Linking rewards to commitment: an empirical investigation of four UK call centres

Pharmacy work: Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards across role and setting

BACKGROUND

Pharmacists' and pharmacy technicians' stress and job turnover are at an all-time high. Both intrinsic motivations and extrinsic rewards play key roles in workplace satisfaction. Differences in workplace satisfaction have been identified when comparing chain pharmacies, independent pharmacies, and health systems work settings.

OBJECTIVES

Cognitive evaluation theory was applied to explore the influence of intrinsic motivations and extrinsic rewards on both pharmacists' and pharmacy technicians' perceptions of motivations and rewards across various workplace settings.

METHODS

A 92-item questionnaire was administered to 129 pharmacists and 111 pharmacy technicians. Participants were primarily recruited at a state pharmacy association annual meeting and via online forums. The questionnaire captured participant demographics including role and work setting (i.e., chain, independent, or health systems), demographic variables, and perceptions about work including autonomy, competence, relationships, pay satisfaction, and benefit satisfaction.

RESULTS

A 2-way multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted to test hypothesized differences by role (pharmacist or pharmacy technician) and setting (chain, independent, or health systems). Results show pharmacy personnel in independent and hospital systems settings felt more positive about relationships, competence, pay satisfaction, and benefit satisfaction than those in chain settings. There were no role differences between pharmacists and pharmacy technicians on these outcomes.

DISCUSSION

These findings highlight challenges of working in chain pharmacy environments. Results reveal that although pay does not differ across work settings, feelings about both the work and compensation satisfaction do vary across settings. Because role did not drive these relationships, this suggests a need to attend to working conditions for pharmacy personnel.

CONCLUSION

Intrinsic motivation elements of competence and relationships are statistically different among employment settings. Relationships and feelings of competence are perceived more favorably in independent and health systems, rather than chain settings. More studies on intrinsic motivations of pharmacy employees within these settings are needed.

Examining the critical factors of internal audit effectiveness from internal auditors' perspective: Moderating role of extrinsic rewards

An effective internal auditor can support an organization in achieving its goals and protect its assets and funds. However, to be effective, the internal auditors need to be empowered with relevant resources. This study aims at probing the influence of the empowerments (management support, external auditors' collaboration, independence, size of internal audit units, and extrinsic rewards) on the internal auditors' effectiveness, and to examin whether extrinsic rewards moderate the association between respective empowerments and the effectiveness of Jordanian public sector internal auditors'. The current work relied on 117 surveys collected from Jordan's internal audit and financial managers in the public sectors. According to the Resource-Based View (RBV), the findings show that management support, external auditors cooperation, independence, and extrinsic rewards all have a significant influence on the effectiveness of internal auditor. The of the Internal Audit Department (IAD) size was discovered to be insignificant. Also, the results have revealed partial support for the influence of the extrinsic reward as a moderator. Because of the prominence of the public sector in the Jordanian market, this current research expands on the idea of enabling internal auditor (IA) to accomplish their assigned objectives. The findings might help authorities develop new norms and legislation for the internal audit profession. These empowering characteristics may also improve internal auditors' capacity to execute their duty in saving public monies and limiting corrupt practices inside public sector organizations.

Authentic Leadership, Future Prospects and Affective Commitment in Early Career Employees—A Mediation Model

Even as the great resignation unfolds, turnover among early-career employees is well documented in research. Compared to their mid- and late-career counterparts, early-career professionals are more likely to need support from supervisors and opportunities for intra-organisational growth. Similarly, early career professionals are more likely to prefer mobility and exploration of career opportunities. Therefore, mechanisms to enhance affective commitment of early-career professionals become salient. Accordingly, using a sample of 206 early-career construction professionals from India, this research examined the relationship between authentic leadership and affective commitment. Further, future prospects were tested as a mediating mechanism between these two variables. PLS-SEM was employed for analysis. Our hypotheses were supported. Specifically, it was found that authentic leadership has a positive influence on future prospects and affective commitment. Further, future prospects are positively associated with affective commitment. Finally, future prospects fully mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and affective commitment. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and limitations are acknowledged.

Commitment and Wellbeing: The Relationship Dilemma in a Two-Wave Study

There has been little consensus around the sequential relationship between organizational affective commitment and workers' wellbeing. In line with the Conservation of Resources Theory, results of this two-wave study with a contact center employee sample (N = 483) showed that organizational affective commitment decreases work ill-being (i.e., burnout) and increases work wellbeing (i.e., work-engagement). Furthermore, in keeping with the loss spiral assumption of this theory, the mediating role of burnout in the affective commitment-health relationship was supported in this study. However, in accordance with the Job Demand-Resources, work engagement was found not to prevent effects on health. The findings have implications for the organizational affective commitment theory, as well as for organizational occupational health policies and interventions.

Human resource management practices in creating a committed workforce for fostering knowledge transfer: a theoretical framework

Purpose

This paper aims to review existing literature on the role of human resource management (HRM) practices in nurturing employee’s organisational commitment (OC), which subsequently promoting knowledge transfer (KT) within an organisation and propose a conceptual framework for future empirical research.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive review of existing literature was undertaken in an attempt to build the conceptual model for KT.

Findings

The proposed conceptual framework illustrates the role of OC as a focal mediating mechanism in fostering KT. This paper identifies “high commitment” HRM (HCHRM) (e.g. staffing, job design, training and development, performance appraisal and reward system) as the factors influencing the development of OC, which subsequently affecting KT (i.e. knowledge sharing and application). Also, this paper integrates the potential moderating roles of leader-member exchange (LMX) between HCHRM practices-OC, as well as information and communication technology support in the OC-KT linkage into the proposed framework.

Research limitations/implications

This paper presents a comprehensive view of fostering KT. However, the major limitation of this paper is that it remains at a conceptual level. Further empirical investigations would be helpful to test propositions, hence validating the proposed conceptual framework.

Practical implications

The proposed conceptual framework could serve as practical guidance for managers and/or practitioners in developing policies that will facilitate KT in business organisations.

Originality/value

While KT is often viewed as a single phenomenon, this paper considers the KT into two components (i.e, sharing and application) in accordance with the practice-based perspective on knowledge and behavioural approach to KT. In addition, the adoption of the general workplace commitment model in conceptualising KT could further validate its applicability in knowledge management research. Also, the integration of LMX as a moderator in the proposed framework could contribute to the scant research on LMX-related moderation models upon validation.

Human resources management practices and organizational commitment in higher education

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on organizational commitment in Palestinian universities, and to examine the mediating effect of work engagement as a black-box mechanism that defines HRM practices–organizational commitment relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The source of the data is from 237 employees (academics and administrative staff) from Palestinian universities. The authors used structural equation modeling to verify the hypotheses.

Findings

The results reveal that HRM practices have a significant impact on employee organizational commitment in higher education. In addition, work engagement showed a significant mediating effect between performance appraisal and organizational commitment on the one hand, and between rewards and compensation and organizational commitment on the other hand.

Practical implications

The study suggests university managers to capitalize on HRM practices as vehicle to trigger positive work-related attitudes.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of HRM practices on organizational commitment through the mediation role of work engagement in higher education of a non-western context. The study is one of the few studies that is conducted in the middle east.

Organizational commitment, rewards and education in the Philippines

Purpose

The theory of organizational commitment (OC) was originally developed in the context of Western societies. Therefore, its application to a non-Western country may be easier and more successful if that country’s society has been historically influenced by Western cultures. Based on this understanding, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between OC and rewards among employees in one of East Asia’s developing countries most significantly influenced by Western cultures.

Design/methodology/approach

Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted using survey data obtained from 2,363 employees working for 11 Japanese manufacturing companies in the Philippines.

Findings

The paper revealed that the variables measuring intrinsic rewards were strongly related to OC than extrinsic and social rewards, suggesting that the antecedents of OC in the Philippines resemble more closely those found in the west than in the east. This tendency was found to be stronger for university graduates, whose OC is influenced more significantly by intrinsic rewards and less by social rewards, compared to that of non-graduates.

Research limitations/implications

The major limitation concerns reliability. This study used self-report data from individual respondents; this may result in common method bias relationships between variables being inflated.

Practical implications

The results of this study could support the revision of human resource management practices, enabling workers to contribute to their companies on a long-term basis in countries where Western cultures have influenced employees’ mindsets and attitudes.

Originality/value

Intrinsic rewards impact OC more than other rewards in the Philippines due to its history of Westernization and recent industrialization. This research is the first, to the best of the author’s knowledge, to verify this assumption, and should assist managers of companies in the Philippines, and perhaps, in other developing countries influenced by Western cultures, in formulating strategies to foster high levels of OC among their employees.

Role of ergonomics in re-designing job design in call centres

Purpose. The ergonomics focus regarding job design is to address the issue of fitting the job to the worker. This means that other things such as space, matter, pedagogical parameters and the organizational environment need to be adjusted to the worker, to obtain optimal performance. Hence, it is important that jobs are designed in such a way that the environment of the worker becomes ergonomically better. Methods. Seventeen interviews were undertaken with employees from call centres of three major telecom companies in Islamabad. The interviews were semi-structured and NVivo version 10 was used for analysis. Results. The results indicated an influence of the following ergonomic factors on job design: (a) force, mental well-being and supervisor and peer support acted more on the complexity of the task; (b) inappropriate postures, mental well-being, characteristics of work, supervisor and peer support and the work environment acted on the skill and efforts required; (c) repetitiveness, workstation design, mental well-being, supervisor and peer support, work environment and characteristics of work acted more on the degree of worker's control. Conclusion. The issues related to these factors should be addressed to improve job design in the workplace.

What Is a Resource: Toward a Taxonomy of Resources for Employee Engagement

Research detailing employee engagement has reliably stated that resources are significant to fostering engagement. Notwithstanding, no previous work has attempted to make meaning of those resources through a review of the existing literature. To better understand how the engagement literature positions and defines resources, we reviewed the resources term across 137 articles. The results of our structured literature review revealed that 216 distinct resources were mentioned across literature streams, and five distinct categories from macro to micro levels could be identified. The categories include (a) organizational resources, (b) social resources, (c) job resources, (d) home resources, and (e) personal resources. In addition to detailing our method and each category of resources, we explore implications for human resource development theory and practice.

Turnover intention among liquid knowledge workers: a study of Indian insurance professionals

Purpose

This study aims to analyze how perceived organizational support (POS), perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived co-worker support (PCS) as components of social exchange at work influence turnover intention through affective commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

Perception of sales professionals working in life insurance companies, categorized as liquid knowledge workers, on the study variables was assessed through a questionnaire-based survey. Data on a sample of 212 such professionals across 11 companies were analyzed using structured equation modeling. Maximum likelihood estimate method was used to test the extent of model fit. Mediation has been confirmed through bootstrapping.

Findings

Results reveal a significant direct relationship between PSS and turnover intention. POS and PCS were found to have significant indirect effects on turnover intention, mediated by affective commitment.

Research limitations/implications

Overall results prompt the authors to recommend that organizations in insurance business must invest resources in promoting organizational support and also adopt a supportive work culture in which social exchange can easily occur. Level of withdrawal intention among sales professionals can be lowered by establishing emotional bonding with them. Supervisors may also be provided adequate training in soft skills to support their subordinates.

Originality/value

This study has highlighted that support at workplace is a binding force between an employee and his/her organization, and thus it negatively affects his/her withdrawal intention directly or indirectly via affective commitment. This paper stands out in the multitude of existing research as especially the relation of PCS and turnover intention has been explored less. It also adds to the scarce literature available on turnover intention among liquid knowledge workers in Indian insurance sector.

Predictive performance models in the South African Business Process Services industry

Orientation: An earlier systematic literature review study (Jacobs Roodt, 2011) conducted on research in Business Process Services (BPS) industry sector companies identified a number of variables that could be empirically linked to turnover intention and individual performance. The literature pointed to a potential health promotion process, as well as an individual performance process in the BPS environment.Research purpose: The purpose of this study is to test two different predictive models that may explain two distal outcomes, namely turnover intention and individual employee performance, in the South African (SA) BPS industry.Motivation for the study: There is little, if any, peer-reviewed, empirical research available on the BPS industry that links variables to either proximate or distal outcome variables, such as turnover intention and individual employee performance.Research approach/design and method: A two-stage, census-based sampling approach was followed that initially targeted 40 organisations within the industry that employ about 13000 employees. Sixteen of these organisations (employing about 6800 individuals) indicated that they wish to voluntarily participate in the study; 821 individuals were targeted to participate in the cross-sectional survey and 487 usable responses were obtained (a 59% response rate). Multivariate data analyses were conducted from an exploratory perspective to retrospectively explain relationships in the structural models.Main findings: An overall health promotion process model that predicted the distal outcome, turnover intention, was confirmed within the context of this exploratory study, where human resource management (HRM) practices, job demands (JDs) and job resources (JRs) were related to burnout as the only proximate outcome. On the other hand, an individual performance enhancing process model was also confirmed within the context of this exploratory study by using HRM practices, JRs and JDs, together with proximate variables, such as employee competence and engagement, to explain the distal outcome, individual performance.Practical/managerial implications: The study has implications for executive (strategic) management, human resource (HR) professionals and work unit team leaders in the BPS industry. This study shows which JRs contribute towards the reduction of burnout and turnover intention in the BPS context. On the other hand, it explains how HRM practices, as well as JRs and JDs, in combination with employee competence and engagement, can be used to promote individual performance.Contribution/value-add: This is the first SA study that uses a range of variables in a multivariate analysis to predict turnover intention and individual performance in the SA BPS industry.

Talent turnover and retention research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the direct impact of some of the salient factors from the talent management (TM) literature (role conflict, extrinsic rewards, and job satisfaction) and the indirect impact of other factors (organisational commitment, talent retention, and talent engagement) on talent turnover intention.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey questionnaire collected 521 valid responses from employees holding managerial and non-managerial positions at various levels in 54 five-star hotels in 6 cities in Saudi Arabia.

Findings

Significant support was found for all nine hypotheses formulated to test the relationships among the seven constructs above. The model was found to explain 68 per cent of variance in talent turnover intention.

Research limitations/implications

The study contributes to human resource management literature in general and TM in particular by examining the different constructs used in the TM models and by conceptualising a research model, which was empirically validated within the service sector in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Practical implications

The research has several implications for practitioners in the tourism/service sector in the Middle East, pertaining to the management of talented employees. Specifically, it recommends that managers should promote training and development scenarios and provide a better work environment to strengthen individuals’ commitment to their jobs.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies to examine a comprehensive model of TM in the Arab world in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular, using data gathered from employees in the tourism sector.

The influence of organisational rewards on workplace trust and work engagement

Orientation: In volatile and competitive business environments, organisations are faced with challenges to retain talented workers. Employees are increasingly leaving their jobs for a number of reasons, one of them being a perceived lack of adequate reward practices. Consequently, this has impacted on employee work engagement and confidence and trust in organisations.Research purpose: The study sought to determine whether there is a relationship between rewards, trust and engagement, as well as whether rewards are able to predict trust and engagement in the South African workplace.Motivation for the study: Organisations can no longer solely rely on extrinsic rewards to retain talent. Companies must draw on both extrinsic and intrinsic reward strategies to improve retention levels through endorsing higher levels of workplace trust and work engagement levels.Research design, approach and method: A quantitative, exploratory and cross-sectional research design was utilised. Non-probability sampling using questionnaires consisting of scales from the Job Satisfaction Survey, Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, Psychological Meaningfulness Scale, Basic Needs at Work Scale, Workplace Trust Survey and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale were administered to a sample (N = 251) of South African employees in various industries within the Gauteng region.Main findings: Results indicated that there is a moderate-to-strong positive relationship between the three constructs, and that rewards are able to predict trust and engagement.Practical and managerial implications: The findings provide insight for behavioural practitioners to potentially draw upon when improving talent management strategies. Both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards are important factors in keeping employees engaged and ultimately retaining them.Contribution: The study provided insight into the influence that organisational rewards may have on workplace trust, work engagement and retaining employees. Findings contribute towards improving talent management strategies.

Corporate social responsibility strategies and their impact on employees’ commitment

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employees perceive corporate social responsibility (CSR) within their organizations, thus employees’ Internally Perceived CSR and how it impacts their organizational commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

– For conceptualizing, the constituents of Internally Perceived CSR – Individual CSR-Perception, Organizational CSR-Perception and their respective factors – are derived from social exchange theory, social identity theory and further relevant literature. The study’s research model is tested through a survey consulting 386 respondents from a company operating in renewable energies.

Findings

– The results lead to the following conclusions: Internally Perceived CSR strongly impacts employees’ Affective Organizational Commitment and comparatively low influences Normative Organizational Commitment. Moreover, Affective Organizational Commitment mediates Normative Organizational Commitment.

Originality/value

– The implementation of CSR has evolved to a crucial component of both organizational behavior and management. Nevertheless, the internal CSR-dimension has been largely neglected so far.

The relationship between training and organizational commitment among academicians in Malaysia

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to address the question “what is the relationship between employees’ perception on training and employees’ organisational commitment?” using the widely accepted theories of three-component model of organisational commitment and training-related variables.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study utilises the survey methodology approach. The study design is an associational descriptive research designed to identify the relationship between employees’ training measured by five training variables (perceived availability of training, motivation to learn in training, perceived co-worker support for training, perceived supervisor support for training and perceived benefits of training) and employees’ organisational commitment measured by three organisational commitment components (affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment). The target population of this study consisted of academic staffs of one of the faculty in a public university in Malaysia. The name of the University is not disclosed due to the request from the management of the University. Comprehensive sampling approach was used in this survey, whereby the survey was distributed to all the target population. This approach was chosen to ensure higher response rate from the respondents. The target population is academic staff and 60 responses were analysed.

Findings

– Findings from the study revealed a significant and positive relationship between the training-related variables (availability of training, motivation to learn, co-worker support for training, supervisor support for training and benefits of training) the affective and normative commitment components of the organisational commitment; while a non-significant relationship with continuance commitment. Additionally, the results of the study revealed that the best predictor of affective commitment is co-worker support for training followed by availability of training. For normative commitment, the best predictor was availability of training.

Research limitations/implications

– Although this study was conducted in the education industry, the results of this study were consistent with previous studies conducted in western countries and the few studies conducted in some Asian countries such as Qatar, China, Australia and Malaysia that are non-education industries. However, the study was conducted in a single university in Malaysia and therefore results of the study may not be generalisable to all higher institutions nor the universities excluded in the sample. The study was limited to academic staffs, and does not involve other employees such as non-academic staff. Therefore the result may not be generalisable to those excluded staff as training policies, skills and knowledge requirement among various staff categories differ.

Practical implications

– This study has indicated that co-worker support for training and supervisor support of training enhance emotional attachment/sense of belonging (i.e. affective commitment) and loyalty (i.e. normative commitments) among academic staff. Thus in this view the university authority could create an environment where there is a strong encouragement by colleagues and supervisors towards participating in training activities. Supervisors in the context of this study refer to HoDs, Deans, head of research groups, etc. This research has also revealed that availability (or access) to training has a strong relationship with both affective and normative commitments; with availability of training a strong predictor of the former type of commitment. Therefore the university through supervisors can play a role in publicising the availability of training to the academic staff. The university can also design more in-house training and development programmes/activities as well as encourage and financially support external training programmes that will enhance the academic staff teaching and research skills. Such move by the university could be perceived by the academic staff as support and care which ultimately leads to better organisational performance.

Originality/value

– This is a pioneering study on perception on training towards organisational commitment among academic staff in a public university in Malaysia. The result of this study will spur public universities in Malaysia to find ways to improve their training plan and design to achieve maximum satisfaction among the academician.

Servant Leadership and Affective Commitment in the Chinese Public Sector: The mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

This study examined a possible mediating mechanism between servant leadership and the affective commitment in Chinese employees. Servant leadership, perceived organizational support, and affective commitment was assessed among 239 full-time employees in the Chinese public sector in three rounds of surveys. Servant leadership influenced affective commitment through perceived organizational support. The effect of servant leadership exists in Chinese culture as well as Western cultures.