scholarly journals Social interactions in job satisfaction

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Semih Tumen ◽  
Tugba Zeydanli

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test empirically whether there exist spillover externalities in job satisfaction, i.e., to test whether individual-level job satisfaction is affected by the aggregate job satisfaction level in a certain labor market environment. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a linear-in-means model of social interactions in the empirical analysis. The authors develop an original strategy, motivated by the hierarchical models of social processes, to identify the parameters of interest. BHPS and WERS datasets are used to perform the estimations both at the establishment and local labor market levels. Findings – The authors find that one standard deviation increase in aggregate job satisfaction leads to a 0.42 standard deviation increase in individual-level job satisfaction at the workplace level and a 0.15 standard deviation increase in individual-level job satisfaction at the local labor market level. In other words, the authors report that statistically significant job satisfaction spillovers exist both at the establishment level and local labor market level; and, the former being approximately three times larger than the latter. Originality/value – First, this is the first paper in the literature estimating spillover effects in job satisfaction. Second, the authors show that the degree of these spillover externalities may change at different aggregation levels. Finally, motivated by the hierarchical models of social processes, the author develop an original econometric identification strategy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 715-735
Author(s):  
Milton Mayfield ◽  
Jacqueline Mayfield ◽  
Kathy Qing Ma

PurposeWhile there has been an abundance of research on the positive outcomes of creative environment, little work has been done on how creative environment influences the general work outcomes of noncreative specialist workers. The paper aims to fill this void by examining the influence of creative environment on absenteeism among garden variety workers and the mediating role of job satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses cross-sectional data of 116 noncreative specialist workers to empirically test the hypotheses. The authors used covariance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) through the lavaan package for the statistical software R.FindingsResults found that, for a cross section of noncreative specialist workers, a one standard deviation increase in a worker's creative environment would decrease that worker's absenteeism by 0.447 standard deviation. The creative environment also explained 11.3% of the variance in absenteeism. Subsequent analysis showed that job satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between the creative environment and absenteeism and that the results were resistant to omitted variable bias.Originality/valueThe study contributes to theory and practice by showing empirically that creative environment leads to positive work outcomes, despite the innovation level required by the job. This study advances research on creative environment by targeting the garden variety workers, underscores the importance of cultivating a creative environment and calls attention to the complexity of the creativity–job affect link.


2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Lawong ◽  
Charn McAllister ◽  
Gerald R. Ferris ◽  
Wayne Hochwarter

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how a cognitive process, transcendence, moderates the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POPs) and several work outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Participants across two studies (Study 1: 187 student-recruited working adults; Study 2: 158 information technology employees) provided a demographically diverse sample for the analyses. Key variables were transcendence, POPs, job satisfaction, job tension, emotional exhaustion, work effort, and frustration. Findings Results corroborated the hypotheses and supported the authors’ argument that POPs lacked influence on work outcomes when individuals possessed high levels of transcendence. Specifically, high levels of transcendence attenuated the decreases in job satisfaction and work effort associated with POPs. Additionally, transcendence acted as an antidote to several workplace ills by weakening the increases in job tension, emotional exhaustion, and frustration usually associated with POPs. Research limitations/implications This study found that transcendence, an individual-level cognitive style, can improve work outcomes for employees in workplaces where POPs exist. Future studies should use longitudinal data to study how changes in POPs over time affect individuals’ reported levels of transcendence. Practical implications Although it is impossible to eliminate politics in organizations, antidotes like transcendence can improve individuals’ responses to POPs. Originality/value This study is one of the first to utilize an individual-level cognitive style to examine possible options for attenuating the effects of POPs on individuals’ work outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 706-728 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongjun Ye ◽  
Hefu Liu ◽  
Jibao Gu

Purpose Over 83.72 million Chinese firms employing more than 775 million employees. It is essential to explore employee relationships and conflict management practices in China. Although collectivism can influence employee cognition and emotions, the psychological mechanism that links collectivism and job satisfaction is still unclear. Researchers have found existing empirical findings on conflict–performance relationships to be mixed and inconsistent, and have identified the need to pinpoint the explanatory mechanisms and boundary conditions that underlie the effect of conflict on job performance. This study aims to provide some clarification to this important yet relatively unclear issue. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was conducted in China to collect data. The authors received completed questionnaires from 466 employees. Findings Analysis of questionnaire results reveals that job satisfaction mediates the relationships between conflicts and perceived job performance, and that collectivism moderates the relationships between conflicts and job satisfaction. Specifically, the positive relationship between task conflict and job satisfaction is amplified by high levels of horizontal collectivism (HC) and vertical collectivism (VC), while the negative relationship between relationship conflict and job satisfaction is strengthened by HC. Research limitations/implications The main limitation is that this study used a cross-sectional design, meaning that causality in relationships cannot be established from results. Despite this limitation, the present findings provide insights into conflict management, job satisfaction and culture value literature. Originality/value This paper examines the moderating role of employees’ collectivist orientation (not national culture) on the relationships between conflicts and employee job satisfaction at the individual level. It also explores HC and VC and identifies their differential effects on the relationships between conflicts and job satisfaction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (80) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Andres Dominguez

Purpose This paper aims to estimate the effect of agglomeration on the probability of being an informal firm in Cali, Colombia. Informal firms produce legal goods but do not comply with official regulations. This issue is relevant because, similar to other developing countries, the informal sector in Colombia employs more than 50 per cent of the workforce. The results of this study demonstrate that one standard deviation increase in agglomeration reduces by 52 per cent the probability of being informal. Results are consistent with the idea that informal firms benefit less from agglomeration because of legal restrictions that block the relationship with formal firms. Design/methodology/approach The objective of the present paper is to estimate the effect of agglomeration on the probability that a firm – given a location – chooses to be informal. The authors deal with endogeneity issues by using soil information related to earthquake risk, which reduces the height of buildings and therefore increases the cost of agglomeration. The analysis focuses on Cali, Colombia, where the informal sector employs 60 per cent of the workforce. The registration of economic activities is used as a criterion to identify informal firms, in such a way that the percentage of informal firms is 42 per cent. Findings The authors find that the effect of agglomeration is strongly negative. The probability of being informal diminishes by 52 per cent when agglomeration increases by one standard deviation. Results in this paper shed light on how formal firms tend to be localized in high-density commercial and industrial areas, while informal firms are localized in low-density and peripheral areas where the land for production is cheaper and where they can avoid the control of authorities. Originality/value Theory argues that spatial production externalities and commuting costs are among the main forces that shape the city’s internal structure. Externalities include effects that increase firms’ production, and therefore workers’ income, when the size of the local economy grows. The authors now have strong evidence that firms’ productivity is positively related with the volume of nearby employment. Most of the empirical findings concern firms in the formal sector and, accordingly, the literature says little about the effect of agglomeration on informal firms’ location. However, this effect is crucial for developing countries where informal work is the main option for less-educated workers facing unemployment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asmaa Ezzat ◽  
Maye Ehab

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the determinants on job satisfaction in the Egyptian labor market, using Egypt’s Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS), the wave of 2012. Design/methodology/approach Several determinants are analyzed including the wage level, the paid and sick leaves, the medical and social insurance, job stability among other individual and job characteristics. To this end, an ordered logit model is estimated to assess the significance of these different variables as determinants for job satisfaction. Findings The empirical findings indicate that wages and stability are major determinants for job satisfaction for the sample of wage workers. However, the results change according to gender; the hourly wage level affects men’s level of job satisfaction, while it does not affect that of females. Furthermore, the job satisfaction of women is determined more by the job characteristics rather than the monetary compensation. Social implications The empirical findings shed light on the importance of formalizing jobs, as it has an effect on the level of job satisfaction of both women and men. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the determinants of job satisfaction for wage workers in Egypt using the ELMPS data.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-445
Author(s):  
Jianjun Jia ◽  
Lili Shao ◽  
Zhenzhen Sun ◽  
Fang Zhao

PurposeThis paper assesses how discretionary accruals (DAs) affect corporate cash savings policies and the motivation behind this cash saving behavior and, also whether the linkage between DAs and cash saving affect the market-perceived cash value.Design/methodology/approachWe construct the measure of DAs using the previous five-year average information to investigate the association of DAs with the change in cash. Moreover, the Faulkender and Wang (2006) methodology is utilized to examine the market-perceived cash value in DAs.FindingsThe key finding is that firms with high DAs save significantly more cash. A one standard deviation increase in DAs saves cash by 12.59%. Furthermore, the value of cash is low for these firms. The effect is stronger in firms with poor governance but not present in financially constrained firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical evidence highlights DAs have negative effect on market-perceived cash value, which underscores the insight that managers manage earnings opportunistically using DAs.Originality/valueTaken together, we provide more evidence on the literature of accruals in earnings manipulation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 1199-1212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Guerrero ◽  
Hélène Challiol-Jeanblanc

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize ex ante idiosyncratic deals (or i-deals) as a way to foster individual perceptions of a positive employer image by offering customized additional instrumental benefits. Design/methodology/approach A survey is led among 182 engineers in demand on a local labor market to test whether ex ante i-deals combine to a more global and external perception of a good employer, measured by perceived external prestige (PEP), to explain turnover intentions. Findings The results validate all research hypotheses, and show that the moderating effect of ex ante i-deals in the PEP-turnover intention relationship is significant during the first years spent in the company. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature on employees’ attraction and retention by building bridges between the literatures on employer image and i-deals.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru Preda ◽  
Gulnur Muradoglu

Purpose This paper aims to investigate a double puzzle, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, can the authors document the influence of groups on financial decisions in investments and trading? Theoretically, if decisions in a group context can be documented, how can we account for them, against the background of the normative models, according to which financial decisions are individualized and atomized? Based on interviews and ethnographic observations with fund managers, analysts and traders, the authors document here decision-making in finance. Theoretically, the authors argue that financial decisions can be explained if, in addition to cognitive processes, the authors take into account the impact of social interactions on the decision-making process. Social interactions are not restricted to imitation processes, and can be seen here as the efforts deployed by decision-makers at maintaining and managing the context of their decisions. The authors present and discuss empirical evidence and argue that the study of social interactions can productively contribute to understanding how decisions are made in finance. Design/methodology/approach The data analyzed here have been gathered between 2001 and 2011, and include: interviews with investment professionals (fund managers and analysts) from the UK and Turkey; interviews with individual investors from the UK and the USA; and observations with individual investors from the UK and the USA. This captures decision activities conducted in different regulatory frameworks of those countries. The authors focussed in the interviews on general decision-making practices. Findings Conclusion the authors have sought to answer a double puzzle, empirical and theoretical. Empirically, the puzzle is how investors and traders resort to groups in their decision-making. Theoretically, the puzzle consists not only in providing an explanation for such processes but also in taking into account that they do not fit the normative models of decisions in mainstream finance. The argument has been that in addition to the cognitive processes identified and discussed in behavioural finance, the authors need to take into account the impact of social processes as well. Social processes include the efforts deployed by financial decision-makers at maintaining and managing the contexts within which decisions are made. The work of context maintenance is intrinsic to the logic of decision-making. The authors have identified, documented and discussed here the social dynamics in financial decisions with respect to performance, managing group relationships and possible conflicts. Originality/value Managing relationships within groups is not without consequences with regard to trading decisions. Oftentimes, avoiding group conflicts – or being confronted with them – leads to decisional adjustments, which have less to do with returns on trades than with the necessity of accommodating social relationships. As several of the interviewees emphasized, making decisions implies consensus and reaching consensus requires accommodating relationships.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 248-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aristides I. Ferreira ◽  
Luis F. Martinez ◽  
José Pereira Lamelas ◽  
Rosa I. Rodrigues

Purpose Employees’ turnover intention is a key problem that hotel managers face daily. This is partially explained by the inevitability of performing tasks with little significance and low identity. This study aims to understand how job embeddedness and job satisfaction could lessen the undesirable effect of task characteristics on turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 525 employees operating in 46 Portuguese hotels was used in this study. The questionnaire included demographic variables and four reliable instruments used to measure job satisfaction, job characteristics, job embeddedness and turnover intentions. The study used a multilevel statistical approach considering both the individual and the hotel levels of analysis. Findings Through multilevel statistics, the findings suggest that both at the individual level and the hotel level of analysis, job satisfaction and job embeddedness fully mediated the relationship between different task characteristics (significance and identity) and turnover intentions. Research limitations/implications Despite a possible absence of common method variance, due to the confirmatory factor analysis, social desirability bias may exist because of the self-reported nature of the survey. Practical implications Managers should increase the perceived costs of employees leaving the hotel by introducing training programs and plans for career development. Also, to increase job embeddedness, managers should also rethink the organizational dynamics of this industry. Originality/value This research provides empirical evidence of the antecedents and mediators of employees’ intentions to leave the hotel industry both at the individual and at the hotel level (multilevel approach).


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hirshleifer

Behavioral finance studies the application of psychology to finance, with a focus on individual-level cognitive biases. I describe here the sources of judgment and decision biases, how they affect trading and market prices, the role of arbitrage and flows of wealth between more rational and less rational investors, how firms exploit inefficient prices and incite misvaluation, and the effects of managerial judgment biases. There is need for more theory and testing of the effects of feelings on financial decisions and aggregate outcomes. Especially, the time has come to move beyond behavioral finance to "social finance", which studies the structure of social interactions, how financial ideas spread and evolve, and how social processes affect financial outcomes.


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