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Employee work motivation and discretionary work effort
No full textThe focus of this thesis is discretionary work effort, that is, work effort that is voluntary, is above and beyond what is minimally required or normally expected to avoid reprimand or dismissal, and is organisationally functional. Discretionary work effort is an important construct because it is known to affect individual performance as well as organisational efficiency and effectiveness. To optimise organisational performance and ensure their long term competitiveness and sustainability, firms need to be able to induce their employees to work at or near their peak level. To work at or near their peak level, individuals must be willing to supply discretionary work effort. Thus, managers need to understand the determinants of discretionary work effort. Nonetheless, despite many years of scholarly investigation across multiple disciplines, considerable debate still exists concerning why some individuals supply only minimal work effort whilst others expend effort well above and beyond what is minimally required of them (Le. they supply discretionary work effort). Even though it is well recognised that discretionary work effort is important for promoting organisational performance and effectiveness, many authors claim that too little is being done by managers to increase the discretionary work effort of their employees. In this research, I have adopted a multi-disciplinary approach towards investigating the role of monetary and non-monetary work environment characteristics in determining discretionary work effort. My central research questions were "What non-monetary work environment characteristics do employees perceive as perks (perquisites) and irks (irksome work environment characteristics)?" and "How do perks, irks and monetary rewards relate to an employee's level of discretionary work effort?" My research took a unique approach in addressing these research questions. By bringing together the economics and organisational behaviour (OB) literatures, I identified problems with the current definition and conceptualisations of the discretionary work effort construct. I then developed and empirically tested a more concise and theoretically-based definition and conceptualisation of this construct. In doing so, I disaggregated discretionary work effort to include three facets - time, intensity and direction - and empirically assessed if different classes of work environment characteristics have a differential pattern of relationships with these facets. This analysis involved a new application of a multi-disciplinary framework of human behaviour as a tool for classifying work environment characteristics and the facets of discretionary work effort. To test my model of discretionary work effort, I used a public sector context in which there has been limited systematic empirical research into work motivation. The program of research undertaken involved three separate but interrelated studies using mixed methods. Data on perks, irks, monetary rewards and discretionary work effort were gathered from employees in 12 organisations in the local government sector in Western Australia. Non-monetary work environment characteristics that should be associated with discretionary work effort were initially identified through a review of the literature. Then, a qualitative study explored what work behaviours public sector employees perceive as discretionary and what perks and irks were associated with high and low levels of discretionary work effort. Next, a quantitative study developed measures of these perks and irks. A Q-sorttype procedure and exploratory factor analysis were used to develop the perks and irks measures. Finally, a second quantitative study tested the relationships amongst perks, irks, monetary rewards and discretionary work effort. Confirmatory factor analysis was firstly used to confirm the factor structure of the measurement models. Correlation analysis, regression analysis and effect-size correlation analysis were used to test the hypothesised relationships in the proposed model of discretionary work effort. The findings confirmed five hypothesised non-monetary work environment characteristics as common perks and two of three hypothesised non-monetary work environment characteristics as common irks. Importantly, they showed that perks, irks and monetary rewards are differentially related to the different facets of discretionary work effort. The convergent and discriminant validities of the perks and irks constructs as well as the time, intensity and direction facets of discretionary work effort were generally confirmed by the research findings. This research advances the literature in several ways: (i) it draws on the Economics and OB literatures to redefine and reconceptualise the discretionary work effort construct to provide greater definitional clarity and a more complete conceptualisation of this important construct; (ii) it builds on prior research to create a more comprehensive set of perks and irks for which measures are developed; (iii) it develops and empirically tests a new motivational model of discretionary work effort that enhances our understanding of the nature and functioning of perks and irks and advances our ability to predict discretionary work effort; and (iv) it fills a substantial gap in the literature on public sector work motivation by revealing what work behaviours public sector employees perceive as discretionary and what work environment characteristics are associated with their supply of discretionary work effort. Importantly, by disaggregating discretionary work effort this research provides greater detail on how perks, irks and monetary rewards are related to the different facets of discretionary work effort. Thus, from a theoretical perspective this research also demonstrates the conceptual meaningfulness and empirical utility of investigating the different facets of discretionary work effort separately. From a practical perspective, identifying work environment factors that are associated with discretionary work effort enhances managers' capacity to tap this valuable resource. This research indicates that to maximise the potential of their human resources, managers need to address perks, irks and monetary rewards. It suggests three different mechanisms through which managers might influence discretionary work effort and points to the importance of training for both managers and non-managers in cultivating positive interpersonal relationships
Lessons of Corporate Entrepreneurship for Motivating Public Sector Employees
No full textThis paper aims to contribute to the field of public entrepreneurship by addressing the question of what can public sector organizations learn from corporate entrepreneurship to create a more motivating work environment. The study develops a scale developed to measure key organizational work environment factors that influence employee discretionary work effort behaviours in public organizations. In doing so, it uses concepts from Morris & Douglas (2005; 2004) and expands on the work of Eisenhauer (1995) and Douglas & Shepherd (2000) by further unpacking the perceived psychic benefits and costs of working conditions associated with employment. \ud
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While the relevance of corporate entrepreneurship to the public sector has been questioned (Terry, 1993; Frederickson, 1997 for example), the need for public organizations to be more entrepreneurial is also strongly espoused (Bellone & Goerl, 1992; Osborne & Gaebler, 1994; Morris & Jones, 1999). Today public institutions are perhaps in greater need of corporate renewal than many large established private sector firms. In the face of tight fiscal constraints, rising public demands and tight labour market conditions, new ways of acquiring revenues, combining resources, retaining talented employees and achieving better outcomes within statutory constraints are needed. This study supports the view that valuable lessons can be learned from corporate entrepreneurship in assisting public organizations to be more responsive and to provide higher quality public services. \ud
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To find ways of doing business better public organizations need to not only foster entrepreneurial behaviours amongst their employees but also more generally motivate greater discretionary work effort, that is voluntary effort above and beyond what is minimally required for the benefit of the organization. The importance of contextual factors in influencing entrepreneurial behaviour at both the organizational and individual levels is well documented in the entrepreneurship literature (e.g. Hornsby, Kuratko & Zahra, 2002; Amabile, 1996; Zahra, 1993; Covin & Slevin, 1991; Kuratko, Montagno & Hornsby, 1990; Kant, 1988). The study focuses on how to create an internal environment to better motivate employees to contribute greater levels of discretionary effort, which includes initiative and proactive behaviours. As its emphasis is on individual level behaviour within organisations, this study follows the approach to corporate entrepreneurship used by Kuratko, Hornby and others (1990, 1993, 2002) which uses the ''initiative from below'' definition of corporate entrepreneurship (Vesper, 1984) to develop a measure for an effective internal entrepreneurial corporate environment
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
The Antecedents of Workaholism and other Work Behaviors
No full textThis paper presents a conceptual model of the work effort decision of individuals and thereby advances our understanding of workaholism and other patterns of high or low work involvement and high or low work enjoyment. Researchers have categorized eight main types of work behaviors using the triad (i) quantity of work effort supplied, (ii) psychic need to work, and (iii) enjoyment derived from work. Workaholics (or work addicts), ‘enthusiastic workaholics’ and work enthusiasts’ all work long hours but only the first two groups are driven by a psychic need to work, and only the latter two groups gain high enjoyment from work. While the positive and negative consequences of long work hours have been discussed at considerable length, the antecedents of the individual’s decision to supply work effort have not previously been explored in depth. We build a model that links together the three constructs of the ‘workaholism triad’ and also incorporates the individual’s economic orientation, leisure orientation, and perquisite orientation. Accordingly we distinguish four main drivers of work effort levels, and argue that only one of these is associated with the classic view of workaholism. We identify three distinct types of work enthusiast and thus extend the typology of workers to ten groups, and offer speculative reasons for the high/low work effort and work enjoyment levels associated with each group. We offer a series of propositions that are suggested by the conceptual model for further research into this important area
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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