Sushanta Kumar Mishra

Moderation effects of personality and organizational support on the relationship between prior job experience and academic performance of management students

The study investigates the relationship between prior job experience and current academic performance among management students in India. It further explores the impact of individual and situational factors on the above relationship. Based on a longitudinal study spanning over nine months in the academic year 2010–11 among a sample of 324 management students, the study found a positive relationship between prior job experience and current academic performance. Among individual factors, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and agreeableness, and among situational factors, perceived organizational support, were expected to moderate the relationship. Apart from openness to experience and agreeableness, other variables were found to strengthen the relationship between prior job experience and current academic performance. The study argues that in addition to prior job experience, individual and situational factors are important for the current academic performance in management education. Implications of the study for theory and practice are discussed.

Effect of Emotional Labor on Emotional Exhaustion and Work Attitudes among Hospitality Employees in India

The present research explores the relationship of emotional labor strategies (i.e., surface and deep acting) with emotional exhaustion, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions among employees in the hospitality industry in India. Data were collected from 204 frontline hotel employees representing different departments. The results of the study demonstrate that surface acting is positively related with emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions and negatively related to affective organizational commitment. Moreover, deep acting was observed to have a negative influence on emotional exhaustion. The findings of the study indicate that frequent use of surface acting may have detrimental consequences for employees as well as for the organization. Managerial implications of the study are discussed.

Professional identity construction among software engineering students

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the process in which the software engineering students construct their professional identities. Design/methodology/approach – The study followed the qualitative method using grounded theory methodology to examine the process of identity construction. Data were collected from final year software engineering students in an iterative manner. Findings – Based on the present study, the study argues that entry-level identities of students are modified and adjusted in response to their experience of identity violations over the course of their academic program. These violations were caused by their unmet expectations from the academic program. The magnitude of these violations is influenced by their perceived value derived from the training they were receiving. Research limitations/implications – This paper explains the process of “identity morphing” as a mechanism by which students resolve the conflict/violation of their identities. The emergence and adaptation ...

Linking perceived organizational support to emotional labor

Purpose – Based on two studies on different occupational groups, the purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and different forms of emotional labor. Drawing from social identity theory, the present study extends the social exchange theory to provide an alternate explanation to the above relationships. Design/methodology/approach – The survey design following questionnaire in English language was physically administered among medical sales employees and subsequently among employees in the hospitality industry. Findings – The study found that POS is positively related to deep acting and negatively related to surface acting. The study further found that organizational identification mediates the relationship between POS and deep acting where as there was no mediation effect of organizational identification on the relationship between POS and surface acting. Research limitations/implications – The research relies on a cross-sectional design with a si...

Teacher effectiveness through self-efficacy, collaboration and principal leadership

Purpose Teacher effectiveness has been a matter of concern not only for the parents and students but also for the policy makers, researchers, and educationists. Drawing from the “self-efficacy” theory (Bandura, 1977), the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and teacher effectiveness. In addition, it explores the role of collaboration among teachers and principal leadership in explaining the above relationship. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 575 secondary school teachers and 6,020 students representing grade 6-12th from 25 privately owned schools in India. Teacher self-efficacy, collaboration and principal leadership were reported by the teachers whereas effectiveness of each teacher was captured from around ten students each who were taught by the corresponding teacher. Data were analyzed using SEM-PLS. Findings Results confirmed a positive association between teacher self-efficacy and the three dimensions of teacher effectiveness, namely, teacher’s delivery of course information, teacher’s role in facilitating teacher-student interactions, and teacher’s role in regulating students’ learning. Results also confirmed that both collaboration and principal leadership are positively related to teacher self-efficacy. Originality/value The results of the study indicate that schools need to focus on enhancing self-efficacy of their teachers and give importance to teacher collaboration and principal leadership in order to improve their effectiveness in terms of delivery of instruction, teacher-student interactions, and regulating student learning.

Minimizing the cost of emotional dissonance at work: a multi-sample analysis

Purpose – The present study is based on two samples from two occupational groups (one among medical representatives in pharmaceutical industry and other among frontline employees in hospitality industry). The study found support for the moderation effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the emotional dissonance-emotional exhaustion as well as the emotional exhaustion-turnover intention relationships. In addition, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediation of emotional exhaustion on the emotional dissonance-turnover intention relationship. The study concludes with the contributions to the literature and to the practice. Design/methodology/approach – Following the survey research method the study collected the data from two occupational groups. Findings – The study found support for the moderation effect of POS on the emotional dissonance-emotional exhaustion as well as the emotional exhaustion-turnover intention relationships. Originality/value – The study argued the negative effects...

Archival research: a neglected method in organization studies

Purpose Archival research is a much under-rated and under-utilized method of research in management studies. Yet multi-disciplinary undertakings being observed in recent times, such as in knowledge management (KM) systems, business history and social network studies, among others, indicate that there is a lot of potential to be explored. The purpose of this paper is to highlight this point and make a case for its inclusion in the researcher’s toolkit in the future. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow a two-stage method here: the first stage being an improvised process to benchmark articles for this review; while the second stage involves content analysis and synthesis of the same. Findings The authors have dealt with the intricacies of the archival research methodology by minutely examining the fieldwork steps, proxies generation, other related processes of triangulation, etc. With the discussion on “multi-disciplinary undertakings,” the authors offer not only a selective bibliography of works that have effectively harvested this family of methods, but also critique the nuances involved. Finally, coming into more contemporary concerns and developments, the authors undertake an in-depth look at technological applications in the domain of KM, in case study mode. Methodological richness leads to substantive granularity. As such, the authors argue that archival methods contribute to the robustness, contextuality and holism of any research endeavor, more so in the study of business and organizations. Research limitations/implications This paper is based on the literature review. Practical implications This paper makes a case for archival method’s contribution toward the robustness, contextuality and holism of any research endeavor, more so in the study of business and organizations. Originality/value This paper re-positions the method of archival research as a viable and sophisticated tool for researchers to employ effectively in singular or mixed method studies.

Organizations and Indian Culture: A Multicultural Perspective

Culture is as an intangible resource as it plays significant rolefor the success of an organization.Research on organization studies argued that for their survival and prosperity, organizations must ‘fit’the environment in which they are embedded including culture of the environment in which the organization operates. In fact cultural boundaries between an organization and its environment argued to create uncertainty and hamperthe exchange of social information.Hence adapting to the ational/ regional culture is agreed to be in sustaining competitive advantage organizations. inherent flaw in these arguments is that the national/ regional culture is assumed to be static. However, this stand has been critiqued by the researchers who argue for the dynamic nature of culture. However, issue of cultural change at the national/regionallevel is addressed. It is against the above background that this chapter has been positioned. The chapter focuses exclusively on the interface between organizational and national/ regional culture. Based on a qualitative study, this chapter highlights the positive role played by an organization in creating a multicultural society. This is important as ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, occupation, politics—our social and cultural worlds are increasingly and unassailably are becoming multifaceted. chapter intends to enrich the current research by highlighting role of organizations in facilitating a multicultural society.

Capitalism in the Indian Social Environment: An Ethnic Perspective

In early 20th century, Max Weber, in his seminal treatise ‘The religion of India — The sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism,’ argued that capitalism would remain weak in India because the ancient religions of India have no element of the Protestant ethic, a necessary element for the growth and development of capitalistic thoughts. Weber argued that the irrational approach of Indian religious traditions, consisting of such dogmas as the samsara (illusionary world) and karma (doctrine of divine compensation), created a system that was highly traditional and progress-inhibiting (Weber, 1958, p. 118). He argued that the two dogmas together gave rise to a system that was anti-capitalistic in nature. Weber further argued that such a system would fail to arrive at what he called the ‘spirit of capitalism’ (Weber, Parsons & Tawney, 1930). The decades to come would provide the much needed fuel to Weber’s argument: With India’s GDP growing at the stealthy 3.5 percent and its per capita income at 1.3 percent, its story was widely touted as the walk of the elephant, and its economic expansion was termed the ‘Hindu Rate of Growth’ (Kaushik, 2012). But the last two decades have charted a new story: India has marched ahead with impressive growth rates and is widely predicted to become a major economic power in the coming years (Wilson & Purushothaman, 2003).