Dialogue‐Based Evaluation as a Creative Climate Indicator: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

This paper examines how different forms of performance evaluation relate to aspects of the creative climate in a major pharmaceutical company. The study was based on a large employee‐attitude survey that was distributed to all company employees. The study analyses survey results from 5,333 employees at five R&D sites. The results indicate that management's evaluation of employees (either dialogue‐based or control‐based) relates to the type of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) that drives employees, to their style of thinking (value‐focused thinking) and on their attitudes to organizational creativity. The paper then discusses implications of these findings for HRM.     

Safety climate,hardiness, and musculoskeletal complaints: A mediated moderation model

This study explores the mechanisms linking the psychosocial characteristics of the workplace with employees' work-related musculoskeletal complaints. Poor safety climate perceptions represent a stressor that may elicit frustration, and subsequently, increase employees' reports of musculoskeletal discomforts. Results from an employee sample supported that when employees' perceived safety was considered a priority, they experienced less frustration and reported fewer work-related upper body musculoskeletal symptoms. Psychological hardiness, a personality trait that is indicative of individuals' resilience and success in managing stressful circumstances, moderated these relationships. Interestingly, employees with high hardiness were more affected by poor safety climate.     

Standing in others' shoes: The role of leader prosocial motivation in facilitating employee creativity

By reference to social learning theory, this research examines the effect of leader prosocial motivation on employee creativity through investigating the mediating role of employee perspective taking and the moderating role of leader performance. Using a dyadic sample of 262 subordinates and their direct supervisors, the results reveal that leader prosocial motivation positively relates to employee perspective taking and employee perspective taking can mediate the correlation of leader prosocial motivation with employee creativity. Meanwhile, leader performance can moderate the correlation of leader prosocial motivation with employee perspective taking. Moreover, the perspective taking's mediating role between leader prosocial motivation and employee creativity can be moderated by leader performance. Finally, according to the findings and limitations of the study, its future research and managerial implications are discussed.     

An agent-based model to study compliance with safety regulations at an airline ground service organization

According to aviation statistics, most of the safety occurrences happen not in the air, but on the ground. Management of airlines and airports often consider failures to comply with safety-related regulations as important contributors to safety occurrences. To address the issue of compliance, approaches based on external regulation of the employees’ behavior were proposed. Unfortunately, an externally imposed control is often not internalized by employees and has a short-term effect on their performance. To achieve a long-term effect, employees need to be internally motivated to adhere to regulations. To understand the role of motivation for compliance in ground service organizations, in this paper a formal agent-based model is proposed based on theories from social science with a wide empirical support. The model incorporates cognitive, social, and organizational aspects. The model was simulated and partially validated by a case study performed at a real airline ground service organization. The model was able to reproduce behavioral patterns related to compliance of the platform employees in this study. Based on the model, global sensitivity analysis was performed. The results of this analysis together with the simulation results were used to generate recommendations to improve compliance.     

Multicriteria analysis of safety climate measurements at workplaces in production industries in Serbia

This paper presents the results of measuring certain safety climate indicators in Serbian production companies. As a result of these investigations, which have already been conducted by this group of authors, a 21-item questionnaire was developed in 2010. In this research, we developed a methodological framework to measure the safety climate in Serbian companies. The investigation was carried out in companies that were engaged in different industrial sectors. The aim was to determine the initial degree of developing the safety climate in every industrial sector, i.e. to compare and rank them. The following demographic factors were used for this purpose: types of industry, the number of employees in the company, the position in the organizational structure of the firm, age groups, employees with a different length of work experience, employees' gender, those who have or have not been involved in an occupational accident and the level of employees' education. Our analysis defined the significance of every demographic subgroup based on the results obtained by measuring the safety climate in all organizations. However, taking into consideration a large number of subgroups, the starting hypotheses were proposed only for the two most important ones: the type of organization does have an influence on safety climate indicators – hypothesis H₁ and the position of the employee in the firm does have important influence on safety climate indicators – hypothesis H₂. Both hypotheses were confirmed on the base of the results of further analyses.     

Research on the mechanism of knowledge and intelligence sharing in enterprises under big data: From the perspective of status‐striving motivation and opinion dynamics

Knowledge sharing is the process of individual knowledge interaction in the team. To understand the social psychological mechanism in the process of knowledge sharing, this article combines status‐striving motivation with opinion dynamics to study the decision mechanism and evolution law of employee knowledge sharing behaviour. A multiagent simulation method is used to design the decision‐making model of employee knowledge sharing behaviour. The influence of the network structure, number of people, and the proportion of employees with different statuses on knowledge sharing performance is considered. The simulation software is used to convert the theoretical model into a parametric experiment, and the sensitivity analysis is also employed. The results show that the knowledge of individuals with high status will increase initially, but the upward trend will eventually slow until reaching a steady state. The steady‐state status of employees is positively correlated with their initial knowledge volume.     

Peers matter: The moderating role of social influence on information security policy compliance

Information security in an organization largely depends on employee compliance with information security policy (ISP). Previous studies have mainly explored the effects of command‐and‐control and self‐regulatory approaches on employee ISP compliance. However, how social influence at both individual and organizational levels impacts the effectiveness of these two approaches has not been adequately explored. This study proposes a social contingency model in which a rules‐oriented ethical climate (employee perception of a rules‐adherence environment) at the organizational level and susceptibility to interpersonal influence (employees observing common practices via peer interactions) at the individual level interact with both command‐and‐control and self‐regulatory approaches to affect ISP compliance. Using employee survey data, we found that these two social influence factors weaken the effects of both command‐and‐control and self‐regulatory approaches on ISP compliance. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.     

Organizational Vision and System Influences on Employee Inspiration and Organizational Performance

A model integrating multiple levels of leadership, leader charisma and organizational system influences on employee vision inspiration (motivation to help achieve their organizations' visions) was proposed and tested. The study employed data from 1,662 employees across 15 organizations. Results indicated that leader charisma was significantly and sizably related to employee inspiration, but differentially for different levels (executive versus supervisory) of leaders. Similarly, organizational system factors were significantly related to levels of employee inspiration, which significantly predicted multiple criteria for organizational performance. Practical and scientific implications of the results are considered.     

Use of portable ladders – field observations and self-reported safety performance in the cable TV industry

Abstract

Portable ladders incidents remain a major cause of falls from heights. This study reported field observations of environments, work conditions and safety behaviour involving portable ladders and their correlations with self-reported safety performance. Seventy-five professional installers of a company in the cable and other pay TV industry were observed for 320 ladder usages at their worksites. The participants also filled out a questionnaire to measure self-reported safety performance. Proper setup on slippery surfaces, correct method for ladder inclination setup and ladder secured at the bottom had the lowest compliance with best practices and training guidelines. The observation compliance score was found to have significant correlation with straight ladder inclined angle (Pearson’s r = 0.23, p < 0.0002) and employees’ self-reported safety participation (r = 0.29, p < 0.01). The results provide a broad perspective on employees’ safety compliance and identify areas for improving safety behaviours.

Practitioner Summary: A checklist was used while observing professional installers of a cable company for portable ladder usage at their worksites. Items that had the lowest compliance with best practices and training guidelines were identified. The results provide a broad perspective on employees’ safety compliance and identify areas for improving safety behaviours.     

Charismatic leadership and tacit knowledge sharing in the context of enterprise systems learning: the mediating effect of psychological safety climate and intrinsic motivation

Drawing upon charismatic leadership and intrinsic motivation theory, we developed a theoretical model to examine the impact mechanism of leader charisma on individuals’ tacit knowledge-sharing behaviour in the context of an Enterprise Systems learning team. We conducted a survey-based field study to examine the theoretical model and hypotheses. A total of 153 questionnaires were distributed to employees from more than 20 branches of the Beidahuang Group in China and 117 valid questionnaires were returned. Results from partial least squares analysis suggest that leader charisma has a strong influence on psychological safety climate, which in turn has a positive impact on individuals’ intrinsic motivation and their tacit knowledge-sharing behaviour. Our research findings unpack the impact mechanism of charismatic leadership on tacit knowledge sharing, and provide guidelines for the team leader to exhibit charismatic leadership traits in order to promote a psychological safety climate and facilitate an effective knowledge sharing of enterprise systems.     

Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50): A new tool for diagnosing occupational safety climate

Although there is a plethora of questionnaire instruments for measuring safety climate or culture, very few have proven able to present a factor structure that is consistent in different contexts, and many have a vague theoretical grounding. The Nordic Safety Climate Questionnaire (NOSACQ-50) was developed by a team of Nordic occupational safety researchers based on organizational and safety climate theory, psychological theory, previous empirical research, empirical results acquired through international studies, and a continuous development process. Safety climate is defined as workgroup members’ shared perceptions of management and workgroup safety related policies, procedures and practices. NOSACQ-50 consists of 50 items across seven dimensions, i.e. shared perceptions of: 1) management safety priority, commitment and competence; 2) management safety empowerment; and 3) management safety justice; as well as shared perceptions of 4) workers’ safety commitment; 5) workers’ safety priority and risk non-acceptance; 6) safety communication, learning, and trust in co-workers’ safety competence; and 7) workers’ trust in the efficacy of safety systems. Initial versions of the instrument were tested for validity and reliability in four separate Nordic studies using native language versions in each respective Nordic country. NOSACQ-50 was found to be a reliable instrument for measuring safety climate, and valid for predicting safety motivation, perceived safety level, and self-rated safety behavior. The validity of NOSACQ-50 was further confirmed by its ability to distinguish between organizational units through detecting significant differences in safety climate.

Relevance to industry

NOSACQ-50 will enable comparative studies of safety climate between and within companies, industries and countries. It is suitable for research purposes as well as for practical use in evaluating safety climate status, as a diagnostic tool, and in evaluating the effect of safety climate interventions.     

Network centrality,knowledge searching and creativity: The role of domain

This study aims to determine the role of knowledge searching on creativity in the fields of science research and technology development. Creativity is a process of knowledge combination, thus internal and external knowledge searching is important for creativity in both fields, particularly in the open innovation age. However, the nature of the work across these fields is different. While science research aims to solve theoretical problems and generate new knowledge, technology development aims to apply new knowledge to solve practical problems. Compared to science research, technology development has clear task goals, which make it easier to identify the related external knowledge and integrate this knowledge and in turn improve employee creativity. Thus, employees' attention to external knowledge as well as the influence of external knowledge on creativity might be different in the two fields. Results based on an empirical study of 211 employees from science research and 257 employees from technology development showed that external knowledge searching increased employee creativity in the field of technology development but not in science research. Furthermore, employees' centrality in the intra‐team problem‐solving network moderated the relationship between external knowledge searching and creativity in the science research field. Suggestions about employee creativity management in science and technology fields are discussed.     

The Employee Suggestion System: A New Approach Using Latent Semantic Analysis

Employee suggestion systems are often used as a way to improve participation from members of the organization to help solve problems that cannot be solved through traditional organizational practices. In the government sector, employee involvement programs are the most difficult to implement mainly because management regularly changes with new administration and these changes bring about many short‐term management practices and systems. Toyota's approach to employee suggestion programs has been widely benchmarked and studied, yet there is little research to show that these practices can be applied or are successful in the public sector. This work uses a statistical data‐mining technique to compare which types of human resource management practices are prevalent in employee suggestion programs at Toyota and a target government organization. This work shows that Toyota emphasizes organization‐centered factors to stimulate employee participation in solving small problems that relate to an employee's job. On the contrary, government organizations tend to emphasize employee factors that make conditions right for employees to make larger improvements in their jobs that lead to improvements outside their work areas. Findings suggest that Toyota's approach to employee suggestion programs is not a way to weaken management's obligation to perform problem solving, but instead is another medium to highlight problems that do not require management's intervention. These new insights and others provide an increased understanding of employee suggestion programs in the public sector that are unique to manufacturing. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

When carrots and sticks meet: A mixed-methods study on internet taxi drivers’ job engagement in the IT-driven sharing economy

Information technology (IT)-enabled taxi services facilitate people's lives. However, little is known about how Internet taxi employees are motivated and how motivation relates to their job engagement. Using a mixed-methods design, this research explores intrinsic motivators and the effects of external regulations on intrinsic motivation and job engagement. The qualitative study identified three context-specific intrinsic motivators: stress reduction, self-efficacy, and job autonomy. A follow-up quantitative research revealed the significance of external regulations in determining intrinsic motivation and job engagement. The study contributes to knowledge by emphasizing the role of intrinsic motivators and the significance of both monetary incentives and punishment.     

Assessing safety at work using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach aided by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)

The main objective of this research was to apply an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach aided by Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to assess safety at work, defined as employee propensity to follow safety regulations, including safe work practices at the workplace. A survey with seven main components: 1) use of mobile technology, 2) tacit safety knowledge, 3) explicit safety knowledge, 4) attitudes toward safety: psychological aspects, 5) attitudes toward safety: emotional aspects, 6) safety culture: behavioral aspects, and 7) safety culture: psychological aspects, was used for this purpose. Workers from three manufacturing companies located in southeastern Poland completed a paper-based survey. PLS-SEM, combined with an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) method, was used to develop the study model and determine its main components. The results showed that tacit safety knowledge, attitudes toward safety: psychological aspects, attitudes toward safety: emotional aspects, safety culture: behavioral aspects, safety culture: psychological aspects, and the use of mobile technology were significant factors influencing the perceived safety at work. Moreover, the results of the ANFIS modeling approach showed that behavioral aspects of safety culture were the most critical predictor of the perceived safety at work.     

The effect of social media use on work‐related learning

The increasing use of social media at work offers organizations new opportunities for employee learning on the job. This study investigated the relationship between social media use and learning activities undertaken by employees. It was expected that social media use relates to higher levels of learning and that this relationship is stronger when employees perceive higher levels of an organization culture that stimulates dialogue and inquiry. A total of 590 respondents of three multinationals based in the Netherlands completed a survey. As expected, results showed that the more often employees used social media in their job, the more often they participated in learning activities. Contrary to expectation, this relationship was not influenced by culture of dialogue and inquiry. Instead, the perception of a culture of dialogue and inquiry directly related to learning on the job. The findings suggest that organizations could consider stimulating the use of social media among employees to support work‐related learning.     

Positive Work‐Related Identity as a Mediator of the Relationship between Compassion at Work and Employee Outcomes

Our purpose in this study was to examine an explanation of how experienced compassion relates to employee outcomes, such as affective organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intention. The model tested suggests that compassion at work influences these organizational outcomes by developing positive work‐related identity, which in turn prompts employees to accelerate affective commitment toward their organizations and organizational citizenship behavior, while at the same time decreasing turnover intention. The findings of our study demonstrate that compassion at work is an antecedent to positive work‐related identity, which in turn fully mediates the relationship between compassion at work and organizational outcomes (i.e., affective organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intention).     

Cognitive‐affective drivers of employees' daily compliance with information security policies: A multilevel,longitudinal study

We present a model of employee compliance with information security policy (ISP) that (1) explicates stable, cognitive beliefs regarding the consequences of compliance and noncompliance as well as state‐based affective constructs, namely, positive and negative mood states and episodic, security‐related work‐impediment events, and (2) provides an expanded conceptualisation of moral considerations and normative influences regarding employees' ISP compliance. Because affect is central to this theorisation, we ensure that the model captures and explains differences in day‐to‐day affective constructs to account for the often fleeting nature of affective states. We test our multilevel model using an experience‐sampling methodology design, in which employees completed daily surveys over a 2‐week period, followed by a hierarchal linear modelling statistical assessment. Our contribution to theory is a unique account of ISP compliance that integrates affective factors with constructs from rational choice theory and theory of planned behaviour and that diverges from prior conceptualisations of ISP compliance as a purely stable and reason‐based phenomenon. For practitioners, our results suggest that a combination of cognitive and affective influences may produce discrete episodes of ISP compliance that do not coincide with prior behavioural trends.     

Impacts of employee participation and trust on e-business readiness, benefits, and satisfaction

An increasing number of firms have invested large sums in implementing electronic business (e-business). Nowadays, while the e-businesses are fostering rapid industrial growth, employees are the one who factually engage with information exchange, communication and support e-business processes. However, prior literature has paid scant attention in determining e-business value and its drivers from employee perspective. Thus, the present study attempts to investigate how user participation and trust drives e-business value in terms of e-business readiness, e-business benefits, and e-business satisfaction. For this sake, data collected from 143 employees at Taiwanese IT related firms and analyzed with partial least square (PLS) structural equation approach reveal that trust and user participation were significant precursors of employee e-business satisfaction. The results strongly support the contention that trust directly affects e-business satisfaction, and indirectly affects it through e-business readiness and e-business benefits. The research model and findings will help managers implement e-business successfully and offer valuable references for researchers interested in developing related theories.     

Proposing the control‐reactance compliance model (CRCM) to explain opposing motivations to comply with organisational information security policies

Organisations increasingly rely on information and related systems, which are also a source of risk. Unfortunately, employees represent the greatest risk to organisational information because they are the most frequent source of information security breaches. To address this ‘weak link’ in organisational security, most organisations have strict information security policies (ISPs) designed to thwart employee information abuses. Regrettably, these ISPs are only partially effective because employees often ignore them, circumvent them or even do the opposite of what management desires. Research on attempts to increase ISP compliance has produced similarly mixed results. Lack of compliance with ISPs is a widespread organisational issue that increasingly bears disproportionately large direct and qualitative costs that undermine strategy. Consequently, the purpose of our study was to contribute to the understanding of both motivations to comply with new ISPs and motivations to react negatively against them. To do so, we proposed an innovative model, the control‐reactance compliance model (CRCM), which combines organisational control theory – a model that explains ISP compliance – with reactance theory – a model used to explain ISP noncompliance. To test CRCM, we used a sample of 320 working professionals in a variety of industries to examine the likely organisational outcomes of the delivery of a new ISP to employees in the form of a typical memo sent throughout an organisation. We largely found support for CRCM, and this study concludes with an explanation of the model's contributions to research and practice related to organisational ISP compliance.