On the Uptake of Flexible Working Arrangements and the Association with Human Resource and Organizational Performance Outcomes

Impact of Work-Life Balance on Firm Innovativeness: The Different Strategies Used by Male and Female Bosses

The idea of work–family balance has generated considerable interest for researchers who tried to focus mainly on the increased female engagement in the labor market, the rise in dual-income households, as well as the changing nature of organizations, work and the workplace. While some individuals prefer work-life balance (WLB) strategies that set fair and realistic limits between their professional and personal lives, others prefer initiatives that provide harmony between the different aspects of their lives. By surveying both Lebanese male and female employees, this research explored work-life strategies that can be implemented by men and women leaders to balance their work and non-work activities and promote their roles as leaders. In addition, it aims to explore if those work-life strategies enhance organizational performance by means of increased innovativeness, and research and development. The results reveal that there is no significant relationship between employee WLB and organizational performance, indicating that satisfied employees do not necessarily deliver increased or weakened performance. Our results also reveal that supervisor support is positively related to employee WLB. In addition, the study examines the effects of individual coping WLB strategies and organizational provision of WLB policies on employee affective well-being. The results indicate that Lebanese individuals who have positive attitudes and life coping strategies are more capable of achieving overall well-being.

Effect of Teleworking on Working Conditions of Workers: A Post-COVID-19 Lockdown Evaluation

This study examines the effect of teleworking on working conditions of workers, a post-COVID-19 lockdown evaluation. The quantitative approach and descriptive cross-sectional research design were adopted. A sample of 265 participants from both public and private sectors were sampled for the study. Data was collected with a self-administered questionnaire and analyzed with partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The study found that teleworking/virtual working significantly affects participant’s working conditions during a pandemic. Furthermore, workplace safety and work schedules were also found to be significantly influenced by teleworking and eventually influencing the working conditions of teleworkers during a pandemic. The two most important predictors of decent working conditions for workers during the pandemic found by this study were teleworking and work schedules. Therefore, it was recommended that employers provide data and logistical support and training for workers to effectively use virtual/teleworking to enhance working conditions and eventually workers’ productivity during any pandemic.

EFFECT OF FAMILY-FRIENDLY PRACTICES ON EMPLOYEES’ INTENTION TO QUIT: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR

Turnover intention has become one of the most serious issues in organizations around the world. Hence, most organizations encourage family-friendly practices (FFPs) to retain employees and to reduce high turnover risk. A plethora of research has confirmed FFPs as a fruitful predictor of turnover intention. However, what is not yet known is whether FFPs directly influence turnover intention or indirectly through organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). To fill the gap, the present study examined the effect of FFPs on employees’ intention to quit. On top of that, the mediating role of OCB in the purported link was also examined. Data were collected from 338 health sector employees using a structured questionnaire. The results of the structural equation modeling using AMOS indicated a significant negative relationship between FFPs and employees’ intention to quit. Moreover, OCB negatively influences employees’ intention to quit and partially mediates the path between family-friendly practices and intention to quit. Based on theoretical and empirical evidence, this study advances existing knowledge and further understanding of organizational work practices. This study recommends that organizations should encourage FFPs to mitigate turnover rate among employees.

Machine Learning Classification Techniques for Detecting the Impact of Human Resources Outcomes on Commercial Banks Performance

The banking industry is a market with great competition and dynamism where organizational performance becomes paramount. Different indicators can be used to measure organizational performance and sustain competitive advantage in a global marketplace. The execution of the performance indicators is usually achieved through human resources, which stand as the core element in sustaining the organization in the highly competitive marketplace. It becomes essential to effectively manage human resources strategically and align its strategies with organizational strategies. We adopted a survey research design using a quantitative approach, distributing a structured questionnaire to 305 respondents utilizing efficient sampling techniques. The prediction of bank performance is very crucial since bad performance can result in serious problems for the bank and society, such as bankruptcy and negative influence on the country’s economy. Most researchers in the past adopted traditional statistics to build prediction models; however, due to the efficiency of machine learning algorithms, a lot of researchers now apply various machine learning algorithms to various fields, including performance prediction systems. In this study, eight different machine learning algorithms were employed to build performance models to predict the prospective performance of commercial banks in Nigeria based on human resources outcomes (employee skills, attitude, and behavior) through the Python software tool with machine learning libraries and packages. The results of the analysis clearly show that human resources outcomes are crucial in achieving organizational performance, and the models built from the eight machine learning classifier algorithms in this study predict the bank performance as superior with the accuracies of 74–81%. The feature importance was computed with the package in Scikit-learn to show comparative importance or contribution of each feature in the prediction, and employee attitude is rated far more than other features. Nigeria’s bank industry should focus more on employee attitude so that the performance can be improved to outstanding class from the current superior class.

Pathways to job engagement: evidences from the software industry

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to broaden the link between workplace flexibility (WF) and job engagement (JE) while considering quality of work life (QWL) as mediator and the use of knowledge sharing (KS) as moderator. While numerous studies have focused solely on the importance of WF, QWL, KS and JE only exclusively, this study integrates them to delineate their association and to empirically assess the relationships. To advance an in-depth knowledge of these aspects, the study goes beyond the conventional findings.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 378 employees from software firms in India participated in the questionnaire-based survey. It is a cross-sectional study. The proposed conceptual model and hypothesis were analyzed and tested by structural equation modeling and process macro. Drawing on the person environment (P-E) fit theory and social exchange theory, the authors discuss how QWL mediates and KS moderates the association between WF and JE.

Findings

Results indicate a positive association between WF and JE. Furthermore, it was found that QWL mediated and KS moderated this association.

Practical implications

Findings of the study will help the management to comprehend the significance QWL interventions in increasing their JE. This paper may encourage HR managers in the Information Technology (IT) industry to perceive the importance of KS. Moreover, the study accentuates flexible work options as essential phenomenon to positively impinge on the JE of employees in the IT sector.

Originality/value

The present study tries to enrich the extant research on WF and JE while it demonstrates the use of QWL interventions and KS as vital constructs that may significantly and positively influence JE.

How Is Work-Life Balance Arrangement Associated with Organisational Performance? A Meta-Analysis

The impacts of the work-life balance arrangement on organisational performance is a growing concern amongst researchers and practitioners. This study synthesised 202 records from 58 published papers to evaluate the relationship between the work-life balance arrangement and organisational performance by means of a meta-analysis. The organisational performance was measured based on six perspectives, including career motivation, employee attendance, employee recruitment, employee retention, organisational commitment, and productivity. The results showed a positive relationship between the work-life balance arrangement and organisational performance (OR: 1.181, 95% CI: 1.125-1.240, p < 0.001). Of the six perspectives, only career motivation, employee attendance, employee recruitment, and employee retention were significantly associated with the work-life balance arrangement. The moderators affecting the relationship between the work-life balance arrangement and organisational performance were gender, sector, and employee hierarchy. The results provide theoretical suggestions on the effectiveness of the work-life balance arrangement in terms of the six perspectives related to organisational performance.

“You have got a friend”

Purpose

As a way to enable employees to work distantly, teleworking has gained a growing interest in companies. At the same time, management challenges regarding the teleworkers’ risk of isolation, coupled with the need to maintain cohesion for the dispersed team, to give an example, are various. How can management practices help to maintain adequate levels of perceived proximity for a dispersed team’s members? The purpose of this paper is to answer this question. Referring to a particular person’s perception of how close or how far another person is, the concept of perceived proximity is mobilized. This Telecom case study is based on 22 interviews with human resources directors, managers and teleworkers. While the results of this study appear to corroborate empirically the theoretical model as proposed by O’Leary et al. (2014), they also propose nuances, highlighting the importance of the interpersonal relationship to expand the perceived proximity and stressing the need for both distant and face-to-face exchanges. They also help to understand which management practices can influence perceived proximity. In particular, they help to understand the role of communication and collective identity and support the importance of the e-leader. Finally, the results highlight two remote management modes that will be discussed elaborately.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a single in-depth case study of Telecom as a unique case study; it is useful to analyze new and complex phenomena for which theoretical development is emerging and the consideration of the context is essential (Yin, 2013). In total, 22 interviews were conducted with the human resources directors, managers and teleworkers. Lasting between 40 and 130 min each, the interviews were all fully transcribed and analyzed using an iterative thematic content analysis. The authors first manually analyzed the data on the basis of the social regulation theory to interpret the local and the combined regulation (that is say to how the managers and the teleworkers co-build the rules to work being distant) the telework implied between managers, teleworkers and their co-workers (Authors, 2018). Two emerging codes led the authors to reinterpret the data, compared to the initial interpretative framework. The authors thus transformed the coding and recoded the 22 interviews (Bacharach et al., 2000, p. 713; cited by Gibbert et al. 2010, p. 58) around the objective/subjective working time and information and communication technology (ICT) use and the perceived proximity: shared identity and perceived proximity, and communication and perceived proximity.

Findings

First, the level of ICT use and the accompanying objective and subjective perceptions with regard to working time are reported and positive perceptions for the employees are determined because of the timing flexibility the ICT determines. Second, the ICT use is presented in relation to the managerial and collegial proximity perceived. Third, the authors discuss the shared identity processes that influence the proximity perceived, followed by the characteristics of the communication process, being the fourth one. As such, the results lead to a valuable input that enables to critically reflect on the e-leader roles, resulting in two emerging management modes seen as a continuum in terms of shared identity: the “e-communicational” mode signals the re-foundation of management in situations of distance based on the personality of the e-leader that influences the team members in terms of communicational and organizational behaviors; and the control management mode that is based upon objectives in a situation of being distant, illustrated by managers who regulate the work made by the distant team in monitoring the objectives without sharing the experience of telework.

Research limitations/implications

The results corroborate empirically with the theoretical model by Boyer O’Leary et al. (2014), while putting into perspective the complexity to manage the inter-subjectivity that is related to distance. More specifically, the results show that even if the ICT use leads to a new balance regarding time management for teleworkers – increasing their quality of life perceptions, with a better organizational flexibility – that is to say, a “win-win” configuration, the ultimate success of such a configuration depends on sound management practices. In this sense, the authors propose to enrich their model (Figure 3, p. 33). More extensive research will test two new moderating variables. At first, the results put in evidence the core role of e-management (e-communicational vs control), with a potential moderator effect on the relationship between objective distance and shared identification, on the one hand, and communication, on the other hand. Another result is the potential moderator effect of the ICT use on the relationship between perceived proximity and relationship quality. The nuances proposed support some recent studies arguing that distant communication (versus face-to-face) may inhibit geographically distributed team performance without consideration of the way the teams use ICT to ensure their cohesion and performance (Malhotra and Majchrzak, 2014).

Practical implications

These conclusions result into important management recommendations to support dispersed teams with how to cope with challenges such as the risk of delayed communication, possible misinterpretations, limited information richness and great conflicts (Zuofa and Ochieng, 2017).

Originality/value

Compared to the unique empirical application of the Boyer O’Leary et al.’s framework (2014), who found no differences existing in terms of proximity perceived with the study of 341 “geographically present” dyads with 341 “geographically distant,” this study’s results show that the construction of the feeling of proximity depends on a fragile balance between virtual and face-to-face exchanges. The authors also highlight the role of an e-leader in this regard and identify and compare two modes of remote management.