Alex Vanderstraeten

External pressures affecting the adoption of employee performance management in higher education institutions

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the relationship between external pressures and the adoption of employee performance management systems within academic units of Flemish higher education institutions. The literature on contextually based HRM and institutionalism is used to underpin the theoretical propositions.Design/methodology/approach – A comparative case study is described to provide evidence for the theoretical arguments.Findings – It has been suggested that academic units face a set of external pressures, which leads to different employee performance management systems. This study finds that academic units imitate their legitimacy‐based reference group and legitimacy‐driven imitation and the adoption of external employee performance management requirements distort the alignment of employee performance management systems.Research limitations/implications – Future research could formally test the relationship between external drivers and the adoption of strategic and integrated employee performanc...

When affective well-being is empowered: the joint role of leader-member exchange and the employment relationship

Abstract HRM and the leader are often assumed to play a joint role in affecting employee reactions. In a multilevel, time-lagged study, we examined the joint role of the employment relationship and leader-member exchange (LMX). We tested whether this joint role is essential to when LMX leads to affective well-being via psychological empowerment. We build on HRM literature to expect that the relationship of LMX with psychological empowerment is stronger when the employment relationship is consistent with LMX quality. Results indicated that psychological empowerment mediates the relationship between LMX and affective well-being. This mediation is stronger for employees in a mutual investment employment relationship. The findings point at the importance of consistency of resources from the employment relationship and LMX. Nevertheless, the findings also suggest that resources from LMX compensate for employment relationships with low resources. Our findings contribute to scholars’ understanding of the joint role of HRM systems and leader behaviors.

When innovation requirements empower individual innovation: the role of job complexity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the field’s understanding of how to raise individual innovation. Specifically, the authors aim to contribute to an understanding of the interplay of job characteristics and intrinsic motivation for individual innovation. Design/methodology/approach The study uses time-lagged survey data of a public service organization in Belgium. The analyses are based on more than 80 jobs and more than 1,000 employees. Hierarchical linear modeling was adopted to test cross-level hypotheses. Findings Innovation requirements influence individual innovation efforts by psychologically empowering employees, but the extent to which psychological empowerment translates into individual innovation depends on job complexity. Originality/value A more nuanced understanding is developed of when innovation requirements empower individual innovation, by acknowledging the role of job complexity in this relationship. The current findings contribute to a multilevel integrative understanding of the interplay of the job context and intrinsic motivation.

Setting high expectations is not enough: linkages between expectation climate strength, trust, and employee performance

Purpose Drawing on climate theory and social exchange theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether and how the strength of the expectation climate, defined as the degree of agreement among job incumbents on what is expected from them, affects their job performance. To explain this relationship, the authors utilize mediating trust-in-the organization effects as an explanatory avenue. Design/methodology/approach In a time-lagged data sample of 568 public service employees, whose job performance is rated by their 242 line managers, the authors apply multilevel modeling. The authors employed stratified random sampling techniques across 75 job categories in a large, public sector organization in Belgium. Findings The analysis provides support for the argument that expectation climate strength via mediating trust-in-the organization effects impacts positively on the relationship between employee expectations and performance. Specifically, the significant association of the expectation climate strength with trust suggests that the perceived consensus about the expectations among different job incumbents demonstrates an organization’s trustworthiness and reliability to pursue intentions that are deemed favorable for employees. The authors conjecture that expectation climate strength breeds trust which strengthens employees’ job performance. Practical implications HRM professionals in general, and line managers in particular, should heed the advice and carefully manage their tools and practices in an effort to signal compatible expectancies to different job incumbents in the same or similar roles. Originality/value The results shed new light on the mechanisms through which the strength of collective expectations impacts employee outcomes.

Employee Strategic Alignment: Aligning Newcomers with the Organizational Strategic Priorities

Over the last years, it has become increasingly important for organizations to align their employees with their organizational strategic priorities. This study extends existing research about employee strategic alignment by examining how newcomers, during organizational entry, get aligned with these organizational strategic priorities. We investigate the relationship between organizational socialization, and more specifically the perceived usefulness of different information sources (i.e., formal orientation and training, colleagues, the direct supervisor and information-seeking behavior), and employee strategic alignment. Furthermore, we examine (a) the relationship between employee strategic alignment and role clarity and (b) the mediating role of employee strategic alignment. Using data from 253 Flemish newcomers about their socialization process and their perceived alignment with the organizational strategic priorities, structural equation modeling shows that only the direct supervisor and information...

Unleashing Employees’ Power to Innovate: A Multilevel Model

Integrating employment relationships, psychological empowerment, and individual innovation theory, this study develops a multilevel conceptual model linking employment relationships with individual innovation. To test this model, we use survey data on 82 job functions and 934 employees from a large Flemish service organization. The results highlight the role of variables at the job level. The first job-level context variable concerns employment relationships. The findings show that employment relationships with high job requirements and/or offered inducements affect psychological empowerment, which in turn influences individual innovation. The second job-level context variable concerns job complexity. The findings show that job complexity operates as a cross-level moderator of the link between psychological empowerment and individual innovation. These findings underscore recent claims that multilevel linkages and the job-level context matter in explaining individual innovation in service organizations.