Tahira M. Probst

Empowerment and continuous improvement in the United States, Mexico, Poland, and India : Predicting fit on the basis of the dimensions of power distance and individualism

Although variations in national cultures predominate as explanation for the belief that universal approaches to management do not exist, there have been few reports of systematic studies. Data from employees of a single firm with operations in the United States, Mexico, Poland, and India were used to test the fit of empowerment and continuous improvement practices with national culture. Using the theoretical constructs of individualism-collectivism and power distance, the authors predicted that the practices would be more congruent in some cultures than in others and that value congruence would result in job satisfaction. Using structural equations modeling, the authors found that empowerment was negatively associated with satisfaction in India but positively associated in the other 3 samples. Continuous improvement was positively associated with satisfaction in all samples. Substantive, theoretical, and methodological implications are discussed.

The Effects of Job Insecurity on Employee Safety Outcomes: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Explorations

Job insecurity research has focused primarily on attitudinal (e.g., job satisfaction), behavioral (e.g., employee turnover), and health outcomes. Moreover, research in the area of workplace safety has largely focused on ergonomic factors and personnel selection and training as primary antecedents of safety. Two cross-sectional structural equational modeling analyses and 1 longitudinal regression analysis of 237 food-processing plant employees unite these 2 disparate areas of research by exploring the relatively uncharted relationship between job insecurity and safety outcomes. Results indicate that employees who report high perceptions of job insecurity exhibit decreased safety motivation and compliance, which in turn are related to higher levels of workplace injuries and accidents.

Organizational injury rate underreporting: The moderating effect of organizational safety climate

The goals of this study were (a) to assess the extent to which construction industry workplace injuries and illness are underreported, and (b) to determine whether safety climate predicts the extent of such underreporting. Data from 1,390 employees of 38 companies contracted to work at a large construction site in the northwestern United States were collected to assess the safety climate of the companies. Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) logs kept by the contractors allowed for calculation of each companys OSHA recordable injury rate (i.e., the reported injury rate), whereas medical claims data from an Owner-Controlled Insurance Program provided the actual experienced rate of injuries for those same companies. While the annual injury rate reported to OSHA was 3.11 injuries per 100 workers, the rate of eligible injuries that were not reported to OSHA was 10.90 injuries per 100 employees. Further, organizations with a poor safety climate had significantly higher rates of underreporting (81% of eligible injuries unreported) compared with organizations with a positive safety climate (47% of eligible injuries unreported). Implications for organizations and the accuracy of the Bureau of Labor Statisticss national occupational injury and illness surveillance system are discussed.

Safety and insecurity: exploring the moderating effect of organizational safety climate.

This research reconciled disparate findings regarding the relationship between job insecurity and safety by examining organizational safety climate as a potential moderator. It was predicted that a strong organizational safety climate would attenuate the negative effects of job insecurity on self-reported safety outcomes such as safety knowledge, safety compliance, accidents, and injuries. Data collected from 136 manufacturing employees were consistent with these predictions. Results are discussed in light of escalating interest in how organizational factors can affect employee safety.

Development and validation of the Job Security Index and the Job Security Satisfaction scale: A classical test theory and IRT approach

This study describes the development and validation of two scales measuring job security: the Job Security Index (JSI), measuring an individuals cognitive appraisal of the future of his or her job with respect to the perceived level of stability and continuance of that job, and the Job Security Satisfaction (JSS) scale, measuring employee satisfaction with a perceived level of job security. Item response theory and classical test theory analyses indicate that the scales are highly reliable and exhibit good discriminant and criterion-related validity. Future researchers are advised to apply confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to the scales to confirm their factor structures.

Productivity, counterproductivity and creativity: The ups and downs of job insecurity

Organizations frequently downsize in the hopes of creating a ‘lean and mean’ company able to be flexible and quick to adapt to changing environmental needs. The purpose of the current research was to assess the effects of job insecurity on productivity, counterproductivity, and creativity in a simulated organizational environment and a field setting. In the first study, 104 non-traditional undergraduate students (M ¼ 30:48 years) participated in a laboratory experiment that manipulated the threat of lay-offs (job insecurity) and measured creativity and productivity over two time periods. Compared to control group participants, results indicate that participant productivity increased in the condition of higher levels of job insecurity, whereas creative problem solving decreased. In the second study, 144 employees in five organizations completed a survey measuring their job insecurity perceptions, enactment of counterproductive work behaviours, and creative problem-solving ability. Regression analyses indicate that job insecurity predicted lower creativity scores, yet was also related to lower numbers of counterproductive work behaviours. Taken together, these studies suggest that job insecurity may have adverse effects on creativity, yet moderately beneficial effects on productivity. Results are interpreted in light of the increasing prevalence of job insecurity and organizational downsizing in today’s workplace. Commercial rivalries around the globe, government deregulation of industry, and the ever-increasing pace of organizational technology change have led organizations worldwide to take extreme measures in order to remain competitive. Organizational restructuring in the form of corporate downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, plant closings, and workforce reorganizations affect millions of workers each year. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (2001), 43% of US organizations conducted employee lay-offs in 2000 and 2001, with corporate reductions averaging 10–13% of the workforce.

Accident under-reporting among employees: Testing the moderating influence of psychological safety climate and supervisor enforcement of safety practices

We examined accident under-reporting with data from 425 employees employed in 5 industries with above average risk for employee injuries. We expected that rates for unreported accidents would be higher than rates for reported accidents; and that organizational safety climate and perceptions of supervisor enforcement of safety policies would moderate the relationship between unreported accidents and reported accidents. Results showed that the number of unreported accidents was significantly higher than the number of reported accidents. There was an average of 2.48 unreported accidents for every accident reported to the organization. Further, under-reporting was higher in working environments with poorer organizational safety climate or where supervisor safety enforcement was inconsistent. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving accident under-reporting and occupational safety in the workplace.

Exploring Employee Outcomes of Organizational Restructuring A Solomon Four-Group Study

Previous research on the effects of organizational restructuring has primarily been conducted using self-report cross-sectional data. These forms of data are vulnerable to several threats to both internal and external validity. Using a Solomon four-group design, this study examined the effects of an organizational restructuring while simultaneously testing for the effects of pretesting, history, and interactions between pretesting and the organizational restructuring. Results suggest the organizational restructuring had consistent negative effects on employee levels of job security, organizational commitment, perceptions of time pressure, psychological well-being, and turnover intentions. Effects on job satisfaction, physical health, and perceptions of role ambiguity were less consistently noted. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed and directions for future research are proposed.

Wedded to the job: moderating effects of job involvement on the consequences of job insecurity.

Two hundred eighty-three public-sector employees experiencing a workplace reorganization completed surveys assessing the relationships between job involvement and job insecurity on self-report measures of psychological, behavioral, and physical outcomes. Using C. L. Hulins (1991) job adaptation theory, differential predictions were made regarding the specific outcomes of job insecurity for high job involvement versus low job involvement employees. Results indicate that employees who were highly invested in their jobs were most adversely affected by job insecurity. Specifically, they reported more negative job attitudes, more health problems, and a higher level of psychological distress than their less involved counterparts when they perceived their jobs to be threatened.

Countering the negative effects of job insecurity through participative decision making: lessons from the demand-control model.

This study examined the effectiveness of increased organizational participative decision making in attenuating the negative consequences of job insecurity. Data were collected from 807 employees in 6 different companies. Analyses suggest that job insecurity is related to lower coworker, work, and supervisor satisfaction and higher turnover intentions and work withdrawal behaviors. However, employees with greater participative decision-making opportunities reported fewer negative consequences of job insecurity compared with employees with fewer participative decision-making opportunities. Results are interpreted using the demand-control model and suggest that organizations that allow greater employee participative decision making may experience fewer negative side effects from todays rising levels of employee job insecurity.