Dans un contexte où les organisations se livrent à une « guerre des talents », celles-ci mettent en œuvrent différents moyens afin de retenir leurs employés performants. En appui, la littérature actuelle fait état de la présence de liens entre le soutien organisationnel, le soutien du superviseur, l'engagement organisationnel de type affectif et l'intention de quitter ou de rester des employés. Cependant, à notre connaissance, très peu d'études s'intéressent à la rétention dans une perspective comportementale, soit en examinant les comportements de recherche d'emploi des travailleurs. Pourtant, ces comportements sont identifiés par plusieurs auteurs comme des déterminants importants du roulement. De plus, plusieurs chercheurs valorisent et défendent la pertinence de cette approche comportementale. Dans le but de répondre à ce vide dans la littérature scientifique, le présent mémoire a pour objectif de répondre à la question de recherche suivante : « Quels sont les liens entre le soutien organisationnel, l'engagement organisationnel de type affectif et les comportements de recherche d'emploi? ». Bénéficiant d'un échantillon de 308 travailleurs provenant du secteur des technologies de l'information et des communications, plusieurs hypothèses sont mises à l'épreuve. À l'aide d'analyses de modélisation d'équations structurelles, les résultats indiquent que le soutien organisationnel est lié directement et négativement aux comportements préparatoires de recherche d'emploi. De plus, les résultats démontrent que les comportements préparatoires de recherche d'emploi constituent une variable médiatrice dans le cadre de la relation entre la perception de soutien organisationnel et les comportements actifs de recherche d'emploi. Les résultats du mémoire indiquent qu'il en est de même en ce qui concerne l'engagement organisationnel de type affectif. De plus, les résultats démontrent que le soutien organisationnel est indirectement lié aux comportements préparatoires de recherche d'emploi par la médiation de l'engagement affectif. Enfin, les résultats de l'étude indiquent que le soutien du superviseur est indirectement lié aux comportements de recherche d'emploi par la médiation du soutien organisationnel. En somme, les résultats obtenus démontrent l'impact du soutien organisationnel et de l'engagement affectif sur des comportements concrets des employés témoignant d'un réel désir de quitter l'organisation tels que la révision du Curriculum Vitae et la passation d'entrevue. Par conséquent, ce mémoire amène un appui empirique au modèle théorique du roulement volontaire de Price (2001) et soutient les théories d'échange relatives au soutien du superviseur, au soutien organisationnel et à l'engagement affectif. Les résultats de cette recherche appuient également les travaux de Blau (1994) et suggèrent que les comportements de recherche d'emploi doivent être conceptualisés selon deux dimensions, soit les comportements préparatoires et les comportements actifs de recherche d'emploi. Bien que ces résultats contribuent à la littérature existante, d'autres études sont nécessaires dans différents secteurs d'activités afin d'améliorer la généralisation des résultats. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : soutien du superviseur, soutien organisationnel, engagement organisationnel affectif, comportements de recherche d'emploi, rétention

One of the most significant keys to value creation comes from placing emphasis on producing knowledge. The production of knowledge must a major part of the production strategy. This study aims to harness the concept of knowledge management (KM) as an essential element in the creation of sustainable competitive advantage for organisations. Accordingly, this research seeks to highlight the concept of knowledge management systems (KMS) as an essential element, in which the decision support system (DSS) and organisational performance (OP) are elements that control the survival of organisations in the marketplace. The industry requires creative thinking to generate innovation, learning and excellence in knowledge cognition and knowledge inertia, as well as knowledge acquisition (KA), and spending in three types of DSS: the group decision support system (GDSS), executive support system (ESS) and the expert system (ES). It also requires investment in experience inertia and in work teams for the purpose of access to cross-pollination of the information between the employees and to find new ideas about the industry. This study aims to investigate the issues and factors which affect the utilisation of KM as a tool for effective decision-making (DM).Therefore, decision models and DSSs which enhance effective utilisation of this approach will be investigated. Accordingly, a conceptual model based on the literature review and consultations with knowledge workers was developed. Studies of collaborating organisations which are active in manufacturing in Iraq and the UK were performed to validate the conceptual model and facilitate exploratory investigation regarding the relationships. Data was collected using personal interviews with managers and knowledge workers at the enterprises, in addition to use of the questionnaire which was distributed to samples within these firms. A case study method was used in the data collection stage. These case studies could also be implemented for the mechanical, systems engineering, and manufacturing industries. This is because the findings have been tested where the primary objectives of this study investigate KM gaps in the manufacturing industries generally. This study has also addressed the examined objectives by providing an explanation of several issues, identifying the key sources of KM and the corresponding factors. According to the study, KM is found to occur most strongly over the stages of manufacturing and on which high level KM mainly occurs. Furthermore, this study ties together the concepts of KM, DSS and performance as a way of creating sustinable competitive advantage for the firms. Similarly, the study examines the current use of KM tools and assesses the most prominent methods. This study explores the role of KM in industrial firms and the limitation of obstacles to avoid the gaps. Thus, this study proposes a businesslike framework and creative method, explaining comprehensively how KM must adjust in order to align employees' ideas with the firm's larger goals effectively and strategically, which will reduce the lack of harmonisation between the polarisation and implementation of KMS to those firms. The study identifies high correlation between KM and OP, in addition to identifying high correlation between computer-based DSS and OP.

The stress-buffering model was used as a framework to explore the ways in which perceptions of social support are related to student-athletes’ stress, self-efficacy, and performance in their academic and athletic lives. Ninety-seven student-athletes were asked to complete a survey that measured these constructs with regard to a specific academic and athletic event. Results showed a significant negative relationship between stress and self-efficacy in an academic context and a significant positive relationship between self-efficacy and performance in both an academic and athletic context. Received social support was not significantly related to self-efficacy. The overall results showed moderate support for the stress-buffering model. Future research should explore the harmful and beneficial effects of stress for SAs, whether received or perceived availability of social support is helpful to SAs, and where social support rests in the stress-coping process. / A thesis to be submitted to the graduate division of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communicology August 2012. / The author thanks the Graduate Division at the University of Hawaii at Manoa for the funds provided towards the completion of this thesis.

Yes / Despite the growing research on the influence of entrepreneurs’ improvisational behavior on organizational outcomes, there is limited understanding of the specific firm-level and institutional conditions under which entrepreneurs’ improvisational behavior can effectively drive the success of new ventures. This paper contributes to filling this gap by investigating the moderating effects of financial resource capability and institutional support on the relationship between entrepreneurs’ improvisational behavior and new venture performance. The study’s theoretical model is validated by employing confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression on primary data obtained from 395 new ventures in Ghana. The results reveal a significant positive moderating effect of financial resource capability on the relationship between entrepreneurs’ improvisational and new venture performance. In addition, the findings show that the effectiveness of improvisation behavior in driving a firm’s success depends on the level of institutional support. Overall, the findings provide a more nuanced explanation of the link between entrepreneurs’ improvisational and firm performance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.