Collaborative planning and its antecedents: An assessment in supply chain relationships

The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effects of individual work autonomy and interdependence on collaborative planning, building on the distinction of task and outcome interdependence. Using a questionnaire study, we assess collaborative planning and its antecedents in supply chain relationships, incorporating the forestry and timber industry. While no interactive effects hold for task interdependence, outcome interdependence only facilitates collaborative planning for individuals with low work autonomy. Individuals with high autonomy always invest in collaborative planning. This study provides a picture of supply chain reality more complete than that sketched in studies that have assessed interdependence as a one-dimensional construct and alludes to the importance, often overlooked, of work autonomy in supply chain relationship

Designing Controllable Accountabilities of Future Internet of Things Applications

Within work environments, the emergence of Internet of Things applications creates radically new scenarios of use involving the enrichment of everyday objects with seamlessly integrated communication, sensing and computing capabilities and their integration into information systems. These changes can profoundly alter transparency of work processes, prescribe and prohibit actions, and change stakeholders’ overall accountability and control capabilities. Actors’ difficulties in meeting changed accountabilities due to an Internet of Things application may trigger severe disturbances in organizations. What actors are in control of and what they are held accountable for is partially prescribed by designers and involved stakeholders in the early stages of technology development. Therefore, this paper presents an approach for prospectively designing controllable accountabilities into envisaged Internet of Things applications. Three dimensions of accountability will be distinguished: visibility, responsibility and liability. Each dimension affects control requirements differently. The narrative network approach has been adopted to study envisioned organizational work processes along with the involved actors and their accountabilities and control capabilities. A description of how the approach can be used to prospectively align accountabilities and control capabilities is provided based on a case study of an Internet of Things application in product authentication. Advantages and limitations of the approach are discussed

When do employees cross boundaries? Individual and contextual determinants of career mobility

This study investigates the joint effects of individual characteristics and the labour market on career mobility. We propose that level of education, openness to experience, and a favourable labour market relate positively to employees crossing organizational, industrial, and occupational boundaries. Management programme alumni (N = 503) provided information through an online survey about their career histories, their level of education, and their openness to experience. Additionally, we used the unemployment rate as an indicator for yearly changes in the labour market. The results of our cross-classified multilevel analysis indicate that both individual characteristics and the labour market are determinants of career mobility. Level of education had a positive effect on organizational and industrial boundary crossing, and changes in the labour market related to organizational boundary crossing. Against our assumptions, openness to experience had no effect on career mobility, and none of the predictors were related to occupational boundary crossing. Our results demonstrate the importance of investigating career mobility from a boundary perspective combined with a focus on both individual and contextual characteristics. The dominance of education compared to personality and the difficulty of explaining occupational mobility open new research avenues and yield practical implications for employees, career counsellors, and organizations.ISSN:1359-432XISSN:1464-064

Does leader–member exchange buffer or intensify detrimental reactions to psychological contract breach? The role of employees’ career orientation

There is an ongoing debate about two contradictory moderating effects of leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between psychological contract breach (PCB) and work outcomes. Whereas some studies demonstrated LMX to be a social support resource capable of buffering the negative effects of PCB, findings from other research suggest that employees show stronger negative reactions to PCB when the quality of relationships with leaders is high. The present study addresses how these contradictory results can be explained by individuals' career orientations. We surveyed a representative random sample of 954 employees from various organizations and occupations to test whether employees with organization-centred versus self-centred career orientations show different interaction effects of PCB and LMX on (a) career satisfaction and (b) counterproductive work behaviour. The results confirmed our hypotheses, demonstrating that for employees with organization-centred career orientations (n = 596) high LMX fosters detrimental reactions to PCB, whereas for employees with self-centred career orientations (n = 358), high LMX functions as a buffer against negative reactions to PCB. Implications of a more nuanced understanding of how PCB and LMX interact are valuable for research and practice alike

Flexibilität ersetzt Kontinuität

Mit der Flexibilisierung von Arbeitsverhältnissen verändern sich auch die psychologischen Kontrakte, d.h. die wechselseitigen Angebote und Erwartungen von Arbeitgebenden und Arbeitnehmenden. Parallel dazu wird vermehrt auch individuell der Wunsch nach mehr Flexibilität im Berufsalltag oder in der beruflichen Laufbahn geäussert. In der vorliegenden auf qualitativen Interviews beruhenden Studie wird die Veränderung der psychologischen Kontrakte in Unternehmen wie auch bei Personen, die ihren Beruf gewechselt haben, untersucht. Letztere wurden zudem zu ihrer persönlichen Identität befragt. Die Interviewdaten wurden mit der Methode der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet. Es kann gezeigt werden, dass die Veränderung psychologischer Kontrakte von einer konservativen bis hin zu einer drastischen Ausprägung variiert. In den persönlichen Biographien behält der Beruf zwar noch eine dominierende Stellung, die befragten Personen planen ihre berufliche Entwicklung jedoch unter Berücksichtigung vielfältiger Optionen und integrieren deren Wechselhaftigkeit in die eigene Identitätsdefinition. Als Konsequenz daraus wird empfohlen, Personen darin zu unterstützen, Sicherheit in den eigenen Kompetenzen statt in Betriebs- oder Berufszugehörigkeit zu suchen.In the context of workplace flexibility psychological contracts i.e. reciprocal obligations between employers and employees are changing. People increasingly request more flexibility regarding their employment or their career. In this study the change of psychological contracts experienced in companies as well as by people, who changed their profession, was examined with semi-structured interviews. The latter were interviewed with regard to their personal identity as well. The interview data were analysed with the method of qualitative contents analysis. Evidence is given that the change of psychological contracts varies from a conservative to a drastical version. Personal biographies are still dominated by the profession. The interviewees, however, plan their professional development considering various options and integrate the many changes within their life in their own definition of identity. Recommendations are given in order to support individuals to find security in their own competencies instead of identifying with a company or a profession

Boundaries for career success? How work–home integration and perceived supervisor expectation affect careers

The necessity to actively manage the work–home boundaries has drastically increased. We postulate that work–home integration may affect individuals' subjective career success via its positive effects on work goal attainment and exhaustion. Furthermore, we study perceived supervisor expectation for employee work–home integration as a boundary condition. Our three-wave online survey with 371 employees showed support for the two hypothesized moderated mediation effects. Work–home integration preference is indirectly related to subjective career success: (1) positively via home-to-work transitions and work goal attainment and (2) negatively via home-to-work transitions and exhaustion. Perceived supervisor expectation constrained work–home integration preference's direct effect on home-to-work transitions and indirect effects on subjective career success. Exploratory analysis revealed that exhaustion negatively affected all career success dimensions, whereas work goal attainment was only related to some. Our results indicate that supervisor expectation can override the effect of employee's work–home integration preference on home-to-work transitions which have a double-edged sword effect on subjective career success. Our study contributes to integrating the careers and work–life interface literature and incorporating contextual factors. Furthermore, with the exploration of differential effects on subjective career success, we advance our understanding of this outcome's nomological network

Technological self-efficacy and occupational mobility intentions in the face of technological advancement: a moderated mediation model

While research on the effects of technological advancement on job design has gained traction, we know little about how personal and contextual factors relate to work attitudes and mobility intentions in relation to technology-induced change in different occupational domains. Based on social cognitive career theory, we investigated the influence of technological self-efficacy beliefs (TSE) on occupational commitment and occupational mobility intentions and included automation potential and developmental support as contextual moderators. Based on a survey study with 512 employees and two data points, we found that TSE was negatively related to occupational mobility intentions, both directly and through the mediating role of occupational commitment. The relation between occupational commitment and mobility intention was stronger for individuals receiving more developmental support. Contrary to our hypotheses, the relation between TSE and mobility intention was stronger in occupations with low and medium automation potential. Our findings provide first evidence for the relevance of TSE for occupational mobility intentions and the impact of automation potential and perceived developmental support on this relationship. We discuss the relevance of our findings for better understanding potential effects of technological advancement on occupational mobility and provide practical implications for enabling employees to deal with changing work environments

A toolbox for managing organisational issues in the early stage of the development of a ubiquitous computing application

In this paper, we present a toolbox for the prospective management of organisational issues in ubiquitous computing. Ubiquitous computing applications are developed to enable new services and new ways of working, to increase management control and to improve safety. However, they may also interfere with established work practices and may have unforeseen consequences for organisations. Despite their importance, such organisational issues are rarely addressed in ubiquitous computing innovation projects. Drawing on socio-technical design approaches and existing research on organisational issues in ubiquitous computing, we have developed a toolbox containing three tools for managing organisational issues of ubiquitous computing applications in the early stage of development. The toolbox supports the realisation of hoped-for benefits of ubiquitous computing in organisations and the management of unwanted organisational issues. The "work process tool” supports the description of envisioned work processes, including flexibility and variability requirements, changing responsibilities and different points of view. The "work system tool” analyses the alignment between a ubiquitous computing application and work systems task completeness, independency and the fit between regulation opportunities and requirements. The "human controllability tool” assesses how the control capabilities of workers are enabled or constrained by the new ubiquitous computing application. We show the applicability of the toolbox using a case study of an early stage ubiquitous computing technology innovation project, where the toolbox contributed to the set-up of the field trial and the development of application guideline

How romantic relationships affect individual career goal attainment: A transactive goal dynamics perspective

Despite the importance of career goals for career self-management, we know little about the self-regulatory processes underlying career goal attainment. In this study, we draw on transactive goal dynamics theory to investigate whether and how romantic relationships impact career goal attainment. For testing our research model, we focused on the career goal of being successful in a political election, and gathered survey and objective data from politicians at three measurement points (N = 108). As hypothesized, our path analysis showed that relationship closeness facilitated career goal attainment through shared career goals and an increase in the available shared pool of resources. We further explored the moderating role of goal coordination in this process, and found that a high goal conflict undermined the indirect effect of relationship closeness on career goal attainment whereas goal facilitation had no moderating effect. Finally, we found no support for the hypothesized effect of relationship duration on shared career goals and career goal attainment. Our findings indicate that romantic relationships can facilitate career goal attainment and that partners' goal coordination is a relevant boundary condition of this process. Our study thus highlights the value of integrating career research and work-home research. Practically, our results imply that individuals should gain their partner's support for their career goals, and that supervisors can facilitate employees' career development by enabling them to capitalize on home-domain resources such as their romantic relationship. According to our findings, career counselors can assist their clients' career self-management by preventing goal conflicts with their partner