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1 – 10 of 14Matthew J. Xerri, Yvonne Brunetto, Benjamin Farr-Wharton and Ashley Cully
This research examines the extent to which emotional contagions are shaped by human resource practices (HRPs) and work harassment and the influence of this on employee well-being…
Abstract
Purpose
This research examines the extent to which emotional contagions are shaped by human resource practices (HRPs) and work harassment and the influence of this on employee well-being and innovative behaviour.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined a structural equation model, including two waves of survey data from 240 healthcare professionals to explore the statistical associations between the tested variables.
Findings
The results do not show support for a significant relationship linking HRPs with work harassment. However, a significant positive effect linking HRPs, positive contagion, well-being and innovative behaviour was noted, in addition to a significant negative link from harassment on positive contagion, well-being and innovation behaviour.
Originality/value
The research highlights the limited role that HRPs (alone) play in mitigating harassment and their deleterious effects. Notwithstanding, HRPs can have a positive role in shaping the positive contagions and subsequent positive effects on employee and work outcomes.
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Matthew Xerri, Farr-Wharton Ben, Yvonne Brunetto, Frank Crossan and Rona Beattie
The purpose of this paper is to use conservation of resources (COR) theory as a lens for comparing the impact of line management on Bangladeshi public and private nurses’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use conservation of resources (COR) theory as a lens for comparing the impact of line management on Bangladeshi public and private nurses’ perception of work harassment, well-being and turnover intentions where Anglo-American and European management models have been super-imposed on an existing different culture.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 317 Bangladeshi nurses’ (131 from the public sector and 186 from the private sector). Structural equation modelling was used for analysis.
Findings
High work harassment was associated with low-being, and together with management practices, it explained approximately a quarter of private sector nurses’ well-being. In total, management, work harassment and employee well-being explained approximately a third of the turnover intentions of public sector nurses, whereas only work harassment explained approximately a third of private sector nurses’ turnover intentions. The findings suggest a differential impact of management on work harassment across the public and private sector.
Research limitations/implications
Cross-sectional data are susceptible to common method bias. A common latent factor was included, and several items that were explained by common method variance were controlled. Further, the findings are limited by the sample size from one sector and the use of only one developing country.
Practical implications
It is a waste of resources to transplant Anglo-American and European management models to developing countries without understanding the impact on nurses’ outcomes.
Originality/value
Anglo-American and European management models are not easily transferable to the Bangladesh context probably because of the impact of ties and corruption. Line management is a positive resource that builds employee well-being for public sector employees only.
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Benjamin Farr-Wharton, Yvonne Brunetto, Paresh Wankhade, Chiara Saccon and Matthew Xerri
This paper compares the impact of leadership behaviours on the discretionary power, and well-being, and affective commitment of police officers from Italy and the United Kingdom…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper compares the impact of leadership behaviours on the discretionary power, and well-being, and affective commitment of police officers from Italy and the United Kingdom (UK). In contrast to Italy, UK is an example of a core-New Public Management (NPM) country that has implemented reforms, in turn, changing the management and administration of public organizations. Consequently, it is expected that there will be significant differences in the behaviour of police officers. In particular, the paper examines the antecedents and outcomes of police officers' well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The study involves collecting and analysing survey data using Structural Equation Modelling from 220 Italian and 238 UK police officers.
Findings
There was a significant path from Leadership to Discretionary Power to Employee Well-being to Affective Commitment – at least for the Italian sample. The UK sample does not have a significant link between leadership and discretionary power. Discretionary power was similarly low for both groups as was affective commitment. Authentic leadership and discretionary power explained approximately a third of their well-being, particularly discretionary power. Together, directly and indirectly (mediated by well-being), they explained at least a third of police officers' commitment to their organization. Well-being appears to be the key to ensuring effective police officers.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation of this paper includes the use of cross-sectional data (Podsakoff et al., 2003). However, a common latent factor (CLF) was included, and several items that were explained by common method variance were controlled, as per George and Pandey's recommendations (2017). Additionally, a Harmon's single factor test was applied to the data.
Practical implications
The UK police officers have significantly lower commitment compared with the Italian police officers (non-commitment), and both Italian and UK police officers have less discretionary power and well-being compared with police from the United States of America (USA) police officers and other street-level bureaucrats (SLBs). The findings suggest that the present police leadership behaviours erode rather than supports police officers' discretionary power and well-being, leading to a low organizational commitment. Leadership training will better prepare managers to ensure the well-being of police officers working under conditions of work intensification.
Originality/value
The UK police officers have significantly lower commitment compared with the Italian police officers (non-commitment), and both Italian and UK police officers have less discretionary power and well-being compared with US police officers and other SLBs. The findings show that the police leadership erodes rather than supports police officers' discretionary power and well-being, leading to low organizational commitment. Leadership models that enhance employee well-being rather than efficiency targets must be a priority if police are to be prepared to cope effectively with emergencies and pandemics.
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Fleur Sharafizad, Aglae Hernandez Grande and Benjamin Farr-Wharton
Policing organizations in Australia are increasingly expected to eliminate or mitigate psychosocial risks in the workplace to promote employee wellbeing. New leadership skills are…
Abstract
Purpose
Policing organizations in Australia are increasingly expected to eliminate or mitigate psychosocial risks in the workplace to promote employee wellbeing. New leadership skills are required, as police leaders play a key role in supporting the physical and mental health of their staff. This study aims to investigate police leaders’ perceptions about their ability to support employee wellbeing, and the ways in which they would like their organization to equip them for this important task.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on the narratives provided by 156 Australian police leaders in response to a series of open-ended questionnaire questions.
Findings
Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the themes identified indicate that police leaders are hindered in their ability to support the wellbeing of their staff by their own increasing workload in a context of reduced resourcing, the continuing stigma around mental health issues, a lack of knowledge and skills about how to support employee wellbeing and a lack of support from senior management.
Practical implications
Overall, the study highlights the way in which new work, health and safety guidelines place additional responsibilities on police leaders for which many report not feeling prepared. Findings suggest that bespoke leadership training may be required to assist police leaders in supporting the mitigation of psychosocial hazards in the workplace.
Originality/value
Considering continuously evolving psychosocial safety guidelines, this paper makes a unique contribution to contemporary knowledge by focusing on the role and readiness of police leaders in Australia to lessen the psychological impact of police work on officers in an increasingly complex policing context. Additionally, practical implications and recommendations are discussed and offered.
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Michael Charles, Ben Farr-Wharton, Tania von der Heidt and Neroli Sheldon
The purpose of this paper is to investigate examiner reactions to doctorate of business administration (DBA) theses at an Australian university applying Perry’s structured…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate examiner reactions to doctorate of business administration (DBA) theses at an Australian university applying Perry’s structured approach to thesis presentation, which had its origin in the marketing discipline, but is now widely applied to other business disciplines.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines 49 DBA examiner reports relating to 19 DBA theses using the structured Perry approach, with emphasis paid to comments relating to thesis structure and presentation. Only those theses that acknowledged Perry or demonstrated Perry-like characteristics were interrogated.
Findings
The use of Perry’s structured approach can lead to DBA theses that place excessive emphasis on description rather than practical outcomes, as should occur with a professional doctorate, and also fosters excessive repetition and scaffolding that unduly interferes with the candidate’s “story telling”. Many examiners found theses using Perry’s structured approach problematic, particularly with respect to a lack of integration with the literature and reflection on the findings in relation to previous studies.
Research limitations/implications
The use of Perry’s structured approach potentially acts as a further barrier to DBA theses, and other professional doctorates by extension, sufficiently differentiating themselves from PhDs. This has implications for the examination of such theses, which are sometimes viewed as lower-quality PhDs instead of professional doctorates.
Originality/value
Applying a traditional PhD thesis structure, such as the model advocated by Perry with its use of five chapters, to DBA theses potentially exacerbates existing professional doctorate “image” issues, thereby leading to ambiguity for examiners and the candidates themselves.
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Matthew J. Xerri, Ben Farr-Wharton and Yvonne Brunetto
This paper uses conservation of resources (COR) theory to examine antecedents of psychological capital (PsyCap). Past research shows that employees with high personal resources…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper uses conservation of resources (COR) theory to examine antecedents of psychological capital (PsyCap). Past research shows that employees with high personal resources such as PsyCap also have high work performance. Hence, organizations need information about how to enhance PsyCap. This paper extends existing research by examining potential antecedents of PsyCap. A total of three potential antecedents are tested, including perceptions of individual-level cooperation between employees (i.e. teamwork), relationships between employees and their supervisors (i.e. supervisor–subordinate relationships) and a human resource (HR) practice (i.e. training opportunities).
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to compare the impact of organizational factors on US and Australian employees' PsyCap.
Findings
The results indicate a significant direct effect of leader–member exchange (LMX) onto PsyCap and a significant indirect effect between LMX and PsyCap through teamwork and through training opportunities for employees in Australia and the USA. Teamwork and training opportunities partially mediate the impact of LMX onto PsyCap for both Australian and US employees.
Practical implications
Australian employees are likely to reduce their performance because of a perceived loss of personal resources and/or may even experience burnout and/or become a stress-related workers compensation statistic.
Originality/value
The findings suggest that employees in Australia perceived significantly lower levels of supportive resources to draw upon, including from their managers and peers. On applying COR theory, when comparing employees, it was observed that those who perceive fewer resources will be less equipped to produce resource gains. Taking into consideration that employees require the use of resources to maintain personal resources, Australian employees have fewer resources at their disposal to maintain their personal resources (i.e. PsyCap).
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Elisabetta Trinchero, Ben Farr-Wharton and Yvonne Brunetto
Using social exchange theory (SET) and Cooper’s (2000) model, the purpose of this paper is to operationalise a comprehensive model of safety culture and tests whether SET factors…
Abstract
Purpose
Using social exchange theory (SET) and Cooper’s (2000) model, the purpose of this paper is to operationalise a comprehensive model of safety culture and tests whether SET factors (supervisor-employee relationships and engagement) predict safety culture in a causal chain.
Design/methodology/approach
The model was tested using surveys from 648 healthcare staff in an Italian acute care hospital and analysed using structural equation modelling.
Findings
Safety behaviours of clinical staff can be explained by the quality of the supervisor-employee relationship, their engagement, their feelings about safety and the quality of organisational support.
Practical implications
The model provides a roadmap for strategically embedding effective safe behaviours. Management needs to improve healthcare staff’s workplace relationships to enhance engagement and to shape beliefs about safety practices.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is that it has empirically developed and tested a comprehensive model of safety culture that identifies a causal chain for healthcare managers to follow so as to embed an effective safety culture.
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Benjamin Stuart Rodney Farr-Wharton, Kerry Brown, Robyn Keast and Yuliya Shymko
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organisational business acumen and social network structure on the earnings and labour precarity experienced by creative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organisational business acumen and social network structure on the earnings and labour precarity experienced by creative industry workers.
Design/methodology/approach
Results from a survey that collected data from a random sample of 289 creative workers are analysed using structural equation modelling. Mediating effects of social network structure are explored.
Findings
Results support the qualitative findings of Crombie and Hagoort (2010) who claim that organisational business acumen is a significant enabler for creative workers. Further, social network structure has a partial mediating effect in mitigating labour precarity.
Research limitations/implications
This exploratory study is novel in its use of a quantitative approach to understand the relationship between labour and social network dynamics of the creative industries. For this reason, developed scales, while robust in exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, warrant further application and maturity.
Practical implications
The organisational business acumen of creative workers is found to mitigate labour precarity and increase perceived earnings.
Social implications
The results from this study call for policy and management shifts, to focus attention on developing business proficiency of creative workers, in an effort to curb labour precarity in the creative industries, and enhance positive spillovers into other sectors.
Originality/value
The paper fills a gap in knowledge regarding the impact of organisational business acumen and social network structure on the pay and working conditions of people working in a sector that is dominated by self-employed and freelance arrangements.
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Benjamin Hopkins, David Dowell and Joe Flitton
With rare research access to the police service in the United Kingdom, the authors investigate levels of burnout and the performance of emotional labour.
Abstract
Purpose
With rare research access to the police service in the United Kingdom, the authors investigate levels of burnout and the performance of emotional labour.
Design/methodology/approach
Using 330 surveys completed by serving police officers, the authors investigate levels of burnout and also the performance of the three elements of emotional labour.
Findings
Investigating heterogeneity, the authors create a typology of three different types of officer. In addition to a core group, this includes groups with misaligned and matching values. Surface acting impacts on all groups, and in each group it is associated with increased levels of burnout.
Originality/value
A unique feature of this research is the involvement of a practitioner from the police service in the authorship team, together with re-engagement with the police service in order to refine this typology. Possible coping strategies are introduced following this consultation.
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Abiodun Samuel Adegbile, Oyedele Martins Ogundana and Sola Adesola
Entrepreneurship policy is a vital component of any entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the specific policy initiatives that have a greater impact on women's entrepreneurship…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurship policy is a vital component of any entrepreneurial ecosystem. However, the specific policy initiatives that have a greater impact on women's entrepreneurship remain unclear in many developing economies. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of entrepreneurship policies targeted at women’s entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Design/methodology/approach
Employing fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), this paper utilises and analyses secondary data collected by the World Bank's Women, Business, and the Law (WBL) from 1970 to 2020, encompassing 48 countries within SSA.
Findings
Through our analysis, we identified two configurations that sufficiently support women's entrepreneurship. First, a combination of gender-based policies focussing on enabling “access to credit” and “signing of contracts”; and second, a blend of policies supporting “signing of contracts”, “business registration”, and “opening a bank account”, represent significant antecedents to supporting women's entrepreneurship. These distinct pathways are crucial to fostering women’s entrepreneurship in the SSA region.
Research limitations/implications
The study's findings indicate that the impact and effectiveness of entrepreneurship policies targeted at women entrepreneurs in developing economies depend on the effectiveness of other policies that are in place.
Originality/value
This study offers new insights into the intricate interrelationship between entrepreneurship policies and women’s entrepreneurship in developing countries by considering the interdependence and combinative value of gender-based policies that effectively support women’s entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa.
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