Documents Otto, Kathleen 5 results

"Restructuring and organizational change have become ever-present across all industrial countries. Based on conservation of resources theory, this study explored a buffering effect of superior–subordinate communication (SSC) in the relationship between management support for the change and both job satisfaction and work-related irritation. It was also assumed that dispositional resistance to change (RTC) would further impact this buffering effect. We tested these assumptions in a sample of 119 employees from eight organizations in which change had occurred. A buffering effect of SSC was supported for job satisfaction but not for irritation. In case of irritation, an interaction effect of RTC, SSC and management support was found. For irritation, the quality of SSC and the degree of management support are relevant only under the condition of high RTC. In our study, RTC was found offer a valuable approach for a successful implementation of organizational change. Practical approaches should refer to communication processes between superior and subordinates, especially when employees are high in RTC. "

"This study investigates the relationship of microeconomic parameters and subjective job insecurity perceptions with vocational commitment, i.e. commitment towards one's job, occupation and career in a sample of 236 individuals, nested in 47 German administrative districts. Applying a multilevel approach, job insecurity (quantitative and qualitative) and vocational commitment indicators (operationalized via job involvement, occupational commitment and career satisfaction) were measured at the individual level, whereas microeconomic parameters were collected at the level of administrative district. In addition to regional unemployment rates, we included two further economic parameters, namely change in gainful employment (i.e., change in a district's number of gainful workers) and change in economic growth (i.e., change in a district's GDP). It is worth noting that our findings only revealed spillover effects from economic parameters on qualitative (not quantitative) job insecurity on a bivariate level (not after considering controls in multilevel regressions). Cross-level interactions further indicated that environmental economic conditions are important for the relationship between subjective job insecurity perceptions and outcomes. "

"This article explores the relationships of job insecurity and regional unemployment rate with job attitudes and work-related strain. The authors considered the personality attribute flexibility as a potential moderator. Their results revealed job insecurity to be negatively associated with job involvement and career satisfaction and positively with readiness to make concessions and strain. Moreover, with an increasing level of subjective (qualitative) job insecurity, individuals low in flexibility reported lower career satisfaction. In contrast, where objective job insecurity (unemployment rate) was high, these low flexibility participants showed higher career satisfaction. They were also more ready to make concessions and more involved with their job than those high in flexibility. Finally, the study found the proposed buffering effect, as those high in flexibility experienced less health impairment when perceived (quantitative) job insecurity and regional unemployment rate were high. Strategies of coping with uncertainty as well as options regarding strengthening flexibility are discussed. "

"In a cross-sectional questionnaire study with 245 employees from West Germany and 357 employees from East Germany, the inferior labour market and economic situation in East Germany could be shown to be related, as expected, to the psychological contract, with a poorer delivery of the deal and lower levels of justice and trust. Affective commitment, on the other hand, was shown to be higher in the East than in the West German sample. Moderated multiple regression analyses revealed that the cognitive perception of psychological contract breaches is less related to emotional strain and distributive justice in the East German than in the West German sample. Results are discussed within the framework of economic and normative differences, and also with reference to social exchange theories."

"Today, the general stipulation to be mobile in location and flexible with time includes in addition for many the readiness to accept a job where one is often on the road (on-the-job mobility). While the number of these mobile jobs is increasing, we investigated on-the-job mobility readiness (OMR) in employed and also unemployed people along with its respective demographic, social and personal antecedents in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. We hypothesized openness to experiences, uncertainty tolerance, and social norms to be positively and a collectivistic orientation, and social anxiety to be negatively associated with OMR. Regression analyses revealed that social norms (the perceived positive attitude of the social environment towards on-the-job mobility), uncertainty tolerance, and education level were positively associated with OMR, whereas a collectivistic orientation and social anxiety were negatively correlated with it. Moreover, males showed more OMR than females. Implications for HRM are discussed. "