Evgenia I. Lysova

Change-supportive employee behavior: a career identity explanation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how career identity informs employees’ willingness to engage in organizational change initiatives. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on the findings of a qualitative case study exploring the experiences of 29 employees involved in a planned “bottom-up” organizational change initiative. At the time of the study, all interviewees were employed in a Dutch non-profit organization. Findings – Drawing on protean career theory and the literature on other-oriented work values, we show that career identity informs both how employees make sense of the respective organizational change and their willingness to engage in it. The authors found that proactive career behavior and a focus on other-oriented work values inform higher levels of employees’ engagement in the change, while passive career behavior and self-centered work values inform employees’ lower levels of involvement in the change initiative. Based on the findings, the authors conclude this paper...

The role of the spouse in managers’ family-related career sensemaking

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a growing body of literature on the role of family in managers’ career decision making. Specifically, the authors offer an empirical elaboration on a recently proposed concept of the “family-relatedness of work decisions” (FRWD) by illuminating the role of the spouse in managers’ career sensemaking. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 88 managers who were in the final stage of their EMBA program took part in the study. The data were gathered through a personal career inventory. Findings – The findings revealed that next to family-career salience and parent role identification, spouses also play an important role in shaping managers’ family-related career sensemaking. Research limitations/implications – Future research should examine the supportive role of spouses in contexts other than that of an international EMBA. Moreover, researchers should examine the role of managers’ boundary management styles in shaping the degree of their family-related ...

The future of learning and development in The Netherlands: interview with Rino Schreuder

Purpose – This article presents a summary of the interview with Rino Schreuder, managing director of the European Management Development (EMD) Centre, founder and chairman of the European Executive Development Network, Editor of the Dutch Management Development Journal, and Editorial Board member of the UK journals Development & Learning in Organizations and Leadership & Organization Development Journal. Schreuder has over 20 years of experience working for Fortune 500 and other firms in the area of management development and training. Design/methodology/approach – The interview is conducted by three independent interviewers. Findings – In this interview, Rino Schreuder shares his perspective on the present situation and the future of the Dutch learning and development market. Drawing on a parallel between the properties of the Dutch culture and problems in the learning market, Schreuder highlights the importance of more integrated ways of working between learning providers. He also calls for rethinking t...

The Effects of Servant Leadership, Meaningful Work and Job Autonomy on Innovative Work Behavior in Chinese High-Tech Firms: A Moderated Mediation Model

Scholars acknowledge the critical role of employee innovative work behavior (IWB) in facilitating organizational innovation in high-tech industries. However, the current knowledge is far from complete to paint a clear picture of how to evoke employee IWB in the Chinese high-tech industry. Many Chinese high-tech firms face a challenge moving from hierarchy-based leadership toward more employee-centered leadership styles, as the styles have different effects on employees’ IWB. This perspective may complement and sharpen the incomplete picture. Drawing on a dynamic componential model of creativity and innovation, this study proposes and tests a moderated mediation model that examines the hypothesized positive influence of servant leadership on employee IWB via meaningful work as well as the moderating role of job autonomy in this process. We collected data (N = 288) from three Chinese high-tech firms and found that employees’ perceptions of meaningful work mediate the relationship between servant leaders and IWB. We also found that this mediating relationship is conditional on the moderating role of job autonomy in the path from servant leadership to meaningful work. The results further show that the indirect effect of servant leadership on employee IWB via meaningful work exists only when job autonomy is high.

Corporate volunteering: what is in it for knowledge creation?

Purpose – This paper addresses the issue of knowledge creation in organizational environment by exploring the kind of knowledge that is created through corporate volunteering and how these knowledge creation processes could be strategically managed to add value to overall corporate knowledge-creation process. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports a qualitative case study of a single corporate volunteering project in The Netherlands. Findings – Corporate volunteering mainly contributes to intrinsic knowledge creation. This process could be influenced by addressing design-related aspects of corporate volunteering, such as time frame and space, skill-oriented design, interdepartmental design, informal atmosphere and perceived support. Originality/value – The paper explores corporate volunteering from the perspective of knowledge being created in this process.