Factors affect taking charge at vingroup corporation

In this study, I suppose that Job Demand and Decision Latitude, Supervisory Support, Distributive and Procedural Justice, and Organizational Commitment are significant factors that affec

ADVISOR’S ASSESSMENT

ADVISOR’S SIGNATURE

NGUYEN THE KHAI (DBA)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Truthfully speaking, I would like to acknowledge the assistance of individuals who guide and help me for completing this research Firstly of all, I am very grateful to professor Dr Khai Nguyen I would like to send truthful thanks to Dr Khai Nguyen for the patience, time, comments and support me during the research

Besides, I would like to thank to the board of managers and all employees of Vingroup Corporation for their precious comments and helps to collect data for this thesis

I also wish to give my sincerest and deepest gratitude to my family and all of my sweet friends for their encouragement, and great support

With best regards

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract page 5

Chapter 1: Introduction

1 Company Brief introduction page 6

2 Organizational Structure of Vingroup page 10

3 Corporate Culture of Vingroup page 11

4 Motivation of The Research page 12

5 Research Problem Statements page 13

6 Purpose of The Research page 13

7 Scope of The Research page 14

8 Significance of The Research page 14

9 Limitation of The Research page 14

Chapter II: Literature Review

1 Job Demand and Decision Latitude page 15

2 Supervisory Support page 16

3 Distributive and Procedural Justice page 17

4 Organizational Commitment page 20

5 Taking Charge page 21

Chapter III: Research model and hypotheses

1 Research Model page 23

2 Hypotheses page 24 2.1 Job characteristics page 24

2.2 Organizational Commitment page 26 2.3 Organizational Justice page 28 2.4 Workplace Behaviors page 31

3 Research Participants page 34

4 Data Collection Procedure page 34

Chapter IV: Analysis and results

1 Cronbach’s Alpha page 35

2 Descriptive Statistic page 36

3 Hypothesis Testing

3.1 Hypothesis 1 Testing Results page 36 3.2 Hypothesis 2 Testing Results page 37 3.3 Hypothesis 3 Testing Results page 38 3.4 Hypothesis 4 Testing Results page 39

Chapter V: Conclusion

1 Summary of The Results page 40

2 Discussion and Recommendation page 40

FIGURES AND TABLES

ABSTRACT

Factors impacting on the willingness of employees’ taking charge are considered to be very important and vital for the improvement and success of any organizations In this study, I suppose that Job Demand and Decision Latitude, Supervisory Support, Distributive and Procedural Justice, and Organizational Commitment are significant factors that affect Vingroup’s employees’ Taking Charge The results based on the data collected from 250 employees at Vingroup largely supported the proposed theoretical framework The findings in this study are expected to assist Vingroup managers to have more sharpened and effective strategies for the process of developing the Group as well

as improving the management of human resource

Key words: Job Demand and Decision Latitude, Supervisory Support, Distributive and

Procedural Justice, Organizational Commitment, Taking Charge

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Company Brief Introduction

Vingroup Joint Stock Company

(“Vingroup”) is a leading private economic

corporation in Vietnam, engaging in the fields of

tourism and high-end real estate with two

strategic brands, Vinpearl and Vincom

Joining in the market in 2002, Vincom spared no efforts to become Vietnam’s premier upmarket real estate brand with a number of shopping mall, office and apartment complexes, and large-scale modern mixed-use townships, spearheading the trend of high-end ecological urban zones in Vietnam In the current downturn economy, Vingroup’s projects still stand out from the market thanks to the Group’s commitment

to progress and quality, which has established its strong brand and excellent reputation

After joining the market in 2001, Vingroup’s hospitality brand, Vinpearl, soon became the flagship of the Vietnamese tourism sector, featuring five-star and five-star plus hotel and resorts, as well as beachfront villas, amusement parks and golf courses under the Vinpearl Resort, Vinpearl Luxury and Vinpearl Villas brands Vingroup also aims to develop ten hotel, resort and recreation complexes at the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam over the next half-decade

In addition to the two above-mentioned strengths, Vingroup has recently begun operating top quality healthcare, and fitness and beauty care facilities under two new strategic brands, Vinmec and Vincharm The first Vinmec International Hospital in Hanoi, featuring 600 single in-patient rooms and clinics, was officially inaugurated in January 2012

Vingroup has always played the role of the pioneer and driver of consumer trends

in all its business sectors through offering top quality and five-star international standard products

In January 2012, Vinpearl JSC was merged into Vincom JSC, marking the official operation of Vingroup Joint Stock Company, ranking among the top major companies

on Vietnam’s stock market in terms of market capitalization The new structure ensures sustained development and allows Vingroup to focus on developing its strategic brands:

• Vinhomes (Luxury serviced apartments and villas)

• Vincom (Premium shopping malls)

• Vinpearl (Hotels & Resorts)

• Vinpearl Land (Entertainment)

• Vinmec (Healthcare services)

• Vincharm (Fitness and beauty care)

• Almaz (The International Cuisine & Convention Center)

• VinPro

Vingroup is also known on the international capital market as the first Vietnamese enterprise to have successfully issued international convertible bonds listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) By 2012, the Group had raised a total of US $400 million Operating with four strategic brand names: Vincom, Vinpearl, Vinmec and Vincharm, owing and controlling interest in numerous high-end real estate and tourism projects, Vingroup has become one of the leading private economic groups in Vietnam, boasting

dynamic and sustainable growth as well as significant potential for integration into Asia and the world

CORPORATION’S PROFILE Corporate’s English name Vingroup Joint Stock Company

Head office No.7, Bang Lang Street, Viet Hung Ward, Long

Bien District, Hanoi Phone – Website +84 4 39749999 – www.vingroup.net

Table 1: Vingroup’s profile

Vision

Guided by its pioneering aspirations as well as a sustainable investment - development strategy, Vingroup has been striving to become Vietnam’s and the regions’ leading multisectoral business group, which aims to become a Group of international stature and standards

Vingroup aspires to establish its Vietnamese brand, demonstrating Vietnamese intellectual prominence and pride in the international arena

Missions

For the market: To provide premium products and services of international standards that are original, highly creative and embedded with local identities In addition to its outstanding quality, each product - service contains a cultural message with a view to best cater for customers’ legitimate needs

For shareholders and partners: To enhance the collaborative spirit for mutual development; to strive to become “The Number 1 companion” of partners and shareholders; to generate attractive and sustainable investment values for shareholders and partners

For employees: To develop a professional, dynamic, creative and humane working environment, enabling high income and equal development opportunities for all employees

For society: To harmonize the company’s and society’s benefits; to make active contributions to community-oriented activities, and to demonstrate citizens’ sense of responsibilities and national pride

Core values

“Trust – Responsibility – Knowledge – Speed – Quality – Humanity”

 Trust: to put a premium on Trust and protect Trust as protecting its pride, always be well-prepared for execution and spare no effort for honoring its commitments

 Responsibility: to take Responsibility as a foundation, to strictly observe the law and maintain ethics, to be committed to a customer-centric policy

 Knowledge: to highly value creativity as vitality and development leverage, to appreciate courage and determination, to advocate the building of a “learning business”

 Speed: to set the principle “Speed and efficiency in every activity”, to practice “quick decision – quick investment – quick execution – quick sale and quick adaptation”

 Quality: to pursue the goal of “Quality personnel, quality products/services, and quality life and quality society”

 Humanity: to develop relationships based on the spirit of humanity and treating staff

as the most treasured asset, to build “mildness” based on fairness, honesty and solidarity

2 Organizational Structure of Vingroup

Figure 1: Vingroup’s corporate structure

3 Corporate Culture of Vingroup

Vingroup brings together the most capable Vietnamese and international professionals who possess intellect and discipline, talent and determination, patriotism and ethnic pride, charity, good intentions and intense work ethics

Each Vingroup employee must be proactive, eager to learn, constantly strive for self-improvement and internalize the Group’s culture and its six core values as a guideline for his or her actions

Innovation must be constant and continuous to accomplish the goals of "Best People - Best Products & Services - Best Life - Best Society" With each passing day, all across Vietnam, day and night, rain or shine, projects bearing the Vingroup brand continue to rise This non-stop effort is to ensure sustained development of the Group and bring future generations a better life

With the utmost respect for discipline, Vingroup's corporate culture - a culture of professionalism and trust is built on the six core values: "Credibility - Integrity - Creativity - Speed - Quality - Humanity" The emphasis on speed, efficiency and adherence to company policies is imbued in all employee actions, creating a collective force that ensures strong success and development in all sectors in which the Group participates

The Group applies its determination and passion not only in the workplace, but also in its cultural and community activities To promote the "Healthy Body - Happy Spirit – Nimble Mind" campaign, each Friday afternoon the company organizes a

“Healthy Living Festival” where employees participate in active entertainment activities such as Flash mob dancing and intramural sports such as volleyball, soccer and tennis

To instil and reinforce the six core values, the Group holds award contests and training campaigns such as "Good People, Good Deeds", "Efficiency, Profitability" and

"12-Hour Transformation for Success" These campaigns entertain, boost morale and reinforce the core values while helping employees to change their thinking and work more efficiently with better results

For timely dissemination of corporate information as well as activities taking place across the country, an internal magazine called "The House of Vingroup" provides common space for employees to exchange ideas and to learn about and gain pride in the history of the Group

At Vingroup, each employee considers the Group a second home, a place to engage and spend the majority of each day to live and work In any role and any position,

we are proud to be a member of the Vingroup family

4 Motivation of The Research

As it is known, Vietnam is a developing country with a potential variety of businesses as well as potential competition of domestic and foreign firms As a fact of increasing living standard, more and more organizations are taking part in the service sector This type of sector has been merging in Vietnam recently and as it is said by World Bank that Vietnam’s service sector has emerged as the largest sector in the economy and the biggest contributor to the overall growth rate Vingroup is one of the largest firms in Vietnam taking advantages of people’s increasing needs to expand and develop its business sectors

The success of Vingroup in service sector has been confirmed by successful projects in retailing, tourism, real estate and health care services Without a doubt, with the fast and stable development, Vingroup can be proud to say that it has a dedicated and professional staffs However, to effectively survive on the aggressive market, Vingroup needs to consolidate and sharpen its employees for the process of conquering the market More specifically Vingroup needs to pay attention to factors affecting the employee’s

taking charge at work As it is said men and woman want to do a good job, and if they are provided with proper environment, they will do so (Bill Hewlett, 2001)

5 Research Problem Statements

With the stable development of Vingroup, human resources are regarded to be a valuable assets Therefore, retaining and developing the staff is the first priority that Vingroup needs to pay attention to and try its best for the process of conquering the Vietnamese market

In the aggressive market, Vingroup is competing with large competitors not only domestic firms but also foreign competitors who have power and prestige on the market like Lotte Group, Maximark, Big C, Satramart and so on

As the result of aggressive competition in the industry, Vingroup needs a skilled and dedicated staff who are willing to adopt changes and do their bests without the orders from the Board of Directors However, there is a fact that a number of employees working at Vingroup are tending to reject changes and not willing to complete their responsibilities for the following reasons:

- They are afraid of changing their traditional working habits

- They are afraid of learning and adopting new procedures at work

- They don’t receive thoughtful cares from the Board of Directors

- Even though they work in an active and professional working environment, they are sometime unfairly treated

- Some employees aren’t willing to dedicate their skills, knowledge and physical health

to the development of the Group

6 Purpose of The Research

The purpose of the study is to examine the factors like Job Demand and Decision Latitude, Supervisory Support, Distributive and Procedural Justice, and Organizational Commitment related to the willingness of employees’ Taking Charge at work

With the findings from the study, it is expected to give empirical evidences in the aspects of how these factors impacting on the taking charge of employees and in what way the Board of Directors can help to improve these factors Last but not least, it is expected from the study that the findings and results will help to improve policies so that employees can have more professional working environment

7 Scope of The Research

The research was conducted on 250 employees who are currently working at the Group The questionnaires were sent to the employee in 25 days to fill in

8 Significance of The Research

The research is conducted to give the Board of Directors a deep understanding of factors impacting on the employee’s taking charge In addition, as it is mentioned above, the research will help the Board of Directors have a clearer view of problems that are causing the employees not willing to adopt changes and dedicate to the work

9 Limitations of The Research

Conducted in three days at Vingroup with just 250 employees, the research cannot have overall and specific views of most of employees Besides that Vingroup is operating with lots of branches all over Vietnam Properly speaking, working condition in some areas can cause employees have different viewpoints

Unexpected limitations can cause the problems for the findings to be correct and more meaningful These ones can be time, physical condition of employees However, with the hope to find out the viewpoints of employees to help the Group to develop much more in the future

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Job Demand and Decision Latitude

Well-known organizational case studies have indirectly referred to the important interactive effects of job demands and job decision latitude Whyte’s restaurant workers (1948) experienced the severest strain symptoms when they faced heavy customer demands which they were not able to control Gouldner (1954) notes that personal and organizational tensions increase when close supervision is applied to miners under heavy workloads; and Crozier (1964) and Drabek and Hass (1969) discuss organizational strain which arises among groups of workers simultaneously facing heavy workloads and rigid rule structures of limited decision alternatives Unfortunately, these case studies and their consistent findings have had little influence on survey analyses of mental strain among large group of working individuals

Research traditions have emerged to deal with the psychosocial effects of work environments One tradition focuses on job decision latitude (decision authority or skill level), the other treats “stressors” on the job Most of the vast literature on job satisfaction and mental strain focuses primarily on job decision latitude (for example, Kornhauser, 1965; even Hackman and Lawler, see p.290), while the “life stress” tradition of epidemiological studies of mental health (for example, Holmes and Rahe, 1967; Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend, 1974) focuses on the illnesses induced by environmental stressors or job stressors along (for example, Sundbom, 1971; Caplan et al., 1976; Theorell, 1976) Unfortunately, job decision latitude research rarely includes systematic discussion of job demand and the job demand literature rarely includes systematic discussion of decision latitude (Karasek, 1978a)

Karasek (1979) defined “decision latitude” as “the working individual’s potential control over his tasks and his conduct during the working day” (pp.289-290) This factor has frequently been shown to influence aspects of employee well-being and physical health; for example, reviews by Ganster and Fusilier (1989) Parkes (1989), and Warr

(1987), Karasek also drew attention to the importance of job demands, these being defined as “psychological stressors involved in accomplishing the work load” (p.291)

He demonstrated through secondary analyses of data from the USA and Sweden that variables such as job satisfaction, exhaustion, and depression could be predicted from the combination of these two job characteristics Specifically, he found that employee in jobs perceived to have both low decision latitude and high job demands were particularly likely to report low well-being

2 Supervisory Support

Supervisory support is often defined as the extent to which supervisors encourage employees to attend training and apply the training on the job (Facteau et al., 1995; Switzer, Nagy & Mullins, 2005) The burgeoning literature suggests that support emanating from the supervisors play an important function in promoting transfer of training (Baldwin & Ford, 1988; Elangovan & Karakowsky, 1999; Nikandrou, Brinia & Bereri, 2009)

Colquitt et al (2000), in their quantitative review on factors affecting training motivation and transfer outcomes based upon 106 articles published since 1975, found similar result They posited that the extent to which supervisors provided sufficient support had robustly correlated with the employees’ ability to transfer what they learned

on the job The meta-analytic study was fully supported by other comprehensive reviews

of training transfer literature (e.g., Elangovan & Karakowsky, 1999; Cheng & Ho, 2001; Merriam & Leahy, 2005; Burke & Hutchins, 2007)

Many researches have scrutinized the importance of supervisor support and found that employees also expect supervisors to be caring and supportive (Eisenberger et al., 2002; Kottke and Sharafinski, 1988) Griffton et al., (2001) found that supervisor’s support have strong relationship with job satisfaction and Ogilvie (1986) confirmed that supervisors’ actions directly impact the commitment of employees Armstrong-Stassen (1998) proved that organizational support has more impact on organizational

commitment Hutchison, (1997) concluded that although both organizational support and supervisor support have positive effect on organizational commitment, organizational support will help employees more.

Also, Xiao (1996) conducted a quantitative study on transfer of training based on

a sample of 1023 women employees working in four electronic manufacturing companies located at Shenzhen, China Through the analysis of survey results, the researcher discovered that support from supervisors was the most influential factor that correlated with transfer of training

Janssen (2003) found evidence that employees responded more innovatively to higher levels of job demands when they perceived that their efforts were fairly rewarded

by their supervisor Oldham and Cummings (1996) found that supportive, controlling supervisors created a work environment that fostered creativity Open interactions with supervisors and the receipt of encouragement and support lead to enhanced employee creativity (Tierney, Farmer, and Graen 1999)

non-3 Distributive and Procedural Justice

Distributive justice was found to be a more important predictor of two personal outcomes, pay satisfaction and job satisfaction, than procedural justice, whereas the reverse was true for two organizational outcomes-organizational commitment and subordinate’s evaluation of supervisor However, procedural and distributive justice also interacted in predicting organizational outcomes We discuss limitations of this study and directions for future research

Folger and Konovsky captured the key distinction regarding justice in work organizations, noting that “distributive justice refers to the perceived fairness of the amounts of compensation employees receive; procedural justice refers to the perceived fairness of the means used to determine those amounts” (1989: 115) However, few studies have examined how both distributive and procedural justice affect outcomes (e.g., Folger & Konovsky, 1989; Greenberg, 1987a; Konovsky, Folger, & Cropanzano,

1987) In addition, most research has focused on legal rather than work-related issues For example, Greenberg and Folger (1983) showed that defendants viewed trial verdicts (distributions) positively if they were seen as the result of fair procedures, an effect called the “fair process effect” (cf Musante, Gilbert, & Thibaut, 1983) Folger and Konovsky pointed out that this research has suggested different predictive roles for procedural and distributive justice In particular, studies have found distributive justice to predict satisfaction with specific, personal outcomes, like case verdicts, better than procedural justice The reverse is true, however, when people make more general evaluations of, for instance, legal institutions or their representatives (Lind & Tyler, 1988)

In fact, the few studies that have been done in organizational settings have tended

to support the notion that the predictive roles of procedural and distributive justice depend, at least in part, on the nature of the outcome in question For example, Alexander and Ruderman (1987) found procedural justice accounted for more variance in management evaluations, job satisfaction, and perceived conflict than distributive justice Konovsky and colleagues (1987) found that procedural justice predicted organizational commitment, but not pay satisfaction, whereas the reverse was true for distributive justice Similarly, Folger and Konovsky (1989) found that procedural justice accounted for more variance in organizational commitment and trust in a supervisor than distributive justice, whereas the reverse was true for satisfaction with a pay raise

An allocation process consists of a distribution (an outcome) and a procedure, i.e.,

a set of rules that the allocator may apply when deciding the manner in which the outcome should be accomplished (Thibaut and Walker, 1975) The introduction of procedural fairness initiated a considerable amount of research in which the combined effects of distributive and procedural fairness were investigated The main question was how distributive and procedural justice interacted to form justice judgments It was assumed that people are motivated to attain fair outcomes, and some research was directed towards answering the question how procedural fairness might increase or

decrease the perceived fairness of outcomes Folger and associates (e.g., Folger, Rosenfield and Robinson, 1983) investigated the beneficial effects of justifications on resentment caused by relative deprivation Greenberg (1993) showed that employee theft

as a response to underpayment inequity decreased if employees were treated fairly It was assumed that procedural fairness had a mitigating effect on perceived distributive unfairness

Another line of research investigated the moderating role of procedural fairness

on outcome favorability (Brockner and Wiesenfeld, 2005) Brockner and Wiesenfeld found that procedural fairness reduced the influence of outcome favorability when people evaluated others, while it increased its influence when people evaluated themselves In other types of studies the attention shifted from the moderating role of procedural fairness toward the main role of procedural fairness Van den Bos and associates (e.g., Van den Bos, Vermunt and Wilke, 1997) showed not only that procedural fairness had a beneficial effect on distributive unfairness, but that distributive fairness had a beneficial effect on procedural unfairness, as well, emphasizing the moderating role of distributive fairness Still another avenue of thinking was followed

by Törnblom and Vermunt (1999) They emphasized that not only should the moderating role of distributive fairness and procedural fairness separately be taken into account but also the fairness of the entire allocation process Törnblom and Vermunt started from the assumption that an allocation process can be conceived as a Gestalt consisting of several components, and that people form fairness evaluations of the whole process and not only

on the basis of parts of it The inclusion of all components of the allocation process (notably the outcome, the procedure, the type and valence of the allocated social resource, and the allocator-recipient relationship) will result in more precise predictions about the impact of justice evaluations on subsequent attitudes and behavior In most social psychological research one or more of these aspects of the allocation process were neglected, resulting in less precise predictions of attitudes and behavior

4 Organization Commitment

The concept of organizational commitment refers to a person's affective reactions

to characteristics of his employing organization It is concerned with feelings of attachment to the goals and values of the organization, one's role in relation to this, and attachment to the organization for its own sake rather than for its strictly instrumental value

Organizational commitment is a widely researched construct in the Management Literature (Meyer and Allen 1991; Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982; Swailes 2002; Argyle 1989; Etzioni 1975) describes the involvement and faithfulness of employee towards the company

Meyer and Herscovitch (2001, p 301) propose that commitment is “a force that binds an individual to a course of action of relevance to one or more targets” Employees are theorized to experience this force in the form of three bases, or mindsets: affective, normative, and continuance, which reflect emotional ties, perceived obligation, and perceived sunk costs in relation to a target, respectively (Allen and Meyer, 1990) Thus, any scale that purports to measure organizational commitment should tap one of these mindsets and should reference the target, what the employee is committed to, be it the organization, a team, a change initiative, or a goal

According to Mowday, R.T., Steers, R.M., & Porter, L.W (1979) organizational commitment is a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization’s goals and values;

a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization; and a strong desire to maintain membership in the organization

Allen & Meyer (1990) is of the view that organizational commitment has been defined as a psychological state that binds an employee to an organization, thereby reducing the incidence of turnover

Batemen & Strasser (1984) believe that the aim of studying organizational commitment are related to:

- Employees’ behaviors and performance effectiveness

- Attitudinal, affective and cognitive constructs such as job satisfaction

- Characteristics of the employees’ job and role, such as responsibility

- Personal characteristics of the employee such as age and job tenure

Meyer & Herscovitch (2001) state that commitment is a force that binds an individual to a course of action of relevance to one or more targets

O’Reilly (1989) defined organizational commitment as an individual's psychological bond to the organization, including a sense of job involvement, loyalty and belief in the values of the organization

Schwartz & Tessler (1972) see that personal norms are introduced as a responsible factor for what Wiener referred to as an incorporated normative pressure, which makes organizational commitment a moral obligation because an employee feels he or she must

do so According to Wiener & Verdi (1980), this feeling of moral obligation measured

by the extent to which an employee feels that she or he should be faithful to organization, make an employee sacrifice to help it out and not disapprove it

Based in the multifaceted nature of organizational commitment, (Akintayo, 2006; Dunham et al., 1994; Meyer and Allen, 1991, 1993) posit that the construct has three main components: affective, continuance and normative, each with its own underpinning implications for an employee’s participation in an organization According to the authors, affective commitment refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to, identification with and involvement in, the organization based on positive feelings or emotions toward the organization Continuance commitment, on the other hand, is based

on the high cost that an employee associates with leaving the organization Lastly, normative commitment has to do with an employee’s feeling of obligation to remain with an organization based on the fact that he / she has internalized the values and goals

of the organization and feels responsible and devoted to the organization Hence, an

employee with a high level of normative commitment feels that he/she ought to remain with the organization (Bentein et al., 2005; Jaros et al., 1993)

5 Taking Charge

Taking charge occurs when frontline workers go one step further, informing managers of how they actually attempted to resolve problems (Morrison and Phelps 1999) Taking charge leverages frontline workers’ firsthand knowledge of the details—and often the root causes—of problems, which enables them to offer particularly well-informed ideas about how to resolve them (Tucker 2007) Compared to voicing concerns, taking charge is a more constructive form of speaking up because it can mitigate consequences and prevent recurrences (Morrison and Phelps 1999)

Moon, Van Dyne, and Wrobel (2005) described it as an often-overlooked aspect

of innovative behavior that is also volitional in nature Taking charge entails voluntary and constructive efforts, by individual employees, to effect organizationally functional change with respect to how employees work within the context of their jobs, work units

or organisations (Morrison & Phelps, 1999) Therefore, taking charge is extra-role behavior (Moon, et al., 2008; Morrison &Phelps, 1999; Onyishi, 2007) This implies that that it is not mandatory and organisations do not formally require it

When they take charge at work, employees tend to initiate or create new procedures that they consider appropriate, irrespective of existing rules It is similar to other forms of extra-role behaviors because it is a discretionary attempt (not formally required) to initiate and effect positive change (inherently change-orientated) It aims to improve and benefit organisations instead of being rooted in personal gain (Moon, et al., 2008)

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH MODEL AND HYPOTHESES

1 Research Model

From theories and previous research results, I propose the relationship between independent constructs (Job Demands and Decision Latitude, Supervisory Support, Distributive and Procedural Justice, Organizational Commitment) and dependent construct (Taking Charge) in the following Hypothesized Research Model

Figure 2 : Hypothesized Research Model

The JCM predicts that jobs that are well designed have live key characteristics:

1 Skill variety, which is the extent to which a job requires the use of different skills and

talents,

2 Task identity, which describes the extent to which a job involves completing a whole

identifiable outcome,

3 Task significance, which is the degree to which a job has impact on the lives of people

in an organization or society in general,

4 Autonomy, which describes the extent to which a job provides the employee with

discretion to choose how the work is done and to set the schedule for completing the work activities,

5 Job feedback, which indicates the extent to which carrying out the work activities

provides the employee with clear information about his or her performance

Jobs with these characteristics create higher levels of the critical Psychological states, which in turn leads to higher levels of internal work motivation (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) Research on the JCM has generally found that employees in jobs that etc may affect the relationship between job dimensions, the psychological states, and internal motivation (Spector, Jex, & Chen, 1995)

The JCM has provided the framework from which to view the effects that job characteristics have on employee outcomes such as satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intention to remain with an organization (Hochwarter, Zellars, et al., 1999) Other approaches to describing and assessing job characteristics have been developed that provide an expanded view of jobs including engineering and biological perspectives (Campion, 1988) Many studies have attempted to isolate particular aspects

of jobs, such as control, interdependence, and complexity that may have significant effects on workers (Dean & Snell, 1991; Karasek, 1979) An increasing amount of attention has been paid to the role that contextual variables play in the perceptions that employees form about their jobs For example, perceptions of the extent to which employees believe they are empowered in their jobs and the extent to which employees believe the organization appreciates their efforts may affect the way that employees view

I he identity, significance, variety, autonomy, and feedback in their jobs (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchinson, & Sowa, 1986; Gagne Senecal, & Koestner, 1997; Spreitzer.1995)

Hypothesis 1: Job Demands and Decision Latitude is positively related to Taking Charge

Hypothesis 2: Supervisory Support is positively related to Taking Charge

b Measures of construct of Job Demands and Decision Latitude

This measure was developed by Karasek (1979) to assess the effects of stressful jobs on the physical health of employees A job demand subscale that uses seven items describes psychological stressors such as workload and time pressures Eight items describe job decision latitude Four of these items relate to an employee’s discretion in

applying skills to do the job Four items described an employee’s authority to make related decisions Job demands and decision latitude are constructs that can vary independently in a work environment (Fortunato, Jex, & Heinish, 1999; Xie, 1996) The coefficient alpha values for job demands ranged from 79 to 88, and the alpha value for job control or decision latitude ranged from 77 to 85 (Chay, 1993; Fortunato et al., 1999; Moyle & Parkes, 1999; Parkes 1990; Westman, 1992; Xie, 1996; Zohar, 1995)

job-Responses are obtained using a 5-point Likert-type scale where 1 = never, and 5 =

extremely often

c Measures of construct of Supervisory Support

This measure was developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman and Wormley (1990) to assess employee perceptions of the extent to which they receive supervisory support in their job In general, supervisory support may include career guidance, performance feedback, challenging work assignments and work opportunities that promote employee development and visibility The average reliability for this scale was 93 (Greenhaus et

al., 1990) Responses are obtained using a 5-Likert-type scale where 5 = strongly

disagree, 4 = disagree to some extent, 3 = uncertain, 2 = agree to some extent, and 1 = strongly agree

2.2 Organization Commitment (Organizational Commitment)

a Definition

Employee commitment to an organization has been defined in a variety of ways included an attitude or an orientation that links the identity of the person to the organization, a process by which the goals of the organization and those of the individual become congruent, an involvement with a particular organization, the perceived rewards associated with continued participation in an organization, the costs associated with leaving, and normative pressures to act in a way that meets organizational goals (Meyer

& Allen,1997) Mowday, Porter, and Steers (1982), who did much of the original research about organizational commitment, characterized it as a strong belief in and

acceptance of the organization’s goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf on the organization, and a strong desire to maintain membership in an organization The various definitions reflect three broad themes: commitment reflecting

an affective orientation toward the organization, recognition of costs associated with leaving the organization and moral obligation to remain with an organization (Meyer & Allen, 1997)

An employee’s liking for an organization is termed affective commitment and includes identification with and involvement in the organization Employees with a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to do so (Cohen, 1993) Continuance commitment refers to an awareness of the costs associated with leaving the organization Employees whose primary link to the organization is based on continuance commitment remain with their employer because they need to do so Finally, normative commitment reflects a feeling of obligation to continue employment Employees with a high level of normative commitment feel that they ought to remain with the organization (Meyer & Allen, 1997)

Others have argued that commitment reflects the psychological bond that ties the employee to the organization but that the nature of the bond can take three forms, labeled compliance, identification, and internationalization (O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986) Compliance occurs when attitudes and behaviors are adopted not because of shared beliefs but simply to gain specific rewards In this case, public and private attitudes may differ Identification occurs when an individual accepts influence to establish and maintain a relationship; that is, an individual may respect a group’s values without adopting them On the other hand, internationalization occurs when influence is accepted because the induced attitude and beliefs are congruent with one’s own value (Caldwell, Chatman & O’Reilly, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1997; O’Reilly & Chatman, 1986; O’Reilly, Chatman & Caldwell, 1991)