The purpose of the study is to explore the relationship between employees¡¦ perceived organizational support, positive psychological capital, readiness for organizational change and resistance to organizational change. The total valid sample consisted of 188 employees from companies in manufacturing industry, which was undergoing change. The data from matched supervisor and subordinate (a 1:4 supervisor -subordinate ratio) responses was analyzed by factor analysis, reliability analysis, and measured by LISREL model to examine the relationship among the constructs. Results showed that employees¡¦ readiness for organizational change had direct effects on their resistance to organizational change, and indicated that readiness for organizational change fully mediated the relationships between perceived organizational support and resistance to organizational change. In addition, readiness for organizational change fully mediated the relationships between positive psychological capital and resistance to organizational change as well. However, neither perceived organizational support nor positive psychological capital had direct effect on employees¡¦ resistance to change. Finally the study provided three suggestions for companies. Firstly, good communication environment and change-supporting culture should be constructed. Secondly, companies could build the competency index including positive psychological capital and implement it into HRM practice, such as recruitment, selecting, and training. Thirdly, employees¡¦ perceived organizational support could be cultivated by providing employees the employee assistance program.

Academic researchers and marketing practitioners are exploring methods to improve salesperson training. Recently, self-directed learning projects were proposed as a new paradigm for learning to take place in the sales domain (Artis & Harris, 2007). Current conceptual work provides a strong foundation for understanding salesperson self-directed learning; however, prior to quantitatively testing proposed models, scales must be created and modified to address salesperson specific learning endeavors. The purpose of this dissertation is: 1) to develop scales to measure salesperson willingness to use self-directed learning projects (SDLP's), 2) to develop a conceptual model of salesperson self-directed learning, 3) to modify current scales to specifically examine salesperson self-directed learning, and 4) to test this model empirically. To accomplish this, the relevant theories and literature were analyzed to create a theoretical model that would test the following research questions: 1.What factors contribute to salesperson willingness to use SDLP's? 2.What is the relationship between salesperson willingness to use SDLP's and salesperson use of SDLP's? 3.What is the relationship between salesperson use of SDLP's and salesperson performance? Two conceptual models were created to account for two categories of learning projects, induced and synergistic SDLP's. The following variables reflect the conceptual models: willingness to use induced/synergistic SDLP's, use of induced/ synergistic SDLP's, perceived supervisor/organizational support for induced/synergistic SDLP's, and self-regulation training and performance. Data from 392 salespeople within the financial services industry fit the measurement model and suggest that use of synergistic (non-mandatory) SDLP's positively impacts performance (.396) and use of induced (mandatory) SDLP's does not impact performance. Willingness to use synergistic SDLP's positively impacts use of synergistic SDLP's. Support from the organization and supervisor positively impact willingness to use induced and synergistic SDLP's. Surprisingly, training in self-regulation did not positively impact salesperson willingness to use induced or synergistic SDLP's. The new measures for all constructs exhibit Cronbach's alpha reliability statistics over .7 and acceptable confirmatory factor analysis results. The study provides reliable measurement scales and empirical support for the future study of self-directed learning in a sales context.

Clinical trials play an important role in advancing therapeutic and preventive care with many current modalities resulting from prior research. While prior research has described barriers to participation in therapeutic clinical trials, much less in known about barriers related to participation in trials aimed at prevention, prostate cancer prevention in particular. Physicians have been shown to play a critical role in access to trials; however, less is known about the individual and structural factors that influence their participation in prostate cancer prevention trials. This research provides rich ethnographic detail within the context of an ongoing trial. Research participants included physician/investigators who were either directly (serving as a co-investigator) or peripherally (referring patients for participation) involved in prostate cancer prevention intervention clinical trial (PCPICT), as well as those who were considered for participation but declined. Methods included open ended semi-structured interviews, participant-observation and a survey. Participants were recruited via direct inquiry, email and/or letter regarding participation. The results of this study show that individual and structural factors intersect, influencing both the willingness and ability of physician/investigators to participate or refer patients for participation in a prostate cancer prevention intervention clinical trial. Individual factors such as explanatory views on prevention, notions of risk and uncertainty, shared decision-making and duality of roles appear to have a greater influence on the willingness of physicians to participate while structural factors such as staffing, other resources and time are more influential in regards to the ability to participate. This research served as a critical first step towards providing an in-depth understanding of the individual and structural factors that influence a physician's participation in this type of trial. It builds from prior work where a better understanding of barriers and identification of successful strategies to overcome them was a noted void. The researcher identifies areas where additional research would be beneficial and provides applied recommendations for those considering the design of future cancer prevention intervention projects.

Prior research acknowledges employees' crucial role in building strong service brands, yet empirical research on how to turn employees into brand champions remains scarce and has been largely approached from an internal branding perspective. Drawing on social identity and social exchange theories, this study takes a broader organizational perspective to link internal branding outcomes (employee-brand fit, brand knowledge, and belief in the brand) and employees' perceptions of organizational support to a range of employee brand-building behaviors, with organizational identification as the key mediating mechanism. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of employee data from a major retail bank reveal organizational identification as a strong motivational force for employees to become brand champions, largely mediating the effects of internal branding outcomes. When organizational identification is low, perceived organizational support (as a quality indicator of employees' exchange-based relationship with the organization) constitutes an alternative, external motivator of on-the-job brand building behaviors; when organizational identification is high, perceived organizational support boosts employees' voluntary participation in brand development and positive word-ofmouth. These findings highlight the managerial relevance of the employee-organization relationship for turning employees into brand champions and show how organizational identification can be stimulated by means of internal branding. (authors' abstract)

No description available.

According to organizational support theory (OST), the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is driven by social exchange mechanisms and mediated by felt obligation (Eisenberger, Armeli, Rexwinkel, Lynch, & Rhoades, 2001). This explanation may be incomplete or limited as well-established motivational concepts are omitted. A new conceptual model is described that extends OST by incorporating the several cognitive motivational concepts (e.g., behavioral intentions, self-efficacy) with the felt obligation concept. The proposed model is tested in two separate studies an experimental study of undergraduate students (N = 191) and a field study of nurses (N = 171). In the experiment, induced organizational support was found to significantly affect all the dependent variables, including POS, felt obligation, self-efficacy, and intentions. Results of structural equation modeling were generally supportive of the proposed model. POS was found to be positively and indirectly related to both self-efficacy and intentions, through felt obligation. Consistent with expectations, felt obligation was positively related to both self-efficacy and intentions, while self-efficacy was positively related to intentions. The felt obligation-OCB relation was fully mediated by self-efficacy and intentions. As predicted, a positive relationship between intention and OCB was observed. Contrary to expectations, POS was not directly related to self-efficacy. POS-felt obligation was significantly moderated by exchange ideology significantly in the experimental study only. These findings suggest that employees who feel obligated to the organization as a result of high perceived organizational support consider both their ability and form intentions to engage in OCBs before reciprocating. The results suggest that variance in felt obligation is associated with efficacy and goal states. The experimental study presented here successfully pioneers the use of vignettes to experimentally induce variance in POS. This research offers two contributions to theory. First, the present findings extend goal theory by demonstrating that felt obligation influences goal choice. Second, this research extends OST by integrating well-established motivational concepts with social exchange mechanisms to provide more detailed understanding of how POS is translated into OCB, and by demonstrating that reciprocation for POS is more conscious and deliberate than previously recognized. / Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations

p. 1 - 89 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-01-16T19:01:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DDDD.pdf: 1343723 bytes, checksum: e5bc2bc8f5676ee8c5732e7935f84a10 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-01-16T19:01:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DDDD.pdf: 1343723 bytes, checksum: e5bc2bc8f5676ee8c5732e7935f84a10 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Buscou-se, neste estudo, investigar a percepção dos participantes de um Programa de Avaliação de Competências, aplicado em uma empresa de serviços do Polo Petroquímico de Camaçari. A investigação e a interpretação dos resultados foram realizadas a partir de três dimensões de análise. Primeiro buscou-se conhecer a percepção que os participantes tiveram do próprio programa de avaliação de competências, em seguida, houve o interesse na percepção do programa diante dos impactos profissionais gerados após sua implantação e, por fim, buscou-se conhecer a percepção do programa frente aos impactos pessoais. Observou-se, ao final das análises, que o modelo do programa de avaliação de competência aplicado na empresa foi considerado como acolhedor pelos entrevistados e oportuno para o autoconhecimento e crescimento pessoal. Não houve, entretanto, nenhuma comprovação de que o programa tenha gerado impactos objetivos na ascensão profissional dos avaliados dentro da empresa. No decorrer da pesquisa, foi possível observar que a avaliação de competências pode influenciar a competitividade da empresa e o desejo de nela permanecer, desde que esteja atrelada a outros aspectos, considerados na literatura como suporte organizacional (liderança, justiça salarial, oportunidade de ascensão profissional). O programa de avaliação de competências favoreceu a identificação e o desenvolvimento de competências individuais que se refletiram no ambiente de trabalho e também na produtividade, segundo depoimentos práticos dos próprios entrevistados. Porém, outrora, insatisfeitos com o suporte organizacional percebido, transferiram suas novas competências, adquiridas no programa, para outras empresas, inclusive as concorrentes. Os depoimentos concedidos pelos entrevistados às pesquisadoras tornaram possível a investigação dos objetivos do estudo e, também, evidenciaram fragilidades significativas nos processos de gestão de pessoas. A observância de tais fragilidades, quando numa vertente empresarial, deve servir como alerta para que as políticas de gestão de pessoas sejam revistas, a fim de que a empresa se mantenha competitiva no mercado de serviços terceirizados. / Salvador

Submitted by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2015-03-25T18:57:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ludwig, Natália Costa.pdf: 1859874 bytes, checksum: 633893816ab77bc8d7a51f566dcd5aef (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2015-04-06T18:17:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Ludwig, Natália Costa.pdf: 1859874 bytes, checksum: 633893816ab77bc8d7a51f566dcd5aef (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-06T18:17:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ludwig, Natália Costa.pdf: 1859874 bytes, checksum: 633893816ab77bc8d7a51f566dcd5aef (MD5) / Este trabalho foi desenvolvido com o propósito de investigar as práticas de Reconhecimento e o nível de Reconhecimento e de Percepção de Suporte Organizacional dos empregados da unidade Serviços Compartilhados Regional Norte e Nordeste da Petrobras. Para tanto, realizou-se uma pesquisa descritiva e aplicada, valendo-se de metodologias quantitativas. A amostra da pesquisa foi composta por 342 empregados, aos quais foi aplicado um questionário elaborado a partir de práticas de Reconhecimento identificadas através de Mendonça, 2002; Nelson, 2007; Almeida, 2008 e Ventrice, 2009, da escala de Prazer-Sofrimento no Trabalho - Fator Reconhecimento (Mendes, 1999) e da escala Percepção de Suporte Organizacional (Brandão, 2009). Os dados obtidos foram analisados por meio dos softwares Excel e SPSS versão 20. Foi realizada análise fatorial e verificada consistência interna através do indicador de Alpha de Cronbach. Também foi realizado cálculo de estatística dos dados como média, desvio-padrão, favorabilidade e correlação (coeficiente de correlação de Pearson) entre o constructo fator Reconhecimento e as dimensões do constructo Percepção de Suporte Organizacional. Identificou-se como práticas de reconhecimento mais valorizadas pelos trabalhadores que responderam a pesquisa: respeito do superior imediato, elogio escrito e divulgado na gerência, autonomia para tomada de decisão, aprovação, apoio e feedback de superiores. O nível de Reconhecimento foi alto e a percepção de suporte organizacional moderada. Em relação às correlações, identificaram-se correlações positivas entre a variável reconhecimento e os fatores Gestão de Desempenho e prática de Promoção, Suporte Material ao Desempenho e Remuneração. Para o fator carga de trabalho a correlação não se apresentou significativa. Diante dos resultados obtidos, foi possível elaborar algumas sugestões para fortalecer a cultura de Reconhecimento na unidade e desta forma, alavancar o nível de percepção de suporte organizacional. This work was developed with the aim to investigate Recognition practices and the level of workers at the unity Serviços Compartilhados Regional RNNE about Recognition and Perceived Organization Support. To this end, we carried out a descriptive and applied study, drawing on quantitative methodologies. The search sample consisted of 342 workers, for which a questionnaire was developed from a model of recognition practices identified by Mendonça, 2008; Nelson, 2007; Almeida, 2008 and Ventrice, 2009, from Pleasure-Suffering scale (Mendes, 1999) and from Perceived Organization Support scale (Brandão, 2009). The data were analyzed using Excel software and SPSS version 20. Did factorial analysis and verified the internal consistence by Alpha of Cronbach indicator. The statistical calculation data was done as an average, standard deviation, favorability and correlation (Pearson´s correlation coefficient) between the Recognition factor construct and the Perceived Organization Support dimensions construct. We have identified like as recognition practices most valued by workers who responded to the survey: respect of the immediate superior, praise written and published in management, autonomy for decision making, approval, support and feedback from superiors. The level of recognition was high and perceived organizational support moderate. Regarding positive correlations were identified between recognition variable and Performance Management and Practice of Promotion, Material Support to Performance and Payment factors. The factor Workload correlation did not prove to be significant. Based on these results, we can make some suggestions to strengthen the culture of recognition in the unit and thus enhance the level of perceived organizational support.

The purpose of the study is to explore and explain how and why perceived support can create a sense of want to, ought to and have to change. This study investigates perceived organizational support (POS) and perceived supervisor supports (PSS) influences on the dimensions of commitment to change (C2C), affective- (AC2C), continuous- (CC2C) and normative commitment to change (NC2C). To investigate the relationships, a mix-method approach is applied. Data is yield from 168 survey respondents from three subsidiaries in Southeast Asia within a multinational corporation (MNC) and through eight interviews with employees at one subsidiary. The findings reveals that POS is more important in change initiatives than PSS, indicating that POS is vital to understand the influence on employees C2C mindset. POS is identified as the glue that binds employees and change goals together into the desired mindset of AC2C. This study contributes to literature by presenting new perspectives concerning POS and PSS influences on C2C dimensions within an MNC. Adding a layer to research that has largely focused on the concepts within psychology. This study is an introduction to deeper understanding of the relationships between POS, PSS and the C2C dimensions. Signaling that further research should focus more on this context.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Royce Ann Collins / Judith F. Favor / As higher education populations are changing, institutions are forced to find new ways to meet students’ needs and schools’ declining budgets. Institutions have found that changing their business models by creating accelerated learning programs and extended campuses are assisting in this area. An outcome of these modifications is increased usage of adjunct faculty. These extended sites typically have small staffs and adjunct faculty members usually have little connection to the main campus, work a primary job, and have limited teaching experience. This research explored adjunct business faculty members teaching face-to-face at a private institution's off campus locations to understand their motivation level and perception of organizational support, as well as if the two interrelate. Multiple regression was completed to further explore the relationship of their demographics and motivation level or perceived organizational support. Self-determination theory was used to explore adjunct faculty members’ motivations, measuring motivation along a continuum from external to intrinsic motivation when a person is not exclusively one or the other. Adjunct faculty members at this institution have an identified motivation level moving toward integration, moving from extrinsic motivation and closer to being more intrinsically motivated. These adjunct faculty members have commitment to the organization’s goals and value their work. Organizational support was used to understand workers’ commitment to their organization as well as their satisfaction. These adjunct faculty members also reported a high level of perceived organizational support. A more thorough understanding of adjunct faculty members’ motivation levels and perceived organizational support will allow for better recruiting as well as create training and development programs to retain qualified, high-quality adjunct faculty members.