Timothy C. Bednall

Perceived deterrents to being a plasmapheresis donor in a voluntary, nonremunerated environment

BACKGROUND: As demand for plasma‐derived products increases internationally, maintaining a committed plasmapheresis panel membership is critical for blood collection agencies. This study addresses the current lack of knowledge regarding deterrents to the recruitment and retention of plasmapheresis donors in a voluntary nonremunerated environment.

How employee perceptions of HR policy and practice influence discretionary work effort and co-worker assistance: evidence from two organizations

Drawing on social identity theory and organizational justice research, we model the impact of employee perceptions of human resource (HR) policies and practices on two important outcome variables – discretionary work effort (DWE) and co-worker assistance (CWA). Results based on 618 full-time employees in two organizations show that HR practices are positively related to procedural and distributive justice and that organizational identification mediates the relationship between procedural and distributive justice and DWE and CWA, respectively. Distributive justice is also shown to have direct effects on the two outcome variables suggesting the relevance of a social exchange perspective as a complement to social identity explanations. Implications for research and practice are briefly discussed.

Training adult novices to use computers: Effects of different types of illustrations

Two experiments examined the acquisition of word-processing skills (Experiment 1) and internet usage skills (Experiment 2) by novice adults using three types of illustration, specifically, full-screen illustrations with the text superimposed, icons embedded in the text, and a control, text-only condition. Training with the full-screen or embedded icons yielded significant improvements in performance relative to the text-only condition only in tests that simply required the participants to repeat the step-by-step directions. When tests required that the participants themselves retrieve and reproduce the sequence of steps, the training with illustrations - especially the full-screen illustrations - repeatedly had a negative effect on performance. The results suggest that the illustrations, by making it easy to execute each step of a procedure during training, encouraged superficial processing, which in turn yielded a set of stimulus-response associations rather than a well-linked sequence of actions in long-term memory.

A differentiated approach to the link between positive emotion, motivation, and eudaimonic well-being

Many studies have highlighted the role that positive emotions play in promoting eudaimonic well-being, yet often fail to differentiate between discrete positive emotions (e.g. gratitude, compassion, pride, and contentment). As such, potential functional differences among positive emotions in contributing to eudaimonic well-being may have been overlooked. The present study (N = 273) differentiated communion from agency motivation as well as other-focused from self-focused eudaimonic well-being. In line with a hypothesized model, pride contributed positively to self-focused eudaimonic well-being indirectly via agency motivation, and contentment was directly linked positively to self-focused eudaimonic well-being. Compassion contributed positively to other-focused eudaimonic well-being indirectly via communion motivation and gratitude was directly linked positively to other-focused eudaimonic well-being. While several other links were observed, hypothesized links were generally stronger. These findings highlight the potential utility of adopting approaches that differentiate among positive emotions in applied and theoretical work in the field of positive psychology.

How training and promotion opportunities, career expectations, and two dimensions of organizational justice explain discretionary work effort

ABSTRACT Contemporary work is highly interdependent, requiring discretionary work effort (DWE) in response to colleagues and customers. According to social exchange theory, organizational support encourages DWE as a form of employee reciprocation. Our model integrating social exchange and expectancy theory anticipates future career returns from organizational support in the form of training and promotion opportunity. Positive career expectations strengthen feelings of employee obligation that are realized in higher levels of DWE. In addition, career expectations are heightened when these opportunities are provided under procedurally just conditions. Furthermore, the relationship between career expectation and felt obligation is strengthened when interactional justice is high. Using structural equation modeling, these hypotheses are successfully tested on a survey of 201 bank employees and their supervisors. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Innovative behaviour: how much transformational leadership do you need?

Studies on the effects of transformational leadership on employee innovative behaviour have yielded mixed results. The authors argue that one possible explanation for these mixed findings is that researchers have assumed a linear relationship between these constructs. In contrast, they suggest that the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative behaviour is non-linear. Specifically, the authors argue that the positive effects of transformational leadership on innovative behaviour will be stronger at low and high levels of transformational leadership. Moreover, they examine whether the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative behaviour is mediated by knowledge sharing within and between teams. The authors undertake a constructive replication by testing these hypothesized relationships in two studies: (1) a multi-actor team-level study conducted in the USA, and (2) a longitudinal employee-level study of teachers in the Netherlands. Results of both studies reveal that knowledge sharing mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and innovative behaviour, and that the indirect relationship is curvilinear. The authors link these findings to leader substitution theory, proposing that employees turn to their peers and other parties when there is an absence of effective leadership.

Beyond creativity: implementing innovative ideas through human resource management

Although scholars are starting to reflect on the way in which human resource management (HRM) might enable or impede innovation it is still not clear exactly what practices or combinations of practices stand out, why this might be so, and what this means for managers in practice. Employees contribute to organizational innovation via their innovative behaviors, both devising creative ideas and working collaboratively to implement those that make sense in a given context. Creativity stands at the start of an innovation, and plays its part in transforming the idea into reality. Given the challenges involved, the innovative behaviors that lie behind innovation may remain dormant and excellent opportunities be missed. In this chapter, we suggest that high-commitment HRM prompts innovation by supporting, guiding and facilitating the exchange and effective combination of knowledge. We refer to HRM implementation, arguing that what matters is not the existence of practices per se, but how they are interpreted and enacted by line managers, and perceived by employees.

Promoting VET teachers’ innovative behaviour: exploring the roles of task interdependence, learning goal orientation and occupational self-efficacy

Abstract Changing employer demands, new technological and pedagogical insights are examples of developments which urge Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutes to continually renew and innovate their educational programmes. This, in turn, requires teachers to show innovative behaviour. Our study focuses on the effects of task interdependence on VET teachers’ innovative behaviour. In addition, the mediating roles of learning goal orientation and occupational self-efficacy in this relationship are examined. A two-wave survey study among 342 teachers, from 54 teams of 6 Dutch VET institutes, showed that task interdependence enhanced teachers’ learning goal orientation, which enhanced their engagement in innovative behaviour over time. Task interdependence also increased teachers’ occupational self-efficacy, which in turn increased their engagement in innovative behaviour. This effect, however, appeared short lived. Apparently, once teachers exceed a certain level of occupational self-efficacy, other variables, like learning goal orientation, play a more important role in sustaining innovative behaviour.

Stimulating informal learning at work: The influence of leader-member exchange and goal orientation

Employees’ participation in informal learning activities is important as it enables them to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment. In this study, we investigate learning goal orientation (LG...