Baek-Kyoo (Brian) Joo

Best Employer Studies: A Conceptual Model from a Literature Review and a Case Study

This article explores the phenomenon of best employer studies, including origins, meaning, and implications of such studies through a literature review and a case study of Hewitts Best Employers in Asia study. A conceptual model is suggested of the relationships among business strategy, HR practices, engaged employees, HR reputation, and financial performance, based on theoretical backgrounds, such as the resource-based view of the firm, strategic HR management, signaling theory, and social identity theory. Finally, implications for practice in HRD and for future research are presented.

Psychological empowerment and organizational commitment: the moderating effect of organizational learning culture

This paper examines the influence of psychological empowerment on organizational commitment and the moderating effect of organizational learning culture on the relationship. The results suggest that psychological empowerment, organizational learning culture, and demographic variables had a significant impact on organizational commitment for employees in the public sector of Korea. Employees showed higher organizational commitment when they perceived high psychological empowerment and a high organizational learning culture. In addition, the moderating effect of organizational learning culture on the relationship between psychological empowerment and organizational commitment was found to be significant. Among the demographic variables, only educational level turned out to be significant. Finally, implications, limitations and research recommendations are discussed.

Knowledge Sharing: The Influences of Learning Organization Culture, Organizational Commitment, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

This study investigated cultural (learning organization culture), psychological (organizational commitment), and behavioral (organizational citizenship behavior) antecedents of knowledge-sharing intention of employees. The authors’ structural equation model using data collected from 452 Korean workers showed that learning organization culture was significantly associated with organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior, and knowledge-sharing intention. Organizational citizenship behavior turned out to fully mediate the relationship between organizational commitment and knowledge-sharing intention. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

The effects of core self‐evaluations and transformational leadership on organizational commitment

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the joint effects of employees’ core self‐evaluations and perceived transformational leadership of their supervisors on employees’ affective commitment to the organization.Design/methodology/approach – Subjects were drawn from a Fortune Global 500 company in Korea. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to explain the variance in organizational commitment.Findings – Core self‐evaluations and transformational leadership positively influenced employees’ organizational commitment. In terms of effect size, organizational commitment was more related to transformational leadership than core self‐evaluations. As for transformational leadership, employees exhibited the highest organizational commitment when their leaders articulated the vision, promoted group goals, and provided intellectual stimulation.Research limitations/implications – The sample of this study is likely restricted to a certain group with similar demograph...

Creativity and Human Resource Development: An Integrative Literature Review and a Conceptual Framework for Future Research

A focus on creativity has increased in the last two decades due to the turbulent changes in the business environment, the fierce competition in the global market, and the knowledge-based economy that has made jobs more complex and mobile. This article discusses the history and transition of creativity research based on three perspectives of creativity: personal characteristics, contextual perspectives, and integrative perspectives. This article also reviews the extant empirical studies that have been published from 2001 to 2012. Furthermore, to stimulate more rigorous creativity research in human resource development (HRD), this article provides a conceptual framework integrating personal factors and contextual factors such as organizational, social/group, and job contexts. Finally, theoretical implications and recommendations for future creativity research in HRD are discussed.

Transformational Leadership and Career Satisfaction The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment

This article examines the impact of transformational leadership and psychological empowerment on career satisfaction in a Korean conglomerate. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed that employees showed higher career satisfaction when they perceived high meaning, competency, self-determination, and impact from their work (i.e., psychological empowerment) and when they perceived idealized influence from their leaders (i.e., one dimension of transformational leadership). Among the demographic variables, educational level and the length of the leader–member relationship turned out to be significant. The results of the structural equation modeling analyses showed that psychological empowerment fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and career satisfaction. Finally, implications, limitations, and research recommendations are discussed.

Employee creativity: the effects of perceived learning culture, leader–member exchange quality, job autonomy, and proactivity

This study investigates the impact of perceived learning culture, leader–member exchange (LMX) quality, job autonomy, and proactivity on employee creativity for knowledge workers in five Korean firms. Overall, the four predictors and control variables explained 57% of the variance in self-rated creativity and 14% of the variance in manager-rated employee creativity. Whereas proactivity was a stronger antecedent for self-rated employee creativity than the contextual factors, the contextual factors (i.e., learning culture, LMX quality, and job autonomy) explained manager-rated creativity better than proactivity did. The relationship between self-rated and manager-rated employee creativity was positive and significant, but modest (r = .24). Owing to the so-called initiative paradox, proactive employees who believe themselves to be more creative may not always be welcome by their managers in the Korean cultural context that is characterized as collectivistic, high in power distance, and high in uncertainty avoidance.

Turnover intention: the effects of core self-evaluations, proactive personality, perceived organizational support, developmental feedback, and job complexity

Despite extensive examination of predictors for turnover and turnover intention, most studies have focused on attitudinal and behavioural aspects of individual employees. Based on a study of knowledge workers in a Korean conglomerate, we investigated the effects of personal (i.e. core self-evaluations and proactive personality) and contextual factors (i.e. perceived organizational support, developmental feedback, and job complexity) on turnover intention. There were modestly negative but significant correlations between the contextual factors and turnover intention. In addition, core self-evaluations were found to be negatively related to turnover intention. Managers and human resource development professionals could play a pivotal role in retention of these knowledge workers by building better practices related to organizational culture, providing job redesign, and engaging in other employee developmental practices such as coaching.

The effects of empowering leadership on psychological well-being and job engagement: The mediating role of psychological capital

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of empowering leadership on employees’ psychological well-being (PWB) and job engagement. This study also examines the mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap) in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on survey data (n=285) from employees in eight large-sized firms in South Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the convergent validity of the construct measures. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate the fit of the hypothesized model to the data. Findings The authors found that empowering leadership influenced job engagement both directly and indirectly through PsyCap. Employees’ PsyCap fully mediated the relationship between empowering leadership and employees’ PWB, while partially mediating the relationship between empowering leadership and job engagement. Originality/value This is the first empirical study to examine the effects of empowering leadership behaviors of leaders on both PWB and PsyCap, which are positive psychological resources of employees. The study has also provided empirical evidence for the importance of PsyCap, which plays a positive role in the ability of employees to manage their overall feelings in achievement situations and in employees’ engagement in the workplace.

Leader–Member Exchange Quality and In-Role Job Performance The Moderating Role of Learning Organization Culture

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of leader–member exchange (LMX) quality on in-role job performance and the moderating effect of learning organization culture in a Korean conglomerate. The results indicate that LMX quality had a significant impact on employees’ job performance as rated by their supervisors. In addition, although no direct relationship was found to be significant, the moderating effects of the two dimensions of learning organization culture on the relationship between LMX quality and in-role job performance were significant. With regards to the demographic variables, male employees received higher ratings on their job performance reviews as assessed by their supervisors. Finally, implications, limitations, and research recommendations are discussed.