nep-hrm New Economics Papers
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management
Issue of 2018‒11‒26
eight papers chosen by
Patrick Kampkötter
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

  1. Employee Absence: An Organizational Perspective By Eskildsen, Jacob Kjær; Frederiksen, Anders; Løkke, Ann-Kristina
  2. Moderating role of Cognitive Dissonance in the relationship of Islamic work ethics and Job Satisfaction, Turnover Intention & Job Performance By Javaid Shah; Delphine Lacaze
  3. Generalised self-efficacy and work values as indicators of job satisfaction: evidence from China By Pamela Lenton; Lu Yin
  4. Labor Specialization as a Source of Market Frictions By Maria Molina-Domene
  5. The Effect of Physical and Cognitive Decline at Older Ages on Job Mismatch and Retirement By Péter Hudomiet; Michael D. Hurd; Susann Rohwedder; Robert J. Willis
  6. Effects of Timing and Reference Frame of Feedback: Evidence from a Field Experiment By Mira Fischer; Valentin Wagner
  7. Training participation and the role of reciprocal attitudes By Non, Arjan
  8. Family Firm Performance over the Business Cycle: A Meta-Analysis By Christopher Hansen; Joern H. Block; Matthias Neuenkirch

  1. By: Eskildsen, Jacob Kjær (Aarhus University); Frederiksen, Anders (Aarhus University); Løkke, Ann-Kristina (Aarhus University)
    Abstract: We study employee absence in Danish organizations. In contrast to Steers and Rhodes (1978), who stress the importance of individual and organizational characteristics in shaping employees' motivation to attend work, we show that absence is predominantly an individualized phenomenon. Because the within-group variation in absence clearly dominates the between-group variation in absence, we argue that companies need to invoke individualized policies to reduce employee absence and demonstrate that HR Analytics is a useful tool in the process; policies targeting particular employee groups such as women or senior workers are inefficient. An additional intriguing finding is that incentives (through promotions and dismissals) are linked to individual absence.
    Keywords: absence, absenteeism, HR Analytics, person-effects, incentives, personnel management
    JEL: M12 M54
    Date: 2018–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11889&r=hrm
  2. By: Javaid Shah (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon); Delphine Lacaze (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon)
    Abstract: Ethics in the workplace is a persistent focus of research as it is a pervasive element of organizational life. Recently, Islamic work ethics has arisen in literature on ethics because of the emergence of multiple Islam culture countries in the global economy. As ethics provides values that are the basis for behaviors, this study intends to explore the impact of Islamic work ethics on job performance, job satisfaction and turnover intention. In addition, as global business practices may sometimes contradict with morale values issued from religious convictions, this study explores the impact of cognitive dissonance as a moderator of the previous relationships. Cognitive dissonance theory is used as a theoretical framework. Data consists of 252 questionnaires completed by employees of different banks and universities of Pakistan. Findings confirm that Islamic work ethics affect job satisfaction and job performance positively, but no effect is found on turnover intention. Furthermore, results indicate that cognitive dissonance is a significant moderator such that the relationship between Islamic work ethics and job performance and job satisfaction is stronger when cognitive dissonance is low rather than high. Finally, managerial implications, limitations and future directions are discussed.
    Keywords: Islamic work ethics,Cognitive dissonance,Job satisfaction,job performance,Turnover intentions
    Date: 2018–10–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01901056&r=hrm
  3. By: Pamela Lenton (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, UK); Lu Yin (School of Public Administration, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, China)
    Abstract: This paper examines the role of generalised self-efficacy and work values, on employee reports of overall job satisfaction in China from 2012 to 2014. This paper is novel in two ways. The first is that different aspects of job satisfaction in China are examined in addition to overall satisfaction and the second is that we examine self-efficacy and work values after controlling for occupation and income. The evidence presented supports our various hypotheses that self-efficacy and perceived work values play a large role in determining both reported overall job satisfaction and job satisfaction with various aspects of the job in China. In particular, we find a strong link between the National Vocational Qualification system in China and generalised self-efficacy, which we believe enhances workers sense of capability. The implication for Chinese employers is that it is imperative for their worker productivity that they look after their employees’ perceived self-efficacy, possibly by encouraging access to the National Qualification system and that they also facilitate a good working environment where worker relations or ‘guanxi’ can flourish.
    Keywords: Generalised self-efficacy; Work values; Job satisfaction; Ordered-probit
    JEL: D8 J28 J81
    Date: 2018–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shf:wpaper:2018017&r=hrm
  4. By: Maria Molina-Domene
    Abstract: This paper investigates why labor specialization brings additional frictions to the labor market. The intuition is that labor specialized firms rely on complementarity and firm-specific human capital, assigning high value to the worker-employer match. Consistent with employees' importance, the findings show that specialized firms preserve their workforce: these firms labor hoard and increase wages during slow-downs. Additionally, when specialized firms unexpectedly face a labor supply shock | albeit managing to decrease the wages of the remaining co-workers, they become less productive. Overall, the empirical evidence suggests that frictions introduce bilateral monopoly rents.
    Keywords: labor specialization, market frictions, division of labor, human capital
    JEL: J24 J42 J63
    Date: 2018–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1580&r=hrm
  5. By: Péter Hudomiet; Michael D. Hurd; Susann Rohwedder; Robert J. Willis
    Abstract: Physical and cognitive abilities of older workers decline with age, which can cause a mismatch between abilities and job demands, potentially leading to early retirement. We link longitudinal Health and Retirement Study data to O*NET occupational characteristics to estimate to what extent changes in workers’ physical and cognitive resources change their work-limiting health problems, mental health, subjective probabilities of retirement, and labor market status. While we find that physical and cognitive decline strongly predict all outcomes, only the interaction between large-muscle resources and job demands is statistically significant, implying a strong mismatch at older ages in jobs requiring large-muscle strength. The effects of declines in fine motor skills and cognition are not statistically different across differing occupational job demands.
    JEL: J26 J81
    Date: 2018–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25229&r=hrm
  6. By: Mira Fischer (WZB Berlin Social Science Center/ IZA Institute of Labor Economics); Valentin Wagner (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
    Abstract: Information about past performance has been found to sometimes improve and sometimes worsen subsequent performance. Two factors may help to explain this puzzle: which aspect of one’s past performance the information refers to and when it is revealed. In a field experiment in secondary schools, students received information about their absolute rank in the last math exam (level feedback), their change in ranks between the second-last and the last math exam (change feedback), or no feedback. Feedback was given either 1–3 days (early) or immediately (late) before the final math exam of the semester. Both level feedback and change feedback significantly improve students’ grades in the final exam when given early and tend to worsen them when given late. The largest effects are found for negative change feedback and are concentrated on male students, who adjust their ability beliefs downwards in response to feedback.
    Keywords: timing of feedback, change and level feedback, motivation, field experiment
    JEL: I21 M54 D91
    Date: 2018–11–14
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1820&r=hrm
  7. By: Non, Arjan (iza university of bonn)
    Abstract: Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), I examine the relation between workers’ reciprocal attitudes, as measured in 2005 and 2010, and participation in work-related training courses in 2007 and 2013, respectively. Theory predicts that employers find it more profitable to invest in human capital of workers who have positively reciprocal attitudes, because they are more likely to return their employer’s kindness with higher effort and/or loyalty. The findings are mixed, depending on the survey year. I find that positively reciprocal workers are more likely to participate in employer-financed training in 2007, in particular when training is general. Also consistent with theoretical expectations, I do not find a relation between workers’ reciprocal attitudes and participation in training that is not financed by the employer. However, workers’ reciprocal attitudes are not related to training participation in 2013. A possible explanation is that employers use training to induce reciprocal feelings in a slack labour market only.
    Keywords: Reciprocity, training, SOEP
    JEL: M53 D91
    Date: 2018–11–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2018024&r=hrm
  8. By: Christopher Hansen; Joern H. Block; Matthias Neuenkirch
    Abstract: The financial performance of family firms has been widely studied in the literature. Combining the results of 172 primary studies from 38 countries with data about business cycles, we investigated how family firm performance changes over the business cycle. Using meta-analytic estimation methods, we found that family firms slightly outperform nonfamily firms in both economically good and economically difficult times. For non-OECD countries, we found evidence for a countercyclical effect where the relative outperformance of family firms is higher in economically difficult times. No such cyclical effect was found for family firms in OECD countries. Our study extends the literature on how family firm performance depends on macroeconomic factors.
    Keywords: family firms, financial performance, meta-analysis, business cycle
    Date: 2018
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trr:wpaper:201806&r=hrm

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