Search results for " industrial relations."

Empowerment and Employee Well-Being: A Mediation Analysis Study

2021

This study examines the relationship between structural and psychological empowerment and its effects on employees’ psychological, physical, and social well-being. Despite the quantity of previously published works, empirical evidence about these relationships in the workplace is scarce. We developed a mediation model in which structural empowerment predicts employee well-being via psychological empowerment. We based our study on the EU-27 data from the 6th European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS). Data were collected from a questionnaire administered face-to-face to a random sample of employees and the self-employed representative of the working population in the European Union (number of…

Managing group work in the classroom: An international study on perceived benefits and risks based on students’ cultural background and gender

2018

Working in groups has become an essential part of success of every organization operating in global economy. Therefore, the business sector has created an imperative for higher education institutions (HEIs) to modify study programs and prepare students to be effective team players. However, while group work has been highly encouraged among university students, their opinions on this practice remain rather neglected. In addition, the role of culture and gender in students’ perceptions of group work has received little attention. The purpose of this study is to examine how university students perceive group work in terms of its benefits and risks and whether their national culture and gender …

Employment effects of skills around the world: Evidence from the PIAAC

2020

Using an international survey that directly assesses the cognitive skills of participants, the author studies the effect of skills on employment in 32 countries. On average, a 1 standard deviation increase in numeracy is associated with an 8.4 percentage point increase in the probability of being employed, reducing the probability of being out of the labour force and unemployed by 6.4 and 2.1 percentage points, respectively. After controlling for numeracy, the estimated employment effect of years in education falls by one third, from 2.7 to 1.8 percentage points. Notably, the employment effect of skills is more pronounced in countries with higher unemployment.

Talent management and organizational commitment: the partial mediating role of pay satisfaction

2020

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to better understand the role of pay satisfaction and employee perception of talent management in business loyalty strategies, which implies considering both economic and non-economic variables in order to achieve organizational success.Design/methodology/approachResults from a survey of 198 workers were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) based on three constructs (confirmatory factor analysis, CFA). The scales used were: employee perception of talent management, pay satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Pay satisfaction acts as a mediating variable in the significant relationship between the perception of talent management and orga…

Trade union density and unemployment insurance in Finland

2006

Labour Mobility in Construction: European Implications of the Laval un Partneri Dispute with Swedish Labour

2006

The accession to the European Union of new member states from central and eastern Europe, with weak trade union movements, poorly developed social dialogue and inferior working conditions, has been viewed as a threat to regulated labour standards in the EU-15. This article examines a high-profile labour dispute arising from the conditions of Latvian construction contract labour in Sweden. The dispute exposes weaknesses in the protective floor of minimum standards offered by the posted workers Directive. It also goes to the core of the debate about the preservation of a ‘European social model’ and the proposed Services Directive.

Institutional resources as a source of trade union power in Southern Europe

2017

Abstract Institutional resources are one of four sources of power available to trade unions (Gumbrell –McCormick and Hyman, 2013). Literature has tended to pay more attention to associational and organizational power and to emphasize the indispensable but problematic character of institutional resources. This paper examines the role of institutional resources in three Southern European countries (Greece, Portugal and Spain) which share common characteristic including post dictatorship political settlements; recent economic crises; external intervention. Comparative analysis draws out the distinctive role and character of institutional resources in Spanish industrial relation. It shows how t…

Individual Performance in Turbulent Environments: The Role of Organizational Learning Capability and Employee Flexibility

2015

Organizational learning capability (OLC) and employee flexibility help firms navigate the challenges faced by organizations operating in turbulent environments. OLC includes dimensions such as experimentation, risk taking, openness, dialogue, and participative decision making. Employee flexibility is considered a crucial tool for strategic human resource management in tackling environmental turbulence. Accordingly, we pose the following research question: how, and to what extent, is individual performance enhanced by OLC and employee flexibility in turbulent environments? The major impact that environmental turbulence has on change and flexibility requirements suggests that employee flexibi…

Big data and HR analytics in the digital era

2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus on how the HR function takes advantage of human resource analytics (HRA), including big data (BD), and discuss factors hindering HRA and data utilization. Moreover, the authors discuss the implications of the HRA-induced role transformation of the human resource (HR) function. Design/methodology/approach This is an explorative case study based on qualitative interviews in nine leading Finnish companies. Findings The results indicate that both technical and human obstacles, operating with very basic HR processes and traditional information systems and poor data quality, hinder adoption of advanced HRA. This, combined with lacking skills in analy…

Job Insecurity and Health-Related Outcomes among Different Types of Temporary Workers

2005

Over the past few decades, the number of flexible workers has increased, a situation that has captured researchers’ attention. Traditionally, temporary workers were portrayed as being disadvantaged compared to permanent workers. But in the new era, temporary workers cannot be treated as a homogeneous group. This study distinguishes between four types of temporaries based on their contract preference and employability level. Furthermore, it compares them with a permanent group. Whether these groups differ on job insecurity and health-related outcomes in a sample of 383 Spanish employees was tested. Differences in well-being and life satisfaction were found, and the hypotheses were supported.…