Mediating and moderating effects of task interdependence and creative role identity behind innovation for service: evidence from China and Australia

PurposeInnovation for service contributes to service quality and customer satisfaction, and further benefits service-centered organizations to sustain competitive advantages. However, concurrent mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying innovation for service at both the group and individual levels have been scarcely investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore multilevel mediating and moderating mechanisms behind the relationship between dual-level transformational leadership (TFL) and innovation for service at the group and individual levels.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from two countries (i.e. China and Australia). Multilevel structural equation modeling was employed to validate the research model. Bootstrapping with 5,000 replications and latent moderated structural equation modeling were used to respectively examine the mediating and moderating mechanisms.FindingsThe cross-national results showed that task interdependence and creative role identity respectively played as the group-level and individual-level mediating roles between TFL and innovation for service. It was also found that task interdependence played as a cross-level predictor enhancing individual innovation for service. Task interdependence was a moderator on the relationship between individual-level TFL and creative role identity among Australian employees, but not among Chinese employees. The relationship between creative role identity and individual innovation for service was not moderated by task interdependence among both Chinese and Australian employees.Originality/valueThis study contributes to advancing the TFL–innovation research through revealing dual-level TFL as the antecedent of innovation for service at both the group and individual levels. It also extends the understandings of the mediating and moderating mechanisms behind this dual-level relationship between TFL and innovation for service.

Negotiation of psycho-social risks of remote working. An enterprise-level comparison in Italy and France

The article focuses on how the actors of industrial relations acted at firmlevel in multi-national company, Danone, in two different institutional contexts (Italy and France), in order to set rules and procedures aimed to mitigate the negative psycho-social consequences of remote working adopted during Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, it examines what was the role of firm-level industrial relations in setting specific oriented actions and what were the relations between these, global policies of the company and national level policies about health and safety and in general the institutional context. It emerges the importance of informality of relations between actors in helping to face an emergency together with the role of global policies of the company that seems to overcomes the different national institutional contexts.

Quality of Work and Job Satisfaction Among Health Workers: Moderating Effect of Corona Fear

This paper attempts to understand the impacts and fallouts of COVID- 19 on health care workers. The effect of social intelligence, emotional stability and optimistic approach are studied on the quality of work of healthcare workers along with identifying how it influenced their job satisfaction. The moderating effect of corona fear is analyzed on the quality of work and job satisfaction. Empirical data derived through face-to-face interactions with 493 health care professionals were used for testing the conceptual framework derived from recent literature. The results indicate that social intelligence, emotional stability and optimism contribute towards quality of life of health care workers. Quality of work shows significant relation with job satisfaction. Corona fear shows the moderation effect, negatively affecting the quality of work.

Migrant Workers and Indian Labor Legislation: A Review

This article highlights the relevance of the two important Indian labor legislations in relation to migrant workers. A few observed gaps in these legislations are discussed. The article addresses the research questions and objectives through an understanding of both the laws. ISMA and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions code (2020) (OSH). The identified gaps in these legislations could be a reason for their ineffectiveness at critical situations like the crisis caused by the Covid 19 lockdown. The study takes a timely review to bring some suggestions to enhance the applicability and effectiveness of the upcoming Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code 2020.

Introduction

Individualised employment relations formed a key pillar of the shift to neoliberal economic policy in the 1980s, complementing other dimensions of orthodoxy deployed across governments, public administrations and central banks in the same time. In the neoliberal narrative, market forces would ‘naturally' and justly compensate labour for its contribution to productivity, like any other input to production. Consequently, redistributive institutions empowering workers to win more adequate wages and conditions (through minimum wages, Awards, unionisation, and collective bargaining) were dramatically eroded, or discarded entirely. Combined with welfare state retrenchment, this restructuring of labour market policy increased the pressure on people to sell their labour, and under terms over which workers wielded little influence. Since then, forms of insecure, non-standard work have proliferated globally, and employment relations have been increasingly individualised. Now, most workers in Anglo-Saxon market economies, and a growing proportion of workers in European and Nordic nations, rely on individual contract instruments (underpinned only by minimum wage floors typically far below living wage benchmarks) to set the terms and conditions of employment. Wages have stagnated, the share of GDP going to workers has declined, and inequality and poverty (even among employed people) has intensified. More recently, after years of this employer-friendly hegemony in workplace relations, successive crises (first the GFC and then the COVID-19 pandemic) have more obviously shattered traditional expectations of a natural linkage between economic growth and workers' living standards.After a generation of experience with this individualised model of employment relations, and with the human costs of that approach becoming ever-more obvious, there is renewed concern with reimagining policies and structures which could support improvements in job quality, stability, and compensation. Important policy dialogue and innovation is now occurring in many industrial countries, in response to the negative consequences of neoliberal labour market policies. In those conversations, institutions like collective bargaining have returned to centre stage.

The Three Dimensions of the Indian Wage Code (2019): Shifting Economic, Socio-political and Legal Values?

The value of work is intrinsically linked to its monetary equival ent expressed in wages. Changes in wage laws therefore impact a wide-ranging frontier of tensions inherent in the politics around remuneration, at the individual, the firm and the state level. In othe r words, wages do not form a single line of conflict, but in fact matters of payment unfold multiple struggles in the spheres of institutions, at the shop-floor and within the household. From thi s three-fold perspective, the paper analyses unravelling tensions in the economic, legal and sociopolitical constitution of wages in the Indian Wage Code of 2019. This evaluation shows the importance of strengthening need-based approaches to wages such as minimum wage pol i ci e s, not just to facilitate decent working standards, but also to guarantee adequate social safety nets, particularly in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Work from Home Practices and COVID-19: Future Implications

Among several practices to maintain the Work Life Balance (WLB) in organizations is Work From Home (WFH). Started as an option for a specific employee population the practice currently has become the only option due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper assesses the viewpoints and the associated sentiments of the employees engaged in WFH practices. Quantitative analysis based on a self-administered questionnaire and qualitative analysis based on open-ended questions using frequency distribution, word cloud, and sentimental analysis indicate that although employees have favored WFH practices due to flexibility in working hours and increased productivity in terms of personal and some work-related activities, factors like reduced coordination and virtual interactions account for the negative sentiments.

Building Strong Employer Brand via Electronics Word-of- Mouth in the New Normal

As the world comes to terms with the changes in work and workplace in the COVID-19 period and beyond, benefits offered to the employees and electronics word-of-mouth (eWOM) play a critical role in building a strong employer brand image. The global pandemic has forced us to adopt various digital practices to meet the challenge of social distancing at work. This paper argues that eWOM will play a mediating role between employment work experience (EWE) and employer brand image. This relationship is viewed through the lens of Social Exchange Theory. The paper presents a conceptual framework with stated propositions combining the resource based view with employer branding using eWOM as an influencer to achieve competitive advantage.

Monitoring Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall Forecasts

This paper introduces formal monitoring procedures as a risk-management tool. Continuously monitoring risk forecasts allows practitioners to swiftly review and update their forecasting procedures as soon as forecasts turn inadequate. Similarly, regulators may take timely action in case reported risk forecasts become poor. Extant (one-shot) backtests require, however, that all data are available prior to testing and are not informative of when inadequacies might have occurred. To monitor value-at-risk and expected shortfall forecasts "online"-that is, as new observations become available-we construct sequential testing procedures. We derive the exact finite-sample distributions of the proposed procedures and discuss the suitability of asymptotic approximations. Simulations demonstrate good behavior of our exact procedures in finite samples. An empirical application to major stock indices during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the economic benefits of our monitoring approach.

Has perceived corporate social responsibility attracted job seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The traditional corporate employment relationship in China has changed under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but how to attract core talent remains an urgent challenge for companies to address. Using the stereotype content model, we constructed a moderated mediation model to explore the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effect of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on job seekers. We conducted two mock recruitment experiments with Chinese undergraduates and graduates who were seeking jobs, and found that perceived CSR significantly and positively affected organizational attractiveness, and that the relationship between perceptions of warmth and competence and CSR were mediated by corporate nature. These findings provide guidance and suggestions for managers to carry out CSR and for human resource recruitment practices in the postpandemic era. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Social Behavior & Personality: an international journal is the property of Society for Personality Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

La porosité des frontières du travail notarial à l'heure du « distanciel »

Depuis la pandémie de Covid-19, le télétravail s'est généralisé dans des entreprises notariales de proximité jusqu'alors peu concernées. Leurs employés l'ont expérimenté lors du premier confinement, pendant lequel les notaires ont en partie maintenu à distance leur activité. Le dynamisme de ce secteur, sa libéralisation, la dématérialisation des activités et le profil des travailleurs, féminisé et qualifié, ont facilité la généralisation du télétravail sous divers statuts (salarié, intérimaire, indépendant…). Cette pratique s'est répandue au prix d'une porosité croissante des frontières du travail notarial et de stratégies diversifiées de circonscription du temps et de l'espace. Celles-ci varient selon les métiers, offices, statuts, profils socio-démographiques, trajectoires, ressources et conditions de vie des travailleurs concernés, dans un milieu marqué par d'importantes hiérarchisations genrées. La volonté de travailler autrement motive en partie ce choix du travail à distance, mais aussi de formes alternatives d'emploi, voire de sortie de ce secteur.Alternate :Since the Covid-19 pandemic, teleworking has become widespread in notary offices which, as small local businesses, were hardly concerned before. Their employees have experimented it during the first containment, during which notaries have partly maintained their activity at a distance. The dynamism of this sector, its liberalization, the dematerialization of activities and the feminized and qualified profile of workers have facilitated the generalization of telework under various statuses (salaried, temporary, self-employed, etc.). This practice has spread at the cost of an increasing porosity of the boundaries of notarial work and of diversified strategies for circumscribing time and space. These strategies vary according to the professions, offices, status, socio-demographic profiles, trajectories, resources and living conditions of the workers concerned, in an environment marked by significant gender hierarchies. The desire to work differently partly motivates this choice of remote work, but also of alternative forms of employment, or even of leaving this sector.

Integrating push–pull dynamics for understanding the association between boundary control and work outcomes in the context of mandatory work from home

PurposeMuch of what we know about work from home (WFH) is based on data collected in routine times, where WFH is applied on a partial and voluntary basis. This study leverages the conditions of mandatory WFH imposed by COVID-19 lockdowns to shed new light on factors that relate to well-being and performance among employees who WFH. Specifically, the authors explore how boundary control and push–pull factors (constraints and benefits that employees associate with WFH) interact to shape employees' exhaustion and goal setting/prioritization.Design/methodology/approachSurveys were administered in Israel and in the USA to 577 employees in "teleworkable” roles who were mandated to WFH shortly after the COVID-19 outbreak (March–April 2020).Findings(1) Boundary control is negatively related to exhaustion and positively related to goal setting/prioritization. (2) These associations are weakened by perceptions of high WFH constraints (push factors). (3) WFH benefits (pull factors) attenuate the moderating effect of WFH constraints.Practical implicationsOrganizations may benefit from identifying and boosting the saliency of WFH benefits, while considering and remedying WFH constraints.Originality/valueThe authors contribute theoretically by integrating push–pull factors into the discussion about WFH and boundary management. We also make a contextual contribution by drilling down into the specificities of nonvoluntary WFH. The expected upward trends in nonvoluntary WFH rates underscore the need to understand factors that improve outcomes among individuals who lack agency in the decision to WFH.

State of care for EU mobile workers' rights in the Dutch meat sector in times of, and beyond, COVID-19

PurposeWith a focus on the position of EU mobile workers in the Dutch meat industry, this article discusses the multi-level State efforts to enhance protection of workers who experienced limited protection of existing State and private enforcement institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic, with virus outbreaks at Dutch meat plants, fuelled public and political will to structurally improve these workers' precarious work and living conditions. Yet, the process of policy change is slow. The authors show it is the gradual transformation in the institutional environment that the State needs to counter to become more protective for EU mobile workers.Design/methodology/approachUsing the gradual institutional change approach and the concept of State ignorance, the authors examine State responses drawing on interviews with expert stakeholders in the public and private domain, public administration records and newspaper articles.FindingsThrough knowledge creation, boosted social dialogue mechanisms, enhanced enforcement capacity and new housing legislation, the Dutch State focuses on countering gradual institutional change through which existing institutions lost their effectiveness as protectors of EU mobile workers. The organization of work is, nevertheless, not (yet) fundamentally addressed with tighter public legislation.Originality/valueThe findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the role of the State as multifaceted actor in institutional change processes towards increased protection for EU mobile workers.

Teleworking in Portuguese public administration during the COVID-19 pandemic: Advantages, disadvantages, work-life balance and motivation

This article seeks to characterise teleworking in public administration during the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on a study that aimed to collect the perceptions of Portuguese public servants about this phenomenon. Findings show that, in general, perceptions of workers and managers about teleworking are more positive than negative. It seems that teleworking in public administration has succeeded despite perceptions of insufficient equipment supply and some stigmatisation of teleworkers. The article also sought to investigate whether the perception of the potential advantages and disadvantages of teleworking, with special emphasis on work-life balance, varies according to the workers' gender and number of dependents. The study found that this was indeed the case. However, there were also differences relating to workers' motivation. The study found that a significant proportion of Portuguese public servants felt more motivated when performing their activities as teleworkers.

How do human resource practices help employees alleviate stress in enforced remote work during lockdown?

PurposeDue to the fact that most employees have been forced to work remotely during the lockdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is great concern about how to alleviate increased stress among employees through human resource (HR) practices. Drawing upon the job demands-control (JDC) model and the job demands-resources (JDR) model, this study empirically investigated the direct effect of HR practices on employee stress in enforced remote work and the mediating role of sources of stress (SoS) and sense of control (SoC).Design/methodology/approachData were collected through an online survey platform called Wenjuanxing from March 15 to 22, 2020 in Hubei, China and from April 22 to 29, 2022 in Shanghai, China. Respondents scanned the QR code on WeChat to enter the platform. A total of 511 valid questionnaires were received with a response rate of 75.4%. After controlling demographic variables, the authors used the mediation modeling and PROCESS tool to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsHR practices negatively affect stress in enforced remote work among employees. Both SoS and SoC partially mediate the relationship between HR practices and stress. HR practices can alleviate stress via decreasing SoS and enhancing SoC, respectively. Moreover, employee care and training are found to be two key factors of HR practices to help employees alleviate stress in enforced remote work.Originality/valueLockdown as an extreme external condition has brought great challenges in employee work arrangement as well as HR practices. Although the relationship between HR practices and job stress was studied previously, there is a lack of research on the effects of HR practices on stress in enforced remote work due to lockdown. It advances knowledge on HR practices' stress-reducing effect in the context of remote work and provides suggestions for HR practitioners on ways of alleviating employee stress in remote work.

Public management strategies for improving satisfaction with pandemic-induced telework among public employees

PurposeThe author examined the association between public employees' satisfaction with pandemic-induced telework satisfaction and job autonomy, organizational goal clarity, organizational justice, and performance-based culture. In addition, the author analyzed the moderating effects of generation and gender on the relationships between job autonomy, organizational goal clarity, organizational justice, performance-based culture, and pandemic-induced telework satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachThis study used survey data collected from 4,339 Korean public employees, comprising 1,983 central government officials and 2,356 metropolitan government officials, during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study conducted a structural equation model to test hypotheses.FindingsThe author found that job autonomy, organizational goal clarity, organizational justice, and performance-based culture were positively associated with pandemic-induced telework satisfaction. In addition, this research found the moderating effects of generation and gender on the relationships between job autonomy, organizational goal clarity, organizational justice, performance-based culture, and pandemic-induced telework satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study's results can guide public organizations in developing public management strategies to improve pandemic-induced telework satisfaction. In particular, public organizations need to cope effectively with the broad prevalence of telework triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic by establishing high job autonomy, a performance-oriented culture, a fair evaluation system, and clear and measurable performance goals and adjusting telework according to the generational and gender characteristics.

How Resilient Are Firms' Financial Reporting Processes?

The timely flow of financial information is critical for efficient capital market functioning, yet we have little understanding of firms' and auditors' collective abilities to maintain timely financial reporting when under duress. We use COVID as a stress test case to examine whether reporting systems can withstand systemic increases in complex economic events and coordination challenges. Despite COVID-related challenges persisting through 2020 and beyond, we document surprisingly modest average delays in financial reports during COVID and only in Q1-2020. Reporting timeliness reverts to pre-COVID levels no later than Q2-2020. We find no evidence of meaningful declines in actual reporting quality during COVID, but we do find some evidence consistent with declines in perceived reporting quality. Overall, our findings indicate that current financial reporting processes are remarkably robust and provide insights about financial reporting more broadly. In particular, given that nearly all firms were able to weather the unprecedented disruptions caused by COVID, our findings imply that most material reporting delays observed outside of COVID are likely a result of either a firm's strategic choices or exceptionally fragile reporting processes.

Inequality, worker mobilisation and lessons from history: Australia 1788-1900

Neoliberalism has wrought fundamental changes in the world of work, leading to rising inequality, substantial weakening of organised labour and a decline in industrial relations as a field, especially in relation to teaching. Drawing on historical ‘big data' this paper argues that examining the history of worker mobilisation provides a better understanding of these developments, including the importance of considering diverse forms of organisation and action as well as multi-pronged methods built around a key set of issues. It can also inform efforts to address challenges posed by neoliberalism. We conclude by arguing that an historical perspective can better equip the field of industrial relations to meet challenges extending beyond the world of work. © 2022 AIRAANZ.

Danger, keep out! Trade union rights of entry during the COVID-19 pandemic

The closures and restrictions imposed at workplaces around Australia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have raised unprecedented issues for trade unions seeking to exercise rights of entry in accordance with Part 3–4 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). Section 491 requires that union officials seeking to exercise a statutory right of entry comply with any ‘reasonable request' by an occupier about an occupational health and safety (OHS) requirement that applies to the premises. This had led to disputes about the appropriateness of requirements imposed by employers to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 infection and transmission. This paper will discuss three recent Fair Work Commission (FWC) decisions which consider the reasonableness of requests limiting entry to premises in this context. Although the cases had different outcomes, the FWC's findings demonstrate how an employer's OHS obligations relating to COVID-19 will be weighed against the objects of Part 3–4. Overall the FWC has taken a practical and nuanced approach to such disputes, and expected some cooperation between employers and unions. The limited scope of these decisions does, however, leave some questions relating to rights of entry during the pandemic unanswered.

The impact of public sector employment on regional economic activity: countering seasonal fluctuations and economic shocks

This research documents multidimensional facets of public value provided by public sector employment in regional Australia. Evidence and estimates of the contribution and impact of public sector employment to regional labour markets and economic activity are documented for the Illawarra, South Coast and Capital regions of New South Wales, Australia. Using a mixed methods approach, results presented illustrate that public sector employment embodies a significantly larger proportion of total employment and economic activity in most regional labour markets compared to Greater Sydney or Australia in general. Other analyses reveal both counter-seasonal and countercyclical contributions of public sector income and spending to regional economic activity. The main finding of this research is that public sector employment provides a stable foundation to regional economies that are otherwise strongly influenced by seasonal patterns associated with tourism and agriculture. The importance of public sector employment to the regional economies has been amplified in recent crisis periods associated with large scale bushfires and COVID-19.