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1 – 10 of 12Mark O'Donnell, Lisa A. Ruth-Sahd and Clifton O. Mayfield
The purpose of this paper is to test whether supportive workspace design, cultivation of high-quality leader–member relationships and vision alignment explain incremental variance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test whether supportive workspace design, cultivation of high-quality leader–member relationships and vision alignment explain incremental variance in job satisfaction, work engagement and overall life satisfaction beyond antecedents identified in an earlier model of healthy workplace practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports the results of a survey study with a diverse sample of 214 employees.
Findings
In a series of regression analyses, the findings revealed that supportive workspace design, cultivation of high-quality leader–member relationships and vision alignment each explain incremental variance in one or more outcome variables (job satisfaction, work engagement and overall life satisfaction) beyond that of antecedents identified in an earlier model of healthy workplace practices.
Research limitations/implications
The present study identifies additional important variables to consider when conducting future research on healthy workplace practices. Future research could use longitudinal or experimental designs to further investigate the causal direction of the relationships identified in the present paper.
Practical implications
Managers can implement the practices identified in this paper to improve employees’ work engagement, job satisfaction and overall life satisfaction.
Social implications
This paper offers insights about how to improve employees’ lives, and thus, the potential impact is far-reaching and meaningful.
Originality/value
This paper empirically assesses workplace variables that were not included in tests of the prior healthy workplace practices model.
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Clifton O. Mayfield and Mark O’Donnell
COVID-19 accelerated the already growing prevalence of employees working remotely, and limited research exists on the effectiveness of proactive influence tactics in remote work…
Abstract
Purpose
COVID-19 accelerated the already growing prevalence of employees working remotely, and limited research exists on the effectiveness of proactive influence tactics in remote work settings. This study aims to identify which proactive influence tactics may best facilitate employee work engagement in a remote work setting.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data stems from 231 employees who work remotely in the USA. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the data and assess interaction effects.
Findings
Evidence was found for positive relationships between work engagement and multiple proactive influence tactics (collaboration, consultation, inspirational appeals, exchange, apprising, rational persuasion, personal appeals and ingratiation) and a negative relationship between work engagement and pressure. The percentage of time an employee spends working remotely moderated the proactive influence tactic-work engagement relationship. Significant interaction effects were found for exchange and personal appeals.
Practical implications
The results highlight several influence tactics that managers can consider using to increase employee work engagement. The findings also demonstrate the increasing effectiveness of certain influence tactics, such as exchange and personal appeals, as employees spend more time working remotely, shedding light on important considerations for managers seeking to optimize employee engagement in remote work environments.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the limited literature on proactive influence tactics and work engagement and examines these relationships in a remote work setting. In addition, it examines the moderating effect of the percentage of time an employee spends working remotely.
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Silvana Chambers, Clifton O. Mayfield and Alix Valenti
The extant research on student attrition and retention has relied on models that focus on factors over which universities may have limited control and thus not lead to actionable…
Abstract
Purpose
The extant research on student attrition and retention has relied on models that focus on factors over which universities may have limited control and thus not lead to actionable practices. To address this shortcoming, the authors applied organizational support theory (OST) to test the association between students' perceptions of justice, perceived organizational support (POS), perceived professor support, organizational identification, and intention to quit.
Design/methodology/approach
Using items from validated scales, a survey was used to collect data from students in the college of business at a southwestern public university in the United States. A final sample of 316 observations was fitted to a structural equation model to test the study's a priori hypotheses.
Findings
The authors found that professor support and procedural justice had direct positive effects on POS. Distributive justice and interactional justice indirectly influenced POS through professor support. In turn, POS had decreased students' intention to quit and increased their organizational identification. The antecedents of POS indirectly influenced intention to quit and organizational identification. The determinants in the model accounted for 12% of the variance in students' intentions to quit, and 25% of students' organizational identification.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the student attrition literature where few studies have applied OST to student populations despite the strong link between POS and intention to quit in employment settings. In this study, the authors provide evidence of the suitability of the OST framework to predict students' intentions to quit.
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Clifton O. Mayfield and Thomas D. Taber
Individual characteristics have been weaker correlates of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) than have attitudinal and contextual variables; however, few individual…
Abstract
Purpose
Individual characteristics have been weaker correlates of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) than have attitudinal and contextual variables; however, few individual characteristics have been examined. This paper seeks to broaden the search for possible antecedents to include individuals' prosocial self‐concept.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey (n=226) was conducted to examine the relationship between university students' prosocial self‐concept and their intentions to engage in campus‐related service and citizenship activities. Prosocial self‐concept was assessed with Crandall's 24‐item Social Interest Scale.
Findings
Prosocial self‐concept correlated modestly, but significantly, with OCB intentions toward fellow students (r=0.16, p<0.05), and OCB intentions toward society (r=0.18, p<0.05), but not with OCB intentions toward the university (r=0.12). Identification with the university correlated significantly with OCB intentions toward the university (r=0.29, p<0.001), but not with OCB intentions toward fellow students (r=0.13) or society (r=0.11). No significant interaction effects on OCBs were found between prosocial self‐concept and organizational identification.
Research limitations/implications
Observed correlations among prosocial self‐concept, university identification and the OCBs are very likely underestimated due to probable restrictions in the variance of the OCBs.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that prosocial self‐concept may be a unique correlate of OCB, contributing variance not accounted for by other variables.
Originality/value
Few empirical studies have examined the relationship between self‐concept and OCB.
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Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
Jay R. Tombaugh, Clifton Mayfield and Roger Durand
This study aims to provide preliminary evidence for a new conceptualization and measure of workplace spirituality labeled spiritual expression at work (SEW). While the extant…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide preliminary evidence for a new conceptualization and measure of workplace spirituality labeled spiritual expression at work (SEW). While the extant literature focuses on the fulfillment of workers' spiritual needs, spiritual expression refers to the impact of personal spirituality on the everyday thoughts, behaviors and interactions of employees.
Design/methodology/approach
A pilot study (n=92) included item generation and an exploratory factor analysis of the five‐item SEW scale (SEWS). The primary validation study (n=348) consisted of: performing a confirmatory factor analysis of the SEWS; comparing the SEWS with other spirituality measures, including two measures of personal spirituality and two measures of values‐based workplace spirituality; psychometrically assessing the convergent, discriminant and predictive validity of the SEWS; and examining the correlations and regression results between the SEWS and the comparison measures.
Findings
The SEWS showed acceptable psychometric properties across both samples, and the results support the convergent, discriminate and predictive validities of the SEW construct.
Research limitations/implications
This study is subject to the typical limitations of cross‐sectional research. However, meaningful results were obtained across two samples.
Practical implications
These results suggest workers may express their spirituality regardless of their perceptions of the spiritual nature of the organization. In doing so, personal spirituality may impact important personal and organizational outcomes.
Originality/value
This study moves beyond existing research by showing a new way to assess workplace spirituality.
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M. Alix Valenti, Rebecca Luce and Clifton Mayfield
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of prior firm performance on board composition and governance structure.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of prior firm performance on board composition and governance structure.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 90 companies listed on National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations were used for this study. Hypotheses were tested using both general linear regression and logit regression analyses.
Findings
The results showed that prior negative change in firm performance was significantly related to a decrease in the overall number of directors and a decrease in the number of outside directors.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size used in this study was relatively small and the focus was on small to medium‐sized firms, so the results found here may not apply to firms larger than those used in our sample.
Practical implications
Directors may want to consider the implications for governance practices found in this study, specifically, whether smaller boards with fewer outsiders are appropriate following periods of performance decline.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to examine the effects of trends in prior firm performance on board composition and chief executive officer duality.
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In the past, the only way in which it has been possible to ensure that the requisite conditions regarding pasteurisation have been complied with has been frequent…
Abstract
In the past, the only way in which it has been possible to ensure that the requisite conditions regarding pasteurisation have been complied with has been frequent bacteriological examinations of the milk, together with inspection of the plant and methods. The time taken in making such inspections, if properly carried out with sufficient frequency to be of any value, has been a serious objection to this form of control, while, in addition, much of the milk sold in a district may have been pasteurised in the area of another authority, when the responsible official finds himself unable to inspect either plant or methods. Even when plants are apparently satisfactory, slight errors may arise which are difficult to discover. On this score, most districts have been obliged to rely upon bacteriological control, a method which, as we have seen, is open to experimental error. It is obvious that the control of pasteurising plants has presented a difficult problem, as such plants are of great variety and often of intricate design, resulting in their inspection being a highly‐skilled operation.