In the context of organizational development, surveys are important tools for learning about employees’ experiences in the organization. Organizational practice is faced with two main challenges to the successful implementation of surveys. First, the increasing use of surveys may lead to survey fatigue potentially negatively impacting employees’ motivation to engage in surveys. Second, survey results serve as a basis for strategic decision-making in organizations and thus need to be adequate for linkage research or benchmarking practices. The presented research aims to address these two challenges by taking a respondent-centered approach focusing on motivational and cognitive aspects of employees’ experiences while taking surveys. First, it introduces the new construct of survey experience as a respondent- centered criterion of successful survey design (Paper 1). A short-scale is theoretically developed based on user experience theory (Hassenzahl, Platz, Burmester, & Lehner, 2000) and empirically tested and validated in two studies. It, therefore, contributes to the understanding of survey design influences on participant’s motivational processes of survey response. Additionally, the short-scale equips practitioners with a reliable and economic lever to counter possible effects of survey fatigue by creating enjoyable and usable surveys tailored to specific target groups. Second, the presented research addresses cognitive and motivational aspects of survey processing and potential implications for the comparability of results. It, specifically, examines item-wording effects on response behavior on the example of intensifiers in Likert-type item stems of employee attitude surveys (Papers 2 and 3). It, further, considers the role of the organizational setting in determining employees’ response behavior (Krosnick, 1991) in the response process (Tourangeau & Rasinski, 1988) of employee attitude surveys (Paper 3). It, thereby, contributes to the understanding of employees’ response processes in this particular setting and provides practical advice for item-wording practices in organizations. Overall, the three papers bridge the previous literature by considering the survey itself, participants’ motivational and cognitive processes of survey response, and the survey setting in the context of employee attitude surveys together. The results of the presented research highlight the need for a contextual approach to researching and designing surveys that considers interactions between the survey, the participants, and the setting. It, thereby, contributes starting points to enable a more sophisticated approach to understanding survey response in employee attitude surveys.

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No description available.

Absenteeism is a costly and pervasive problem to business and society. Differences in levels of absenteeism between men and women have been found in both national data and in individual studies; however, it is unclear why gender influences absenteeism rates. Differential effects from gender on the relationship between absenteeism rates and both personal and attitudinal factors of employees were studied. Specific variables examined were age, number of dependents, distance to work, role conflict, job involvement, job satisfaction and central life interests. Job level and working conditions were held constant so that gender effects on absenteeism were isolated from other factors. An employee's age and attitude toward pay were the only factors found to exhibit a gender-related differential impact on absenteeism. It was found that both men's and women's frequency of absenteeism is best explained by motivational factors to attend work. Duration of absenteeism was best explained by motivational factors for men, while both motivational and ability to attend factors were useful in predicting days absent for women. / M.S.

Absenteeism was explored from a social psychological perspective. The purpose was to measure the absence cultures (Nicholson and Johns, l9S5) of male and female employees through the use of policy capturing (Hobson and Gibson, l9S3). Absence was split into three dimensions: Personal Health, Stress Relief, and Family Responsibility (Nicholson and Payne, l9S7). One hundred and two employees of a large southeastern university were used as subjects. They were asked to give their own opinion and their opinion of their organization's view about the inappropriateness/appropriateness of the absence behaviors in the 27 policy capturing vignettes. They were also asked to give their subjective weighting of how they used each dimension to make their overall rating. / Master of Science

by Chou Hsin Yi, Samtani Lavina Santu. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-90). / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS --- p.v / Chapter CHAPTER I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / The Concept of Telecommuting --- p.1 / """Telecommuting"" and ""Teleworking""" --- p.1 / "Definition of "" Telecommuting “" --- p.3 / Driving Forces --- p.4 / Who is a Telecommuter? --- p.6 / Telecommuting in the Context of Hong Kong --- p.8 / Methodology --- p.10 / Chapter CHAPTER II --- TELECOMMUTING AS A PRACTICE --- p.13 / Pervasive in Traditional and IT-Related Industries --- p.13 / Successful Examples --- p.13 / Nationwide Figures --- p.14 / Actors and Driving Forces --- p.16 / Individual Perspective --- p.16 / Organizational Perspective --- p.19 / Societal Perspective --- p.21 / Not as Pervasive --- p.21 / Chapter CHAPTER III --- MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS & LOCAL TELECOMS --- p.23 / Background --- p.23 / The Two Voices: Managers and Employees --- p.23 / The Managers' Perspective --- p.24 / The Employees' Perspective --- p.30 / The Other Two Voices： Men and Women --- p.35 / Synopsis --- p.38 / Chapter CHAPTER IV --- INTERNET STARTUPS --- p.40 / Background --- p.40 / The Two Voices: Managers and Employees --- p.41 / The Managers' Perspective --- p.41 / The Employees' Perspective --- p.41 / The Other Two Voices: Men and Women --- p.47 / Synposis --- p.52 / Chapter CHAPTER V --- SELF-EMPLOYED ENTREPRENEURS --- p.54 / A Commercial Software Consultant --- p.55 / Technical Director at InstruX.com.hk --- p.55 / Synopsis --- p.58 / Chapter CHAPTER VI --- DISCUSSION --- p.60 / Type of Organisation --- p.62 / The Notion of Teamwork --- p.62 / Relationship Between Managers and Employees --- p.63 / Job-Related Perceptions --- p.66 / Gender-Related Perceptions --- p.65 / The Connection Between Work and Non-Work Domains --- p.67 / The Role of Technology --- p.69 / The Role of Relationships --- p.70 / Concluding Remarks --- p.71 / Food For Thought --- p.75 / APPENDIX --- p.76 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.81

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2005. / Also available online.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-102). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates the internal structure that underlies the ODQ. A structural model that explicates the nature of the causal linkages between the six main constructs comprising the ODQ was developed and tested. Data obtained from 273 employees in a chrome manufacturing plant was used. This research found that the proposed model offers a plausible account of the influences that exist between the six main constructs. The benefit of this structural model will be in the enhanced interpretation of the diagnostic results derived from the ODQ. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie stel ondersoek in na die interne struktuur wat onderliggend is aan die Organisasie Diagnostiese Vraelys (ODV). ‘n Strukturele model wat die onderliggende kousale verhoudings van die ses hoofkonstrukte van die ODV blootlê, is ontwikkel en getoets. Data van 273 werknemers, verbonde aan ‘n chroom vervaardigingsaanleg, is gebruik. Die navorsing toon dat die voorgestelde model ‘n aanneemlike weergawe is van die onderliggende verhoudings wat tussen die ses hoofkonstrukte bestaan. Die voordeel van die voorgestelde model lê daarin dat dit die interpretasie van resultate, wat uit die diagnose verkry is, kan verbeter.