Jürgen Deller

Organizational justice and managerial commitment in corporate mergers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether perceptions of distributive, procedural and interactional justice can explain the frequently reported low organizational commitment of managers in corporate mergers. Specifically, it aims to examine whether each of the justice dimensions is significantly and uniquely related to affective commitment, which of the justice dimensions has the strongest relationship with the criterion, and whether instrumental evaluations or trust might function as a mediator.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 128 managers from 37 companies completed a questionnaire. They had been involved in domestic or European mergers or acquisitions, which varied in the application of fairness rules.Findings – Although each fairness dimension correlated positively with affective commitment, only interactional justice showed a unique relationship with it. Results indicate that both instrumental evaluations and trust can function as a mediator.Research limitations/implicatio...

Self‐initiated expatriates and their career success

Purpose – This paper aims to provide conceptual clarity by distinguishing self‐initiated expatriates (SIEs) from company‐assigned expatriates (AEs), and skilled migrants; most importantly, it introduces an overarching conceptual framework based on career capital theory to explain SIEs’ career success.Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual framework is based on a review of the relevant literature on SIE, expatriation, career studies, cross‐cultural studies, migration, and other related areas.Findings – Protean career attitude, career networks, and cultural intelligence are identified as three major types of career capital influencing SIEs career success positively; the predicting relationships between these are mediated by cultural adjustment in the host country. Cultural distance acts as the moderator, which highlights the influence of macro‐contextual factors on SIEs’ career development.Research limitations/implications – The current paper applied career capital theory and did not integrate the im...

Personality Measures in Personnel Selection: Some New Contributions

With the increasing use of personality, several measurement issues have been raised. The papers included in the special section of this journal, across three issues, address some of these concerns. In this post-script, we summarize some of the major themes and conclusions that appear across papers published in the special issue. Questions around the magnitudes of validity coefficients associated with personality measures, the efforts to enhance the usefulness of personality assessments, the strategies on administering, scoring and analyzing personality tests, etc., are addressed. Promising directions for future research are delineated.

Facilitating age diversity in organizations – part I: challenging popular misbeliefs

Purpose – In recent years, significant demographic changes in most industrial countries have tremendously affected the age distribution of workers in organizations. In general, the workforce has become more age-diverse, providing significant and new challenges for human resource management and leadership processes. The current paper aims to address age-related stereotypes as a major factor that might impede potential benefits of age diversity in organizations. Design/methodology/approach – After a brief review of potential detrimental effects of age-related stereotyping at work, the authors discuss the validity of typical age stereotypes based on new findings from large-scale empirical research with more than 160,000 workers overall. Findings – Although the research summarized in this review is based on large samples including several thousand workers, the cross-sectional nature of the studies does not control for cohort or generational effects, nor for (self-)selection biases. However, the summarized results still provide important guidelines given that challenges due to age diversity in modern organizations today have to be dealt with regardless of the concrete origins of the age-related differences. Originality/value – This is one of the first reviews challenging popular misbeliefs about older workers based on large-scale empirical research

A research note on age discrimination and the desire to retire: the mediating effect of psychological empowerment.

Age discrimination is a common problem in organizations. In our pilot study, we want to explore the processes how the desired retirement age is influenced by age discrimination and see psychological empowerment as an important mediator for the relationship between these variables. Data stem from an online questionnaire completed by 130 employees from different organizations in Germany (all 50 years or older). Our results show that age discrimination is an antecedent for the desired retirement age. It has a direct as well as an indirect (via psychological empowerment) effect on the desired retirement age.

An exploratory study of the role of HRM and the transfer of German MNC sustainability values to Brazil

Sustainability, defined here as the triple bottom line, is rapidly gaining importance as a societal and strategic business concern. Research on sustainability linked with Human Resource Management (HRM) is very limited. Although HR is often tasked with training and transferring values related to corporate strategy, an investigation of 10 German multinationals and their Brazilian subsidiaries found varying levels of HR involvement in the organisation of sustainability programmes or the transfer of German sustainability values to Brazilian subsidiaries. Content analysis of company reports resulted in an original model that includes five core components that characterise sustainability management in this sample: rationale, conceptual framework, direction, transfer and evaluation. Follow-up interviews with German and Brazilian executives specified the role of HRM in sustainability and the German-Brazilian transfer process. We conclude with suggestions for future research directions and a discussion of the models practical HR implications for implementing sustainability initiatives.

Facilitating age diversity in organizations – part II: managing perceptions and interactions

Purpose – Due to demographic changes in most industrialized countries, the average age of working people is continuously increasing, and the workforce is becoming more age-diverse. This review, together with the earlier JMP Special Issue “Facilitating age diversity in organizations – part I: challenging popular misbeliefs”, aims to summarize new empirical research on age diversity in organizations, and on potential ways to support beneficial effects of age diversity in teams and organizations. The second part of the Special Issue focusses on managing mutual perceptions and interactions between different age groups. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review is provided summarizing and discussing relevant empirical research on managing mutual perceptions and interactions between different age groups at work. Findings – The summarized research revealed a number of challenges to benefit from age diversity in organizations, such as in-group favoritism, age norms about appropriate behavior of older workers, intentional and unintentional age discrimination, differences in communication styles, and difference in attitudes towards age diversity. At the same time, managerial strategies to address these challenges are developed. Originality/value – Together with the first part of this Special Issue, this is one of the first reviews on ways to address the increasing age diversity in work organizations based on sound empirical research.

Berufliche Aktivität von Ruheständlern

During recent years, a discussion on work activity of retirees has commenced also in Germany. First, this contribution presents a survey of the North American phenomenon of bridge employment and, second, complements leadoff empirical results on individual motives and favored basic conditions in Germany. Individual and structural preconditions for work activity during retirement are presented as well as possible manifestations of retirement activities. This paper quantifies the extent of work activity of retirees in Germany into their upper seventies. Potential follow-up actions for the three levels individuals, organizations, as well as politics and society are recommended.ZusammenfassungIn den letzen Jahren hat die Diskussion über berufliche Aktivität von Ruheständlern auch in Deutschland eingesetzt. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt zunächst einen Überblick über das nordamerikanische Phänomen „bridge employment“ und stellt erste empirische Befunde zu individuellen Beweggründen und gewünschten Rahmenbedingungen in Deutschland dar. Individuelle und strukturelle Voraussetzungen für berufliche Aktivität im Ruhestand werden aufgezeigt und mögliche Formen der nachberuflichen Weiterbeschäftigung beschrieben. Das Ausmaß beruflicher Aktivität von Ruheständlern in Deutschland wird bis weit in das 8. Lebensjahrzehnt hinein quantifiziert. Hieraus ergeben sich Handlungsempfehlungen für die drei handlungsrelevanten Ebenen Individuen, Organisationen sowie Politik und Gesellschaft.AbstractDuring recent years, a discussion on work activity of retirees has commenced also in Germany. First, this contribution presents a survey of the North American phenomenon of bridge employment and, second, complements leadoff empirical results on individual motives and favored basic conditions in Germany. Individual and structural preconditions for work activity during retirement are presented as well as possible manifestations of retirement activities. This paper quantifies the extent of work activity of retirees in Germany into their upper seventies. Potential follow-up actions for the three levels individuals, organizations, as well as politics and society are recommended.

Wie ein Fisch im Trockenen

Zusammenfassung. Praxisrelevanz ist ein wesentliches Merkmal angewandter Wissenschaft. Unter dieser Annahme wurden die in den Jahren 2005 und 2006 in den Zeitschriften fur Arbeits- und Organisation...

Differential predictors of post-retirement life and work satisfaction

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of personal motivational goals and the corresponding occupational characteristics of volunteer, work-related activities in retirement with life and work satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Fully retired individuals working for a non-profit organization in their former professional career field on a non-paid basis were surveyed using an online survey (n=661) to assess their motivational goals, the occupational characteristics of their projects, and satisfaction with life and work. Findings – Results suggested that post-retirement volunteer workers differentiated between perceived life and work satisfaction. The motives of achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity significantly directly affected life satisfaction and indirectly affected work satisfaction. Occupational characteristics assessing achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity had direct effects on work satisfaction but not on life sa...