Employee share ownership, psychological ownership, and work attitudes and behaviours: A phenomenological analysis

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: MCCONVILLE, D., ARNOLD, J. and SMITH, A., 2016. Employee share ownership, psychological ownership, and work attitudes and behaviours: A phenomenological analysis. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 89 (3), pp. 634-655, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/joop.12146. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.This study uses qualitative data to explore how employees perceive the relationships between employee share ownership (ESO) scheme participation, their attitudes and behaviours at work, and their feelings of psychological ownership (PO). We contribute to two areas of (largely quantitative) research literature. First, we advance understanding of PO by examining participants' explanations of how they feel their sense of PO is affected by participating in a company ESO scheme. Second, we examine the role of PO in employees' explanations of the attitudinal and behavioural changes they feel they have experienced as a consequence of participating in an ESO scheme. To explore the subjective meaning of ESO participation and its PO impact, 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted in nine companies with participants in three tax-advantaged ESO schemes in the United Kingdom: SIP, SAYE, and EMI. Data were coded and analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Participants perceived little effect of ESO schemes on PO or on the organizational features anticipated to give rise to these feelings. In turn, PO was found to play little or no part in employees' explanations of how share schemes had, or did not have, an attitudinal or behavioural impact. Practitioner points: Interviewees reflected on their experiences of joining employee share ownership (ESO) schemes, holding options, exercising options, and owning shares in the company. There was very little evidence that employees felt that any of these stages of ESO participation had any noticeable effect on their feelings of psychological ownership (PO). Other factors seemed to satisfy PO routes before, and possibly better than, ESO. Psychological ownership played little or no part in employees' explanations of how the ESO scheme impacted upon their attitudes or behaviours. The findings contrast with the conventional wisdom, that participating in an ESO scheme inevitably causes employees to feel a sense of ownership over the company. We find that ESO had very little to do with ownership in the minds of employees. Instead, it was much more about investment. ESO was not seen as a mechanism for employees to have a sense of ownership over the company and employees did not appear to regard ESO as providing experiences of the three ownership rights, or the routes to PO which parallel these

Diversity in the workplace: an overview of disability employment disclosures among UK firms

People with disabilities (PWD) have been defined as the world’s largest minority group. This societal group continues to face significant barriers to labor market entry and social inclusion. The associated costs to supporting non-working PWDs can be high and long term. Yet, their potential as motivation, contribution and impact to human capital, adaptability, firm productivity and the innovative capacity of business entities is valuable and underutilised. PWD employment is a pressing ‘advanced market’ issue with strong implications on the nature of equitable opportunities, social mobility and diversity in the workplace. A better level of responsiveness by firms is needed to endorse enabling conditions towards broader social sustainability and as impact on PWDs quality of life. This study attempts to assess the quality of corporate reporting disclosure on disability issues by U.K. firms, as a stepping stone for mainstreaming integration of PWDs into labor markets under the scope of corporate social accountability. The information published in 274 sustainability reports highlights trends pertaining to disability employment. We benchmark U.K. sustainability reports against PWD-adapted indicators of the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines. Findings suggest that U.K. corporate disclosures on PWD employment are lacking in key respects, leaving much to be desired, and with plenty of room for improvement in order to clearly set out their commitment in favor of PWD employment. Drawing on these findings, implications for PWD employee policy and practice are outlined

Robust image analysis with sparse representation on quantized visual features

10.1109/TIP.2012.2219543IEEE Transactions on Image Processing223860-871IIPR

The chemistry factor in the Chairman/CEO relationship

This paper reports a study into the nature, dynamics and effects of the ‘chemistry' of the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) relationship. A qualitative, semi-structured interview, narrative analysis methodology over a twenty-eight month period was adopted. A sample of CEO's, Chairmen and Non- Executive Directors (NEDs) across the boards of nine corporations, agreed to participate in in-depth discussion. Personal narratives of the board director's experience, particularly from the perspective of enabling understanding of the ‘chemistry' of the Chairman/CEO relationship, were analysed in terms of boardroom and organisational effect. There are two elements to ‘chemistry', analytical interpretative capacity (sense making) and deep friendship (philos). Both emerge as primary to determining Chairman/CEO effectiveness and in combination nurture meaningful knowledge sharing as well as a desire for learning in the boardroom. Absence of either allows for a workable relationship, but with neither, the Chairman/CEO dyad and the organisation are harmed. This qualitative study draws attention to the criticality of sense making and philos as determinants of the quality of the Chairman/CEO relationship. The study results emphasise the critical nature of the Chairman/CEO relationship in determining boardroom and organisational effectiveness. Development of this dyadic interaction is considered to positively benefit boardroom dynamics and organisational perfo

Auditing employee ownership in a neo-liberal world

Purpose - Employee ownership has attracted much attention across the globe. Whether affected by the global financial crisis (GFC), or not, this paper seeks to canvass what is known about employee ownership in neo-liberal political economies. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a literature review, cross cultural analysis and critique. Findings - The findings indicate future research directions. Research limitations/implications - The paper suggests a reconsideration of organizational configurations for possible greater application in the future. Social implications - The paper hightlights the re- regulation of neo-liberal markets. Originality/value - The paper focuses on employee share ownership schemes