Tiina Saari, Harri Melin, Evgeniya Balabanova and Azer Efendiev
This paper focuses on the relationship between leadership and work engagement (WE) in Finnish and Russian private sector organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper focuses on the relationship between leadership and work engagement (WE) in Finnish and Russian private sector organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how Finland and Russia differ in the level of WE; in the level of satisfaction with leadership and in specific components of leadership as most important antecedents for WE.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical analysis of this study is based on survey data collected in Finland and Russia. The analysis focuses on 1,570 Finnish and 490 Russian private sector, full-time employees with permanent contracts, who have no managerial responsibilities. The data are analyzed using descriptive methods and binary logistic regression analysis.
Findings
The results show, first, that both satisfaction of leadership and WE are higher in Finland than in Russia. Second, WE in Finland is facilitated by nearly all components of leadership – both materialistic- and relationship-based – while in Russia WE is predicted by rewarding good performers and such relationship-based practices as feedback, delegating responsibility, discussing work matters, and building trust. Contrary to the hypothesis, such materialistic-based components as providing equal treatment turned out to be insignificant for WE in Russia.
Practical implications
Organizations should invest in leadership quality to enhance WE and thus, to get a competitive advantage.
Originality/value
This study adds to the limited comparative research on WE and its predictors.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to identify previously unexamined predictors of abusive supervision (AS) that stem from socio-economic dependency of employees upon their direct…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify previously unexamined predictors of abusive supervision (AS) that stem from socio-economic dependency of employees upon their direct supervisors.
Design/methodology/approach
Using social exchange theory (SET) as framework, the author conducted empirical analysis that was based on survey data collected among 1,100 Russian white-collar private sector employees.
Findings
The results reveal the importance of organisation-level managerial practices which create employees' socio-economic dependency in predicting abusive supervision (AS). Significant positive predictions of AS in Russian business organisations are “accidental” and “zero-option” employment; getting a job through informal social contacts (“blat”); and dependence of wage upon personal relations with a supervisor. In turn, performance-based payment is the strongest factor that hinders AS. Taken together, these factors support one of the key assumptions of SET that control over valued resources creates imbalanced power relations, thus providing the fertile ground to the abuse of power.
Practical implications
Findings show that a transparent, performance-based system of payments, contributes to preventing AS by immediate supervisors. The author also provides arguments for reducing the economic and administrative power of line managers.
Originality/value
This study adds to the understanding of the role of managerial practices, which create socio-economic dependency of employees from managers, in predicting AS in organisations.
Details
Keywords
Tiina Saari, Harri Melin, Evgeniya Balabanova and Azer Efendiev
The purpose of this paper is to examine work engagement and its antecedents in two countries: Finland and Russia. The job demands-resources model provides the background theory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine work engagement and its antecedents in two countries: Finland and Russia. The job demands-resources model provides the background theory for the analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional research design. The data were analysed using descriptive methods and stepwise logistic regression analysis.
Findings
The overall level of work engagement was higher in Finland than in Russia. The opportunity to learn new skills at work was the strongest predictor of work engagement in both countries. The most significant difference was that once job demands and resources were taken into account, the managerial position had a strong effect on work engagement in Russia, while in Finland it had no significant effect.
Practical implications
Knowledge about the antecedents of work engagement and especially the strong effect of opportunities to learn new skills could encourage organisations to provide their employees with development opportunities throughout their careers.
Originality/value
This study adds to the limited comparative research on work engagement and its predictors.
Details
Keywords
Evgeniya Balabanova, Azer Efendiev, Mats Ehrnrooth and Alexei Koveshnikov
– The purpose of this paper is to examine antecedents of intentions to leave among blue-collar employees in domestic Russian organizations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine antecedents of intentions to leave among blue-collar employees in domestic Russian organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a sample of 1,210 blue-collar employees in 80 domestic organizations across 14 industries and eight regions in Russia.
Findings
The analysis shows that wage satisfaction is the strongest negative predictor of Russian employees’ intentions to leave compared to core job-related and interpersonal relations satisfaction. For non-blat employees, the relationships with intentions to leave are negative and significant for all three types of satisfactions, whereas for employees with blat only the relationship between core job-related satisfaction and intentions to leave is significant.
Originality/value
The present study, first, reveals that wage satisfaction is the most important but not the only way to retain blue-collar employees in Russia and, second, points toward the complex nature of blat’s influence on employees’ organizational behavior in contemporary Russian organizations. By so doing, the analysis provides a still rare empirical illustration of how relationships and variables explaining turnover intentions and its antecedents are contingent on economic, cultural and institutional contexts.
Details
Keywords
Evgeniya Balabanova, Azer Efendiev, Mats Ehrnrooth and Alexei Koveshnikov
– The purpose of this paper is to examine managerial styles of Russian managers in the context of institutional and economic environment of contemporary Russia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine managerial styles of Russian managers in the context of institutional and economic environment of contemporary Russia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a sample of 482 line and middle managers covering eight geographic regions, 14 industries and 80 organizations in Russia.
Findings
Employing factor and cluster analyses the paper identifies four distinct managerial styles: paternalistic, exploitative, performance oriented and passive. In addition, the paper analyzes a number of contingent characteristics of these typological Russian managers such as their age, career development, regional, industrial and organizational presence.
Originality/value
The analysis enriches the understanding of managerial style idiosyncrasy, heterogeneity and evolution in Russia. The identified plurality of managerial styles, differentially related to a number of contingency variables, indicates that it pays off for western companies to avoid using stereotypical ideas when dealing with their Russian counterparts and employ conscious strategies when recruiting managers to their Russian operations instead.