The antecedents of organizational commitment: the case of Australian casual academics

Purpose – Despite the increasing attention of organizational commitment in the management literature, most studies predominantly focus on full-time workers in traditional work settings. This paper examined the antecedents of organizational commitment among casual academics working in the tertiary education sector in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was developed and distributed to casual academics working in a large Australian public university. Findings – Analysis of the data shows that personal characteristics (gender, marital status, family responsibilities and education), job-related characteristics (supervisor support, co-worker support, role clarity and resource availability) and job involvement characteristics (tenure, second job and post-graduate study at the employing university) all impact on organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications – Australian tertiary institutions are prominent employers of casual workers, however, very little is known about the work behavior of this group of academics. The results of this study highlight important directions for implementing strategies to increase casual academic's organizational commitment. Organization commitment is important because it is known association with other important organizational variables such as turnover, absenteeism and work effort. Originality/value – Given the increasing reliance on casual academics in tertiary institutions, this study provides the first step in better understanding the factors that affect the organization commitment of casual academics

Participation in tertiary study abroad programs: the role of personality

The increasing trend for the globalisation of business has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the factors that influence levels of intercultural awareness within organisations. Within the higher education sector, one initiative that aims to address this issue is student study abroad programs. This paper reports on a study that investigates factors that influence Australian students' propensity to engage in these programs. Using both qualitative and quantitative analysis, we examined the role of students' personality in the decision to participate in study abroad programs. The implications for education in international business are discussed

Delegation: implications for Thai managers' job stress and performance

Delegation is an important aspect of organisation design. The Anglo-American literature is resplendent with references that support the benefits of delegating decision making authority and responsibility to lower level managers, and the drawbacks of not delegating. In countries where managers hold different cultural values from Anglo-American managers, it is likely that preferences for the extent of delegation will also differ. This study examines the extent of delegation in Thai organisations and its impact on Thai managers' performance and job-related stress. Using a sample of 68 Thai middle managers, we found that higher levels of decision making delegation was associated with increased performance, however, high levels of delegation was also associated with increased job stress. Implications of the results with respect to Thai managers' development and training in the delegation process, as well as effective organisation design, are addressed

Exploring corporate social responsibility values of millennial job-seeking students

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) work values of millennial undergraduates and their priorities among key CSR dimensions as a basis for the design of CSR curricula that will enhance students’ social responsibility values and their job choice decisions. Design/methodology/approach – Respondents were 238 senior undergraduates studying in three discipline areas at an Australian metropolitan university. Their CSR values were explored in the context of a hypothetical job choice scenario. Findings – While the majority of students rated CSR values highly in the job choice scenario, a larger majority were willing to trade this off for greater extrinsic benefits. Among millennial job-seeking students, workplace practices were rated the most important CSR dimension with environmental issues ranking last. Significant differences were found between gender and discipline. Research limitations/implications – Quantitative analysis only; use of cross-sectional, single-source data. Practical implications – In the context of greater extrinsic rewards, CSR values (particularly environmental concerns) are not front-of-mind in millennial students’ job choice decisions. This, coupled with high levels of indecision among business students may provide an important theoretical and practical basis for the development of CSR curricula in business courses in Australia. Originality/value – The study offers a unique insight into the CSR values of millennial business students vis-à-vis humanities and science students in a job choice context. These findings are important for designing effective business programs to shape the social responsibility behaviours of the next generation of managers and leaders

Organizational commitment, organizational support and social support dual effects for contract workers

A major trend in current employment practices is to employ workers in contract positions. Against this background, the study reported in this paper investigated the dual commitment of contracted employees to their employing agency and to the client firm for whom they were contracted to work. One hundred and four employees in the Australian building industry were surveyed about their commitment to both their employing agency and the client building organization for which they were currently working. Organizational commitment (affective, continuance and normative), was measured using Allen and Meyer’s (1990) scale. The study also investigated the effects that perceived support from supervisors, co-workers and organizations had on employees’ commitment to the employing and client organizations. The results indicate that employees can feel committed to both the organizations although this commitment is engendered by different factors

Financial planner credibility: the importance of being understood

Within the context of a financial planner offering advice to a client, this study examines the effect of the use of technical language on advice understandability and client perceptions of credibility (i.e., trustworthiness, expertise and likeability). The responses of 185 participants, randomly assigned to view one out of two videotapes (one tape low in the use of technical financial terms, the other high), were analysed. The results indicate that the overuse of technical language in a lay client consultation reduces a client's understanding of the advice offered by the financial planner. The results also show that lower advice understandability negatively affects the client's perceptions of the financial planner's credibility and the client's intention to seek the planner's advice.financial planners; expertise; trustworthiness; likeability; credibility; technical language; financial planning; financial services; financial consultation; comprehension; understanding; client perceptions.