Fun and friends : the impact of workplace fun and constituent attachment on turnover in a hospitality context

Extending the growing body of research on fun in the workplace, this article reports on a study examinining the relationship between fun and employee turnover. Specifically, this research focused on the influence of three forms of fun on turnover – fun activities, coworker socializing and manager support for fun. With a sample of 296 servers from 20 units of a national restaurant chain in the US, coworker socializing and manager support for fun were demonstrated to be significantly related to turnover. In addition, constituent attachment was found to mediate the relationship between each of the three forms of fun and turnover. This research highlights that not all types of fun are equal and demonstrates that one of the key means through which fun influences retention is by facilitating the development of high quality work relationships

Carelessness and discriminability in work role requirement judgments: Influences of role ambiguity and cognitive complexity

Fundamental to effective human resource systems is the capture of data regarding work role requirements. However, previous research on factors that influence work role requirement judgments has been largely equivocal. From a sample of 203 incumbents, representing 73 unique occupations, we investigated 2 cognitive sources of influence on carelessness and discriminability in work role requirement judgments. We hypothesized that incumbents perceiving high role ambiguity would provide ratings that were more careless and showed less discriminability, and cognitively complex individuals would provide more careful and discriminating ratings. These influences were hypothesized to vary across different work descriptors and rating scales. Results were supportive, showing effects for cognitive complexity and role ambiguity on ratings, and differential effects depending on the focal descriptor and scale