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Expatriate success divided into two criteria, expatriate adjustment and expatriate job performance, is analyzed in relation to extraversion and its facets. Measurements of the Big Five and scales of adjustment as well as job performance were used by interviewing a sample of 80 German, Austrian and Swiss expatriates working in Costa Rica. The overall extraversion trait, gregariousness, assertiveness, and activity show meaningful effects on expatriate job performance. By analyzing expatriate adjustment and its relationship with extraversion and corresponding facets moderate effects were found between activity and interaction adjustment. Positive emotions with interaction adjustment as well as positive emotions with general adjustment show the largest effects. Furthermore, small effects were found for activity and warmth in respect to expatriate adjustment. Finally, suggestions for further research concerning extraversion in expatriate management are given.
Im Kontext der demografischen Entwicklung müssen Instrumente der Mitarbeiterbindung neu hinterfragt werden. Um die Fachkräfte, die auf dem Arbeitsmarkt nicht mehr verfügbar sind im Unternehmen zu halten, müssen HR-Praktiken im Unternehmen möglicherweise an altersspezifische Bedürfnisse angepasst werden. Es kann angenommen werden, dass die Bindung an die Organisation – bedingt durch Entwicklungsverläufe über die Lebensspanne – in verschiedenen Altersgruppen von unterschiedlichen Faktoren beeinflusst wird (Conway, 2004; Finegold, Mohrman & Spreitzer, 2002). Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, entsprechende altersbedingte Veränderungen und Priorisierungen zu identifizieren, die einen differenziellen Einfluss auf Mitarbeiterbindung haben. Aus Phasenmodellen der Entwicklungspsychologie werden diese Differenzierungen herausgearbeitet, um daraus Hypothesen zu unterschiedlichen Zusammenhangsstärken situativer Entstehungsbedingungen und affektiver Bindung herzuleiten. Zur Überprüfung der Hypothesen wurden zwei empirische Studien durchgeführt: 1) In einer unternehmensinternen Untersuchung wurden 121 Mitarbeiter in den Altersgruppen 20 bis 30, 31 bis 45 und 46 bis 65 Jahre befragt; 2) Im Rahmen einer Online-Befragung wurden 420 Arbeitnehmer der gleichen Altersgruppen befragt. Die angenommenen moderierenden Effekte wurden mit Hilfe verschiedener Methoden überprüft. Zunächst wurden moderierte Regressionsanalysen gerechnet, um die linearen Hypothesen zu überprüfen. Aus diesen Analysen zeigten sich in beiden Studien kaum Effekte. Eine Subgruppenanalyse, in der die Korrelationsstärken der drei Altersgruppen miteinander verglichen wurden, zeigte zum Teil substanzielle Unterschiede in den Zusammenhangsstärken zwischen Entstehungsbedingungen und affektivem organisationalem Commitment (ACO), teils aber auch stabile Zusammenhänge über alle Altersgruppen hinweg. Wenige Ergebnisse zeigten sich in beiden Studien gleich. Einige Ergebnisse widersprechen den Hypothesen: So zeigte hier die Möglichkeit zu generativem Verhalten am Arbeitsplatz auch in der jüngeren Gruppe substanzielle Zusammenhänge mit ACO, während die gebotene Entwicklungsmöglichkeiten auch in der älteren Gruppe starke Zusammenhänge mit ACO zeigten. Auf Besonderheiten und Unterschiede der beiden Studien wird eingegangen, Implikationen für weitere demografierelevante Forschung werden aufgezeigt und Hinweise für die Gestaltung des Personalmanagements gegeben. Insbesondere untermauert die Arbeit die Notwendigkeit a) einer individuellen Betrachtung von Mitarbeitern jeden Alters, um Bindung zu fördern sowie b) einer Berücksichtigung des jeweiligen Unternehmenskontexts.
Against the backdrop of aging populations, labor shortages, and a longer healthy life expectancy, there has recently been considerable discussion of the great potential that post-retirement activities hold for individuals, organizations, and society alike. This dissertation consists of three empirical papers investigating the life reality of active retirees in Germany. In addition, framework conditions and motivational structures that need to be considered in creating jobs for this group of workers are examined. The first paper identifies the prerequisites for productivity after retirement age and describes the changed nature of modern-day retirement. Current levels of post-retirement work are quantified by reference to German Microcensus data. The data show that adults continue to engage in paid employment beyond the applicable retirement age, with self-employment and unpaid work in family businesses making up the greatest share of post-retirement activities. Qualitative data collected from 146 active retirees (mean age = 67 years, standard deviation = 4) showed that the changes entailed in retirement include more flexible structures in everyday life. Content analysis revealed that reasons for taking up post-retirement activities were the desire to help, pass on knowledge, or remain active; personal development and contact with others; and a desire for appreciation and recognition. In addition, flexible working hours and the freedom to make decisions are evidently important aspects that need to be taken into account in creating employment activities for silver workers. The second paper extends the findings of the first paper by investigating the differences that respondents experienced between their former career job and their post-retirement activities, drawing on an additional quantitative sample of active retirees (N = 618, mean age = 69 years, standard deviation = 4). Factor analysis revealed differences in four areas: First, differences were identified in person-related variables, such as work ability. Second, differences were perceived in the scope of the job itself with regard to workers’ tasks, skills, or job function. Third, the perceived freedom of time allocation and flexibility in job practice distinguished between the silver job and the former career job. Fourth, differences were noted in perceived responsibility and in the significance of the activity. The third paper further examined how relevant personal motivational goals (achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity) as well as corresponding occupational characteristics of the silver job were related to life and work satisfaction in the quantitative sample (N = 661, mean age = 69 years, standard deviation = 4). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the motivational goals of achievement, appreciation, autonomy, contact, and generativity significantly predicted life satisfaction, whereas only generativity predicted work satisfaction. With respect to the occupational characteristics, none of the situational predictors influenced life satisfaction, but opportunities to fulfill one’s achievement goals, to pass on knowledge, and to experience appreciation and autonomy predicted work satisfaction. The results suggest that post-retirement workers seem to differentiate between perceived life satisfaction and work satisfaction as two independent constructs. In conclusion, key motives for taking up post-retirement activities were generativity (the wish to help and pass on knowledge), but also personal development, appreciation, autonomy, and contact. The findings indicate that organizations should introduce flexible working hours, and offer silver workers advisory and freelance work. Providing freedom to make decisions and ensuring due appreciation of the contribution made by silver workers will lead to a fruitful interplay of silver workers and organizations. Future research should build on these findings by applying longitudinal designs and drawing on samples of retirees with more diverse educational and financial backgrounds. The papers of this dissertation echo the call for a new, more positive way of looking at the capacities of active retirees.
Both practitioners and researchers alike assign considerable importance to innovation. However, the process of how innovation unfolds over time is still not well understood. It is the aim of this dissertation to introduce an elaborated picture of innovation processes over time and to discuss the implications of the dynamics of the innovation process for individuals working in innovative contexts, that is, leaders and team members of innovative teams. The first paper of lays the theoretical and empirical groundwork of my dissertation in demonstrating that within the boundaries of the gradual development of innovation activities over time innovation processes are recursive and highly dynamic. These dynamics make the innovation process a challenge for everyone involved in it. In the second and third paper of my dissertation, I discuss this challenge in greater detail for leaders and team members of innovative work teams. Thus, with this dissertation I do not only to give a more elaborate picture of how innovation projects unfold over time, but also describe the challenges attached to the innovation process and give first answers to the question of how individuals involved in this process may be able to master these challenges.
Im Mittelpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit stehen die Zusammenhänge zwischen Berufserfahrung als Prädiktor und Arbeitsleistung als zentralem Kriterium der Arbeits- und Organisationspsychologie. Vor dem Hintergrund alternder Belegschaften kann Berufserfahrung, als mit dem Alter anwachsende Variable, von zentraler Bedeutung für die Arbeitsleistung sein. Wie wichtig Berufserfahrung tatsächlich für die Arbeitsleistung ist, wurde untersucht, indem mit kognitiven Fähigkeiten und Gewissenhaftigkeit die stärksten Einzelprädiktoren der Leistung als Moderatoren des Zusammenhangs von Erfahrung und Leistung berücksichtigt wurden. Berufserfahrung wurde verstanden als die Möglichkeit zu lernen und damit Wissen anzureichern. Dabei wurde angenommen, dass Berufserfahrung mit entsprechend hoch ausgeprägten kognitiven Fähigkeiten bzw. hoher Gewissenhaftigkeit besser genutzt werden kann als bei weniger starken Merkmalsausprägungen. Dies bedeutet, dass Berufserfahrung zwar wichtig für die Arbeitsleistung sein kann, die Stärke des Zusammenhangs jedoch von den genannten Persönlichkeitseigenschaften moderiert werden könnte. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden komplexe Tätigkeiten betrachtet. Diese erfordern in der Regel mehr Wissen, um eine entsprechend hohe Leistung zu erreichen, als weniger komplexe Tätigkeiten. Kognitive Fähigkeiten und Gewissenhaftigkeit sind in komplexen Tätigkeiten besonders bedeutsam für die Leistung, da Menschen mit höheren Ausprägungen kognitiver Fähigkeiten und auch Gewissenhaftigkeit schneller lernen, so dass in kürzerer Zeit mehr Wissen erworben, d.h. Erfahrung besser genutzt werden kann. Daher sollten sich Leistungsunterschiede zwischen Personen mit hohen versus niedrigen Ausprägungen in den genannten Persönlichkeitseigenschaften mit zunehmender Berufserfahrung vergrößern. Es wurde also angenommen, dass sowohl Probanden mit höheren kognitiven Fähigkeits- als auch mit höheren Gewissenhaftigkeitswerten bessere Arbeitsleistungen erzielen als Personen mit niedrigeren Werten in diesen Persönlichkeitsbereichen und dass sich dies mit größerer Berufserfahrung deutlicher zeigt als bei geringer Berufserfahrung. Die Datenerhebung fand in einer IT-Beratung statt, bei der die Mitarbeiter Tätigkeiten mit häufig ändernden Problemstellungen und neuen Informationen sowie hohen Anforderungen an die kognitiven wie sozialen Fähigkeiten ausgesetzt sind. 566 Mitarbeiter nahmen an der Online-Erhebung im Selbstratingformat teil. Berufserfahrung wurde dabei unter anderem mit der bisher gesammelten Berufserfahrung in Jahren sowie mit der Anzahl bisher ausgeführter unterschiedlicher Tätigkeiten erfasst. Die Stichprobe zeichnete sich insgesamt durch sehr hohe Berufserfahrung (M=18 Jahre) aus. Die Ergebnisse beleuchten drei zentrale Zusammenhänge: 1. Den Zusammenhang zwischen Berufserfahrung und Arbeitsleistung, 2. Die Moderation des Zusammenhangs von Berufserfahrung und Leistung durch kognitive Fähigkeiten bzw. 3. durch Gewissenhaftigkeit. Aus den Ergebnissen ist besonders hervorzuheben, (zu 1.) dass sich die Anzahl verschiedener Tätigkeiten im Vergleich zur Dauer der Erfahrung stets als besserer Prädiktor der Leistung hervortat. Eine Interaktion zwischen kognitiven Fähigkeiten und Erfahrung (zu 2.) kann nicht ermittelt werden. Auch zwischen Gewissenhaftigkeit und Erfahrung scheint es keine Interaktion bei der Vorhersage der Arbeitsleistung zu geben (zu 3.) – die Prädiktoren zeigen sich unabhängig voneinander bedeutsam für die Leistung. Die Ergebnisse wurden vor den theoretischen Hintergründen sowie Einschränkungen des Studiendesigns diskutiert. Praktische Implikationen wurden abgeleitet, ein Ausblick zeigt vor allem Ableitungen für weitere Studien auf. In der Studie wird deutlich, wie wichtig eine differenzierte Betrachtung der Berufserfahrung sowie verschiedener Leistungsdimensionen für die Analyse ist. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass Berufserfahrung auch in komplexen Tätigkeiten und neben anderen starken Einzelprädiktoren eine große Bedeutung für die Arbeitsleistung hat.
Micro- and small enterprises are of great importance for the economic growth in developing countries, as they contribute to employment creation and innovation. In light of their economic relevance, several approaches to support micro- and small enterprises have emerged, including building human capital through business trainings. However, the effects of existing business trainings on entrepreneurial success have so far been limited. One promising alternative training approach that has emerged in the last years is personal initiative training, which teaches self-starting, future-oriented, and persistent entrepreneurial behavior. This dissertation helps to improve the understanding of personal initiative training by shedding light on the mechanisms through which it affects business success, on supporting factors, and on its long-term impacts. Chapter 1 provides an overview on the topic of personal initiative training for entrepreneurs in developing countries. Chapter 2 introduces personal initiative training and other proactive behavior trainings in various contexts of work, including entrepreneurship. The chapter presents action regulation theory and the theory on personal initiative as the theoretical foundation of the training. In addition, the chapter provides insights into training and evaluation methods and makes recommendations for the successful implementation of personal initiative training. Chapter 3 offers a first answer to the question how personal initiative after training can be maintained over time. The chapter introduces training participants' need for cognition as beneficial factor for post-training personal initiative maintenance. Chapter 4 explains how action regulation trainings like personal initiative training contribute to poverty reduction in developing countries by supporting entrepreneurial success. Chapter 5 enlarges upon the topic of personal initiative training for entrepreneurial success in developing countries. The chapter focuses on how personal initiative training supports female entrepreneurs in developing countries by helping them to overcome the uncertainty involved in entrepreneurial actions. Chapter 6 summarizes the overall findings and illustrates the theoretical and practical implications that result from this dissertation. In sum, this dissertation makes a contribution to the better understanding of personal initiative training and its effects on entrepreneurship in developing countries and thereby helps to create effective interventions to combat poverty in developing countries.
Organizational culture is widely acknowledged to be a driver of organizational effectiveness. However, existing empirical research tends to focus on investigating the links between individual, isolated culture dimensions and effectiveness outcomes. This approach is at odds with the theoretical roots of organizational culture and does not do justice to the complex reality that most organizations face. This issue is addressed by this dissertation, which is comprised of four studies. Study 1 investigated the psychometric quality and cultural equivalence of three culture measures in a German context, based on a sample of 172 employees in a bank. The results suggested that the German versions of the Denison Organizational Culture Survey and the Organizational Culture Profile performed satisfactorily, while results regarding the GLOBE survey fell short of expectations. Study 2 reviewed the literature on the link between culture and effectiveness with a focus on studies that treat organizational culture as a holistic phenomenon. The review yielded four kinds of holistic approaches (aggregation-based, agreement-based, moderation- or mediation-based, and configuration-based). Study 3 investigated how a change in organizational culture induced by an M&A project impacts employee commitment. Based on a sample of 180 employees in a German organization, the findings suggest that individuals perceive cultural change differently, that cultural stability is positively related to employee commitment, and that group-level leader-member exchange and individual self-efficacy moderate this relationship. Study 4 introduced a new theoretical perspective (set theory) and a novel methodology (fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis) to the field of organizational culture. Across two samples (1170 employees in a financial service provider and 998 employees in fashion retailer), results indicated that culture dimensions do not operate in isolation, but jointly work together in achieving different effectiveness outcomes.
Members of Western organizations differ in various diversity attributes. In response, research aims to provide evidence-based recommendations on how to effectively manage diversity in teams. Within diversity research, the diversity faultlines approach has been particularly fruitful. It considers the impact of the alignment of multiple diversity attributes in teams. Strong diversity faultlines are associated with the emergence of relatively homogeneous subgroups in teams and have an overall negative impact on team processes and outcomes. This dissertation investigates factors that mitigate the detrimental consequences of strong diversity faultlines in teams, namely pro-diversity beliefs. It extends faultline literature beyond the conventional focus on processes and outcomes related to team members by emphasizing the leaders' perspective. The three empirical papers included in this dissertation systematically examine how strong pro-diversity beliefs can help unleashing the positive effects of team diversity despite strong faultlines. The first paper highlights the role of leaders' pro-diversity beliefs in mitigating the negative impact of diversity faultlines on two team processes: perceived cohesion and social loafing. Moreover, it compares the impact of socio-demographic faultlines (based on gender and age) and experience-based faultlines (based on team tenure and education level). Data was collected in a multisource field sample with 217 team members nested in 44 teams and the corresponding leaders. The second paper takes the impact of members' pro-diversity beliefs into account. It examines whether the impact of sociodemographic faultlines on performance is contingent on leaders' and members' pro-diversity beliefs. Moreover, the research group assumed that aggregate LMX would mediate this relationship. In a multisource data set obtained from 41 teams with 219 members and the corresponding leaders working for the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the investigators found partial support for their hypotheses. As expected, the impact of strong socio-demographic faultlines on diplomats' performance was least negative when both leaders and members held strong pro-diversity beliefs. The third paper zooms into processes and outcomes related to team leaders. It investigates how leaders' pro-diversity beliefs and their perceptions of members' prodiversity beliefs in teams with strong socio-demographic faultlines impact leaders´ task role assignment, performance expectation, and motivation. The research group conducted two experimental studies with students, one in Germany (N=55) and one in the US (N=134). Findings showed that strong pro-diversity beliefs held and perceived by leaders made them assign task roles that cross-cut rather than aligned with the subgroup structure created by faultlines. Moreover, leaders' perceptions of members' pro-diversity beliefs, but not their own beliefs, had a positive impact on their motivation, mediated by their performance expectation.
This dissertation investigates work ability as a concept that supports workers, employers, and societies in the extension of working lives, and how work ability is related to the level of self-determination in the transition to retirement, and ultimately life satisfaction. In the first study of this dissertation, the Work Ability Survey-R (WAS-R) was translated from English into German and then evaluated regarding its psychometric properties and construct validity. The WAS-R operationalizes work ability as the interplay of personal and organizational resources and thus allows companies to derive targeted interventions to maintain work ability. In the second study, the WAS-R was examined together with the questionnaire Work-Related Behavior and Experience Pattern (Arbeitsbezogenes Verhaltens- und Erlebensmuster, AVEM) regarding its construct validity. A striking feature of this study was the high number of participants with the answering pattern indicating low work-related ambitions and protection. Persons with this pattern are in danger of entering the risk pattern for burnout in the future. The findings support the validity of the WAS-R. In the third contribution, two studies examined the experience of control (i.e., autonomy) in the transition to retirement as a mediator between previous work ability, health, and financial well-being, and later life satisfaction in retirement. Control was found to partially mediate the relationship between work ability and later life satisfaction. Different mechanisms on later life satisfaction of work ability and health, and the subjective and objective financial situation were found. This dissertation contributes to research on and practice with aging workers in two ways: (1) The German translation of the WAS-R is presented as a useful instrument for measuring work ability, assessing individual and organizational aspects and therefore enabling employers to make targeted interventions to maintain and improve work ability, and eventually enable control during later work life, the retirement transition and even old age. (2) This dissertation corroborates the importance of good work ability and health, even in old age, as well as control in these phases of life. Work ability is indirectly related to life satisfaction in the long period of retirement, mediated by a sense of control in the transition to retirement. This emphasizes the importance of the need for control as postulated by the SDT also in the transition to retirement.
This dissertation focused on the nature and role of organizational practices for the employment of older people and the extension of their working lives. The set of four articles is driven by the objective to further deepen our understanding of how organizations can facilitate ageing at work to the benefit of both, employees and employers. Findings are empirically based on qualitative expert interview data from Germany and the U.S. and several quantitative field studies among older employees in Germany. To bridge gaps in measurement of organizational practices related to aging at work, this dissertation proposes a new comprehensive, multifaceted, and thoroughly conceptualized measure of organizational practices related to aging at work, the Later Life Workplace Index (LLWI). Through the course of the four articles the LLWI is conceptually developed based on qualitative interview data, operationalized, validated based on multiple field studies among older workers, and applied in a multi-level study among older employees of 101 organizations. Results suggest that organizational practices are not uniform, but multifaceted in their presence within organizations and their effects for the employment of older workers. The LLWI distinguishes nine domains of practices including an age-friendly organizational climate, work design, individual development, and practices tailoring the retirement transition. Thus, it may lay the foundation for more granular organizational level research in the field. Further, this dissertation's fourth article applies the LLWI and argues based on person-environment fit and socio-emotional selectivity theory that organizational practices address different individual needs and, thus, affect employment depending on employees' individual characteristics. Results suggest that older employees' retirement intentions are effected by individual development, transition-to-retirement, and continued employment practices depending on their health resources. Application of the new measure in practice to improve organizations' response to the aging workforce and opportunities for future research based on the LLWI are discussed.