Rein De Cooman

A Cross-Sector Comparison of Motivation-Related Concepts in For-Profit and Not-For-Profit Service Organizations

This contribution examines differences in four motivation-related concepts between employees in not-for-profit and for-profit sector service organizations. Using regression analyses, 630 knowledge workers, employed in either the not-for-profit or the for-profit sector, were compared. The majority of the hypotheses were supported by the data. Even after the impact of gender, age, seniority, contract type, and task characteristics were controlled for, employees from both sectors differed significantly. Not-for-profit workers valued more social service, perceived a better person—organization fit, and were more motivated by identified and integrated regulation. Their for-profit counterparts valued more advancement and were more motivated by external regulation. These conclusions account for a broad range of activities within the service industry because a wide variety of organizations were included in the study.

Freshmen in nursing: job motives and work values of a new generation

AIM To identify the features young nurses look for in their job (job motives) and the features they look for in work in general (work values). BACKGROUND In view of the shortage of appropriately educated and motivated nurses, a study of the motivational profile of the new generation nurses may provide additional insights. METHOD In a survey, 344 newly graduate Belgian nurses were questioned. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that many of the traditional attractions are still important, with the recurrent issue of altruism. Furthermore, men are found to be more attracted by career opportunities, executive powers and autonomy, while women tend to attach more importance to interpersonal characteristics. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT When considering the new generation nurses, budget cuts and restructuring must be handled with prudence, due to the risk of crowding out the altruistic and interpersonal work features, which determine the specificity of the nursing job.

Dynamics of psychological contracts with work engagement and turnover intention: The influence of organizational tenure

This study investigated the interrelations of the psychological contract with work engagement and turnover intention, which has hitherto been a largely overlooked topic in psychological contract research. Although previous research has mainly focused on how psychological contracts influence job attitudes and behaviours, it is proposed here that attitudes and behaviours also affect the psychological contract that the employee has with the organization. Moreover, it is proposed that because reciprocity norms are more important among shortly tenured employees, mutual relationships between psychological contracts and work engagement and turnover intention were stronger for employees with lower organizational tenure. Longitudinal data were collected among 240 employees and proposed models were evaluated with structural equation modelling. The results show that indeed psychological contract fulfilment was longitudinally related to higher work engagement and lower turnover intentions, but only for employees with low tenure. Moreover, stability in work engagement, turnover intention, and psychological contract over time was higher for those with high tenure, whereas the relations between turnover intention and the psychological contract were stronger for those with low organizational tenure. These findings demonstrate that psychological contracts are reciprocally interrelated with work outcomes, and that such relations are stronger for those with low tenure.

Development and Validation of the Work Effort Scale

In the current article, the development and validation of the Work Effort Scale (WESC), a self-report 10-item scale, is described. Data from several samples are used. The three-factor structure (persistence, direction, and intensity) of the WESC is confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis and reliability is well documented. In accordance with our expectations, we found positive correlations between self-rated performance and global job satisfaction scales and work effort.

Pay-Level Satisfaction and Psychological Reward Satisfaction as Mediators of the Organizational Justice-Turnover Intention Relationship

In this study, we examine whether satisfaction with two reward types (i.e., pay level and psychological rewards from the supervisor) mediates the relationships between organizational justice dimensions and turnover intention. Data collected from 322 teachers revealed that pay-level satisfaction does not mediate any of the relationships between organizational justice dimensions and turnover intention, whereas satisfaction with psychological reward from the supervisor does. Furthermore, only the direct relationship between the second-order factor procedural-interactional justice and turnover intention turned out to be significant. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Creating Inclusive Teams Through Perceptions of Supplementary and Complementary Person–Team Fit Examining the Relationship Between Person–Team Fit and Team Effectiveness

Using a multi-wave, multi-level design, this study unravels the impact of subjective (dis)similarities in teams on team effectiveness. Based on optimal distinctiveness theory and the social inclusion model, we assume combined effects of individual and shared perceptions of supplementary and complementary person–team fit on affective and performance-based outcomes. Furthermore, at the team level, we expect this relationship to be mediated by team cohesion. In a sample of 121 participants (across 30 teams), we found that teams in which members share perceptions of high supplementary as well as high complementary fit outperform those in which they do not. In addition, members of such teams report higher levels of team satisfaction and viability. Both of these occur through positive effects on the cohesion within the team. Thereby, our results support the central tenet of the social inclusion model. At the individual level, this enhancing effect of the interaction was not supported, providing additional evidence for considering perceived person–team fit as a collective construct.

A micro-economic perspective on manager selection in nonprofit organizations

This paper recognizes that individuals working in the nonprofit sector can have different motives and investigates which type of manager nonprofit organizations should best employ. It first considers a situation in which the manager is allowed to attract only one employee and later extends the analysis to a situation in which up to three employees can be employed. Analyses mark the importance of a strong commitment to the organizations mission and caution for both a strong self-interest and a strong devotion to the well-being of the clients. Managers with a moderate interest in their own objectives can nevertheless be valuable to the organization. The paper also marks why managers should avoid similar-to-me biases in the selection process and investigates the effects of an increased work pressure on the behavior of the managers and on the attainment of the organizational goals.

When and Why Are Internal Job Transitions Successful? Transition Challenges, Hindrances, and Resources Influencing Motivation and Retention Through Basic Needs Satisfaction:

This study examines when and why internal job transitions enhance employees’ motivation and retention. Building on the Challenge–Hindrance Framework and the Self-Determination Theory, we hypothesize that transition challenges (i.e., horizontal and vertical transition magnitude) satisfy people’s basic psychological needs and may therefore enhance motivation and retention, whereas transition hindrances (i.e., increased work–life conflict) thwart basic needs satisfaction and are accordingly likely to decrease motivation and retention. In addition, we argue that transition resources (i.e., social support and personal control) may boost the impact of transition challenges and buffer the impact of transition hindrances. Hypotheses were tested with 173 employees who recently made an internal transition. We found support for the positive impact of vertical transition magnitude and the negative impact of increased work–life conflict on motivation and retention through an impact on basic needs satisfaction. In addition, social support was found to boost the former path. No other moderation effects were found. Implications of the results are discussed.

The non-profit board : a concise review of the empirical literature

This article gives a concise review of the literature on non-profit boards. Given the lack of theoretical work on the subject, the focus of the article lies on the empirical work. This empirical work seems to have developed on two roads: one where the non-profit board is the dependent variable and one where the non-profit board is an independent variable in relation to other variables such as organisational performance. As this article will show, these empirical results often remain equivocal and consensus is lacking. The authors ar gue that a better insight in the composition and structure of the non-profit boards can contribute a lot to the understanding of the behaviour of non-profit organisations.

One Big Happy Family? Unraveling the Relationship between Shared Perceptions of Team Psychological Contracts, Person-Team Fit and Team Performance

With the knowledge that team work is not always associated with high(er) performance, we draw from the Multi-Level Theory of Psychological Contracts, Person-Environment Fit Theory, and Optimal Distinctiveness Theory to study shared perceptions of psychological contract (PC) breach in relation to shared perceptions of complementary and supplementary fit to explain why some teams perform better than other teams. We collected three repeated survey measures in a sample of 128 respondents across 46 teams. After having made sure that we met all statistical criteria, we aggregated our focal variables to the team-level and analyzed our data by means of a longitudinal three-wave autoregressive moderated-mediation model in which each relationship was one-time lag apart. We found that shared perceptions of PC breach were directly negatively related to team output and negatively related to perceived team member effectiveness through a decrease in shared perceptions of supplementary fit. However, we also demonstrated a beneficial process in that shared perceptions of PC breach were positively related to shared perceptions of complementary fit, which in turn were positively related to team output. Moreover, best team output appeared in teams that could combine high shared perceptions of complementary fit with modest to high shared perceptions of supplementary fit. Overall, our findings seem to indicate that in terms of team output there may be a bright side to perceptions of PC breach and that perceived person-team fit may play an important role in this process.