Marko Kohtamäki, Sascha Kraus, Markus Mäkelä and Mikko Rönkkö
The study seeks to add to the existing body of knowledge on the link between strategic planning and company performance by exploring the mediating role of personnel commitment to…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to add to the existing body of knowledge on the link between strategic planning and company performance by exploring the mediating role of personnel commitment to strategy implementation and organisational learning. To study the indirect link between strategic planning and company performance, the paper aims to introduce a participative strategic planning construct that may enable firms to: commit personnel to strategy implementation; increase organisational learning; and improve company performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data from 160 small and medium‐sized Finnish IT companies, the authors conduct an Mplus‐analysis.
Findings
The findings indicate that participative strategic planning positively affects personnel commitment to strategy implementation, which thereby increases company performance. However, according to the analysis, participative strategic planning does not impact organisational learning, although organisational learning does have a positive impact on company performance.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study are generalisable to a dynamic industry context of small and medium‐sized IT‐firms operating in a small open economy, such as that of Finland.
Practical implications
The results suggest that managers need to involve personnel in strategic planning to increase personnel commitment to strategy implementation. However, because participative strategic planning does not facilitate organisational learning, managers need to determine other ways to facilitate learning at an organisational level.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the role of participative strategic planning, which facilitates personnel commitment to strategy implementation and thus improves company performance.
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Lucy Rattrie and Markus Kittler
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore well-being experiences of international business travellers (IBTs) and contribute to our understanding of personal and job…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore well-being experiences of international business travellers (IBTs) and contribute to our understanding of personal and job characteristics as antecedents of ill- or well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ insights are based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 32 IBTs assigned to various destinations ranging from single-country travel to global operation. Participants in this study represent a range of traveller personas (regarding demographics, type of work, travel patterns). Thematic analysis is used to reveal new insights.
Findings
The authors’ analysis revealed trip-load (i.e. workload, control, organisational support) and intensity of travel (i.e. frequency, duration and quality) as job characteristics that sit on an energy stimulation continuum, driving work-related outcomes such as stress and burnout or health and well-being. Energy draining and boosting processes are moderated by cognitive flexibility and behavioural characteristics.
Practical implications
Findings represent a framework for managing IBT well-being via adjustments in job and travel characteristics, plus guidance for training and development to help IBTs self-manage.
Originality/value
The insights within this paper contribute to the conversation around how to enhance well-being for IBTs and frequent flyers. The study intends to offer direction as to which specific job, psychological and behavioural characteristics to focus on, introducing a novel framework for understanding and avoiding serious consequences associated with international mobility such as increased stress, burnout and ill-health.
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Allison S. Gabriel, David F. Arena, Charles Calderwood, Joanna Tochman Campbell, Nitya Chawla, Emily S. Corwin, Maira E. Ezerins, Kristen P. Jones, Anthony C. Klotz, Jeffrey D. Larson, Angelica Leigh, Rebecca L. MacGowan, Christina M. Moran, Devalina Nag, Kristie M. Rogers, Christopher C. Rosen, Katina B. Sawyer, Kristen M. Shockley, Lauren S. Simon and Kate P. Zipay
Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being…
Abstract
Organizational researchers studying well-being – as well as organizations themselves – often place much of the burden on employees to manage and preserve their own well-being. Missing from this discussion is how – from a human resources management (HRM) perspective – organizations and managers can directly and positively shape the well-being of their employees. The authors use this review to paint a picture of what organizations could be like if they valued people holistically and embraced the full experience of employees’ lives to promote well-being at work. In so doing, the authors tackle five challenges that managers may have to help their employees navigate, but to date have received more limited empirical and theoretical attention from an HRM perspective: (1) recovery at work; (2) women’s health; (3) concealable stigmas; (4) caregiving; and (5) coping with socio-environmental jolts. In each section, the authors highlight how past research has treated managerial or organizational support on these topics, and pave the way for where research needs to advance from an HRM perspective. The authors conclude with ideas for tackling these issues methodologically and analytically, highlighting ways to recruit and support more vulnerable samples that are encapsulated within these topics, as well as analytic approaches to study employee experiences more holistically. In sum, this review represents a call for organizations to now – more than ever – build thriving organizations.
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This qualitative study is grounded on in-depth interviews with 30 Western women self-initiated expatriate (SIEs) currently living and working in the UAE. When selecting the…
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study is grounded on in-depth interviews with 30 Western women self-initiated expatriate (SIEs) currently living and working in the UAE. When selecting the interviewees, the author used purposeful sampling to ensure a diverse sample of interviewees with respect to nationality, age, gender and occupation.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study, drawing on boundary theory, aims to investigate the work–life balance (WLB) of Western women SIEs regarding how these women construct and manage the borders between the non-work and work lives in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Findings
The results demonstrate that women SIEs experience conflicts and enrichment during overseas employment. Both directions – the impact flowing from working life to personal life and vice versa – were significant. Different career and life phases appeared to be crucial to these experiences. The study also found that some women SIEs in the UAE experience high pressure in the WLB approaches, which are primarily impacted by the specific work–life environment in the UAE. Mostly, work–life boundaries are culturally and socially induced. Hence, many women SIEs encounter disparities between the robust work–life separations in the home country compared to the host country; women SIEs, therefore, need to relax the boundaries to adapt to the competitive work–life environment in the UAE.
Originality/value
The present study contributes to research on work–life boundary management approaches in local settings, such as UAE, by analyzing cross-cultural and individual dimensions. Moreover, although women are still a minority among SIEs, the number of women is increasing. As prior studies have mainly focused on male SIEs, more research is required focusing specifically on women with overseas jobs. The present study endeavors to fill this research gap.
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Pia Charlotte Faeth and Markus G. Kittler
The successful management of business expatriates and their families in hostile environments (HE) is a current concern for academics and human resources (HR) practitioners alike…
Abstract
Purpose
The successful management of business expatriates and their families in hostile environments (HE) is a current concern for academics and human resources (HR) practitioners alike. Terrorism and other forms of violent crime have become salient topics on the public agenda, and international organizations are increasingly affected. Hence, scholarly interest in the HR implications for organizations sending staff to HEs has recently grown, and a nascent research area has emerged. This paper is the first systematic review synthesizing emerging literature in the field of expatriate management in HEs and its theoretical foundations, applying a multi-stakeholder perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
Following accepted review procedures, systematic searches were conducted across three major databases. Manual search in target journals provided additional scrutiny.
Findings
After analysing 28 articles, four main stakeholders were identified as follows: environments, expatriates, assigning organizations and the expatriates' social networks. Findings reveal the ways of how all stakeholders can affect expatiation success or be affected so that the success of the assignment is jeopardised.
Originality/value
Our paper illustrates how these diverse articles can be linked within a comprehensive multi-stakeholder framework and provides avenues for future research. We also shift attention to neglected theoretical perspectives that might further improve the understanding of expatriates in HEs while offering actionable guidance for managerial and organizational practices.
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Evgenia I. Lysova, Konstantin Korotov, Svetlana N. Khapova and Paul G. W. Jansen
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of literature on the role of family in managers’ career decision making. Specifically, the authors offer an empirical…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of literature on the role of family in managers’ career decision making. Specifically, the authors offer an empirical elaboration on a recently proposed concept of the “family-relatedness of work decisions” (FRWD) by illuminating the role of the spouse in managers’ career sensemaking.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 88 managers who were in the final stage of their EMBA program took part in the study. The data were gathered through a personal career inventory.
Findings
The findings revealed that next to family-career salience and parent role identification, spouses also play an important role in shaping managers’ family-related career sensemaking.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should examine the supportive role of spouses in contexts other than that of an international EMBA. Moreover, researchers should examine the role of managers’ boundary management styles in shaping the degree of their family-related career sensemaking.
Practical implications
The paper suggests that when designing and implementing developmental initiatives, organizations should consider that managers’ decisions about their next career steps may be guided by family-related concerns, and the spouse may play a specific role.
Originality/value
This paper offers the first empirical exploration and a refinement of the nascent theory of the “FRWD.” It also introduces a new construct into the theory – spousal career support – that opens new avenues for future research.
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Bokolo Anthony Jnr, Sobah Abbas Petersen, Markus Helfert and Hong Guo
Smart city services are supported by information and communication technologies (ICT) referred to as digital technologies which increasingly promise huge opportunities for growth…
Abstract
Purpose
Smart city services are supported by information and communication technologies (ICT) referred to as digital technologies which increasingly promise huge opportunities for growth but are faced with system alignment and data integration issues when providing digital services. Therefore, this study aims to use enterprise architecture (EA) in digital transformation of cities by developing an architecture to address system alignment and data integration in digital transformation of cities.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative method is applied to evaluate the presented architecture based on electric-mobility (e-mobility) scenario, and data was collected using case study via interviews from a municipality in Norway to validate the applicability of EA for digital transformation of city services.
Findings
Findings from the interviews were represented in ArchiMate language to model the digital transformation of e-mobility in smart cities. Findings suggest that the architecture serves as a guide to recommend urban administrators of the potential of EA and digital transformation in addressing system alignment and data integration issues in smart cities.
Research limitations/implications
Data used in this study is from a single case, hence there is a need to evaluate the application of EA for digital transformation of city services with data collected from multi-cases.
Practical implications
This study adopts enterprise architecture approach to support city transformation as it has been widely applied by institutions to align business and ICT components.
Social implications
This study provides implication on how municipalities can use EA and digital transformations towards a sustainable smart city.
Originality/value
An architecture is presented that can be used as a guide to help urban developers and designers in deploying sustainable transport policies for smart cities. Additionally, EA is used to foster digitalization towards achieving system alignment and data integration in cities to support urban environment as they digitally transform services provided to citizens.
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Markus G. Kittler, David Rygl, Alex Mackinnon and Katja Wiedemann
The purpose of this paper is to analyze four major aspects of the work role and how they influence the expatriate work adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze four major aspects of the work role and how they influence the expatriate work adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses a quantitative design. Self‐reported data were collected from 113 German expatriates assigned to the CEE region and Russia.
Findings
The results of the study confirm the hypothesized negative association of work adjustment with role conflict and support a positive association with role clarity. Positive relationships of work adjustment with role flexibility and negative relationships with role novelty are not supported.
Originality/value
The empirical results partially confirm but also challenge the established connection of work role and work adjustment in a less well understood geographical context and provide relevant material for the business practitioner with implications for future research.