„Effects of Mixed Signals on Employer Attractiveness: A Mixed-Method Study Based on Signalling and Convention Theory“

Traditional recruiting activities are marked by information asymmetry and organisational information control, leading to uncertainty among applicants about employer attractiveness. New technologies profoundly change the picture. Recruiting websites provide more thorough, yet controlled information; online employer reviews offer employee‐generated information mostly out of organisational control. While this diminishes information asymmetry, applicants have to handle incongruent information. It remains largely unclear how so‐called "mixed Signals" affect employer attractiveness and how applicants interpret them. To address the issue, we developed an integrated theoretical framework based on signalling and convention theory to better understand how applicants interpret and evaluate signals about employers. We then conducted a mixed‐method study to examine how congruent and mixed signals influence perceived employer attractiveness. Our results show that while congruent signals increase employer attractiveness and mixed‐signal situations reduce it, distinct evaluative patterns emerge when potential applicants reflect and judge employers. Implications for future research and practice are discussed

Human resource management: the promise, the performance, the consequences

Purpose – The dominant focus of HRM research has been that of “strategic HRM”, that is a focus on the impact of HRM on firm performance. The authors argue that not only are the cumulative results of this “dominant research orthodoxy” disappointing in terms of their external validity, but also they are of limited practical value. Further, it has failed not only in terms of its narrow firm performance-oriented agenda, but also the tenets of its agenda have contributed to serious levels of employee dissatisfaction and to the failure to deal with pressing global issues. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – In order to assess the contribution of the dominant research orthodoxy the authors analyse the 16 most cited journal articles in the field of HRM. Findings – The authors find a predominance of US-centric studies and therefore a questionable cross-national generalizability of the dominant research orthodoxy. The use of cross-sectional data means that long-term effects cannot be gauged. The authors observe a lack of consensus on how to operationalize HRM and firm performance. National context is generally absent. Practical implications – The authors show that for HRM to realize its potential for governments, media, or philanthropic agencies, HRM must abandon its restricted scope and mono-dimensional sources of inspiration. Originality/value – The authors not only point to the shortcomings of the dominant research orthodoxy within HRM, but the authors point to how HRM could become significantly more “centre-staged” by addressing the actors searching for contributions to the big questions of the world – the governments, media, and philanthropic agencies

Mind the (gender) gap: Gender, gender role types, and their effects on objective career success over time

Drawing on ideas by Pierre Bourdieu, this paper analyzes the effects of gender and gender role type (GRT) for objective career success (i.e., income) over time. Empirically, data from two cohorts of business school graduates were analyzed with mixed linear models. Gender and GRT, both perceived as career capital, progressively affect objective career success over time, with feminine GRT hampering objective career success for both sexes. Remaining results vary between the two cohorts: findings for the younger cohort deviate more strongly from the hypotheses derived

Introduction to Special Section: Careers in Context

[Excerpt] Career scholars regularly cite Hughes’ (1937: 413) dictum that the study careers as “the moving perspective in which persons orient themselves with reference to the social order, and of the typical sequences and concatenations of office – may be expected to reveal the nature and \u27working constitution\u27 of a society.” Yet the greater part of the careers literature typically ignores this by focusing, largely, on the careers of individuals and influencing factors mainly linked to the person and his or her immediate context, to the neglect of the broader context within which the careers are lived. However, large-scale economic and organizational changes that have affected most industrial societies in recent decades – the rising amount of business activity across national borders (Anderson & Cavanaugh, 2005), the increasingly global arena for entertainment and media, the influence of the internet in economic, social and political affairs, increased labor force participation by women and concomitant changes in family roles, and the emergence of distinctive forms of employment relations across countries (Whitley, 1999; Barley & Kunda, 2004) – make neglect of the social and political contexts in which careers unfold very problematic. These developments have reshaped the multitude of settings in which work careers are lived: the communities of organizations, occupations, geographical areas, and so on. Specifically, the broad social context that provides the canvas on which work careers are painted, rather than the immediate organizational context as discussed, for example, by Johns (2001), is an important, yet partly neglected factor for understanding work careers. The immediate context may, of course, form a link between career and the broader context. However, it is the latter and not the former type of context that is a primary object of interest in this respect. We suggest that research exploring the broad context within which work careers are lived helps us understand better the nature of career in an Internet-based, globalised economy and how these careers, in turn, influence developments in the context

Susceptibility of Bifidobacteria of Animal Origin to Selected Antimicrobial Agents

Strains of the genus Bifidobacterium are frequently used as probiotics, for which the absence of acquired antimicrobial resistance has become an important safety criterion. This clarifies the need for antibiotic susceptibility data for bifidobacteria. Based on a recently published standard for antimicrobial susceptibility testing of bifidobacteria with broth microdilution method, the range of susceptibility to selected antibiotics in 117 animal bifidobacterial strains was examined. Narrow unimodal MIC distributions either situated at the low-end (chloramphenicol, linezolid, and quinupristin/dalfopristin) or high-end (kanamycin, neomycin) concentration range could be detected. In contrast, the MIC distribution of trimethoprim was multimodal. Data derived from this study can be used as a basis for reviewing or verifying present microbiological breakpoints suggested by regulatory agencies to assess the safety of these micro-organisms intended for the use in probiotics

High‐commitment HRM practices during the financial crisis in Portugal: Employees' and HR perspectives

Over the recent decades, organizations have had to face a number of major external shocks and crises. Acquiring a better understanding of how human resources are managed under such critical conditions constitutes the main purpose of this study. We conducted a study triangulating different sources (employees, HR managers, and secondary data) and types of data (quantitative and qualitative) to explore how employees in Portuguese organizations perceived the HR practices’ implementation during the years of the financial crisis (2011–2014) and how HR managers explained it. Longitudinal evidence from 53 organizations attests to perceived decreasing trends, particularly in training and development and performance management. HR managers legitimize these trends, embracing conventions and revealing the impact of coercive and normative pressures. Our findings highlight the need for renewed attention to be paid to the contextual pressures on HR managers’ decision-making and actions that could severely endanger their role as strategic partners and their embrace of sustainable HRM.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio