Eran Vigoda-Gadot

Market Orientations in the Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector: A Meta-Analysis of Their Relationships With Organizational Performance:

In their effort to improve performance, many voluntary and nonorofit organizations (VNPOs) have turned to market mechanisms, hoping to learn and implement innovative ideas and methods that proved useful in the private sector. This article adopts the businesslike concept of “marketing” into the arena of VNPOs by offering a meta-analysis to assess the marketing orientation (MO) in the VNPO sector. The article attempts to answer three questions: (a) What is the theoretical grounding and rationality for using MO strategies in the VNPO sector? (b) Can the VNPO sector benefit from an MO approach? (c) Is the MO perspective applicable for organizations without “profit” as a main goal? The findings were compared with findings in the for-profit sector and were found to be stronger. Finally, using a second, methodological meta-analysis, boundary conditions on the MO-performance link were assessed. The implications for VNPOs are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

Group-Level Organizational Citizenship Behavior in the Education System: A Scale Reconstruction and Validation:

Purpose: Most writings on Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) to date have focused on analysis at the individual level and paid less attention to other analytical frameworks at the group level (i.e., team, unit, or organization). This article approaches OCB from the less conventional perspective of group-level activities and uses it to develop and validate a scale of Group-level Organizational Citizenship Behavior (GOCB) in the education system. Data Collection: Data were collected from a survey of 206 Israeli teachers and their principals at 13 schools. Findings: The scores were found to be statistically valid and demonstrated a high degree of reliability. In addition, two intra-factors (GOCB-I [group-level OCB toward individuals] and GOCB-O [group-level OCB toward the organization]) that are quite similar to those suggested in previous OCB literature emerged as key components. Conclusions: The advantages of the group-level scale over other individual-level scales are explored and discussed in detail. The article ends with theoretical and practical implications for future studies that may focus on the “good platoon syndrome” of educational and other administrative systems rather than merely on the “good soldier syndrome.” The authors elaborate on the potential reconstruction of group-level measures of OCB that can enrich studies on organizational climate, culture, and social norms. Finally, the authors argue that their results as well as those suggested in previous research may direct future studies to develop the idea of “organizational citizenship climate” in the educational system and beyond.

Managerial quality, administrative performance and trust in governance revisited

Reports on a follow‐up study of the relationship between managerial quality, administrative performance and citizens’ trust in government and in public administration systems. The study was based on a survey of 502 Israeli citizens conducted during 2002 and was compared with a similar study that was conducted during 2001 among 345 Israeli citizens. The research tried to validate and replicate previous findings on the question of causality between performance and trust. As in the 2001 survey the technique of structural equation modeling with LISREL 8.3 was applied to test three competing models that were similar to those tested in the past. The present findings were very consistent with the previous ones found by the authors showing that the second model was the best fit with the data. According to this model managerial quality leads to administrative performance and ultimately to trust in governance. The findings support previous assumptions that administrative performance may be treated as a precondition to trust in governance rather than trust serving as the precondition to performance.

Privatization and intermunicipal contracting: the US local government experience 1992-2007

Local government scholars are giving increasing attention to market solutions to urban service delivery. Intermunicipal contracting and privatization are two market approaches to reaching economies of scale. Using national data on over one thousand municipalities from across the United States for the 1992–2007 period, we explore the differences between intermunicipal contracting and privatization and assess how the use of these market approaches relates to efficiency, scale, and public engagement factors. Using probit models for each of four survey years (1992, 1997, 2002, 2007), we find these market solutions are only partial responses to the problem of regional coordination and exhibit important differences with respect to place, management, and political concerns. These market solutions exhibit limited efficiency, equity, and voice benefits.

Politics and image in the organizational landscape

This paper reports on two separate studies (S1, n = 169; S2, n = 224) that were designed to examine the relationship between organizational image, perceptions of workplace politics, and an additional set of job related variables (i.e. job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job autonomy). The paper suggests that perceptions of politics have never been examined in relation to organizational image, despite the fact that both concepts are closely related to more general ideas of climate and atmosphere in and around the workplace. For this purpose, a structural equation modeling with LISREL 8.30 was used to compare three alternative models in each of the studies. Findings reveal that the first model, where perceptions of politics function as antecedents of satisfaction and commitment that have an impact on organizational image, fitted the data best. The article concludes that perceptions of politics may have an important initial impact on the formation of organizational image via other job attitudes. Relevant implications for future studies in this area are discussed.

Influence and Political Processes in Cyberspace The Case of Global Virtual Teams

The ways team members choose to influence each other and the political processes that take place within the team have important implications for the team’s effectiveness. We present an exploratory investigation of the ways both phenomena occur in global virtual teams. Based on interviews with team members and managers, combined with existing knowledge of these processes, we present a preliminary model that includes familiarity, team centrality and task focus as variables mediating the relationship between the multicultural and virtual aspects of the teams and the use of influence and politics. Our findings also suggest that the use of hard influence tactics and political actions is milder in global virtual teams in relation to collocated teams.

Perceived organizational politics, emotional intelligence and work outcomes

Purpose – This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived organizational politics and emotional intelligence, and their interplay in the context of work attitudes/behaviors. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 368 employees was used to test a mediation effect of perceived organizational politics on the relationship between emotional intelligence on the one hand, and job satisfaction, turnover intentions and negligent behavior on the other. Findings – Perceived organizational politics was found to mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and all three outcomes. Practical implications – Emotional intelligence training may be a powerful tool that organizations and human resource managers can employ to reduce perceived organizational politics and enhance work attitudes and performance. Originality/value – This research broadens the scope through which the intersection between emotion and organizational politics can be viewed, taking it beyond the role of both felt emotion an...

Trust, Participation, and Performance in Public Administration: An Empirical Examination of Health Services in Israel

This paper suggests a framework for measuring trust in health care at the institutional level and for explaining the impact of structural variables on trust. The empirical study was conducted in Israel using a national survey. Trust in health care is found to be positively related with performance and satisfaction much more than with participation in decision-making processes and other structural variables such as accessibility, equality, and autonomy. Participation is positively related with performance. The paper also provides an explanation based on political culture for the weak relations between participation in decision-making and trust in health-care organizations.

Engage Them to Public Service: Conceptualization and Empirical Examination of Employee Engagement in Public Administration

This article deals with the emerging concept of Employee Engagement (EE) and its meaning for public administration research and theory. Generically, EE reflects a positive, fulfilling, affective-motivational, work-related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. In an attempt to understand whether the concept of EE is meaningful for public administration research and theory, we examine its essence and foundation using a comparative method. First, we compare EE with two well-established employee–organization relationship (EOR) concepts: Affective Commitment (AC) and Job Involvement (JI). Second, we compare EE in public versus private sector employees, and finally, we compare the concept in employees and managers in the public sector. Our study is based on an interactive sample of 593 employees and managers from both the private and public sectors in Israel. The results support several hypotheses. First, EE is an empirically distinct construct compared with other EOR concepts. Second, EE is higher among public sector employees than private sector employees. Third, EE is higher among public managers than public employees. Implications of our findings and recommendations for future theoretical and empirical studies of EE are discussed.

Values and career choice at the beginning of the MBA educational process

Purpose – With the change in global and local markets and the emergence of new types of careers such as protean careers (which are values‐driven), individual values (i.e. citizenship behaviors, altruistic standards, and helping activities) seem to have a growing effect on decisions people make about significant choices in their lives such as the choice of a career. The authors apply a theory of protean career and citizenship/altruistic behavior to study career choices and career development amongst an international sample of MBA and MPA students. It is expected that values may lead to career choices in early stages of vocational search, but career choices and development may also affect ones values during the training process, especially during educational and professional schooling. This paper aims to focus on the issues surrounding career choice.Design/methodology/approach – The study focuses on the first stage of the process of career choice at the beginning of MBA/MPA studies. A quantitative research...