This study offers a theoretical model of how and when investment in employee development affects employee entrepreneurship. Drawing from the creativity theory of knowledge spillover entrepreneurship, ...we examined whether employee creativity mediates the relationship between investment in employee development and employee entrepreneurship. We also examined the moderating effects of the institutional environment for entrepreneurship and the corporate entrepreneurial environment on this mediated relationship. Two time-lagged studies were conducted in China to test our hypotheses. Study 1 involved 219 full-time employees from five high-technology companies, and the results showed that investment in employee development was positively associated with employee entrepreneurship through employee creativity. Study 2 replicated this mediation finding with 289 full-time employees from organizations in a variety of industries. The results also showed the moderated mediation effects of investment in employee development on employee entrepreneurship via employee creativity, which was contingent on the institutional environment for entrepreneurship and the corporate entrepreneurial environment. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these results for investment in employee development and employee entrepreneurship.
•Investment in employee development facilitates employee entrepreneurship via employee creativity.•The mediated relationship becomes stronger when the institutional environment is more favorable for entrepreneurship.•The mediated relationship becomes weaker when the corporate environment is more favorable for entrepreneurial activities.
Employee engagement has been researched extensively in the management and human resource development (HRD) literature. However, the relationship between employee perceptions of HRD practices, ...engagement, and turnover intentions has not been sufficiently studied. In response, this two‐study research examined the extent to which employees' perceived support for participation in HRD practices (PSHRD), engagement, and turnover intent were associated with each other in the service sector. Two samples (nStudy 1 = 490 and nStudy 2 = 511) of U.S. service sector employees were used. Using structural equation modeling, the results of both studies confirmed the theorized partially mediated model. Study 2 expanded on the initial model by adding the moderating variable positive reciprocity beliefs between PSHRD and emotional engagement, which has not yet been empirically tested. However, the moderator was found to be statistically insignificant. Implications for HRD theory, practice, and future research are discussed.
The relationship between how an employee perceives support for participation in human resource development (HRD) practices, engagement, and turnover intent has been underrepresented in the ...literature. Using social exchange theory as a guiding framework, this research sought to better understand the possible linkages of HRD practices and employee engagement to turnover intentions. An Internet‐based self‐report survey battery utilizing a four‐stage preparation method was used as the primary data collection tool. Research was conducted in the health care industry ( N = 207). Linear, simultaneous, and mediated regression analyses were used to examine the variables of interest. Results suggested that participation in HRD practices and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement were negatively related to turnover intent. Mediated regression analyses indicated that engagement partially mediated the relation between HRD practices and turnover intent. The findings support the utility of supporting employee participation in HRD practices to improve employee engagement and reduce turnover intent.
This article adopts an employee-level perspective, which is currently lacking in the public sector literature, and responds to the call for additional research concerning factors that affect public ...employees’ job attitudes and work behaviours. Based on a survey of civil servants, this study explored the antecedents and outcomes of perceived investment in employee development. Our research demonstrates the significant role of organizational support on employees’ perceptions of development. Furthermore, supervisor support mediated the relationship between organizational support and perceived investment in employee development. This finding sheds light on the role of supervisors as agents who represent or personify the organization. Also, consistent with the job demands–resources model and social exchange theory, we indicate that public employees within a workplace that provides substantial training and developmental incentives are more likely to report greater levels of organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behaviour. Perceived investment in employee development was found to act as an important mediator between the relationships of organizational support and employees’ outcomes, and supervisor support and employees’ outcomes.
Points for practitioners
When human resources budgets are increasingly restricted, non-monetary motivators can be a feasible alternative to high-cost financial rewards. It is suggested that not only will employee development practices benefit public organizations in terms of better-trained and better-qualified employees, but employees’ perceptions of organizations’ investments in employee development also create a felt obligation among public employees to reciprocate with positive job attitudes and work behaviours.
Path models were evaluated to explore the impact of job satisfaction as mediator of the relationship between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and the adequacy and availability of ...training on turnover intention. Models were compared for volunteers (n = 2,306) and paid employees (n = 274) within the one emergency services organisation. Results indicated that job satisfaction mediated the relationship between PIED and intention to stay for both volunteers and paid employees. PIED was a stronger predictor of job satisfaction for paid employees, while support and recognition was a stronger predictor of job satisfaction for volunteers. Results highlight the indirect role of PIED on turnover intentions. Findings also support the notion of tailored employee development programmes that enhance job satisfaction. Further, PIED may be more salient to the turnover intentions of paid employees, while support and recognition may be a key motivator of volunteers' ongoing commitment to the organisation.
Purpose
Although social exchange theory has long been used to explain employees’ positive work attitudes in response to perceived investment in employee development (PIED), few studies have examined ...this theoretical mechanism by introducing a direct measure of social exchange between employees and their personified organization. Furthermore, most studies have focused solely on one type of exchange (i.e. social exchange) and have ignored another type of exchange characterized as economic exchange. The purpose of this paper is therefore to uncover the process by which PIED affects employees’ attitudes, including affective organizational commitment and job satisfaction, by examining the mediating roles of both social and economic exchanges.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the hypothesized mediating model, this study conducted a three-phase, time-lagged questionnaire survey and collected data from 545 full-time employees. The model was tested based on structural equation modeling with a bootstrap test of indirect effects.
Findings
In line with social exchange theory, the findings showed that social exchange perceptions positively mediated the relationships between PIED and affective commitment/job satisfaction, whereas economic exchange perceptions negatively mediated them. Additionally, social and economic exchange perceptions were found to partially mediate the relationship between PIED and affective commitment but fully mediate the relationship between PIED and job satisfaction.
Practical implications
These results suggest that employers would benefit from investing in employee development, provided workers see the training investment as the employer’s side of social exchange, which in turn leads to increased affective commitment and job satisfaction. When employers do not achieve the expected returns from the training investment, they should check not only hard data (e.g. training attendance rate, hours of training, etc.) but also soft data (e.g. employees’ perceptions of training investment, social exchange, etc.) by conducting employee surveys and communicating with line managers.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study is that it provides important empirical support for social exchange theory in the context of organizational training investment and employees’ attitudinal outcomes, by directly testing the positive mediating role of social exchange and the negative role of economic exchange.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of perceived investment in employee development (PIED) on knowledge sharing (KS) behavior by examining the mediating role of psychological ...capital and moderating role of organizational identification.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaires were used to collect data from 340 employees from largest MNCs working in Kazakhstan.
Findings
The results show that psychological capital mediates the relationship between PIED and knowledge sharing behavior (KSB). Moreover, it was found that organizational identification moderates the association between individuals’ psychological capital and their KSB. The mediated moderation analyses supported the hypothesized model.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to a more complete understanding of how investment in employee development may support or build employees’ psychological capital which in turn facilitates KS.
This study explores alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and turnover intention by including affective commitment, perceived internal employability, ...and perceived external employability as potential mediators. Data were collected through a structured survey from 337 employees working in two large companies in Italy. The factorial validity and dimensionality of the latent constructs studied were evaluated in a confirmatory factor analysis framework, and the mediation hypotheses were tested in a full structural equation model. Results show that the overall effect of PIED on turnover intention is negative and almost fully mediated by external employability and affective commitment, whereas the path through internal employability is not supported. More specifically, PIED increases commitment, which in turn limits the likelihood of turnover. In addition, although perceived external employability is positively associated with turnover intention, PIED seems to reduce this effect by negatively affecting employee perceptions of their marketability in the labour market. The study supports the assumptions of social exchange theory in explaining turnover behaviour as a consequence of employee development support. Contextually, it questions the existence of the employability paradox because it does not reveal either a retention path via perceived internal employability or a turnover risk via perceived external employability.
Relying on a social exchange theory we examine the relationships among perceived investment in employees' development (PIED), job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to leave. ...Individual-level analyses from a sample of 405 nurses from two countries indicate that PIED is positively associated with job satisfaction and affective commitment but not with continuance commitment. As expected, job satisfaction and affective commitment fully mediate the relationship between PIED and intent to leave. Overall, this research shows support for partial measurement equivalence and equivalent structural parameters across both samples.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether the relationship between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and taking charge is moderated by perceived job autonomy.
...Design/methodology/approach
– Self-report data were obtained from 737 employees. In addition, manager ratings of taking charge were obtained for 154 employees from their respective managers. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
– The results revealed a positive relationship between PIED and both self-reported and manager-rated taking charge only for employees who perceived high levels of job autonomy.
Research limitations/implications
– Given the cross-sectional nature of the data, no causal inferences can be drawn.
Practical implications
– Managers and organizations may benefit from providing work conditions that facilitate a felt obligation to reciprocate, but at the same time provide sufficient levels of perceived job autonomy to actually do so with respect to increasing the levels of employees’ voluntary and constructive efforts to improve work situations.
Social implications
– Greater levels of employee taking charge behaviors may offset the decline of businesses and thus aid in reducing long-term unemployment in the society at large.
Originality/value
– This study contributes to a more complete understanding of how job characteristics may facilitate or inhibit the influence of antecedents for taking charge.
