Soumendu Biswas

Mediator Analysis of Employee Engagement: Role of Perceived Organizational Support, P-O Fit, Organizational Commitment and Job Satisfaction

Given the multi-determinability of individual affect and attitudes, this paper seeks to explicate their display through some construct that captures the cognitive, emotional, and behavioural components of work-related roles. Employee engagement is found to be one such explanatory variable. This paper assesses the mediating role of employee engagement between perceived organizational support (POS) and person-organization fit (P-O fit) as the antecedents and organizational commitment and job satisfaction as the consequences. It tests the path model by using data from six Indian organizations and a sample of 246 Indian managers. The findings help find a direct effect of P-O fit and POS, which affects employee engagement and leads to variance in organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Further, the paper attempts to establish discriminant validity between employee engagement and organizational commitment. Yet, because of the similarity of wordings of the items measuring the employees� ratings of the two constructs, the authors conducted a confirmatory factor analysis leading to discriminant validity establishment to examine whether employee engagement and organizational commitment were distinct. AMOS software (version 17.0) was used to compare the fit of two nested models: (a) a one-factor model incorporating both the constructs and (b) a two-factor model distinguishing employee engagement and organizational commitment. It also provides empirical support to job satisfaction and its linkage with employee engagement. The findings suggest that when individuals perceive positive levels of organizational collaboration, they are intrinsically encouraged towards exerting considerably higher levels of effort. The notion that P-O fit deals with the congruence between employees� personal values and those of the organization makes for greater meaningfulness and psychological safety leading to higher levels of employee engagement. Furthermore, when individual values are perceived to fit organizational norms, the former are entrusted with greater responsibilities and are made to feel more empowered. A high level of employee engagement reflects a greater trust and loyal relationship between the individual and the organization. This suggests the building up of higher degree of commitment by the employee towards their employing organization. The paper contributes to theory building in the employee engagement and organizational commitment domains.

Linking distributive and procedural justice to employee engagement through social exchange: a field study in India

Research linking justice perceptions to employee outcomes has referred to social exchange as its central theoretical premise. We tested a conceptual model linking distributive and procedural justice to employee engagement through social exchange mediators, namely perceived organizational support (POS) and psychological contract, among 238 managers and executives from manufacturing and service sector firms in India. Findings suggest that POS mediated the relationship between distributive justice and employee engagement, and both POS and psychological contract mediated the relationship between procedural justice and employee engagement. Theoretical and practical implications with respect to organizational functions are discussed.

The mediator analysis of psychological contract: relationship with employee engagement and organisational commitment

The present study tests the outcome variables of employee engagement and organisational commitment with psychological contract as a mediator and procedural justice; perceived organisational support and person-organisation fit as antecedents. The model was tested on a managerial sample (n = 297) from six Indian organisations. The study makes an important contribution by establishing the nomological network of these constructs and their relationship to employee engagement and organisational commitment. Structural equation model analysis reveals that the constructs of procedural justice, perceived organisational support and person-organisation provide a best fit model and mediate the relationship between psychological contract and employee engagement and organisational commitment. The outcome variables of employee engagement and organisational commitment are two empirically discriminant constructs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Linkages between antecedents of in-role performance and intentions to quit: an investigation in India

This study was designed to investigate the linkages between organizational commitment, organizational culture and in-role performance and intention to quit. In addition, we wanted to investigate whether organizational citizenship behaviour mediated the relationship between culture and commitment, and performance and quit intentions. Drawing on data from 357 executives in Indian firms, a latent variable model was tested using structural equation modelling procedures. Results supported the study hypotheses. From a practitioner perspective, our findings suggest that Indian managers would do well to recognize and appreciate pro-social behaviours exhibited by team members, as these could lead to improved in-role performance and reduce chances of employee turnover. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications and suggest future research directions.

Implications of the impact of psychological climate on job satisfaction: a study of Indian organisations

The current study focuses on psychological climate of an organisation as a predictor of the level of job satisfaction of its employees. It draws upon literatures that suggest two variables, namely, organisational commitment and job involvement identified to provide a model that caused mediation in the association between psychological climate and job satisfaction. The study takes into account India, a country most amenable for the purpose leading to a study that focuses upon the association between the variables from the perspective of neo-liberalisation wherein new management thoughts and ideas were made accessible to Indian organisations. The study draws heavily upon previous studies made by the pioneer in this field namely, Jai B.P. Sinha. Data collected for the purpose of this study were subjected to goodness of-fit tests using SEM procedure. It was concluded that psychological climate indeed makes and indirect prediction of job satisfaction through organisational commitment as well as job involvement as the significant mediators.

An Investigation Into the Concept of Brand Love and Its Proximal and Distal Covariates

ABSTRACT Brand love has emerged as an important marketing construct among practitioners and academics. Literature on brand love is mainly concentrated on its conceptualization rather than its antecedents and consequences. The authors have applied social exchange theory to the concept of brand love and proposed a conceptual model that highlights the factors affecting brand love, such as respect, brands liking for consumers, and brand experience, as well as its behavioral outcomes, such as affective commitment, consumer citizenship behavior, and willingness to pay a price premium.

Behavioral and attitudinal outcomes of psychological contract violation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the interactive effects of psychological contract violation (PCV) and leader member exchange (LMX) on workplace behaviors and attitudes. Another purpose of this research was to contribute to the existing literature pertaining to PCV and organizational cynicism in the context of managerial employees working in India. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 237 managerial-level employees and 156 of their immediate supervisors of seven organizations in India. A questionnaire comprising 36 items pertaining to the study constructs was administered. The reliability of the instrument was verified through item analyses. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to establish the instrument’s construct validity. Study hypotheses were tested and competing models were compared using structural equation modeling (SEM) procedures. Findings – All scales were found to have acceptable reliability estimates. A CFA established that the manifest variab...

An investigation of antecedents and consequences of brand love in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that drive consumer love toward a brand and the opportunities a consumer’s love create for a brand in India. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 23 in-depth interviews were conducted with consumers. The interview transcripts were analyzed through thematic analysis using qualitative software Nvivo10. Findings – This paper proposes a conceptual model where respect, brand experience, and brand reputation have been identified as factors driving brand love and affective commitment, consumer citizenship behavior, repurchases intention, consumer forgiveness, and attitude toward the extension as outcomes of brand love. Practical implications – Consumers bond with brand helps in mitigating the feelings of transgressions by the brand, and also protects brand from negative word of mouth. Consumers who are in love with a brand show positive attitude toward its extensions. These results provide pointers to brand managers on how to protect and expand th...

Linking perceived organizational support and organizational justice to employees’ in-role performance and organizational cynicism through organizational trust: A field investigation in India

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the mediating role of organizational trust in the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational justice on the one hand and their consequences, namely employees’ in-role performance and their levels of organizational cynicism on the other. Along with this, accounting for organizational trust as a mediator and organizational cynicism as a critical consequence the authors aim to contribute to the literature pertaining to these variables. Design/methodology/approach Random sampling technique was applied. Data were collected from 237 managerial-level employees and 156 of their immediate supervisors of seven privately owned manufacturing and service sector organizations in India. A questionnaire comprising 49 items pertaining to the study constructs was administered. Item analyses were carried out to estimate the reliability of the instrument. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish the instrument’s construct validity and uniqueness of the study constructs. The hypotheses of the study were tested and competing path models were compared using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques with maximum likelihood estimates. Findings All scales were found to have acceptable reliability estimates. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis established that the manifest variables loaded significantly on their latent constructs and that the latent constructs were empirically distinct. This established the scales’ construct validity. The results of the SEM procedures indicated that all hypotheses of the study could be accepted as statistically significant and that organizational trust mediates the path between the independent and the dependent variables. Research limitations/implications The study was cross-sectional in design and, as such precluded causal inferences. Data were collected from private sector firms operating in India, and hence, there was a limitation regarding the findings as far as cross-national generalization and generalizability among employees of state-owned enterprises were concerned. Practical implications The study identified some practical implications related to its findings. These include meeting the affiliative needs of employees, managers as organizational agents must manifest organizational support by regularly interacting with their subordinates, and that managers should address their reportees not as members of a given department but as members of teams and allocate job assignments accordingly. Social implications The findings of the study lend credibility to an interplay between social exchange ideologies, equity sensitivities, and fairness heuristics. Additionally, the results of this study extend the social exchange-equity theory literature which has placed social exchange variables as predictors of workplace outcomes in an Indian context. This, further leads to the enhancement of positive consequences such as task performance, and reduces negative outcomes such as cynical attitudes towards the organization. Originality/value The present research is among the first of its kind to examine the study variables vis-a-vis managerial employees working in India. This study would also qualify to be among the very few studies in India with reference to the social exchange, equity, and fairness heuristics theories.