Paola Spagnoli

Personality and organisational commitment: The mediating role of job satisfaction during socialisation

Purpose – This study aims to test the mediating role of work satisfaction aspects, such as satisfaction with the work itself and satisfaction with human resource practices, in the relationship between the Big Five and organisational commitment.Design/methodology/approach – Data from 190 new police officers in a three‐wave longitudinal survey were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM).Findings – Results showed that: satisfaction with human resource practices completely mediated the relationship between openness to experience and normative commitment; satisfaction with the work itself completely mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and normative commitment whereas it partially mediated the relationship between extroversion and affective commitment.Research limitations/implications – This study is focused on the police context. Future studies should investigate other contexts for comparison.Practical implications – The predictive effect of personality on both job satisfaction and org...

A Contribution Toward the Adaptation and Validation of the Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Scale in Italy and Portugal

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) seems to play a key role in the entrepreneurial career choice. The main goal of this study is to examine the reliability and validity of the ESE Scale proposed by McGee, Peterson, Mueller, and Sequeira both in Italy and Portugal. In particular, this study aims to strengthen and extend previous evidence of the Italian version of the ESE Scale and to assess its psychometric properties in Portugal. Furthermore, it aims at investigating the differences between two groups of participants both in Italy and Portugal: entrepreneurs and students. Construct, convergent, and discriminant validity of the ESE Scale were assessed through confirmatory factorial analysis and multigroups confirmatory factorial analysis using structural equation modeling. Configural, full metric, and partial scalar invariance were achieved. Moreover, correlational analysis, reliability analysis, and one-way analysis of variance were conducted. The findings support the use of the ESE Scale in Italy and Portugal for research and practical purposes. Limitation and suggestion for further research are also discussed.

Information‐seeking behaviour: Implicit and explicit strategies during the organizational entry process

Purpose – Despite more than three decades of studies, the role of information‐seeking during organizational socialization remains ambiguous. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role played by information‐seeking behaviour during the organizational socialization process.Design/methodology/approach – Two different information‐seeking behaviors (implicit and explicit) were considered as mediators in the relationship between personality (extroversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness), organizational variables (LMX and POS) and organizational socialization outcomes (task mastery, social integration, role ambiguity, role conflict). Analysis carried out with SEM (structural equation modelling) on longitudinal survey data from 316 new police officers during their first six months of work showed interesting results regarding the two hypothesized mediators.Findings – In particular, the results show that the two information‐seeking behaviors seem to be related to different paths that ...

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy in Italy: an empirical study from a gender perspective

Entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) is a key factor for the promotion of entrepreneurship. Literature emphasizes the need for and, indeed, recommends a gender perspective in the study of ESE. The aim of this study is twofold: to begin analyzing some of the psychometric properties of the McGee, Peterson, Mueller, and Sequeira (2009) ESE scale in the Italian context, and to explore the gender differences in the ESE levels in an Italian sample of entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs. Confirmatory factor analysis, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and a 2 × 2 MANOVA were conducted. The results support the possible use of McGee et al.’s ESE scale in the Italian context. Furthermore, they reveal that the gender difference in the sample of non-entrepreneurs is greater than in the entrepreneur sample. The main practical implication is that women entrepreneurs should receive specific training both before and after creating a new venture.

The Italian revised work-family culture scale: A multisample study

Although the Work-Family Culture Scale (Thompson, Beauvais, & Lyness, 1999) has been widely used in work-family research, its factor structure remains largely understudied and varies across countries. This study aims to examine both its construct validity by testing its measurement invariance through confirmatory factor analysis and its concurrent validity. Study 1 was carried out on a sample of 556 workers, while Study 2 on 202 workers. The original three-factor structure was supported in the 17-item Italian version of the scale. It also showed partial metric and scalar invariance (Study 1) supporting its construct validity. Moreover, the scale showed expected correlations with work-family balance, conflict and enrichment, job and family satisfaction (Study 2). Although the fit indices for the two-factor and the second-order three-factor models were satisfactory, the original three-factor structure of the scale prevailed as the best factor solution. Construct and concurrent validity were supported. Practical implications concerning the use of the scale are discussed.

ADAPTATION OF THE ATTITUDE TOWARD ENTERPRISE TEST IN THE ITALIAN HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY CONTEXTS

The development of sound evidence-based entrepreneurial potential assessment tools is particularly recommended to foster entrepreneurship and to evaluate specific entrepreneurial training initiatives in schools and universities. The present study is aimed at examining construct, convergent and discriminant validity of the Attitude Toward Enterprise test (ATE test) in Italy. Configural and measurement invariance were conducted for testing construct validity using Structural Equation Modeling on three groups of students: high school; university undergraduate; and university postgraduate. Correlational and reliability analyses were conducted to test convergent, discriminant and consistency of the scale. Results show that the Italian version of the scale is a valuable tool for research and practical purposes in Italy. Limitations and suggestions for further research are also discussed.