Treena Gillespie Finney

EEO/AA and “doing good”: an exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between students’ perceptions of equal employment opportunity/affirmative action (EEO/AA) ideals and their perceptions of companies’ ability to meet goals using their corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. The paper also examined the extent to which students’ support of EEO/AA relates to their community mindedness and attitudes toward volunteerism. Design/methodology/approach – The paper obtained data by surveying 895 students from a medium-sized university in the southern USA. Findings – Individuals generally supported EEO/AA, but differentiated between the two, with AA receiving less support. Those supporting EEO/AA were less likely to view a company’s CSR as instrumental in achieving the firm’s goals or its customers’ goals. EEO supporters reported more positive attitudes toward volunteering and tended to see more constraints to volunteering; however, EEO/AA attitudes mostly were unrelated to community mindedness o...

Perceptions of performance: do learners understand as well as they think

Purpose – Student/trainee perception of their performance can sometimes be inaccurate. This study aims to look at the accuracy of perception to actual performance in short‐term intervention style training/instruction.Design/methodology/approach – Two studies conducted using university students in problem solving exercises compared the performance of the students to their actual performance on the designated problems. Following the instructional intervention, the participants were asked to use a presented strategy in solving a target solution problem. Participants were then asked a short series of post‐study questions related to their perception of the learning outcomes. Perception accuracy was measured through analysis of scoring on the target solution problem and the corresponding answers to the post‐study questionnaire.Findings – In both studies, there was a positive relationship between the score on the target solution problem and the responses to the post‐study questionnaire.Research limitations/impli...

The effect of human resource practices on perceived organizational support in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract Using a sample of workers and managers employed by a hotel located in Southeastern People’s Republic of China, we investigated the relationship between various human resource management practices and the perceived organizational support (POS) experienced by the employees. We then investigated the effects of POS on employee satisfaction. Our data suggest that hiring practices, training, and compensation practices predict POS. These results are consistent with previous research. We also found that POS influences worker satisfaction and acts as a mediator between select HR practices and satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature by replicating Western-based findings with a Chinese sample and illustrating that the attitudes of Chinese employees can be influenced through the use of HR practices.