee well-being.

The bulk of research on job embeddedness (JE) and work-related outcomes has focussed on benefits for the organisation. The effects of embeddedness on employee well-being have been largely overlooked. The current study is an attempt to redress this imbalance in JE research.

This paper aims to examine whether participation in training and development (T&D) events is associated with employees’ affective commitment and propensity to enact innovative behaviours in small professional services firms. The study also investigates associations between both attitudes towards T&D and policy and practice supportive of T&D and levels of participation in T&D events.

Data from 203 employees in small professional services firms employing 50 or fewer staff were analysed using regression analysis and PROCESS macro.

Only policy and practice supportive of T&D was associated with participation levels. Participation in T&D events was positively related to affective commitment. Furthermore, employees who participated in more T&D events were more likely to enact innovative behaviours, while affective commitment mediated the positive relationship between number of T&D events attended and innovative behaviours. Contrary to expectations, neither participation in just training nor participation in just development was associated with either attitudes or behaviours.

The findings have important implications for small firms which tend to rely on wholly work-based experiences for the development of employees’ knowledge and skills. Such an approach to learning for work may inadvertently shape a workforce that lacks commitment to the organisation and that has a diminished capacity for innovative behaviours.

There is limited research on how T&D affects attitudes and behaviours in small firms. Large and small firms are fundamentally different, thus findings from studies in large firms may not extend to small firms.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of job embeddedness (JE) theory to employees in manufacturing SMEs in Central Java, Indonesia, and to qualitatively assess the transferability of the JE framework and its measure to these distinctive contexts.

Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 42 employees from 13 SMEs. The JE framework informed development of the interview questions, which focussed on participants’ lived experiences. Thematic analysis of the textual data was conducted.

Distinctive characteristics of SMEs, such as resource constraints and managerial informality, and cultural factors influenced employees’ perceptions of the forces that embedded them in their jobs. For example, participants perceived the psychological costs associated with severing ties with co-workers as a more salient embedding force than the material costs associated with leaving a job. Additionally, lack of job fit was not an important turnover determinant, because work was perceived as a duty or obligation, rather than a personal choice.

The findings imply that the JE framework and its measure only partially explain why employees stay in manufacturing SMEs in Central Java. Accordingly, the original JE scale items would need to be significantly modified to accurately assess employees’ levels of embeddedness in Indonesian manufacturing SMEs.

Limited research has examined how SME owner-managers can retain key employees, particularly in Indonesia. This study contributes to an understanding of factors that embed employees in the cultural context of Indonesia and enhances our understanding of how JE theory operates in SMEs.

In a highly competitive globalised environment, the innovation behaviour of employees plays a key role in the economic viability and competitive advantage of organisations. In this context, developing the understanding of innovation work behaviour is important for the field of individual innovation and this is the focus of the study. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Data were collected using a survey from 549 employees in organisations operating in four major business centres in South Africa.

On-the-job embeddedness was positively and significantly related to innovation behaviours by employees in organisations operating in diverse industries. Consistent with the view that small organisations have a “behavioural” innovation advantage over larger organisations, the size of the organisation moderated the positive relationship between on-the-job embeddedness and innovation behaviours. On-the-job embeddedness was more positively related to innovation behaviours in small organisations than in larger organisations.

Employees who are highly embedded in their jobs (but not necessarily their communities) are more likely to enact innovation behaviours than employees who are not similarly embedded. Human resource management professionals and line managers can potentially foster employee innovation behaviours through adopting strategies aimed at positively influencing the fit, links and sacrifice dimensions of on-the-job embeddedness.

The study contributes to theoretical and empirical expansion of job embeddedness (JE) by examining: how work and non-work forces that attach employees to their organisations influence their propensity to enact innovation behaviours; and how organisation size moderates the relationship between JE and innovation behaviours. The results will help managers who wish to foster innovation.

This exploratory study adopts a stakeholder perspective on organisational effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to examine the job embeddedness (JE)–life satisfaction relationship, moderating roles of gender and community embeddedness and mediating role of innovative behaviour.

Using a snowballing approach, data were collected from 549 participants employed in organisations located in four major metropolitan centres in South Africa.

Analyses revealed a positive relationship between JE and life satisfaction. Gender moderated the JE–life satisfaction relationship, such that the relationship was stronger among females than males. Community embeddedness moderated the organisation embeddedness–life satisfaction relationship, such that the relationship was stronger when participants were highly embedded in their community. Finally, innovative behaviour mediated the relationship between organisation embeddedness and life satisfaction.

Managers could enhance employees’ life satisfaction through practices that increase on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness. Furthermore, organisations could encourage employees’ innovative behaviours through workplace supervisors’ supportive responses to innovative employees.

JE researchers have yet to focus on the personal benefits of embeddedness for employees. Results of the study provide several contributions to this research direction. The study uses JE as a composite construct to confirm its relationship with life satisfaction. It also expands the JE–life satisfaction relationship by examining moderators of the relationship and a mediating variable in the relationship.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the job embeddedness (JE)-turnover intentions relationship in large and small organisations; second, to investigate how employee perceptions of each dimension of JE may differ in large and small organisations; and third, to determine if work group cohesion moderates the JE-turnover intentions relationship.

Using a short form of the original JE questionnaire, data were collected from 549 employees in organisations located in four major business centres in South Africa. Participants were from organisations in diverse industries.

JE predicted turnover intentions in large organisations, but not in small organisations. Contrary to expectations, employees in small organisations perceived that they would sacrifice more benefits than employees in large organisations if they were to quit. Results suggest that work group cohesion moderates the JE-turnover intentions relationship.

Further research is needed to determine how JE operates in different size organisations and in urban and rural small organisations.

In small organisations, building group cohesion and persuasively communicating benefits of working in a small organisation can help to embed employees.

This study responds to calls for further JE research in a wider range of national contexts. It contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the three dimensions of JE by investigating how employee perceptions of each dimension differ in large and small organisations. The study also responds to appeals for research that examines moderators of the JE-turnover relationship by exploring work group cohesion as a potential moderator.