Brigitte Kroon

Cross-level effects of high-performance work practices on burnout Two counteracting mediating mechanisms compared

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of management practices – specifically, high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) – on employee burnout. Two potential mediating mechanisms that counterbalance each other in the development of burnout are compared: a critical mechanism that states that HPWPs intensify job demands (which increases burnout) and a positive mechanism that states that HPWPs increase fairness among employees (which reduces burnout).Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaire data are gathered among 393 employees working in 86 Dutch organizations. Human resource managers provide information about HPWPs while employees were inquired about their perceptions of job demands, fairness, and burnout. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to test the assumptions.Findings – The analyses reveal a slightly positive relationship between HPWPs and burnout, which is completely mediated by job demands. Fairness was associated with the experience of less burnout, but the results...

Can HR practices retain flexworkers with their agency

Purpose – Workers have different motives to be employed at specialist contract work agencies, such as career development aspirations, or a desire for freedom and independence. The purpose of this paper is to study how these different motives relate to the appreciation of HR practices applied by agencies and consequently to employee retention at the agency. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected in a contract work agency for financial professionals. Management was interviewed about the HR practices used for employee retention. In addition, 291 agency employees filled out a questionnaire about their motives to be employed at the agency, their appreciation of the HR practices of the contract agency and their turnover intentions. Findings – Regression analysis showed that career development motivation was related to retention at the agency, but that this relation became weaker when tenure with the agency increased. HR practices (like training, supervisory support, career development support, information sharing and employee participation) proved to be related to lower turnover intentions of flex workers with a career development motivation. For flex workers with a freedom motivation the HR practices had no relationship with retention. Research limitations/implications – Data collection in one agency may limit generalization. Additional research needs to zoom in on alternative HR retention practices that align with freedom motivation. Originality/value – Specialist contract work agencies typically experience difficulties with employee retention. Agencies may retain their workers if they apply HR practices that are aligned with the motivation of people engaging in contract work.

Micro---macro multilevel latent class models with multiple discrete individual-level variables

An existing micro–macro method for a single individual-level variable is extended to the multivariate situation by presenting two multilevel latent class models in which multiple discrete individual-level variables are used to explain a group-level outcome. As in the univariate case, the individual-level data are summarized at the group-level by constructing a discrete latent variable at the group level and this group-level latent variable is used as a predictor for the group-level outcome. In the first extension, that is referred to as the Direct model, the multiple individual-level variables are directly used as indicators for the group-level latent variable. In the second extension, referred to as the Indirect model, the multiple individual-level variables are used to construct an individual-level latent variable that is used as an indicator for the group-level latent variable. This implies that the individual-level variables are used indirectly at the group-level. The within- and between components of the (co)varn the individual-level variables are independent in the Direct model, but dependent in the Indirect model. Both models are discussed and illustrated with an empirical data example.

Redefining success beyond economic growth and wealth generation: the case of Ethiopia: A New Look at Women’s Entrepreneurship Research

Entrepreneurship research and policy formulation share a discourse of economic growth and individualism, where female entrepreneurs and their business are seen as underperforming (Marlow and McAdam, 2013). However, such studies neither highlight the complexity of the female entrepreneurship experience in the socio-economic context nor illustrate the influence of specific cultural, legislative, and economic factors on women’s entrepreneurial endeavors (Henry et al., 2016). More than half of all women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia often face gender-related challenges in establishing new businesses as well as in operating or expanding existing businesses (Amha and Ademassie, 2004). Their businesses are particularly disadvantaged with regards to access to finance, skills, government support, and the conversion of profit back into investment (Bekele and Worku, 2008; Belwal et al., 2012; Singh and Belwal, 2008). In particular, challenges that disadvantage women entrepreneurs are found in the culture, religion, and tradition (Bekele and Worku, 2008). Family responsibility, household obligations and lack of support constrain them in confronting these challenges (Belwal et al., 2012). Moreover, in a country like Ethiopia, with no social care system, women play a central role in the extended family. Overall, familial, structural, and cultural constraints have impacts on performance of female-owned businesses. Thus, as Marlow and McAdam (2013) put forward, women-owned businesses demonstrate constrained performance but not underperformance. Hence, a crucial step before concluding that the majority of women entrepreneurs are underperforming is to understand what success in business actually means to the women entrepreneurs themselves within the socio-economic context in which they operate their businesses. There is some recognition that entrepreneurs’ evaluations of success go beyond economic returns (Wach et al., 2016a) and that success in business cannot be equated simply with firm performance or with financial rewards