Chia-Huei Wu, Amy Wei Tian, Aleksandra Luksyte and Christiane Spitzmueller
The purpose of this paper is to offer an autonomous motivation perspective to explore the relationship between perceived overqualification and adaptive work behavior and examine…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an autonomous motivation perspective to explore the relationship between perceived overqualification and adaptive work behavior and examine job autonomy as a factor that may moderate the association.
Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses were tested in two culturally, demographically, and functionally diverse samples: sample 1 was based on North American community college employees (n=215); sample 2 was based on full-time workers, employed in a Chinese state-owned enterprise specializing in shipping (n=148).
Findings
In study 1, perceived overqualification was negatively related to self-rated adaptive behavior. A follow-up study 2 extended these findings by demonstrating that perceived overqualification was negatively related to supervisor-rated adaptive work behavior when job autonomy was low, rather than high.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research offer an autonomous motivation perspective to explain why perceived overqualification relates to adaptive behavior and suggests a job design approach to encourage adaptive behaviors of people who feel overqualified – a sizable segment of the current workforce.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to explore adaptive behavior of workers who feel overqualified – an outcome that has not been examined in this domain. The findings further point out what can be done to encourage adaptive behaviors among overqualified employees.
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Amy Wei Tian and Christine Soo
The purpose of this paper is to offer an understanding of the development and consequence of absorptive capacity (AC) at the individual level of analysis. The authors assess how…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer an understanding of the development and consequence of absorptive capacity (AC) at the individual level of analysis. The authors assess how perception of organizational commitment to learning and intrinsic motivation affects individual potential AC, and employee creativity and job performance as the key outcomes of individual AC. Furthermore, the authors examined the dual role of realized AC as a mediator in the potential AC-creativity relationship, and a moderator on the creativity-job performance relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws from 125 paired supervisor-employee survey data, where supervisors rated subordinates’ creativity and job performance. Hierarchical regression was used to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
The results confirm that both perception of organizational commitment to learning and intrinsic motivation contribute to the development of individual potential AC (above and beyond extrinsic motivation). Individual realized AC mediated the potential AC-creativity relationship. Employee creativity was positively related to job performance.
Research limitations/implications
This study speaks directly to the question of how an organization can encourage its employees to absorb new knowledge, and the benefits of employee learning activities on their creativity and job performance.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies to offer a more nuanced understanding of the development and consequences of individual AC – a level of analysis has been lack of empirical studies. It further point out how individual characteristic and perceptions can influence their learning capacity, and in turn, their performance.
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Eileen Aitken-Fox, Jane Coffey, Kantha Dayaram, Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen McKenna and Amy Wei Tian
Eileen Aitken-Fox, Jane Coffey, Kantha Dayaram, Scott Fitzgerald, Stephen McKenna and Amy Wei Tian
The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to investigate how human resource professionals (HRPs), in a variety of organizations, responded to the crisis brought about by the event of COVID-19. In particular, it aims to show how organizations, across all sectors, in Western Australia responded with urgency and flexibility to the crisis and showed “resilience in practice”.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on 136 questionnaire responses, 32 interviews and 25 managerial narratives. The mixed qualitative methodology was designed to enable an investigation of the impact of COVID-19 and the response of HRPs.
Findings
HRPs have responded with agility and flexibility to the impact of COVID-19. They have done so through extensive trial and error, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing. They have not simply activated a preconceived continuity plan.
Research limitations/implications
The research indicates that resilience is an ongoing accomplishment of organizations and the people in them. The objective was description rather than prescription, and the research does not offer solutions to future pandemic-like situations.
Practical implications
The research suggests that, given the impact of COVID-19 on organizations, HR practices, processes and policies will need to be thoroughly reconsidered for relevance in the post-COVID world. Possible future directions are highlighted.
Originality/value
The research considers the actions of HRPs as they responded to a global crisis as the crisis unfolded.
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Bo Zhang, Jianxun Chen, Amy Tian, Jonathan Morris and Hejun Fan
Following industry-based view’s (IBV) isomorphic trend among firms in the same industries, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate whether industry capital…
Abstract
Purpose
Following industry-based view’s (IBV) isomorphic trend among firms in the same industries, the purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate whether industry capital intensity encourages or inhibits firm’s utilization of strategic HRM systems, particularly, high-commitment work systems (HCWS); and second, to examine the quadratic moderating role of firm size on the relationship between industry capital intensity and firms’ utilization of HCWS, drawing on the interactionist view of IBV and the resource-based view, as well as the interactive perspective in the contextualized HRM field.
Design/methodology/approach
The research design was time lagged. Firm-level subjectively rated data were collected from 168 large firms with more than 200 employees in Beijing. Industry-level objectively rated data were collected from the statistics yearbooks of Beijing city.
Findings
The industry capital intensity was positively related to firms’ utilization of HCWS, all else being equal. For large firms in this research, the relationship between industry capital intensity and firms’ utilization of HCWS was moderated by firm size in a quadratic way.
Originality/value
This research contributes to contextualized HRM literature by empirically examining the complex interactive effects of industry capital intensity and firm’s utilization of HCWS. First, it established the direct cross-level relationship between industry capital intensity and firms’ utilization of strategic HRM systems. Moreover, it explored the boundary conditions of such relationship by investigating the quadratic moderating role of firm size.
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Hongyi Sun, Zulfiqar Ali and Liqun Wei
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship and effect of management support on individual creativity performance by focusing on the individual learning opportunity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship and effect of management support on individual creativity performance by focusing on the individual learning opportunity, adaptability to change and learning motivation in Hong Kong manufacturing companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on survey data collection by using a respondent-driven approach from 266 employees working in Hong Kong-based manufacturing firms. The model and hypotheses were tested by employing variance-based structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings indicate that management support has a positive effect on individual learning opportunity and creativity performance. Also, a significant positive relationship between individual creativity, performance, individual learning opportunity, adaptability to change, and learning motivation has been yielded. The management support has an overall positive link with all variables directly and indirectly.
Practical implications
Top management can foster employee creativity by supporting and providing learning opportunities and motivating employees to develop adaptive capability at an individual level.
Originality/value
An empirical study of how management support can foster individual creativity performance and individual learning opportunity. This study is one of the first to examine the positive relationship between management support and individual creativity by validating a purposed model, especially in the context of the Hong Kong manufacturing industry.
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Amy Wei Tian, John Cordery and Jos Gamble
The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of human resource management (HRM) practices on employees’ organisational job embeddedness and job performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the effect of human resource management (HRM) practices on employees’ organisational job embeddedness and job performance. Following the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) model of HRM, the authors predicted that ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing HRM practices would relate to fit, links and sacrifice components of job embeddedness, with these components mediating the relationship between HRM and employee job performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a matched sample of 197 Chinese state-own firm employees and their supervisors. Multiple mediation test was used to test direct and mediating effects.
Findings
Results indicated that HRM practices contribute to the creation and development of embeddedness, and the improvement of job performance. The job embeddedness components of fit, links and sacrifice were found to mediate the HRM-job performance relationship. The results suggest that organisations can proactively enhance both embeddedness and employee performance through implementing appropriate HRM practices.
Research limitations/implications
While this study makes a contribution to the understanding of the relationship between HRM practices, employees’ organisational job embeddedness, the authors collected most of the data during one time period.
Originality/value
Directly addressing these theoretical and methodological issues, the study makes two key contributions to the HRM and job embeddedness literatures. First, the authors found that the HR practices will directly influence employees’ job embeddedness. Second, the authors extend the scope of the AMO framework of HR by proposing that job embeddedness dimensions as important mediators in the HRM-job performance relationship.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate employee turnover in a leading Chinese retail organisation, where high turnover rates are recognised as being a major issue for human…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate employee turnover in a leading Chinese retail organisation, where high turnover rates are recognised as being a major issue for human resource strategy. The study seeks to focus on the job satisfaction‐turnover relationship, examining how this is moderated by occupation.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review on employee job satisfaction and employee turnover provides the basis for the research model and hypotheses. A self‐completion questionnaire survey, involving 164 respondents (95.4 per cent response rate) from a leading Chinese retail organisation was used to gather data and test existing theory in a Chinese context.
Findings
The results provided strong support for the hypothesised negative relationship between employee turnover intention and job satisfaction. Occupation is also significantly associated with job satisfaction, turnover intention and the job satisfaction‐turnover relationship: non‐management/frontline employees expressed higher levels of intention to leave their job than management/office employees.
Research limitations/implications
The sample was limited to one retail organisation in China. It may not be appropriate to generalise the findings across other populations or settings. However, the sample can be viewed as a representative case typical of many other organisations in the same industry.
Practical implications
The results provide insight into the impact of employee job satisfaction on turnover intention in the particular Chinese retail setting which could benefit managers and policy makers in the focus organisation as well as other organisations operating in the same sector in general.
Originality/value
The paper studies problems that characterise the Chinese retail sector.
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David Pick, Stephen T.T. Teo, Lars Tummers and Cameron Newton