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Having a job constitutes one of the most potent means of attaining 'masculine' goals such as status, success, and material rewards. In the present research, we examine whether masculinity, both as a country‐level value and an individual orientation, moderates the relationship between job insecurity and job attitudes. In Study 1, we draw on cross‐cultural data of 20,988 employees from 17 countries. We find that job insecure individuals from countries with higher masculinity values show stronger decrements in job satisfaction (but not commitment). Shedding light on the underlying mechanism, we show that the moderating effect of masculinity is transmitted through two social job characteristics, perceived supervisor interpersonal justice and coworker support. We then constructively replicate the moderating effect of masculinity in Study 2. In a one‐country sample of 319 employees, individual masculinity orientations likewise strengthen the negative relationship between job insecurity and job satisfaction. Our research highlights that country‐level and individual masculinity orientations yield comparable effects in the job insecurity appraisal process, and provides insight into how cultural values can be enacted at the individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated job stressor ratings through Lazarus' transactional stress theory and the usefulness of supervisor ratings as an alternative to employee self-reports. Based on the finding that negative affectivity (NA) causes incumbents to over-report job stressors, we hypothesized that supervisors may also be affected by their NA when appraising an incumbent's job stressors. Building upon the literatures on judgement processes and social-cognitive information processing, we further hypothesized that stressor observability is an important boundary condition. Specifically, we hypothesized that the impact of NA on both self- and supervisor-reported job stressors should increase as stressor observability decreases. Moreover, we hypothesized that incumbent and supervisor ratings would converge less as stressor observability decreases. Data from 260 incumbent-supervisor dyads showed that stressor observability reduced the impact of supervisor NA on supervisor ratings (but not the impact of incumbent NA on incumbent stressor ratings). Further, as hypothesized, incumbent and supervisor ratings showed less convergence the less observable the stressor was. The results highlight the importance of personal and situational factors in the stressor appraisal process – an issue that advances both research and practice in the field of stressor ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study unites two perspectives concerning the determinants of job insecurity perceptions that exist in the literature and that resemble the classical nature-nurture debate. On the 'nurture' side, we investigated the company performance and type of contract, while we focused on negative affectivity and locus of control on the 'nature' side. In addition to demonstrating the known main effects of the respective predictors, we examined the proportional reduction in prediction error for both predictor types. Based on Lazarus' stress model, we also hypothesized interactive effects between the environmental and person-related predictors. Multilevel analyses of 640 employees from 50 companies revealed that all four variables significantly and incrementally predicted job insecurity in the hypothesized direction. Interestingly, the person-related variables contributed more than twice as much to the reduction in prediction error in job insecurity perceptions when compared with the environmental variables. Among the hypothesized interaction effects, only locus of control significantly interacted with type of contract in predicting job insecurity perceptions (employees on a temporary contract experienced a steeper incline in job insecurity perceptions with increasing levels of external locus of control relative to employees on a permanent contract). We discuss implications for the conceptualization of job insecurity as well as practical implications. Practitioner points The study shows that the person-related variables negative affectivity and locus of control weigh more heavily in the reduction in prediction error in job insecurity perceptions compared with the environmental variables company performance and type of contract. Above this, external locus of control was more strongly related to job insecurity perceptions among employees on a temporary contract, compared with employees on a permanent contract., To reduce job insecurity perceptions, managers should try to decrease temporary contract arrangements and take employees' personality dispositions into account (e.g., when assigning employees to work teams). By doing so, employees with extremely high negative affectivity and a strong external locus of control might be 'positively' affected by other team members (with less severe levels on these traits)., Moreover, managers should try to reduce any negative cues about future employment prospects that employees could interpret the wrong way. Instead, managers should try to give positive feedback concerning employment (if this fits the situation at hand) and/or verbalize negative messages with an unambiguous interpretation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job attitudes and performance are correlated, but which comes first? Despite a long-lasting debate regarding this question, the potential ordering of the job attitude-job performance relationship and its ideal timing of measurement over time remains unclear. Based on the hedonic treadmill theory and the endowment/contrast model, we develop arguments as to why the influence of performance on subsequent attitudes might be less persistent over time than vice versa and we suggest a strategy to determine the ideal period for measurement time lags. We contrasted both temporal directions within a data set of 755 employees from the retail banking division of a large bank, nested in 34 business units, for the period of 2005-2008, allowing for a controlled environment and consistent data capturing over time. We studied the relationship of organizational commitment aggregated to the business unit level with two business unit performance indicators (financial achievement and customer satisfaction). Results indicated that organizational commitment had a more persistent influence on performance at the business unit level than vice versa. Consistent with prior research, this suggests that job attitudes may come first, and that practitioners might be well advised to aim to improve job attitudes in order to boost performance. Practitioner Points Our study suggests a potential answer to the chicken-and-egg problem (i.e., the temporal ordering of the job attitude-job performance relationship): Our theory and data suggest that the influence of performance on subsequent attitudes might be less persistent over time than vice versa., Our study sheds new light onto which timely dimensions are involved in the job attitude-job performance relationship: While the impact of performance on attitudes diminishes after 1 year, the impact of attitudes on performance lasts up to 3 years., Our results may be relevant for practitioners when it comes to evaluating the benefits of human resource initiatives and adding dollar values to the discussion around attitudinal changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on providing single-attribute utility analysis has shown moderate or even negative effects on the acceptance of selection and training tests by human resource decision makers. In this study, we contrasted the perceived utility of single-attribute utility analysis with causal chain analysis as an alternative way of conducting utility analysis. Causal chain analysis focuses on measuring the linkages between HRM interventions and organizational outcomes mediated by employee attitudes and customer perceptions. We compared 144 managers' reactions to both methods of utility analysis concerning the variables understandability, information quality, perceived usefulness, user information satisfaction, and intention to use. Causal chain analysis yielded higher results than single-attribute analysis for these variables, and a compound measure of these constructs supported this finding. This indicates that causal chain analysis is a valuable alternative method of communicating the utility of HRM interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of job insecurity on four organizationally important outcomes: in-role behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, turnover intention, and absenteeism. A model is tested in which job insecurity is simultaneously a hindrance and a challenge stressor. In particular, job insecurity is proposed to have a predominantly harmful effect on performance, turnover intention, and absenteeism, and it is argued that these effects are mediated by (reduced) work attitudes. In addition, job insecurity is also assumed to affect these behaviours in the opposite way (i.e. a suppressor effect) because job insecurity might motivate employees to make themselves more valuable to the organization by working harder and being less absent. The model is tested with a sample of 136 German non-managerial employees. Data from supervisors (i.e. in-role behaviour and organizational citizenship behaviour), the company's personnel files (i.e. absenteeism), and self-reports (i.e. job insecurity, work attitudes, turnover intention, in-role behaviour, and organizational citizenship behaviour) were used. Structural equation modelling showed that a model that included both negative and positive effects fitted the data best. The negative effect was stronger than the positive effect. The results show that the effects of job insecurity are more complex than previously assumed. In addition, the results also extend previous research into hindrance and challenge stressors because they show that stressors should not be categorized as either hindrance or challenge. Instead, it might be more appropriate to conceptualize hindrance and challenge as two dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]