Sara De Gieter

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.

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.

Information asymmetry in high potential programs: A potential risk for psychological contract breach

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the implicit beliefs both high potentials and HR directors hold about the terms of the exchange relationship between high potential employees and their organizations. The paper positions the study within the framework of the psychological contract, exploring specifically whether strategic ambiguity and information asymmetries in high potential programs create a heightened risk of psychological contract breach. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 20 high potentials and 11 HR directors from nine different organizations were interviewed. Open and axial coding of the qualitative data was performed by three raters. Findings – Information asymmetry in high potential programs, indeed, poses a potential risk for psychological contract breach. Although strategic ambiguity can be an effective communication strategy in that it creates a power imbalance in favor of the organization, at all times a delicate balance must be maintained between leaving room for flexi...

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.

How reward satisfaction affects employees’ turnover intentions and performance: an individual differences approach

We challenge the assumption that satisfaction with rewards has the same effect on the behaviour and attitudes of every employee, and hypothesise that there are individual differences in the effects of (satisfaction with) financial, material and psychological rewards on turnover intentions and task performance. Survey data from 179 employees are combined with supervisor-rated task performance data and analysed with cluster-wise regression analysis. As for task performance, no employee types or individual differences were found. However, we identified three different employee types revealing a unique relationship pattern between satisfaction with financial, material and psychological rewards and turnover intentions. These employee types also differed in socio-demographic characteristics and work values. Our findings illustrate that to be able to fully understand the underlying relationship between rewards and employee outcomes, scholars need to adopt an individual difference perspective and methodology. Implications for practice, limitations and opportunities for future studies are discussed.

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.

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.

Compensating need satisfaction across life boundaries: a daily diary study

Self-determination theory suggests that satisfaction of an individuals basic psychological needs (for competence, autonomy, and relatedness) is a key for well-being. This has gained empirical support in multiple life domains, but little is known about the way that need satisfaction interacts between work and home. Drawing from ideas of work–home compensation, we expect that the benefits of need satisfaction in the home domain are reduced when needs are satisfied in the work domain. We tested this hypothesis with a daily diary study involving 91 workers. Results showed that individuals particularly benefit from satisfaction of their need for competence in the home domain when it is not satisfied during the working day. No such interactions were found between the needs for autonomy or relatedness. Our study highlights that the interaction of need satisfaction across domains represents a boundary condition for the beneficial effects of need satisfaction. Practitioner points The study examines the interplay between daily need satisfaction at work and at home and its relation to employee well-being at bedtime. Employees particularly benefit from competence need satisfaction at home (e.g., doing a hobby which challenges them) on days when they do not get a sense of competence from their job (e.g., if the tasks are not particularly challenging, or they are underperforming).

Need satisfaction at work, job strain, and performance: A diary study.

We performed a daily diary study to examine the mediating role of autonomy need satisfaction and competence need satisfaction in the relationships between job characteristics (i.e., job resources, challenge and hindrance demands) and strain and performance. For 10 consecutive working days, 194 employees reported on their daily job resources, challenge and hindrance demands, task performance, strain level, and satisfaction of the needs for competence and autonomy. Multilevel path modeling demonstrated that the within-person relationships between job resources, challenge and hindrance demands, and strain are mediated by autonomy need satisfaction, but not by competence need satisfaction. However, the relationships between job resources and hindrance demands, and performance are mediated by both competence and autonomy need satisfaction. Our findings show that organizations may benefit from designing jobs that provide employees with the opportunity to satisfy their basic needs for competence and autonomy.