Bård Kuvaas

An Exploration of How the Employee-Organization Relationship Affects the Linkage Between Perception of Developmental Human Resource Practices and Employee Outcomes

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether and how the quality of the employee-organization relationship (EOR) influences the relationship between employee perception of developmental human resource (HR) practices and employee outcomes. Analyses of 593 employees representing 64 local savings banks in Norway showed that four indicators of the EOR (perceived organizational support, affective organizational commitment, and procedural and interactional justice) moderated the relationship between perception of developmental HR practices and individual work performance. A strong and direct negative relationship was found between perception of developmental HR practices and turnover intention, but perceived procedural and interactional justice moderated this linkage. No support was found for a mediating role of the EOR indicators in the relationship between perception of developmental HR practices and employee outcomes. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The Relationship between Perceived Training Opportunities, Work Motivation and Employee Outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between training opportunities and employee outcomes. A cross-sectional survey of 343 trainees from a broad range of Norwegian service organizations showed that the relationship between perceived training opportunities, and both task performance and citizenship behaviors were fully mediated, and that the relationship between perceived training opportunities and turnover intention was partially mediated by employee intrinsic motivation. In addition, intrinsic motivation was found to moderate the relationship between perceived training opportunities and organizational citizenship behaviors. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship for those with high intrinsic motivation. In sum, the variables included as predictors in our study explained 13 per cent of the variance in task performance, 19 per cent of the variance in organizational citizenship behavior and 24 per cent of the variance in turnover intention. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Exploring the relative and combined influence of mastery‐approach goals and work intrinsic motivation on employee turnover intention

Purpose – Mastery goals and intrinsic motivation have separately been found to predict employee turnover and turnover intention, respectively. The purpose of the present study was to examine their relative and combined influence on turnover intention in terms of a direct model and a moderated model.Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐sectional survey was conducted among employees representing more than 400 organizations from a wide range of industrial sectors. The theoretical or subject scope of the paper was to integrate motivational antecedents for employee turnover.Findings – When assessed jointly, intrinsic motivation was the strongest predictor of turnover intention. Mastery‐approach goals were positively related to turnover intention, but this relationship was moderated by intrinsic motivation. The relationship between mastery‐approach goals and turnover intention was only positive for employees low in intrinsic motivation.Research limitations/implications – The two most important limitations are ...

Intrinsic motivation as a moderator on the relationship between perceived job autonomy and work performance

The purpose of this study was to explore an alternative relationship between job autonomy and employee outcomes. In contrast to the dominating view that perceived job autonomy leads to increased levels of intrinsic motivation and in turn work performance, we developed a hypothesis proposing that intrinsic motivation moderates the relationship between perceived job autonomy and work performance. Two cross-sectional surveys among 302 employees from different Norwegian service organizations showed that the relationship between perceived job autonomy and both self-reported and line-manager rated work quality was moderated by intrinsic motivation. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for employees high in intrinsic motivation in both studies. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

An Exploration of Two Competing Perspectives on Informational Contexts in Top Management Strategic Issue Interpretation

Two disparate theoretical views of how informational contexts affect managerial sensemaking and decision making appear in organizational research. An organizational information processing perspective posits that increasing the flow of information within and between organizations will enhance environmental awareness. In contrast, behavioural decision making and social cognition research suggest that information may increase the occurrence or magnitude of overconfidence and illusions of control. These competing predictions were examined by means of an investigation of the relationship between informational contexts and top managers’ strategic issue interpretation. Findings indicate that managers whose organizations have environmental information readily available to them perceive higher control over issues than managers in organizations with lower informational availability. Moreover, managers in top management teams with higher information processing capacity seem to perceive higher degrees of control and manageability, and search for less data in issue interpretation, than managers in teams with lower information processing capacity. These results offer some support for the behavioural decision making and social cognition perspective, and question the organizational information processing prediction that organizations engaging in active information processing are more aware of the environment and more likely to assess environmental developments, trends or events in a more vigilant manner.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation as predictors of work effort: The moderating role of achievement goals

This research explored the roles of intrinsic motivation (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) and the 2 × 2 model of achievement goals as predictors of increased work effort (WE). A cross-lagged field study was conducted among 1,441 employees from three large Norwegian service organizations across a 10-month time span. The results showed that the relationship between IM and increased WE was more positive for employees with high levels of mastery-approach goals. This observation suggests that having congruent goals may accentuate the positive relationship between IM and WE.

The interactive role of performance appraisal reactions and regular feedback

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the relationship between performance appraisal (PA) reactions and employee outcomes in terms of affective organizational commitment and work performance.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the results of a cross‐sectional survey of 803 employees from three organizations located in Norway. The survey was conducted in 2005.Findings – The findings reveal that perceived helpfulness of PA was directly related to affective commitment. The relationship between perceived helpfulness of PA and work performance was significant only for employees reporting high levels of perceived regular feedback.Research limitations/implications – The two most important limitations, which are discussed in more detail at the end of the paper, are the cross‐sectional nature of the study and the reliance on self‐reported questionnaire data.Practical implications – The positive relationship between PA reactions and affective organizational commitment highlights the importance...

Does best practice HRM only work for intrinsically motivated employees

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between perception of multiple best practice HRM and employee outcomes. Four cross-sectional surveys from different Norwegian service organizations of a total of 838 employees showed that several relationships between perceived empowerment and perceived information sharing and employee outcomes were moderated by intrinsic motivation. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Perceived job autonomy and turnover intention: The moderating role of perceived supervisor support

Perceived job autonomy has been recognized as a central tenet of work design, leading to a range of positive outcomes. Still, scholars have rightfully questioned its predictive role for several outcomes, including turnover intention as the two have been found to be virtually unrelated. In line with calls for more complex research on the predictive role of perceived job autonomy on employee outcomes, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the relationship between perceived job autonomy and turnover intention may be prone to contextual influences. Two cross-sectional surveys among 680 Norwegian employees from different public service organizations showed that the relationship between perceived job autonomy and turnover intention was moderated by perceived supervisor support. In support of our hypothesis, the form of the moderations revealed that perceived job autonomy was negatively related to turnover intention only for employees reporting high levels of perceived supervisor support. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Effects of Reward on Self-regulation, Intrinsic Motivation and Creativity

This article evaluates the effects of two types of rewards (performance‐contingent versus engagement‐contingent) on self‐regulation, intrinsic motivation and creativity. Forty‐two undergraduate students were randomly assigned to three conditions; i.e. a performance‐contingent reward group, an engagement‐contingent reward group and a control group. Results provide little support for the negative effects of performance rewards on motivational components. However, they do indicate that participants in the engagement‐contingent reward group and the control group achieved higher rated creativity than participants in the performance‐contingent reward group. Alternative explanations for this finding are discussed.