Rudi Wielers

Gossip in Organizations

Three hypotheses about the effects of different informal social network structures on gossip behavior are developed and tested. Gossip is defined as a conversation about a third person who is not participating in the conversation. Having analyzed the costs and benefits of gossip, we prefer the coalition hypothesis.~It states that gossip will flourish in social networks that have a relatively large number of coalition triads, that is ego and alter having a good relationship amongst themselves and both having a bad relationship with tertius, the object of gossip. Two rivalling hypotheses are developed. The constraint hypothesis predicts that the inclination towards gossip is greater, the larger the number of structural holes in the personal network of the gossipmonger.~The closure hypothesis predicts that more gossip will be found in networks with a large number of closed triads, that is where both gossipmonger and listener have a good relationship with the absent third person. The hypotheses are tested using a newly developed instrument to measure gossip behavior and network data from six work organizations and six school classes. The data support the coalition hypothesis and do not support the two rivalling hypotheses.

What makes workers happy

This article answers the question what makes workers happy? It does so by combining insights from micro-economics, sociology and psychology. Basis is the standard utility function of a worker that includes income and hours of work and is elaborated with job characteristics. In this way it is possible to answer whether part-time workers are happier than full-time workers. The utility function is estimated on basis of the European Social Survey 2004 which contains all necessary information. The results show that workers optimize income and hours of work as predicted by micro-economics, but also that part-time workers are happier than full-time workers. Challenging work with a high level of autonomy makes the workers happy, work pressure makes workers unhappy. Higher educated workers are unhappier than lower educated workers, we find a negative effect of education, but this is compensated by the type of jobs these higher educated hold.

Talking About the Boss: Effects of Generalized and Interpersonal Trust on Workplace Gossip

This study developed and tested a relational theory of positive and negative gossip about managers. It is argued that spreading information about managers depends on trust in organizations, more specifically the employees’ generalized and interpersonal trust in managers and colleagues. Hypotheses were tested by conducting two studies in a medium-sized Dutch child care organization, namely, an employee survey (N = 132) and a network study at two sites (N = 58). Multiple regressions and cross-sectional social network analysis (exponential random graph modeling [ERGM]) revealed that negative gossip about managers increases when employees have low trust, nonfriendly relationships, and infrequent contact with the managers. This effect is further enhanced when contacts between employees are trusting and frequent. Implications for theories about management and organizations are discussed.

Hierarchy, Wages and Firm Size

The thesis of the paper is that the hierarchical structure of organizations contributes to the explanation of the well-known firm size-wage effect. A theoretical analysis elaborates why and how wages may depend on hierarchical position and span of control. It is argued that wage premiums for supervisors add to the explanation of the firm size-wage effect, but that an effect of span of control should not be expected. In empirical analyses, both hypotheses are confirmed. The hierarchical structure of organizations explains at least 4 and at most 48 per cent of the wage gap between large and small firms.

Lower educated workers and part-time work: The Netherlands 1973-91

The thesis of the article is that strong growth in the number of part-time jobs in The Netherlands between 1973 and 1991 negatively affected the labour market participation of men, especially lower educated men. The thesis consists of a behavioural component, which explains why lower educated men are not attracted and do not gain access to part-time jobs, and an institutional component, which explains why the labour market position of lower educated men in The Netherlands deteriorated relatively rapidly during the period 1973-91. The thesis is underpinned by an empirical analysis of labour market participation of lower educated male workers in part-time and full-time jobs. Competing theses, such as upgrading of the job structure, displacement by better educated workers and sector shift from manufacturing to services, are tested empirically, but prove to be less convincing explanations for the deteriorated labour market position of lower educated men than the explanation of the growth of part-time jobs.

Graduates and the Labour Market in the Netherlands: Three Hypotheses and Some Data.

Every now and then, at times of rising unemployment, the debate on the labour market position of the better educated in the Netherlands intensifies. When many graduates have difficulty finding work, overeducation is readily put forward as an explanation, and the debate about the effects of educational expansion on the labour market starts anew. Pessimists argue that such expansion leads to unemployment of overqualified workers. Optimists stress that an increase in the number of years of education is necessary to achieve innovation in the economic system. In this article we reconstruct the main arguments in the debate as hypotheses. Furthermore, we will use the available data to explore their empirical validity. At the end of the paper, we speculate about the impact of recent changes in the Dutch system of higher education on the labour market position of its graduates.

Quality of work and job satisfaction: comparing female part-time work in four European countries

ABSTRACT Adding to the debate on the integrative or marginalizing nature of female part-time work, this article provides a comparative analysis of the implications of female part-time work for different intrinsic job quality dimensions and job satisfaction. Drawing on national micro-data from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, our multivariate analyses show cross-national similarities in terms of lower job learning opportunities for female part-timers. We found a significantly higher incidence of repetitiveness only among Swedish female part-timers and lower degrees of task discretion among British, Dutch, and Swedish women working part-time hours. Female part-timers were either equally satisfied with their work as female full-timers or even more satisfied. This held true also after accounting for the lower intrinsic job quality of part-time work. While women working part-time hours were as affected by their job quality characteristics as were full-timers, we conclude that the shorter hours of work per se provide an important additional source of job satisfaction.

Unpaid overtime in the Netherlands: forward- or backward-looking incentives?

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to test forward-looking incentives against backward-looking incentives. Design/methodology/approach - – Wage growth model to estimate forward-looking effects of unpaid overtime and a probit model of participation in unpaid overtime controlling for excessive pay to estimate backward-looking effects. The authors use data form the OSA labour supply panel (years 1994, 1996 and 1998). Findings - – The importance of backward-looking incentives is demonstrated in an empirical analysis of participation in unpaid overtime. The authors show that employees who have relatively good wages now or who have had relatively good wages in the recent past participate more often in unpaid overtime. The authors also show that participation in unpaid overtime does not lead to extra wage growth. Research limitations/implications - – These results imply that involvement in unpaid overtime is to be explained from backward-looking incentives, not from forward-looking incentives. The paper concludes that backward-looking incentives deserve more attention in the economic literature, especially as they are well-accepted as work motivation devices by employees. Limitations are the length of the panel study (four years) and the fact that the data are restricted to one country (the Netherlands). Social implications - – Personnel policies should focus more on the intrinsic motivation of personnel rather than on extrinsic motivation. Originality/value - – This is the first paper to test both forward- and backward-looking incentives simultaneously.

Labour Market Research: The supremacy of neoclassical economic theory

In this chapter we describe the state of the art in Dutch labour market research. Our main interest is in the paradigm (Kuhn 1970) used in contributions from economics and sociology. A paradigm consists of elementary theories, a methodology and a view on the cumulation of research, which scientists test and develop within their own field. It offers a cognitive framework for the recognition of a problem and for the appreciation of the results of empirical research. A paradigm may also extend beyond scientific research to influence laymen and policy makers.

The flexibilization of the Dutch labour market: The impact of globalization on the life course and inequality

Owing to its history of being a small open economy, with a background in trade and foreign investment as well as a high concentration of multinational companies, the Netherlands is a particularly interesting case within Western Europe for studying the effects of globalization on life courses and inequality. In recent years, several hypotheses have been tested about the effects of globalization on the labour market positions of men (Luijkx et al., 2006), women (Kalmijn and Luijkx, 2006) and of younger (Liefbroer, 2005) and older workers (Henkens and Kalmijn, 2006). These hypotheses typically had a two-fold structure. The first aspect examined the expected effect of globalization on the flexibilization of employment relationships, such as the introduction of fixed-term contracts or part-time work. As we shall demonstrate, this aspect has been generally confirmed by the clear growth of flexible employment. The increased share of flexible jobs has been at the expense of the traditional full-time, permanent employment contracts often referred to as the ‘job for life’. The growth of flexible employment arrangements and patchwork careers, for some, provides a degree of support for the thesis that globalization has infiltrated and impacted on the Dutch labour market.