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The role of temporal focus, dispositional employability, and training on the perceived internal career prospects of talents
Abstract
In this paper, we study employability in the group of talented employees. We explore how employees’ temporal focus affects their dispositional employability and how dispositional employability influences their perceived internal career prospects. We also examine the moderating role of training perceived as developmental on the relationship between dispositional employability and perceived internal career prospects. Upon examination of these relationships within an organization that has a closed talent management approach, we find support for the hypothesized mediating and moderating relationships. Present and future focus were positively related to talents’ dispositional employability, which in turn increased their perception of career prospects in the current company. The latter relationship was stronger among talents who perceived that they had received training for more important positions than those who did not. The results advanced current knowledge of antecedents and outcomes of employability in the specific group of talents and shed light on the organizational practices that may help with talent retention.
... Referred to as employees' alignment of current and future career prospects within the company, perceived employability is affected by individual differences. External realities relating to work and work environment help to nurture or hinder perceived internal employability (Cerdin et al., 2020). Uncertainties and contingencies at work results in less cognitive resources for employees which can negatively impact their internal employability perceptions (Cerdin et al., 2020). ...
... External realities relating to work and work environment help to nurture or hinder perceived internal employability (Cerdin et al., 2020). Uncertainties and contingencies at work results in less cognitive resources for employees which can negatively impact their internal employability perceptions (Cerdin et al., 2020). ...
The present research paper aims to examine the influence of workplace bullying on employee work outcomes in terms of employee engagement and perceived internal employ-ability. The paper also analyses the moderating role of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) in the relationship between workplace bullying and employee work outcomes. The authors relied on cross-sectional data from teaching faculty across universities and colleges in South India to validate hypotheses empirically. The proposed model was tested using Warp-PLS and PROCESS macro in SPSS. The study reported a significant negative influence of workplace bullying on perceived internal employability and employee engagement. The study also found that OBSE positively moderated the negative relationship between workplace bullying and employee work outcomes in terms of engaging employees and perceived employability. The unique aspect of this research is that it is the first time the moderating role of OBSE is discussed in bullying literature. The study puts across OBSE as a positive organization related construct that can nullify the negative impacts of workplace bullying. OBSE is a crucial resource in annualizing the negative effect of bullying in the workplace. Policymakers should imbibe OBSE as a crucial factor in the policies and ethics of their organization for enhancing employee engagement and employability.
... • Talent Training appears to enhance the positive future career prospects of talented employees, compared to those who did not receive training (Cerdin et al., 2020). De Braine and found that advancement and growth opportunities, as aspects of job resources, signifi cantly enhanced work-based identity. ...
The field of talent management has received a lot of attention over the past decade. Many studies show that talent management benefits individuals, teams, and the broader organisation if effectively and efficiently applied. The main objective of this conceptual paper was to explore and propose how talent management can help to enhance and strengthen the work identities of employees. We approached the possible role of talent management on work identity from three perspectives. First, we explored from a vocational psychology that views "talent as an identity" which relates to how talent is embedded in or part of work identity. Second, we determined how talent management methodologies (i.e., the elitist versus inclusive approach) can enhance work-based identity. Third, we explored how the talent career life cycle can enable the strengthening of work-based identification. Based on these discussions, we propose a preliminary conceptual framework that can provide inputs for future empirical research to test the relationship between talent management and work identity. In conclusion, organisations need to be mature and ready to accommodate talented individuals in the workplace.
... Van der Heijden (2006) andDe Vos andDe Hauw (2011) found evidence that employability is the antecedent for success in both objective and subjective terms. Moreover, Cerdin et al. (2020) discovered positive influence of dispositional employability on perceived internal career prospects. However, research conducted by Lo Presti et al. (2018) among Italian freelancers did not confirm the direct but only the indirect relationship between these variables, where professional commitment had an intervening role. ...
... The return on investments in these cases is paid to competitors (De Cuyper et al., 2011a). However, this account seems too simplistic because, during the investment in the career development of internal applicants, employees with high employability feel more attached to their employer when the latter invests in their career development (Cerdin et al., 2020;Rodrigues et al., 2020). ...
Purpose
Employee health is a major challenge for enterprises. Fostering a healthy work environment and promoting employee engagement are key to addressing this challenge. Health-promoting leadership and employee health are the driving forces of corporate development; at the same time, employability is the core element of employee relations. Based on self-determination theory, this study aims to explore the effects of health-promoting leadership and employee health on employee engagement in light of employee employability.
Design/methodology/approach
The data of this study encompass 723 valid questionnaires from employees of MSME in China. This study focuses on health-promoting leadership and employee health, engagement relationship and the above relationship moderating by employability.
Findings
Health-promoting leadership plays a key role in the workplace, results show that health-promoting leadership has a positive impact on employee health and employee engagement, while employee health did not have a positive effect on employee engagement. Employability negatively moderated the relationship between employee health and employee engagement.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on cross-sectional survey data collected at the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic rapidly and continuously changed the organizational responses to employee health. Future studies could utilize longitudinal methods or focus on measurement instruments of the culture of health, to create additional insights about health promoting.
Originality/value
This study adds important knowledge regarding health-promoting leadership and employee health in Chinese MSMEs, an area for which limited research exists. The findings provide insights and knowledge about health-promoting leadership how to affect employee health and to improve engagement outcomes. The findings also identify the moderating role of employability.
... Drawing on the signalling (Spence, 1973) and social exchange theories (Cropanzano et al., 2017), training and development practices from the organisation may be considered signals that the employer values about their employees, which in return, elicit a norm of reciprocity as higher levels of commitment and retention (Cropanzano et al., 2017;Rodrigues et al., 2019). If employees see more career developmental opportunity, they are willing to stay with their current employers (Cerdin et al., 2020). While internal employability is beneficial for both employees and organisations, there is a debate that organisation learning practices might trigger employees' perceptions of external employability, resulting in a higher turnover intention (Nelissen et al., 2017;Rodrigues et al., 2019). ...
This research sought to investigate the organisation’s roles in career management. It further explores the mediating effects of perceived internal and external employability to deepen the understanding of whether academics who experienced organisational learning practices are more likely to pursue their career within the institution or across the external labour market. Data from 288 academics in Malaysian universities were collected and analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed the significant impacts of organisational learning practices on career success. Furthermore, both internal and external perceived employability mediated the relationship between organisational learning practices and career success. Also, perceived external employability having a more substantial direct and mediating effect on academics’ career success. This study uncovers that Malaysian academic staff depend upon external employment opportunities to pursue success in academia. Implications of the findings are discussed, along with the study’s limitations and future research directions.
... Over the last decade, international research has produced a large number of studies that have shown the importance of temporal focus in various aspects of the lives of individuals, groups and organizations [3][4][5]. Some researchers have, for example, investigated temporal aspects related to attitudes [6][7][8], motivations [9][10][11], individual behaviours [12][13][14], the effects of time on team processes and performance [15,16], the role of time in organizational and strategic decisions [17][18][19] and the dimensions of socio-cultural influence that shape the shared representations of time [20]. ...
Background
Over the last decade, international research has produced a large number of studies that have stressed the importance of temporal focus in various aspects of the lives of individuals, groups and organizations. This first Italian validation study of the Temporal Focus Scale (TFS) has shown a reliable measurement to assess the tendency of individuals to characteristically think about different periods of their lives.
Methods
TFS/I was administered to a sample of 1458 participants, while three other convenience samples (N 1 = 453; N 2 = 544; N 3 = 168) were used for convergent validity testing.
Results
Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a three-factor solution (including 10 items) with good indices of fit to data, e.g., χ ² = 49.533, CFI = 0.992, TLI = 0.986, RMSEA = 0.034, RMSEA 90% CI .018–.048. Convergent validity assessment confirmed predictive indications with variables such as life satisfaction, optimistic/pessimistic orientation, perceived general self-efficacy, self-regulatory modes, anxiety, depression.
Conclusion
The temporal focus has proven to be a significant feature associated with various aspects of both well-being and personal discomfort. By virtue of its good psychometric properties, the TFS can be an integrative tool along with others for a better evaluation of the person’s profile in different contexts such as education, coaching, psychotherapy, counseling and career guidance.
Purpose
This paper aims to extend the traditional conceptualization of localization, which has largely focused on recruitment, by examining “employability” and “retention” as crucial determinants of localization success.
Design/methodology/approach
Using survey data from local (Emirati) employees in private sector organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the authors develop a holistic model of localization and test the relationships between stereotypes, organizational socialization, employability and retention outcomes, using Smart-PLS.
Findings
Among the main findings are the significant influence of stereotypes on organizational socialization (OS) experiences of Emirati employees, with a negative relationship between “work ethics stereotypes” and perceptions of OS experiences. Strong evidence is also found for the indirect effects of OS experiences on retention of Emirati employees, mediated by employability.
Research limitations/implications
This study contributes to the literature on localization by examining the relationships between key variables not examined together in previous research. In terms of limitations, the cross-sectional nature of the study prevents the identification of direction of causality among these relationships. Since employee integration, as part of localization efforts, is a gradual process, future research should include longitudinal studies.
Practical implications
Employability has emerged as a significant challenge for organizations and governments working to implement successful localization initiatives. This study’s findings highlight several opportunities for organizational and governmental policy interventions to support successful localization.
Originality/value
The authors’ holistic model extends localization literature by providing evidence for the role of stereotypes and employability as key constructs to be examined along with OS experiences and retention.
Nowadays organizations are increasingly engaged in talent management, because it allows firms to grow rapidly by leveraging on human capital. Most antecedent studies focused on expectations and motivations of talents living in developed countries. Though, a little is known about career expectations of talents in emerging economies, and whether they diverge from those of developed countries or not. However, this information might be of use for several motives. First, emerging countries have a high growth rate. Second, these talents may be effectively harnessed from domestic and non-domestic firms, depending on whether their expectations are met or not. Consistently, this study aims at exploring the career expectations of individuals in emerging countries, by capturing the heterogeneity of expectations between emerging and developed countries due to cultural, politic, economic, and religious differences. As a matter of fact, emerging countries are frequently characterized by low levels of both income and employment, differently from many developed countries. For such motives and because of the absence of valid employment alternatives, talents might be more willing to engage in entrepreneurial initiatives rather than attempting to be employed in an organization. Thus, the primary intent of this explorative study is to understand what are the factors that affect career expectations of talents in emerging countries. Consistently, a cross-sectional principal component analysis (PCA) was used for hypotheses testing. The sample refers to a set of African countries, based on data availability for 2019. Data used for the analysis are drawn from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and they refer to individual entrepreneurial behaviours and attitudes. Notably, findings show that career expectations of talents are driven by motivation and opportunity, especially in the male groups. However, the study also originally shows that the need for achievement and the willingness to stand out are the main drivers of talents’ expectations. In a nutshell, talents may prefer independence over the employment status. Implications of the findings, at a business level, suggest that companies in emerging markets should revisit their talent management strategy in order to avoid the loss of many talented employees. As instance, they should grant more independence, raise the income, and favour internal and female entrepreneurship. Thereby, the original findings of the study contribute both theoretically and practically to the research domain by specifying that career needs of talented people vary according to context and time.
We investigated the moderating role of dispositional employability on the relationship between work burnout and ill-wellbeing of professional nurses. Our sample consisted of 433 professional nurses (female = 88.2%; black = 96.5%) from the North-West Province, South Africa. The nurses completed the Maslach-Burnout Inventory-General Survey, the General Health Questionnaire, and the Dispositional Measure of Employability. Multiple regression analyses results showed work burnout dimensions of mental distance and exhaustion to predict physical and psychological ill-wellbeing of professional nurses. While the dispositional employability of career resilience predicted the physical and psychological dimensions of ill-well-being, it did not moderate the relationship between burnout and ill-wellbeing. The dispositional employability of openness to change and career proactivity partially moderated the relationship between burnout and ill-wellbeing. From these findings, we conclude that nurses who adopted dispositions such as openness to change and proactive career planning were less likely to experience the negative consequences of work burnout on their wellbeing.
Two assumptions about employee reactions are currently driving debates around talent management (TM): First, that TM leads to positive outcomes in employees identified as talents; and second, that TM creates differences between talents and employees not identified as talents. This review critically evaluates these assumptions by contrasting theoretical arguments from the non-empirical literature on employee reactions to TM with the empirical evidence available. Our analysis partly supports both assumptions. Although positive reactions to TM were indeed found in terms of affective, cognitive, and behavioral employee outcomes, our review also found evidence for negative affective reactions in employees identified as talents. Significant differences between talents and non-talents were found for behavioral reactions, but not for affective and cognitive reactions; for the latter types of reactions, our review found mixed effects. We summarize these findings in an integrative framework on the basis of social exchange theory, which our review shows is the dominant theory underlying assumptions about employee reactions to TM. We propose that 3 elements are missing in our current understanding, which can help explain our review findings: uncertainty, power, and social identity. We conclude with recommendations for TM research and practice.
This article provides an overview of the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) by tracing its roots, describing its current state, and predicting its future directions. We discuss some past stages in the evolution of the field, including eras of conceptual models, empirical examinations, and empirical critiques. We then discuss the present state regarding theory, the human resources (HR) system–performance relationship, multilevel analyses, fit and flexibility, and international HR research. Finally, we propose that future research needs to be more rigorous, more multilevel, more global, more focused on human capital, more integrated with strategy, and more integrated with practice.
By acknowledging the uncertainty and unpredictability of the job search process in an unemployment setting, the present study explored the predictive strength of dispositional employability in job search behaviours. Dispositional employability has been recognized as a potentially important personal resource that promotes job opportunities. However, it has rarely been assessed in an unemployment setting to date. According to recent employability models that differentiate between distal (i.e., personal strengths) and proximal (e.g., perceived employability) determinants of behaviour on the labour market, we hypothesized that: (i) dispositional employability relates positively to job search intensity and (ii) perception of one’s employment possibilities (i.e., perceived employability) serves as an explanatory mechanism of this relationship. The hypothesized structural model was tested among a heterogeneous sample of 533 unemployed persons in Croatia. The results of structural equation modelling provided support for our hypotheses: dispositional employability related positively to job search intensity via perceived employability. Accordingly, nurturing dispositional employability may be beneficial for unemployed persons as it relates positively to engagement in job search behaviour.
Previous studies have reported that life satisfaction (LS) is positively associated with time perspective (TP) and mindfulness and that mindfulness may provide a holistic TP that integrates and helps to balance different time frames. However, studies performed to date have only been conducted in Eastern and Central Europe. Given the important cultural differences in time management between these regions and Mediterranean countries, the purpose of the present study was to replicate those studies to assess the association between mindfulness, TP, and LS in a sample of young adults living in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). A total of 377 undergraduate university students (65.25% women) were recruited and completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Results show significant positive relationships between LS, mindfulness, and past positive, as well as negative associations between LS, past negative, and an unbalanced TP. Mindfulness also correlated inversely with an unbalanced TP. Regression analyses showed that 27% of variance in LS could be explained by the past negative and past positive ZTPI measures together with the MAAS. These results confirm the conclusions of previous studies conducted in culturally different populations and reinforce the hypothesis that mindfulness provides a holistic TP that intrinsically balances TP and increases LS. These findings suggest that a mindful attitude might be a key component of TP regulation that transcends different European cultural backgrounds.
Time has been one of the most challenging and elusive concepts in human thought, and it is only now beginning to receive the attention it deserves in organizational scholarship. To this growing scholarly attention we present the case for including material about this most universal of phenomena in our teaching, just as we are beginning to do in our theoretical and empirical investigations. We argue for developing a temporal imagination, a concept we proposed recently, and then describe reasons for teaching about time as well as present first principles that provide a foundation for the teaching of time and temporal phenomena. These reasons and principles are then illustrated in a discussion of temporal depth (time horizons) and how it might be taught.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between self-perceived employability resources and perceived psychological contract (PC) obligations. To examine the extent to which organizational ratings of potential, through their “signaling” function, might serve as a buffer between employability and PC perceptions that are undesirable from an employer's point of view.
Design/methodology/approach
– Both self-report data (i.e. self-perceived employability resources and perceived PC obligations) and data reported by the HR departments of the participating organizations (i.e. organizational ratings of potential) were collected in a case-control design ( n =103).
Findings
– Self-perceived employability resources are not related to lower intentions to stay with one's current employer. High-potential employees did not perceive themselves as particularly obliged to reciprocate their organizations’ additional investments in them by expressing longer term loyalty, or a higher performance level.
Practical implications
– Organizations should not be hesitant to assist their employees in enhancing their employability resources. In addition, they should engage in deliberate PC building with their high-potential employees so as to align their perceived PC obligations with the organizational agenda.
Originality/value
– The relationship between self-perceived employability resources and perceived PC obligations has been underexamined; hardly any PC research has taken organizational variables into account; hardly any research exists on the psychological implications of being identified as a high potential; and the study draws both on self-report data and data reported by the HR departments of the participating organizations.
Future time orientation is essential if an employee is to be motivated to conduct activities that generate long-term rather than immediate gain, and which may involve risk. Given that feedback seeking requires the employee to slow down and seek input, it is surprising that little is known about the relationship between future time orientation and feedback seeking. Drawing upon psychological ownership theory and construal-level theory, we hypothesized a positive influence of future time orientation on feedback seeking from various sources (i.e., supervisors and co-workers). We also hypothesized job-based psychological ownership as a newly identified motive of feedback seeking and employed it to explain how future time orientation exerts influences. Tested with data from a sample of 228 subordinate-supervisor dyads from China, the results revealed that (1) future time orientation was positively related to feedback seeking from supervisors and co-workers and (2) job-based psychology ownership mediated the relationship between future time orientation and feedback seeking.
Self-determination theory proposes a multidimensional conceptualization of motivation comprising autonomous and controlled forms. Whereas autonomous motivation relates positively to individuals’ optimal functioning (e.g., well-being, performance), controlled motivation is less beneficial. To be able to use self-determination theory in the field of organizational behaviour, the Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale was developed and tested using data from 3435 workers in seven languages and nine countries. Factorial analyses indicated that the 19-item scale has the same factor structure across the seven languages. Convergent and discriminant validity tests across the countries also indicate that the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness as well as the theoretically derived antecedents to work motivation (e.g., leadership and job design) are predictably related to the different forms of motivation, which in turn are predictably related to important work outcomes (e.g., well-being, commitment, performance, and turnover intentions). Implications for the development of organizational research based on self-determination theory are discussed.
This study addresses the question whether a specific, work-related form of optimistic thinking has motivational consequences in terms of work engagement above and beyond general optimism over time. A specific form of optimistic thinking is focus on opportunities. Focus on opportunities is a future-oriented belief that describes how many plans, goals, and possibilities people expect to have in their future at work. Based on a cross-lagged panel design with a two-year time lag and data from a sample of 124 German business owners, results of structural equation modeling showed that focus on opportunities positively predicted changes in work engagement over time, even when controlling for general optimism.
This finding supports propositions of social cognition and self-regulation theories that emphasize the importance of a specific form of optimism that has motivating potential by referring to future work goals and opportunities.
Career adaptability is a psychosocial construct that reflects individuals’ resources for managing career tasks and challenges. This study investigated the effects of demographic characteristics and three sets of individual difference variables (Big Five personality traits, core self-evaluations, and temporal focus) on changes over time in career adaptability and its dimensions (concern, control, curiosity, and confidence). Data came from 659 full-time employees in Australia who participated in two measurement waves six months apart. Results showed that age and future temporal focus predicted change in overall career adaptability. In addition, age, education, extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, core self-evaluations, and future temporal focus differentially predicted change over time in one or more of the four career adaptability dimensions. While the lagged effects found in this study were generally small, the findings suggest that certain individual difference characteristics predispose employees to experience change in career adaptability over time.
This paper argues that talent management and expatriation are two significantly overlapping but separate areas of research and that bringing the two together has significant and useful implications for both research and practice. We offer indications of how this bringing together might work, in particular developing the different results that will come from narrower and broader concepts of talent management. Our framework defines global talent management as a combination of high-potential development and global careers development. The goal of the paper is to lay the foundations for future research while encouraging organizations to manage expatriation strategically in a talent-management perspective.
Signaling theory is useful for describing behavior when two parties (individuals or organizations) have access to different information. Typically, one party, the sender, must choose whether and how to communicate (or signal) that information, and the other party, the receiver, must choose how to interpret the signal. Accordingly, signaling theory holds a prominent position in a variety of management literatures, including strategic management, entrepreneurship, and human resource management. While the use of signaling theory has gained momentum in recent years, its central tenets have become blurred as it has been applied to organizational concerns. The authors, therefore, provide a concise synthesis of the theory and its key concepts, review its use in the management literature, and put forward directions for future research that will encourage scholars to use signaling theory in new ways and to develop more complex formulations and nuanced variations of the theory.
Talk of the rise of a global war for talent and emergence of a new global meritocracy has spread from the literature on human resource management to shape nation‐state discourse on managed migration and immigration reform. This article examines the implications that the global war for talent have for education policy. Given that this talent war is a product of neoliberalism, it raises many of the same concerns for educators as neoliberalism in general: the embrace and promotion of social, economic and educational inequality; and a narrow, market‐based conception of education, skill and talent. This article argues, however, that the global war for talent represents a new phase in neoliberalism, as it seeks to liberalise the global movement not just of capital and commodities, but of high skill labour as well. In this, it threatens to undercut some of the founding assumptions and goals that have shaped national education policy in OECD countries throughout the post‐World War II period, and raises serious concerns for how we are to think about and pursue equality, inclusion and fairness in and through education in the future.
Purpose
The purpose of this conceptual paper is to illuminate the problems that are associated with defining and identifying talent and to discuss the development of talent as a contributor to employability.
Design/methodology/approach
The world of work is characterised by new and rapidly changing demands. Talent management has recently been the target of increasing interest and is considered to be a method by which organisations can meet the demands that are associated with increased complexity. Previous studies have often focused on the management of talent, but the issue of what exactly should be managed has generally been neglected. In this paper, the authors focus on discussing the substance of talent and the problems associated with identifying talent by using the following closely related concepts: employability, knowledge, and competence.
Findings
Employability is central to employee performance and organisational success. Individual employability includes general meta‐competence and context‐bound competence that is related to a specific profession and organisation. The concept of employability is wider than that of talent, but the possession of talent is critical to being employable. In this paper, the authors suggest a model in which talent includes individual, institutional, and organisational‐social dimensions.
Practical implications
The illumination of different meanings of talent management and the substance of talent is crucial to the practical implication of central human resource development practices, such as training and development.
Originality/value
The paper shows that clarification of the conceptual boundaries and the presentation of a typology that is relevant to the understanding of talent are central to the creation of valid talent management systems that aim to define and develop talent.
Purpose
The purpose of the present study was to describe the high potential identification practices of Canadian organizations and to assess elements of these practices as they relate to managers' perceptions of organizational justice.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reviewed the literature on high potential identification practices and organizational justice to develop a survey for managers attending a leadership conference. Distributive and procedural justice was regressed against the elements of these programs (e.g. the extent of manager input into the program, the openness of communications) to determine the impact of program elements on justice outcomes.
Findings
The paper reveals that approximately one‐third (38 percent) of companies reported having a high potential identification program. High potential was most often defined in specific organizational terms based on competencies. Typically, information used to identify these individuals was based on: personal experience with the person, performance appraisals and past performance or results. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses ( n =123) indicated that high potential identification programs containing manager input, open communication and formal program evaluation significantly predicted procedural justice. None of the predictions for distributive justice were significant.
Originality/value
This study is the first to empirically investigate the impact of high potential identification practices on managers' perceptions of organizational justice in North America. Manager's justice perceptions reflect an important criterion to evaluate high potential identification programs. The current study found that manager's perceptions of procedural justice were higher when they had more input into the development of the program, when the communication strategy was more open, and the program was evaluated. Despite these important elements, many organizations do not incorporate them into their programs, which have implications for their success.
The ability to foresee and anticipate, to make plans for and organize future possibilities, represents one of the most outstanding traits of individuals. Theories of work motivation, however, appear to have ignored the construct of future time perspective. In this article, the relationships between future time perspective, the capacity to plan activities, and proximate goals that intervene between one's present state and the desired ultimate, distant goal are explored. Several methodological concerns pertaining to the study of future time perspective are discussed.
The first half of this chapter analyses the different knowledge cultures of higher education and the workplace, contrasting the kinds of knowledge that are valued and the manner in which they are acquired and used. In particular, performance in the workplace typically involves the integration of several different forms of knowledge and skill, under conditions that allow little time for the analytic / deliberative approach favoured in higher education. One consequence is greater reliance on tacit knowledge, including knowledge of how more formal, explicit knowledge is used in various practice settings. The second half focuses on transfer as a learning process, which requires both understanding and positive commitment from individual learners, formal education, employers and local workplace managers. Transfer is conceptualised in terms of five stages, whose distinctive characteristics and learning challenges are discussed in some detail. The neglect of transfer is attributed both to the cultural gap between formal education and the workplace and profound ignorance of the nature and amount of the learning involved. Cultural Knowledge and Personal Knowledge My starting assumption is that learning is significantly influenced by the context and setting in which it occurs. Contexts and settings are socially constructed. Even when only one person is present, cultural influence is strongly asserted through the physical environment for learning and cultural artefacts. From that perspective one can argue that all knowledge is cultural knowledge and socially situated. Understanding the significance of this cultural perspective involves locating knowledge in space and time; and determining its distribution, and possibly differential interpretation, across a range of cultural groups. Who has this knowledge? Who was involved in its construction over time? How has it developed from, and how is it now positioned in relation to other cultural knowledge? What different forms does it take? How is it evolving? These questions apply equally to education and workplace settings, and especially to the interactions and disconnections between the settings. Current approaches to professional and vocational learning are impossible to understand without knowledge of their various traditions, histories and cultures. Part of that cultural knowledge has been codified, mainly in textual form, and made widely accessible through publication. That which passes the scrutiny of editors, publishers and referees and is thereafter collected and organised by the libraries of educational institutions can be described as Codified Academic Knowledge; and it is this knowledge which plays the dominant role in most education settings. Codified knowledge which is not academic can be found in nearly all workplaces, including those of educational organisations, in the form of textual material containing organisation-specific information, records, correspondence, manuals, plans, etc. Cultural knowledge that has not been codified, plays a key role in most work-based practices and activities. There is considerable debate about the extent to which such knowledge can be made explicit or represented in any textual form; and the evidence gathered so far suggests that its amenability to codification has been greatly
To study the effect of protean careers on talent retention, operationalized as the intention to quit, this study explores two pathways between protean career orientation and intention to quit: a direct pathway, and an indirect pathway via organizational commitment and job satisfaction. The study draws upon a sample of 306 talented workers selected from 17 Spanish and Mexican multinational organizations. Protean orientation should be expected to be widespread among talented individuals which might represent a threat to those that seek to develop and retain highly valued employees. We found that highly protean talented individuals show higher organizational commitment and higher job satisfaction, but contrary to expectations do not show a higher intention to quit. The total effect of protean career orientation on intention to quit is shown to not be significant because the positive direct effects are neutralized by negative indirect effects. The results help complement current knowledge of protean careers and a better understanding of organizational attitudes in the protean career context will help practitioners to show the importance of avoiding stereotyping talented employees based on a protean orientation as they do not comprise an extra risk for the organization in terms of commitment and turnover intention.
How to manage talent effectively is a key question in organisations. Yet we still know relatively little about talent's psychological reactions to their exclusive status. Based on psychological contract theory and research on status, this study analyses a sample of 321 employees identified as talent by their organisations, only some of whom were aware of their exclusive talent status. The results provide evidence that talent status awareness moderates the relationship between a range of employer inducements and talent obligations, such that it increases the importance of some inducements while diminishing that of others. The study contributes to the talent management literature by isolating specific effects of talent status awareness and calling into question extant evidence of its direct positive effects on talent attitudes. The findings also have implications for talent status communication, talent management, and future theorising of talent reactions to their exclusive status.
The purpose of this study is to cross-validate HRM measurement instruments for employability (individual competence-based approach) and innovative work behaviour within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) further. The sample consisted of 487 pairs of employees and their immediate supervisors who work in 151 SMEs. A multitrait-multimethod analysis was performed, and the results suggest that for both instruments, requirements regarding convergent and divergent validity have been met satisfactorily. Structural Equation Modeling was performed in order to confirm the factor structure of the instruments. Paired-samples comparisons showed that all of the inter-method correlations for the two-source (employee and immediate supervisor) ratings and for both instruments were significantly positive. As for the final part of the cross-validation, multiple regression analyses were performed to demonstrate predictive validity. Depending on the stage of innovative work behaviour, different dimensions of employability appeared to play a significant role, although the effect did not always veer towards the direction expected. Investing in employability enhancement appeared to contribute to innovative work behaviour. The measurement instruments of employability and innovative work behaviour can provide SME managers with effective instruments to be used for performance appraisals, assessments, and employee development tools.
The employability paradox is a concern among employers. It states that development activities enhancing employees' employability also increase the risk for employee turnover. This study examined this paradox and probed the relationship between six development activities and voluntary turnover mediated by perceived employability. We tested both a turnover-stimulating path via perceived external employability (i.e. perceived job alternatives with other employers) and a retention path via perceived internal employability (i.e. perceived job alternatives with the current employer) by using two-wave longitudinal data from 588 employees. The results put the turnover risk into perspective: only upward job transition positively influenced turnover via perceived external employability. Also, the retention path via perceived internal employability was not supported: several development activities were positively related with perceived internal employability, but perceived internal employability did not influence turnover. We did, however, find a direct retention effect of skill utilisation. Overall, the results downplay the employability paradox.
Existing theory fails to provide strong and consistent prediction of individual job performance. This paper argues that the failure stems from a neglect of an important dimension of performance—the opportunity to perform—and the interaction of opportunity with known correlates of performance. A three dimensional interactive model of work performance is proposed; suggestions for future research and for managerial practice are offered.
Talent Management (TM) has become one of the key strategic issues for leaders in global organizations and the majority of research on TM focuses on the large multinational enterprise (MNE) context. Despite the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research in the area of talent management in this context is scarce, particularly conceptual research. This paper tries to address this gap by a) providing a theoretical rationale for the difference between large and SME firms in their talent management and human resource practices; b) exploring the applicability of the notion of talent management conceptualised in large firms to the SME context. c) Proposing a framework that helps identify the characteristics of talent in SMEs. We are critical of the best practices approach and we argue that the notion of talent management is likely to be different in SMEs compared with large firms mainly due to distinct institutional and structural factors.
Temporal orientation - the tendency to focus attention on the past, present, or future - has been correlated with academic achievement in a number of research programs. We examined the motivational differences in self-regulated academic goal-setting between individuals who fall at different points along the continuum of future time orientation. We expected that those with relatively higher levels of future time orientation ( FuTOs) would report higher levels of academic goal setting than those lower on this dimension (PrTOs). We further hypothesized that the relationship between temporal orientation and academic goal setting behavior would be mediated by aspects of self-motivation on which members of these groups of students differ. Eighty-one undergraduate students completed a survey instrument assessing academic goal setting and the evaluation of the goal-setting process. These data confirmed researchers' key predictions that time orientation is related to academic goal setting through the mediating effects of internalization, self-efficacy, and locus of control. We discuss implications of this study and recommendations for follow-up research.
In today's time of demographic change and rapid innovation, age and employability as well as the role of learning and development are high on the agenda of human resource managers and chief learning officers. However, existing research has failed to integrate these concepts in a clear model and offers little explanation of how the concepts may be linked exactly. In this conceptual paper we show how chronological age, despite its poor characteristics as a predictor, might still affect employability indirectly. Specifically, we propose that employees' motivation - in terms of future time perspective and goal orientation - and formal and informal learning activities need to be considered. Since an individual's chronological age cannot be changed, it is important to recognize these mediating variables, which may be targeted more easily by human resource development or age management initiatives.
This study connects different notions of employability with the ultimate aim to arrive at integration of a research field that has been criticized for being fragmented and fuzzy. We define employability as “an individual’s chance of a job in the internal and/or external labour market”. Employability research assesses employability differently, looking at the realization of this chance (i.e., job transitions), personal strengths that increase this chance (i.e., movement capital) and appraisals of this chance (i.e., perceived employability). We hypothesize and establish in a two-wave sample of 643 Belgian (Dutch-speaking) employees that these different notions of employability form a dynamic chain, so that job transitions promote movement capital, which then affects perceived employability and ultimately feeds back to job transitions. Furthermore, we found that the internal versus the external labour market are important foci in employability research since internal and external job transitions were found to relate differently to the other notions of employability.
Time perspective continues to evolve as a psychological construct. The extant literature suggests that higher future orientation and lower present orientation are associated with better developmental outcomes. However, the extant literature also suggests that issues remain with the measurement of the construct. Recently, a 25-item version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI-25) was suggested for use based on high internal consistency estimates and good discriminant validity of scores in a sample of Italian adolescents. However, the genesis of this scale is uncertain. The present study examined the factorial validity, reliability, and concurrent validity of ZTPI-25 scores in Slovenian, American, and British adolescents. Results revealed satisfactory concurrent validity based on correlations with measures used in the development of the full ZTPI. However, internal consistency and factorial validity of scores were unsatisfactory. The present study questions the use of the ZTPI-25 with adolescents in the context of conceptual and measurement issues more broadly.
We propose a taxonomy of multidimensional constructs based on the relations between the construct and its dimensions. Multidimensional constructs that exist at deeper levels than their dimensions we term latent model. We call constructs formed as algebraic functions of their dimensions aggregate model, whereas constructs formed as different profiles of dimensional characteristics we term profile model. We discuss the nature of multidimensional constructs defined under these models and their operationalizations in empirical research.
We examine the overlooked role of time in goal-setting theory and demonstrate how the integration of time into this theory adds to its dynamism and validity in the increasingly complex, constantly changing work environment. Following a brief discussion of developments in the scientific understanding of time, we discuss and illustrate how these new understandings enhance the utility and theoretical soundness of the theory and how time can be integrated into the theory's main components: goal difficulty, goal attainability, and goal specificity.
Despite the commonly held belief that a protean career orientation (PCO) enables employees to achieve more balance in their lives, little is known about the relationship between PCO and work–life balance. Using two waves of data collection separated by 2.5 years, this study examined the relationship between PCO and work–life balance among a sample of 367 college-educated employees in the United States. Analysis was conducted to empirically distinguish PCO from conceptually related constructs, and structural equation modeling was used to examine the process that explains the linkage between PCO and balance. We found that PCO was positively related to work–life balance. We also found support for the role of several resources (social capital, psychological capital, and perceived employability) that explain the relationship between PCO and balance. In particular, PCO was associated with extensive career planning activities that were related to the accumulation of three forms of career capital—human capital, social capital, and psychological capital. In turn, social capital and psychological capital were associated with high employability, which was related to greater work–life balance for individuals who take a whole-life perspective on their careers. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and provide suggestions for future research. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
In this article, we examine the effect of talent identification on employee attitudes. Building on social exchange theory, we analyze the association between employees' perceptions about whether or not they have been formally identified as “talent” and the following attitudinal outcomes: commitment to increasing performance demands, building skills, and supporting strategic priorities; identification with the unit and the multinational enterprise; and turnover intentions. Our analyses of 769 managers and professionals in nine Nordic multinational corporations reveal a number of differences between employees who perceive that they have been identified as “talent” and those who either perceive that they have not been identified or do not know whether they have been identified. We found only limited differences between the two latter categories.
This study seeks to make a contribution to our conceptual and empirical understanding into the nature of talent management (TM) in German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an under-researched area in the field. The approach of this investigation recognizes that TM may vary significantly between different types of companies and national contexts. The findings are based on data collected from 700 SMEs in Germany. Three distinct clusters of TM intensity profiles are identified (highly engaged talent managers, reactive talent managers and retention-based talent managers), which vary according to annual sales volumes, industry affiliations, cooperative behavior with respect to human resource (HR) and TM networks, the long-term focus of TM and future HR and TM budgets. In summary, most of the investigated companies place a high importance on TM reflecting a developmental approach which fits well with the German business system. One key finding of the study was the preference of most German SMEs to choose a more inclusive approach to TM and target all or most employees, in contrast to large multinational enterprises where a more elitist approach is favored. Another major finding was that TM cooperation with other firms and institutions was used as a strategy to cope with the war for talent in a country, which despite the Global Financial Crisis is characterized by strong economic growth and important demographic challenges. Based on these findings and the contextual approach to TM, a comprehensive agenda for future research areas in TM is outlined.
This chapter should allow readers to understand six main issues:
1. The development of managers through expatriation
2. The willingness of individuals to go abroad
3. Individual career characteristics and their impact on both the type of career pursued internationally and international adjustment
4. The impact of flexpatriation and foreign experience on career development
5. The relationship between career and repatriation
6. The relationship between career success and international assignment success
This study examines the effect of talent management (TM) practices, differentiation strategies, and incongruent talent perceptions in terms of psychological-contract fulfillment. The outcomes of the quantitative analysis of 2660 respondents within 21 organizations show the importance of actively attending to talent-perception incongruence. Incongruence occurs in situations where the organization's executives perceive an individual as ‘talent’, but the individual is unaware of this, and also the other way around: the situation in which the organization's executives do not consider an individual as ‘talent’ while the individual believes that they do. Although the increased use of TM practices is related to higher psychological-contract fulfillment, this relationship is negatively affected by incongruent talent perceptions. Our results show the importance of clearly defining talent and communicating this clearly to all employees. This is particularly important when the talent strategy is perceived as exclusive rather than inclusive.
In this conceptual paper, we adopt a social-exchange theory perspective to explain the impact of talent management (TM) on the psychological contract and its outcomes. This relationship is supposedly moderated by generational effects and associated differences in work-related values and preferences. Thus, often-neglected individual-level variables are included in the analysis. A framework and testable propositions are provided. As a result, we propose that in contexts where a war for talent prevails, the strong interest of Generations X and Y in training, development, and career advancement makes highly engaged and extensive TM activities even more crucial for retaining talented individuals than is the case for the so-called Baby Boomer generation.
Purpose
This paper extends the increasing debates about the role of international experience through mechanisms other than standard expatriation packages, in particular through the use of short-term assignments. It explores the different forms of short-term assignments (project work, commuter assignments, virtual international working and development assignments) and the different sets of positive and negative implications these can have for the company and the individuals concerned. The integration-differentiation debate is reflected here as elsewhere in IHRM, with the company moving towards greater centralization and control of its use of these assignments.
Methods
Since the research is exploratory, we adopted a qualitative approach to get a more in-depth understanding on the realities the corporations and the assignees are facing. The study was implemented through a single case study setting in which the data was collected by interviewing (n=20) line managers, HRM staff and assignees themselves. In addition corporate documentation and other materials were reviewed.
Findings
The present case-study provides evidence about the characteristics of short-term assignments as well as the on the management of such assignments. The paper identifies various benefits and challenges involved in the use of short-term assignments both from the perspectives of the company and assignees. Furthermore, the findings support the view that a recent increase in the popularity of short-term assignments has not been matched by the development of HRM policies for such assignments.
Limitations
As a single case study, limitations in the generalisability of the findings should be kept in mind. More large-scale research evidence is needed around different forms of international assignments beyond standard expatriation in order to fully capture the realities faced by international HRM specialists.
Practical implications
The paper identifies many challenges but also benefits of using short-term assignments. The paper reports in-depth findings on HR development needs that organizations face when expanding the use of such assignments.
Originality
Empirical research on short-term assignments is still very limited. In that way the paper provides much needed in-depth evidence on why such assignments are used, what challanges are involved in the use of such assignments, and what kinds of HR-development needs are involved.
Although the concept of mindfulness has attracted scholarly attention across multiple disciplines, research on mindfulness in the field of management remains limited. In particular, little research in this field has examined the nature of mindfulness and whether it relates to task performance in organizational and occupational settings. Filling these gaps, the present article delineates mindfulness by (a) defining it as a state of consciousness in which attention is focused on present-moment phenomena occurring both externally and internally, (b) comparing it to a range of other attention-related concepts, and (c) developing theory concerning the factors that determine when mindfulness is beneficial versus costly from a task performance standpoint.
Organisational approaches to talent management are often concerned with the ways that a small proportion of relatively high‐performing employees are identified and managed in relation to the majority. Despite a growing literature on talent management, no papers have provided any guidance on how to evaluate it from an ethical standpoint. After considering what is meant by talent, this paper considers the ethical issues that arise from the operation of talent management programmes. These considerations are then used to create a framework that has the potential to influence the practical design of talent programmes and which may focus further debate into the ethics of talent management.
This study examined the day-to-day relationships between temporal perspective and well-being. Temporal perspective has predominantly been measured with single-occasion measurement designs, which ignore the potential for within-person variations that may be important in accounting for fluctuations in well-being. A 14-day daily diary design was employed to examine the dimensions of temporal perspective (temporal focus, temporal attitude, and temporal distance) and their dynamic relationships with daily well-being. The results from multilevel analyses indicated that: (a) there is evidence of within-person variability in daily temporal perspective, and (b) this within-person variability in temporal perspective fluctuated systematically with fluctuations in daily well-being. Each temporal perspective dimension was useful in predicting daily well-being. Temporal perspective dimensions interacted with each other such that the daily relationships with well-being depended on both the temporal region (past, present, or future) and the nature of the thoughts (pleasant vs. unpleasant; near vs. far).
While interest in performance management has increased considerably in recent years, research has revealed inconsistent results about its effectiveness. Inconsistencies may be related to insufficient understanding of the factors likely to enhance the effectiveness of performance management systems. The current study seeks to address this issue by investigating performance management systems in 16 world-leading firms. We use signalling theory [e.g. Spence (1973), Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87, 355–374; Murray (1991), Journal of Marketing, 55, 10–25] to propose that to the extent that firms promote certain facilitating practices, employees infer that management is concerned with performance management issues, and this may have a trickle-down effect with regard to the effectiveness of the firm's performance management system. Our framework proposes four performance management system facilitators, which include (1) taking a broad view of performance management that includes both strategic and tactical elements; (2) involving senior managers in the process; (3) clearly communicating performance expectations and (4) formally training performance raters.
Employability is highly important to individuals in coping with job insecurity. Although many employability models have been developed, few studies have tested determinants of employ- ability empirically. This longitudinal study aims to analyze core determinants of perceived employability. These were tested using a sample of 465 employees (time 1) taken from four companies in Switzerland and surveyed at three points in time. In order to include data from all participants, we used multilevel analysis (level 1: time, level 2: person). Results showed that education, support for career and skill development, current level of job-related skills, and willingness to change jobs were significant predictors of perceived employability. Contrary to our hypotheses, willingness to develop new competencies, opportunity awareness, and self- presentation skill failed to predict perceived employability.