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Correlates of Employees' Attitudes Towards Participation in Decision Making
-- Hana Ornoy
In a cross sectional study the relations between personal characteristics of employees and attitudes
towards participation in organizational decision making were explored. The study was conducted on 96
employees in a regional public health organization in Israel. Women born in Israel, Israeli immigrants from
non-Eastern European countries and those in managerial jobs had a more positive attitude towards participation
than men, Israeli born immigrants of Eastern European countries and non-managers. Also, employees with
higher seniority, internal locus of control, and work satisfaction expressed a more positive attitude
towards participation. Attitudes towards participation were not related in this study to age, level of education
and level of income. As an outcome of this study, it is suggested that in times of globalization managers
have to consider not only the motivation of the workers for participation but should also take into
consideration the original cultural differences.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Employee Attrition in the Malaysian
Service Industry: Push and Pull Factors
Jessica Sze-Yin Ho, Alan G Downe and Siew-Phaik
Loke
The growth of the Malaysian services industry has become a critical factor in regional business
development but it is dependent largely on the availability of human capital with required technical and non-technical
skills. The success of the service industry is, in part, dependent on recruiting and retaining workers with the
right combinations of skills, but is threatened by high rates of staff attrition and job-hopping. Using survey,
focus group and interview techniques, this study explores the factors influencing the intention to turn-over
among young, well-educated professionals within the Malaysian service industry. The results showed that there
was a high tendency for this group of young employees to switch jobs. This was motivated by both push
factors (interference with work-family-lifestyle balance, poor relations with co-workers, work stressors,
unsatisfactory supervisory relationships) and pull factors (offers of better compensations, more interesting work,
promotion opportunities, desire to return for academic studies). The importance of human capital management in
the service industry has been linked to maximizing all employees' values to reach the firms' objectives.
By identifying these push and pull factors, it provides valuable insights to Malaysian employers to
understand better what current young workers are seeking for and to utilize more innovative strategies to attract
and retain their top talent.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Examining the Factor Structure of Wong and
Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale
with a Pakistani General Population Sample
Jahanvash Karim
Despite the development of various measures of Emotional Intelligence (EI), independent
psychometric evaluations of these measures are few in number. Measures of EI are likely to reflect the dominant
cultural values of the society of their origin and include items that are likely to be problematic outside that
particular culture. In the present study, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling were
used to assess the factorial and construct validity of the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale
(WLEIS) (Wong and Law, 2002) in Pakistan. In a general population sample
(n = 481), the Hong Kong/China four-factor structure (self-emotional appraisal, others' emotional appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation
of emotion) was replicated. Support was also found for the construct (convergent and discriminant)
validity of WLEIS. Directions for further validation of the WLEIS and the construct of EI are also discussed
in the paper.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Human Resource Management Practices and Organizational Commitment in Higher
Educational Institutions: A Kenyan Case
-- Dinah J Kipkebut
Organizations do tend to face challenges such as recession, cut-throat competition and
information technological advances. Their survival is, therefore, dependent upon a loyal and committed workforce.
The central role Human Resource Management (HRM) practices play in creating and maintaining
commitment is critical. This paper examines the impact of demographic characteristics and HRM practices
on multidimensional organizational commitment in a non-Western context. Data was collected using
mixed methods research. First, questionnaire responses were received from 446 academic and 486
administrative employees from three public and three private universities in Kenya. Secondly, semi-structured
interviews with 15 academic and administrative employees were conducted. The data was analyzed using
descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis. The results show that (a) HRM practices are
more important than demographic characteristics in influencing organizational commitment; (b)
demographic characteristics and HRM practices differ in their influence on each dimension of organizational
commitment; and (c) private universities have more superior HRM practices than public universities. This
paper contributes to existing knowledge by testing the predictors of multidimensional organizational
commitment in a non-Western context. Conclusions, recommendations and limitations are also discussed in the paper.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Concurrent Validity of Peer Appraisal
of Group Work for Administrative Purposes
-- Arvind Sudarsan
Organizations are increasingly turning towards peer appraisal as a tool to rectify the defects observed
in, top-down appraisal, assess group performance, and improve the internal working of teams.
Unfortunately, the process of peer reviews requires a larger number of competent assessors in order to be accurate
and also has an inherent problem of being susceptible to biased (self serving) assessments. Hence,
there is a need to develop some method to validate the results of the peer review. This paper reports the
findings of a study on peer appraisal. The concurrent validity of peer appraisal is examined by comparing the
actual performance of student groups on several assignments, and the ratings awarded by group members
to themselves, using Pearson's correlation coefficient. The study indicates that peer appraisals
lack concurrent criterion validity. Organizations using peer reviews for administrative purposes are
therefore unlikely to observe any improvement in their appraisal processes and are likely to be disappointed to
face problems similar to those observed with traditional systems.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Dispositional Predictors of Organizational
Commitment: A Theoretical Review
-- Kuldeep Kumar and Arti Bakhshi
In the past 20 years, there has been a tremendous increase in the research efforts to explore and
understand the nature, antecedents, and consequences of organizational commitment. Research in this area
has covered a wide spectrum of topics and has been related to a multitude of antecedents and
consequent variables but environmental rather than dispositional sources are typically considered, despite a surge
in research looking at the dispositional sources of other job attitudes, such as job satisfaction. A large
number of studies have demonstrated the effect of a person's disposition on job satisfaction lending support
to the argument that a person's job satisfaction is stable over time and across careers and jobs.
Although organizational commitment, like job satisfaction, is a job attitude, so far little attention has been
paid to understand the role of dispositions in determining organizational commitment of the employees.
This paper primarily focuses on bringing together some of the varied researches with the objective of
providing some clarity with respect to the origin and understanding of the dispositional predictors of
organizational commitment. Besides, it provides directions and suggestions for future researches in the field
of organizational commitment.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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