Promises from afar: A model of international student psychological contract in business education

Despite their significant presence in western business schools, the needs and experiences of international students have not been adequately reflected in the business education literature. We draw upon psychological contract theory - used to understand e

Self-Employment in Later Life: How Future Time Perspective and Social Support Influence Self-Employment Interest

For older workers, self-employment is an important alternative to waged employment. Drawing on social learning theory and social cognitive career theory we examine how attitudes toward one’s own aging, future time perspective (captured by perceived time left to live) and perceived support from referent individuals predict self-efficacy for entrepreneurship and outcome expectations, influencing self-employment interest. Findings from a sample of professional association members (n = 174, mean age 52.5 years), revealed that an open-ended time perspective relates positively to entrepreneurial self-efficacy, while social support relates positively to outcome expectations. Consistent with social cognitive career theory, entrepreneurial self-efficacy mediated the relationship between future time perspective and interest in self-employment, and outcome expectations mediated the relationship between social support and interest in self-employment. This study extends current career and entrepreneurship theory in several ways. First, the inclusion of age-related psychosocial and sociocultural factors in the study model shed light on the intersection between older age, the contextual environment and development of self-employment interest. Second, the findings support earlier arguments that older entrepreneurship is a social process whereby the social context in which people work and live influences their interest in entrepreneurship, and that entrepreneurial behavior among older people needs to be supported to occur. Finally, the findings suggest the utility of social cognitive career theory in informing the development of self-employment interest in the late career stage. We discuss implications for the career and entrepreneurship literatures as well as practitioners involved in late-career counseling or seeking to promote entrepreneurship for older people

The downsides of downsizing: communication processes and information needs in the aftermath of a workforce reduction strategy.

This study explored the impact of downsizing on levels of uncertainty, coworker and management trust, and communicative effectiveness in a health care organization downsizing during a 2-year period from 660 staff to 350 staff members. Self-report data were obtained from employees who were staying (survivors), from employees were being laid off (victims), and from employees with and without managerial responsibilities. Results indicated that downsizing had a similar impact on the amount of trust that survivors and victims had for management. However, victims reported feeling lower levels of trust toward their colleagues compared with survivors. Contrary to expectations, survivors and victims reported similar perceptions of job and organizational uncertainty and similar levels of information received about changes. Employees with no management responsibilities and middle managers both reported lower scores than did senior managers on all aspects of information received. Implications for practice and the management of the communication process are discussed

Employees willingness to adopt a foreign functional language in multilingual organizations: The role of linguistic identity

Language holds a central role in sustainable international expansion for multinationals. The choice of the functional language can facilitate or hinder communication between headquarters and subsidiary locations. In order to communicate effectively with the parent organization, host country employees often have to adopt a language that is not native to the subsidiary region. We take a subsidiary employee perspective in presenting an interdisciplinary theoretical model of host country employees' willingness to adopt a foreign language in multinational organizations. The construct of linguistic identity, shaped by the linguistic landscape of the host location, is introduced as an important determinant in this process. Specifically, the foreign functional language may pose a threat to the employees' existing linguistic identity; willingness to adopt the foreign functional language may depend upon the extent of this perceived threat. We incorporate the effects of foreign language proficiency and individuals' motivation for enhancement in the theoretical model. Both high proficiency in a foreign language and need for social, economic, and career enhancements can increase individuals' willingness to adopt the foreign functional language. Finally, we develop and present implications of the linguistic identity processes for entry mode, location, and language strategies

Investigating the role of psychological contract breach on career success: Convergent evidence from two longitudinal studies

The current study extends past research by examining leader-member exchange as a mediator of the relationship between employee reports of psychological contract breach and career success. In addition, we tested a competing perspective in which we proposed that performance mediators (i.e., in-role performance and organizational citizenship behaviors) will mediate the breach-career success relationship. Subjective and objective indicators of career success were assessed using supervisor-rated promotability and archival data on actual promotion decisions, respectively. In Sample 1, we found that supervisor-rated leader-member exchange (T1) mediated the relationship between breach (T1) and objective career success after 2. years. In sample 2, we replicated and extended these results using a three wave measurement over three years. Specifically, we found that leader-member exchange (T2) mediated the relationship between relational breach (T1) and subjective (T2) and objective (T3) career success. Performance-based mediators at T2 were no longer significant when regressed together with leader-member exchange and relational breach, ruling out alternative mediator explanations

The Interactive Effects of Procedural Justice and Equity Sensitivity in Predicting Responses to Psychological Contract Breach: An Interactionist Perspective

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the combined interactive effects of a situational variable (procedural justice) and a dispositional (equity sensitivity) variable on the relationship between breach and employee outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: Data were obtained from 403 full-time employees representing a wide variety of business sectors in the Philippines. Supervisors were requested to provide an assessment of their subordinate's civic virtue behavior. Findings: Results showed that equity sensitivity and breach interacted in predicting affective commitment. The negative relationship between breach and affective commitment was stronger for employees with an input-focused approach to organizational relationships (referred to as benevolents) than for those with an outcome-focused approach (referred to as entitleds). Results also indicated a stronger negative relationship between contract breach and civic virtue behavior under conditions of high procedural justice. Finally, a three-way interaction was found between contract breach, procedural justice and equity sensitivity in predicting affective commitment. Implications: Our findings provide a new insight suggesting that worse outcomes are to be anticipated especially if employees have an expectation that procedural justice can prevent any form of contract breach. In addition, although previous research has portrayed benevolents as more accepting of situations of u under-reward, this study has demonstrated that they too have their limits or threshold for under-reward situations. Originality/value: This research suggests that the type and intensity of one's reactions to psychological contract breach is influenced by interactive forces of the individual's disposition and the organizational procedures

Retiring: Role identity processes in retirement transition

Retirement transition has become a prolonged process of adaptation, including changes in role identity. However, there is a dearth of research on the process by which retirees cope with the role transition, including how pre‐retirement role identities shape the transition, the forms of identity work undertaken by retirees, and the unfolding nature of retirement transition. In an in‐depth qualitative examination of the transition process, we identify pre‐retirement role identity profiles based on work and nonwork role identities. We then examine how pre‐retirement role identities influence the transition process, including the nature of identity work in transition and the transition pathways demonstrated by retirees. Our findings provide insights into strengths and limitations afforded by pre‐retirement identities: They facilitate agentic coping in which retirees shed old and adopt new identities but also impose inertia and prolong the transition until identity crises force the retirees to undergo identity exploration and adoption of new identitiesAustralian Research Council, Grant/Award Number: DP109603

The interactive effects of procedural justice and equity sensitivity in predicting responses to psycholoogical contract breach: An interactionist perspective

The purpose of the study was to examine the combined interactive effects of a situational variable (procedural justice) and a dispositional (equity sensitivity) variable on the relationship between breach and employee outcomes. Data were obtained from 403 full-time employees representing a wide variety of business sectors in the Philippines. Supervisors were requested to provide an assessment of their subordinate’s civic virtue behavior. Results showed that equity sensitivity and breach interacted in predicting affective commitment. The negative relationship between breach and affective commitment was stronger for employees with an input-focused approach to organizational relationships (referred to as benevolents) than for those with an outcome-focused approach (referred to as entitleds). Results also indicated a stronger negative relationship between contract breach and civic virtue behavior under conditions of high procedural justice. Finally, a three-way interaction was found between contract breach, procedural justice and equity sensitivity in predicting affective commitment. Our findings provide a new insight suggesting that worse outcomes are to be anticipated especially if employees have an expectation that procedural justice can prevent any form of contract breach. In addition, although previous research has portrayed benevolents as more accepting of situations of u under-reward, this study has demonstrated that they too have their limits or threshold for under-reward situations. This research suggests that the type and intensity of one’s reactions to psychological contract breach is influenced by interactive forces of the individual’s disposition and the organizational procedures.

What do employees want and why? An exploration of employees’ preferred psychological contract elements across career stages

Employees’ psychological contracts comprise their beliefs about what they have to contribute to their organizations and what inducements they will receive in return. One recommended approach to attract and retain employees is to design psychological contracts that allow them to contribute in desirable ways and receive attractive inducements. However, we know little about the factors that affect psychological contract preferences. We present a qualitative study on the preferred psychological contracts of employees who are in different career stages. Our findings reveal that the roles and self-concepts that employees take on at a particular career stage may shape preferences for stage-relevant contributions and inducements. These findings advance psychological contract theory by highlighting the plausible link between employees’ career stages and their psychological contract preferences.This research was supported by an Australian Research Council grant (DP1096037) to the second author