This week, we consider what it takes to create a positive workplace.

The role of employee age in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee satisfaction 
Contemporary organisations often reciprocate to society for using resources and for affecting stakeholders by engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR). It has been shown that CSR has a positive impact on employee attitudes. However, not all employees may react equally strongly to CSR practices.

Based on socio-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen in Science 312:1913–1915, 2006), the authors contend that the effect of CSR on employee satisfaction will be more pronounced for older than for younger employees, because CSR practices address those emotional needs and goals that are prioritised when people’s future time perspective decreases.

In one multi-source field study (N = 143) and one experimental study (N = 500), the researchers demonstrate that CSR indeed has a stronger positive effect on employee satisfaction for older relative to younger employees. Accordingly, engaging in CSR can be an attractive tool for organisations that aim to keep their aging workforce satisfied with their job.

Read this Open Access article online for free.

Barbara Wisse, Rob van Eijbergen, Eric F. Rietzschel, and Susanne Scheibe. 2018. Catering to the Needs of an Aging Workforce: The Role of Employee Age in the Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Satisfaction. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 147(4), 875–888.

 

Effects of employee experiences in work life and work–family life conflict on employee life satisfaction and happiness 
The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model capturing the effects of ethics institutionalisation on employee experiences in work life and overall life satisfaction. It was hypothesised that explicit ethics institutionalisation has a positive effect on implicit ethics institutionalisation, which in turn enhances employee experiences in work life.

It was also hypothesised that employee work life experiences (job satisfaction, quality of work life, esprit de corps, and organisational commitment) have a positive effect on overall life satisfaction and happiness, moderated by work–family life conflict. Data were collected though a survey of marketing managers in Italy. The data provide good but partial support for the model. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Read this Open Access article online for free.

Dong-Jin Lee, Grace B. Yu, M. Joseph Sirgy, Anusorn Singhapakdi, and Lorenzo Lucianetti. 2018. The Effects of Explicit and Implicit Ethics Institutionalization on Employee Life Satisfaction and Happiness: The Mediating Effects of Employee Experiences in Work Life and Moderating Effects of Work–Family Life Conflict. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 147(4), 855–874.

 

Quality of leadership and workplace bullying 
The theoretical and empirical link between leadership and workplace bullying needs further elaboration. The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between quality of leadership and the occurrence of workplace bullying 2 years later. Furthermore, the authors aim to examine a possible mechanism from leadership to bullying using social community at work as mediator.

Using survey data that were collected at two different points in time (2006–2008) among 1664 workers from 60 Danish workplaces, the authors examined the total, direct and indirect effects between quality of leadership and workplace bullying. Results indicate that quality of leadership plays a role in establishing working conditions that lead to workplace bullying. Furthermore, social community at work fully mediates the effect of poor quality of leadership on workplace bullying.

This longitudinal study adds to previous cross-sectional studies on the substantial role played by leaders in the bullying process. Within the leadership–bullying relationship, social community at work acts as a full mediator, adding a significant contribution to the discussion of mechanisms involved in the bullying process. Plausible explanations of this mechanism and practical implications are discussed.

Laura Francioli, Paul Maurice Conway, Åse Marie Hansen, Ann-Louise Holten, Matias Brødsgaard Grynderup,  Roger Persson,  Eva Gemzøe Mikkelsen,  Giovanni Costa,  Annie Høgh,  Laura Francioli. 2018. Quality of Leadership and Workplace Bullying: The Mediating Role of Social Community at Work in a Two-Year Follow-Up Study. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 147(4), 889–899.

 

The moral status of labour in human resource management 
In this paper, Miguel Alzola critically examines a set of assumptions that pervades human resource management and HR practices. He argues that they experience a remarkable ethics deficit, explain why this is so, and explore how the UN Global Compact labour principles may help taking ethics seriously in HRM.

This paper contributes to the understanding and critical examination of the undisclosed beliefs underlying theory and practice in human resource management and to the examination of how the UN Global Compact’s ideal of “decent work” may offer some promising avenues for the development of ethics in HRM.

Miguel Alzola. 2018. Decent Work: The Moral Status of Labour in Human Resource Management.
Journal of Business Ethics, 147(4), 835–853.

 

Effects of servant leadership and job social support on employee spouses via self-esteem 
The present study investigated the crossover effects of employee perceptions of servant leadership and job social support on the family satisfaction and quality of family life experienced by the employees’ spouses. These effects were explored through a focus on the mediating role of employee organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE).

Results from a three-wave field survey of 199 employee–spouse dyads in the People’s Republic of China support the hypotheses, indicating that OBSE fully mediates the positive effects of servant leadership and job social support on family satisfaction and quality of family life. These findings provide new theoretical directions for work–family research.

Ziwei Yang, Haina Zhang, Ho Kwong Kwan and Shouming Chen. 2018. Crossover Effects of Servant Leadership and Job Social Support on Employee Spouses: The Mediating Role of Employee Organization-Based Self-Esteem. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 147(3), 595–604.

 

Female employees’ perceived workplace sexual harassment and the family satisfaction of their husbands 
This study examined the relationship between workplace sexual harassment as perceived by female employees and the family satisfaction of their husbands. It also considered the mediating roles of employees’ job tension and work-to-family conflict (WFC) and the moderating role of employees’ work–home segmentation preference in this relationship. The results, based on data from 210 Chinese employee–spouse dyads collected at four time points, indicated that employees’ perceptions of sexual harassment were positively related to their job tension, which in turn increased WFC. Moreover, WFC was negatively related to spouse family satisfaction. The negative relationship between sexual harassment and spouse family satisfaction was mediated by employees’ job tension and WFC. Finally, work–home segmentation preference attenuated the relationship between job tension and WFC. The results provided insightful theoretical contributions and managerial implications for the sexual harassment and work–family literatures.

Jie Xin, Shouming Chen, Ho Kwong Kwan, Randy K. Chiu and Frederick Hong-kit Yim. 2018. Work–Family Spillover and Crossover Effects of Sexual Harassment: The Moderating Role of Work–Home Segmentation Preference. 
Journal of Business Ethics, 147(3), 619–629.

 

Work–family conflict contributes indirectly to turnover intention among physicians 
This paper aimed to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction, work stress, work–family conflict and turnover intention, and explore factors associated with turnover intention, among physicians in Guangdong Province, China.

From August to October 2013, physicians completed questionnaires and scales with regard to their job satisfaction, work stress, work–family conflict, and turnover intention. Binary logistic regression and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used in data analysis. A total of 3963 physicians were approached, with 3563 completing the questionnaire. The mean score of the overall perception of turnover intention of physicians who worked in Guangdong was 2.71 on a scale ranging from 1 to 6. Hours worked per week, working in an urban/rural area, type of institution, and age significantly impacted on turnover intention.

Turnover intention was directly and negatively related to job satisfaction, and it was directly, indirectly and positively related to work stress and work–family conflict. Job satisfaction, work stress, work–family conflict, hours worked per week, working in an urban/rural area, types of institution and age are influencing factors of turnover intention.

Reducing working hours, raising salary, providing more opportunities for career development and training, supporting and encouraging physicians by senior managers could potentially contribute to the reduction in turnover intention.

Read this Open Access article online for free.

Lu Y, Hu X, Huang X, et al. 2017. The relationship between job satisfaction, work stress, work–family conflict, and turnover intention among physicians in Guangdong, China: a cross-sectional study.
BMJ Open 2017;7:e014894.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-014894.