606 research outputs found
Employability in the public sector: The impact of individual and organizational determinants
IntroductionThe importance of employability within organizations is increasing, due to various developments that initiate organizational changes. This study focuses on the employability in the public sector. While there seems to be a clear need for an employable public sector workforce, up until now there is little empirical research into the employability of workers in this sector, and into which specific individual and organizational characteristics influence it.MethodsWe conducted structural equation modeling, using data from Dutch public sector employees (n = 13.471).ResultsOur outcomes show that public sector employees consider themselves to be reasonably employable internally, and that they rate their external employability slightly higher. Moreover, it was found that both individual (personality and risk-taking behavior) and organizational characteristics (transformational leadership and red tape) influence their employability.DiscussionThese results underline the dual responsibility of the employee and the organization in influencing workers’ employability within the public sector
Examining the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success amongst occupational psychology professionals
Employability is core to our understanding of career sustainability, and at an individual level, identifying the personal resources that support employability in the achievement of career success is warranted. This study builds on the conservation of resources theory, examining the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success. To test our hypotheses, we utilised a context-specific practitioner sample of 135 individuals with UK-accredited occupational psychology qualifications. Employability was conceptualised using the competence-based model, underpinned by occupational expertise. Psychological capital and employability were measured using self-report questionnaires, whilst career success was determined via gross annual salary and practitioner status, ensuring objective measures of this outcome variable. Structural equation modelling identified that the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success was fully mediated by employability. These novel findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the role of psychological capital as a personal resource in achieving career success via its influence on employability
On importance assessment and expertise in non-routine decisions: an exploratory study on the cognition of the weighting process of capital goods' attributes
How do actors involved in the acquisition of capital goods assess the importance of their attributes? What is the role of expertise? Numerous instruments exist for measuring the importance attached to attributes, but little is known about the importance assessment process that precedes these importance judgments. Expectations concerning the behaviour of actors facing non-routine importance assessment problems are tested, yielding some interesting results. Firstly, the behaviour of these actors is consistent with a newly developed phase model. Even with a non-routine problem, structuring the assessment problem takes less effort than the actual weighting. Surprisingly, weighting attributes in isolation gets much more emphasis than weighting them against each other, despite the latter being the essence of importance judgments. Despite the subjects being laymen, they showed high confidence in their work. Finally, predictions concerning the behaviour of experts are made, based on Van der Heijden's dimensions of expertise
On a tool for analysing cognitive processes using exploratory think-aloud experiments
We develop a method that enables cognitive processes to be analysed quantitatively without having a conceptual framework in place at the start of the research. With current methods, the general structure of the cognitive process in question has to be known before quantitative analyses can be preformed. With the method, we studied the cognitive process of weighting the importance of attributes in a purchasing decision. Our approach consists of seven steps: determining the research method (in our case: the think-aloud method); designing an experiment; designing a data collection method; designing a tool for preliminary analysis; designing a tool for qualitative analysis; designing a tool for quantitative analysis; assessing external validity. In this contribution we also provide a checklist for putting our method into practice
Designing and assessing a course on prioritization and importance assessment in strategic non-routine requirements engineering processes
In this contribution, we present a course for making stakeholders in requirements engineering (RE) processes aware of the relevance of importance assessment (the thinking process that they go through while assessing requirement weights) and giving them some experience with specific aspects of the importance assessment process. We also analyze the experiences of the participants in five pilot sessions. In RE instruments, elicitation of requirement weights receives much attention. However, the processes that individual stakeholders go through while assessing weights are largely ignored or seen as a ‘black box’. In the course, participants gain experience with some common issues and pitfalls in assessing weights. Issues covered are: completeness and interdependence of requirements, causal relationships and the common denominator, handling ‘irrational’ requirements, and the meaning of ‘importance’ (priority). The course was given in various large organizations in the aerospace sector, and data on participants’ experiences were gathered by means of a standardized questionnaire. The extent to which the participants claimed they learned about the relevance of importance assessment and about how to perform it were, respectively, 2.89 and 2.72 on a scale from 1 to 5. The relevance of the various assignments was rated between 3.74 and 4.00 on a 1–5 scale. Our study indicates that the course, or elements of it, should be embedded in an organization’s work practices in order to achieve lasting effect
Employability and Social Innovation:The Importance of and Interplay between Transformational Leadership and Personality
Purpose — The purpose of this chapter is to draw attention to employability beingan important social innovation that potentially thrives with transformational leadership, partly depending on certain personal characteristics such as managerialrole and personality.Methodology/approach — The study was carried out among pairs of employees(314) and immediate supervisors (334) working at a large Dutch company that produces building materials. We made use of Linear Regression and StructuralEquation Modeling to test our hypothesis and explore our assumptions with regardto the research model.Findings — We have found that transformational leadership is positively related toemployee and supervisor ratings of employability. Furthermore, there is some indication that transformational leadership enhances employability in some situations,demonstrating differences between categories of workers with and without a managerial function. Moreover, it appeared that after controlling for personality, onlythe positive relationship between transformational leadership and supervisor ratings of employability, remained for the workers not having a managerial function.Research limitations/implications — Our study design comprised a cross-sectionalapproach and therefore future longitudinal research is necessary to investigatecausal relationships between transformational leadership, personality, andemployability.Practical implications — In terms of individual career development practices, ouroutcomes should be translated into increased attention for aligning leadership styleto meet the requirements of all types of employees across the life-span.Social implications — By providing more insight into the increased importance oftransformational leadership for certain groups of workers, this contribution isintended to come up with opportunities for increasing the employability for differenttypes of workers.Originality/value — This chapter draws attention to the fact that transformationalleadership can be a useful tool for stimulating employability of workers. Workercharacteristics such as personality, work role (e.g., managerial role) and other lifespanfactors always have to be taken into account for a customized approach, giventhe uniqueness of each and every employee.</div
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