Impact of Information Technology on Employee Attitudes: A Longitudinal Field Study

This longitudinal study examined the impact of an information technology system on the job and employee attitudes in a parts distribution center for a Fortune 500 company. Data were collected prior to, during, and following the implementation of an automated information technology system. Results of both the within subjects (N=24) and between subjects (N=58) analyses indicated that the automated technology reduced motivational and increased mechanistic aspects of the job as well as reduced employee attitudes

Customer Service Providers’ Attitudes Relating to Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction in the Customer–Server Exchange

The authors proposed and tested a model describing the relationship between customer service providers’ perceptions and attitudes toward their service-related duties and their customers’ perceptions of satisfaction with their service experiences. Results indicated that the perception of having standards for service delivery in an organization is strongly related to line-level employees’ perceptions of support from coworkers and supervisors. Perceived support from coworkers was significantly related to service providers’ customer orientation, whereas perceived support from supervisors showed a weaker relationship to a customer orientation. Ultimately, service providers’ customer orientation was strongly related to customers’ satisfaction with service. Finally, a set of post hoc analyses indicated that coworker and supervisory support explained a greater proportion of incremental variance in the model than did perceived organizational support alone

Do the Benefits of Family-to-Work Transitions Come at Too Great a Cost?

This research examines the impact of role boundary management on the work-family interface, as well as on organizational (job embeddedness) and family (relationship tension) outcomes. First, we integrate conservation of resources theory with crossover theory, to build a theoretical model of work-family boundary management. Second, we extend prior work by exploring positive and negative paths through which boundary management affects work and family outcomes. Third, we incorporate spouse perceptions to create a dynamic, systems-perspective explanation of the work-family interface. Using a matched sample of 639 job incumbents and their spouses, we found that family-to-work boundary transitions was related to the job incumbents\u27 work-to-family conflict, work-to-family enrichment, and job embeddedness as well as the boundary management strain transmitted to the spouse. We also found that the boundary management strain transmitted to the spouse mediated the relationship between family-to-work boundary transitions and both work-to-family conflict and work-to-family enrichment. Finally, we found significant indirect effects between family-to-work boundary transitions and job embeddedness and relationship tension through both the boundary management strain transmitted to the spouse and the incumbent\u27s work-family conflict, but not through work-family enrichment. Thus, family-to-work boundary transitions offer some benefits to the organization by contributing to job embeddedness, but they also come at a cost in that they are associated with work-family conflict and relationship tension. We discuss the study\u27s implications for theory, research, and practice while suggesting new research directions

Factors Influencing Real Estate Brokerage Sales Staff Performance

This research examined factors that affect residential real estate sales staff performance from sixteen firms of various sizes in different residential markets. The human capital model was related to sales staff commission earnings. A psychological factors model and management systems model were introduced that explained variance beyond that accounted for by the human capital model. Multiple regression analysis demonstrated that five of the twenty-seven variables examined accounted for most of the statistically significant variance. These variables included gender, hours worked per week, amount of formal education, work satisfaction, and reputation of the firm. Suggestions on how to utilize the findings regarding those variables related to earnings, as well as those not related, are briefly discussed.

Customer Service Behavior and Attitudes among Hotel Managers: A Look at Perceived Support Functions, Standards for Service, and Service Process Outcomes

A model of customer service behavior and outcomes was proposed and tested among managerial-supervisory personnel (N = 250) from 11 hotel properties within six large national and international hotel companies. Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a reliable approach to examine elements of customer service and outcomes in a service-based setting. Specifically, organizational support was represented by two independent dimensions of coworker support and supervisory support. A dimension of standards for service was presented and validated as a central mediating factor in the perception of service processes, along with customer (guest) orientation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions as outcome measures in a path model of customer service behavior

Customer Service Employees’ Behavioral Intentions and Attitudes: An Examination of Construct Validity and a Path Model

Customer service employees (N = 386) from a variety of service-based organizations (e.g., hotels, restaurants, and retail stores) were sampled in a cross-sectional design to assess the construct validity and predictive utility of measures of: (a) perceptions of organizational support, (b) organizational commitment, (c) job satisfaction, (d) intent to quit, and (e) life satisfaction and to assess the appropriateness of use and the impact of these scales within a service-based context. The construct validity of the measures was assessed through the application of confirmatory factor analysis, while the predictive character of the proposed path models was assessed using path analysis. Results indicated that the measures of job satisfaction, intent to quit, and life satisfaction demonstrated acceptable construct validity within the service context sampled, while the measures of organizational support and commitment received mixed support due to problems with measurement error and item specification. The analyses of the path models revealed that: (a) perceived organizational support strongly and significantly influenced job satisfaction and organizational commitment, (b) job satisfaction had a unidirectional impact upon life satisfaction, (c) despite a strong correlation, job satisfaction displayed a limited predictive impact on organizational commitment, and (d) intent to quit was influenced by both job satisfaction and organizational commitment

Resilient employees are creative employees, when the workplace forces them to be

With a basis in conservation of resources theory, this article considers the connection between employees' resilience and disruptive creative behaviour-conceptualized herein as the extent to which they generate radically new ideas for organizational improvement-as well as how this connection might be invigorated by resource-draining work conditions that stem from excessive workloads and unfavourable decision-making processes. Data collected through a survey administered to employees in an organization that operates in the distribution sector reveal that employees' resilience levels spur their disruptive creative behaviour, and this process is more prominent among employees who believe they have insufficient time to complete their work tasks (i.e., suffer from high work overload) and operate in organizational climates marked by high rigidity or dysfunctional politics. The findings accordingly inform organizational practitioners that the allocation of employees' personal resource bases to disruptive creative behaviours might be particularly useful among employees who face substantial adversity in their organizational functioning.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Flow cytometry as a rapid analytical tool to determine physiological responses to changing O2 and iron concentration by Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense strain MSR-1

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are a diverse group of bacteria that synthesise magnetosomes, magnetic membrane-bound nanoparticles that have a variety of diagnostic, clinical and biotechnological applications. We present the development of rapid methods using flow cytometry to characterize several aspects of the physiology of the commonly-used MTB Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense MSR-1. Flow cytometry is an optical technique that rapidly measures characteristics of individual bacteria within a culture, thereby allowing determination of population heterogeneity and also permitting direct analysis of bacteria. Scatter measurements were used to measure and compare bacterial size, shape and morphology. Membrane permeability and polarization were measured using the dyes propidium iodide and bis-(1,3-dibutylbarbituric acid) trimethine oxonol to determine the viability and ‘health’ of bacteria. Dyes were also used to determine changes in concentration of intracellular free iron and polyhydroxylakanoate (PHA), a bacterial energy storage polymer. These tools were then used to characterize the responses of MTB to different O2 concentrations and iron-sufficient or iron-limited growth. Rapid analysis of MTB physiology will allow development of bioprocesses for the production of magnetosomes, and will increase understanding of this fascinating and useful group of bacteria