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.
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Keywords
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
Oxana Krutova, Tuuli Turja, Pertti Koistinen, Harri Melin and Tuomo Särkikoski
Existing research suggests that the competitive advantage provided by technological development depends to a large extent on the speed and coordination of the technology’s…
Abstract
Purpose
Existing research suggests that the competitive advantage provided by technological development depends to a large extent on the speed and coordination of the technology’s implementation, and on how adoptable the technological applications are considered. While accepting this argument, the authors consider the explanatory model to be inadequate. This study aims to contribute to the theoretical discussion by analysing institutionalised industrial relations and other organisation-level factors, which are important for workplace restructuring and societal change.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on a representative nation-wide work and working conditions survey (N = 4,100) from Finland, which includes a variety of themes, including practices, changes and well-being at work. Changes are understood as organisational changes, focusing on modern technologies such as robotisation and digitalisation.
Findings
The results indicate that occupational division at workplace (low-skilled vs high-skilled occupations) affects job insecurity and acceptance of technologies at work. The characteristics of workplaces, such as the employees’ participation and involvement in the development of the organisation, play a significant part in both the acceptance and the implementation and outcomes of the technological transformations in the workplace.
Practical implications
The research provides new and interesting insights into working life practices. Furthermore, it reveals how technology acceptance and employment perspectives relate to working conditions and lessons learned from past reforms.
Originality/value
The authors consider current theories such as technology acceptance model at the micro level and that way rationalise the need for this study. This study shows the importance of individual, organisational and wider contextual factors in technology acceptance.
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Keywords
Oxana Krutova, Pertti Koistinen, Tuuli Turja, Harri Melin and Tuomo Särkikoski
This paper aims to examine how input from the digital restructuring of the workplace and productivity affects the risk of job loss and unemployment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how input from the digital restructuring of the workplace and productivity affects the risk of job loss and unemployment.
Design/methodology/approach
Relying on the concepts of technological unemployment and the productivity paradox as well as the theory of skills-biased technological change, the analysis incorporated micro-level individual determinants of job loss, macro-level economic determinants of input and the contribution from traditional (machinery and equipment) vs innovative (ICT) factors of production. The model has been also controlled for “traditional” indicators of “outsiderness” in the labour market. The Quality of Work Life Survey, which is a broad-based national interview survey produced by Statistics Finland, for 2018, the latest year available (N = 4,110) has been used in the analysis. Binomial logistic regression has been applied in order to estimate the effects of individual- and macro-level factors on the risk of job loss.
Findings
The results support arguments for the divergence between effects from labour- vs total-factor productivity on the risks of job loss, as well as the divergence between effects for temporary (layoff) vs permanent job loss (dismissal or unemployment). While the contribution from “traditional” factors of production to labour productivity potentially decreases the risk of permanent job loss, input from “innovative” factors of production on total-factor productivity potentially causes adverse effects (e.g. growing risks of permanent job loss).
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the theoretical discussion about technological unemployment and productivity by means of including two different concepts into a single econometric model, thus enabling examination of the research problem in an innovative way.
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Keywords
Multiple jobholders’ workplace learning is an under-researched theme, although it offers possibilities to add knowledge of learning at several workplaces at a time. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Multiple jobholders’ workplace learning is an under-researched theme, although it offers possibilities to add knowledge of learning at several workplaces at a time. The purpose of this study is to explore the career development and workplace learning of Finnish multiple jobholders with university degree.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative extreme case study of “elite multiple jobholders” was based on 45 in-depth interviews, which were analysed by abductive content analysis using the chaos theory of careers (CTC).
Findings
This study showed that elite multiple jobholders were attracted by meaningful jobs, which were significant, had broader purposes or offered possibilities for self-realization and self-development, whereas they criticized paid work organizations. They tried to anticipate the future working life and labour markets and adjusted their careers to them by educating and by choosing jobs with learning possibilities. However, they saw themselves as constructers of the future, which left them at vulnerable position concerning the institutional setting. They organized their work flexibly with different contracts and their professional identities were networked.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited in Finns with university degree. Future research should inspect multiple jobholders with lower degree educations, in different contexts and with other methodologies.
Originality/value
This study gives an example of applying CTC as a holistic framework to study how individual careers emerge contextually and how they are recursively connected to work organization and working life changes. Possibilities to understand fractals are offered.
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Peter Wyer, Bob Barrett and Konstantinos Biginas
The purpose of this chapter is to examine what small business strategic management and long-term planning involves as practised by successful growth-oriented small businesses. The…
Abstract
Chapter Contribution
The purpose of this chapter is to examine what small business strategic management and long-term planning involves as practised by successful growth-oriented small businesses. The aim is to provide insight into the strategic learning, control and development processes, including indicative detail of the underpinning day-to-day practices and actions that make up those processes. Key focus is the overall strategic control activity of more progressive owner managers and their use of an idiosyncratic mentally held ‘strategic planning and thinking framework’ that guides and informs strategic decision-making, strategic adjustment to existing markets, products and processes activities and long-term strategic direction.
The research approach is underpinned and informed by personal construct theory which gives emphasis to the highly complex nature of the task of small business strategic control and highlights the need for a creative and innovative research methodology to facilitate close and detailed investigation of the phenomenon. To this end, a multidisciplinary case study research methodology was developed by the authors to underpin examination of strategic development and planning within micro-, small- and medium-sized businesses.
The chapter enhances understanding of small business strategic management practice in growth-achieving micro and small enterprises. The findings of this research, whilst demonstrating the key role of entrepreneurial learning in small firm strategic control of the uncertain external environment, also provides a multidimensional lens through which to dissect and better understand the small firm strategy development process – drawing upon and integrating grains of truth from the differing schools of management thought embedded in the literature.
The findings of this study also facilitate the addressing of the ‘black box’ of hazy insight within the literature which fails to reveal micro-level fine detail understanding of the managerial and organisational actions and activities that make up strategy process. The authors commence provision of such black box insight within this chapter – this as lead-through to the follow-on chapter which affords specific attention to enhancing understanding of the micro-level fine detail minutia of managerial, organisational and work activities that make up strategy process within small businesses.
The research is of a comparative dimension focussing on small business development within the developed economy context of the UK, the emerging economy contexts of Malaysia and Ghana and the transitional economy contexts of Russia. Thus, time and resource limitations bound the studies.
As CD‐ROM becomes more and more a standard reference and technicalsupport tool in all types of libraries, the annual review of thistechnology published in Computers in Libraries…
Abstract
As CD‐ROM becomes more and more a standard reference and technical support tool in all types of libraries, the annual review of this technology published in Computers in Libraries magazine increases in size and scope. This year, author Susan L. Adkins has prepared this exceptionally useful bibliography which she has cross‐referenced with a subject index.
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Ali Asghar Abbassi Kamardi and Sina Sarmadi
The decision to become international is a highlighted organisational decision that affects all dimensions at all firm levels. Human resources are also among the parts of the…
Abstract
The decision to become international is a highlighted organisational decision that affects all dimensions at all firm levels. Human resources are also among the parts of the organisation affected by this decision. Paying attention to employees can speed up and facilitate this process. Organisational integrity is one of the most significant issues that must be considered. In this regard, identifying, investigating and planning to deal with the destructive effects that may influence the employees of small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) in internationalisation, are among the subjects that have so far received less attention and should be studied more. The present study explores the destructive influences of internationalisation on the employees of SMEs by a hybrid multi-layer decision-making model-psychological solution. First, by reviewing the literature, the destructive impacts of internationalisation on employees are extracted. In the next stage, these factors are screened according to the condition of the SMEs in an emerging economy by interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy Delphi (IVIHF-Delphi). The impact of these factors on each other is then evaluated applying interval-valued intuitionistic hesitant fuzzy DEMATEL-based ANP (IVIHF-DANP). Consequently, the highlighted destructive impacts are determined and the psychological solutions to face them are provided.
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GTE's Smart CampusSM. Today's college‐bound students are growing up in a quickly evolving world of electronic information access. From the telephone, radio, cable TV, and personal…
Abstract
GTE's Smart CampusSM. Today's college‐bound students are growing up in a quickly evolving world of electronic information access. From the telephone, radio, cable TV, and personal computers, they are already accustomed to receiving and interacting with electronic data through these communications resources.
The selection and evaluation of CD‐ROM disks are important steps in the planning of a CD‐ROM facility. The choice of databases depends upon, among other factors, the objectives of…
Abstract
The selection and evaluation of CD‐ROM disks are important steps in the planning of a CD‐ROM facility. The choice of databases depends upon, among other factors, the objectives of the library, the projected use of each disk, and financial considerations. In this article we review the literature that deals with these matters. We begin with what is available on disk selection, via both printed directories and in the journals. We next discuss reported methods of disk evaluation. Finally, we cover existing reviews of various CD‐ROM products.