We are friends but are we family? Organizational identification and nonfamily employee turnover

Retaining talented employees continues to be a challenge for organizations. This challenge is especially difficult for family businesses because the family-centric priorities of these firms often disadvantage nonfamily employees and make retaining them problematic. Our study posits organizational identification, or internalizing the firm’s identity as one’s own, as a key factor in overcoming this challenge. Fostering organizational identification in family businesses is complicated by the presence of both family and nonfamily employees, and research is needed to understand the ways in which these complex social dynamics operate. To gain this understanding, we adopt a social network perspective to examine the differential impact of friendships with family and nonfamily members on nonfamily employees’ organizational identification and turnover. Results from a study of the nonfamily employees of a family-owned service company show that centrality in both family and nonfamily friendship networks reduces turnover, but that friendships with family members have a stronger effect. Results also show that various forms of embeddedness in social networks have indirect effects on turnover through organizational identification, highlighting identification’s importance for retaining nonfamily employees. Implications for turnover theory and nonfamily employees are also discussed

Maintaining quality document delivery service with off-site storage facilities

With today's rapidly advancing technology and ever-increasing demand for information, many libraries are experiencing the need for more space. Whether the relocation of collections is temporary, to house materials during a library renovation or building project, or a permanent solution to accommodate long-term growth, key questions must be addressed when planning library services for off-site collections

Getting Better (or Worse) All the Time: Support Trajectories and Employee Turnover

As employment relationships develop over time, changes in static perceptions of organizational support (POS) provide the basis for evaluating one’s present and future with an organization. We develop and test hypotheses on how POS and referent POS (RΔPOS) trajectories influence employee turnover intentions. Drawing on a sample of 167 employees, our analysis shows that changes to static POS (ΔPOS) and RΔPOS significantly influence employee turnover intentions. This research extends organizational support theory by shedding light on the dynamic nature of POS and the effects of those changes on employee outcomes, specifically turnover intentions

Social comparisons and organizational support : implications for commitment and retention

Organizational support theory (OST) suggests that employees develop a general perception of the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support – POS), and respond to that support through attitudes and behaviors that are beneficial toward the organization. Although OST emphasizes both social exchange and self-enhancement processes, most accounts of POS’s effects are rooted in social exchange. For example, POS’s linkages with commitment and retention have been explained as an exchange of support for positive attitudes and continued employment. This research sheds light on self-enhancement’s less-understood role in fostering these reactions by demonstrating the influence of social comparison effects. Drawing on a sample of 342 employees nested in 82 work-units of a US hospitality company, our analysis demonstrates that favorable POS comparisons with peers in one’s work-unit are positively associated with commitment and retention, whereas unfavorable comparisons are negatively related. Results also show that comparisons taking place in less-supported work-units have stronger impact than comparisons made in those with better support. Our findings extend OST by revealing the importance of social comparisons in engendering responses to organizational support, and in so doing potentially explicate the differential ways social exchange and self-enhancement operate with regard to POS

The Development and Evaluation of a Behaviorally Based Rating form for the Assessment of En Route Air Traffic Controller Performance

This project expanded and evaluated the performance evaluation method developed by Sollenberger, Stein, and Gromelski (1997), a Terminal Radar Approach Control rating form and training package designed to better assess air traffic controller performance. The form is a research-oriented testing and assessment tool designed to measure the efficacy of new air traffic control (ATC) systems, system enhancements, and operational procedures in simulation research. The rating form used in the present study focused on observable behaviors that supervisory air traffic control specialists (SATCSs) use to make behaviorally based ratings of en route controller performance. The present study evaluated the inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of performance ratings made by nine Air Route Traffic Control Center supervisors who viewed videotapes and computerized replays of controllers from a previously recorded en route study. The rating form contained 26 items, which were organized into six major categories. Various observable behaviors, which SATCSs identified as those they consider when assessing controller performance, anchored each performance area. Inter-rater (between rater) reliability of SATCS performance ratings assessed using intra-class correlations was somewhat low. Intra-rater (within rater) reliability of SATCS performance ratings was consistent with previous studies and indicated that raters were stable over time in the ratings they assigned. Researchers also investigated the relationship between SATCS performance ratings and personality traits from the Sixteen Personality Factor personality inventory. The results indicated that what SATCSs bring with them to the experimental evaluation setting, in terms of personality traits, may be related to their ratings. Future research efforts should concentrate on distinguishing the sources of measurement error and making whatever changes necessary to produce a reliable controller performance assessment tool

The determinants and consequences of adult nursing staff turnover: a systematic review of systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND: Nurses leaving their jobs and the profession are an issue of international concern, with supply-demand gaps for nurses reported to be widening. There is a large body of existing literature, much of which is already in review form. In order to advance the usefulness of the literature for nurse and human resource managers, we undertook an overview (review of systematic reviews). The aim of the overview was to identify high quality evidence of the determinants and consequences of turnover in adult nursing. METHODS: Reviews were identified which were published between 1990 and January 2015 in English using electronic databases (the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts, CINAHL plus and SCOPUS) and forward searching. All stages of the review were conducted in parallel by two reviewers. Reviews were quality appraised using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews and their findings narratively synthesised. RESULTS: Nine reviews were included. We found that the current evidence is incomplete and has a number of important limitations. However, a body of moderate quality review evidence does exist giving a picture of multiple determinants of turnover in adult nursing, with - at the individual level - nurse stress and dissatisfaction being important factors and -at the organisational level - managerial style and supervisory support factors holding most weight. The consequences of turnover are only described in economic terms, but are considered significant. CONCLUSIONS: In making a quality assessment of the review as well as considering the quality of the included primary studies and specificity in the outcomes they measure, the overview found that the evidence is not as definitive as previously presented from individual reviews. Further research is required, of rigorous research design, whether quantitative or qualitative, particularly against the outcome of actual turnover as opposed to intention to leave. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO Registration 17 March 2015: CRD42015017613

A neo-institutional perspective on ethical decision-making

Drawing on neo-institutional theory, this study aims to discern the poorly understood ethical challenges confronted by senior executives in Indian multinational corporations and identify the strategies that they utilize to overcome them. We conducted in-depth interviews with 40 senior executives in Indian multinational corporations to illustrate these challenges and strategies. By embedding our research in contextually relevant characteristics that embody the Indian environment, we identify several institutional- and managerial-level challenges faced by executives. The institutional-level challenges are interpreted as regulative, normative and cognitive shortcomings. We recommend a concerted effort at the institutional and managerial levels by identifying relevant strategies for ethical decision-making. Moreover, we proffer a multi-level model of ethical decision-making and discuss our theoretical contributions and practical implications

Forgone, but not forgotten: Toward a theory of forgone professional identities

Through an inductive, qualitative study, I developed a process model of how people deal with professional identities they have forgone by choice or constraint. I show that, when forgone professional identities are linked to unfulfilled values, people look for ways to enact them and retain them in the self-concept. I further identify three strategies that people use to enact foregone professional identities: (1) real enactment (i.e., enacting the forgone identity through real activities and social interactions either at work or during leisure time), (2) imagined enactment (i.e., enacting the forgone identity through imagined activities and interactions, either in an alternate present or in the future), and (3) vicarious enactment (i.e., enacting the forgone identity by observing and imagining close others enacting it and internalizing these experiences). These findings expand our conceptualization of professional identity beyond identities enacted through activities and interactions that are part of formal work roles, and illuminate the key role of imagination and vicarious experiences in identity construction and maintenance