Green human resource management, leader–member exchange, core self-evaluations and work engagement: the mediating role of human resource management performance attributions

PurposeSustainable development concern, coupled with changes in the talent landscape, has led to a heightened focus on green human resource management (GHRM). Drawing on attribution theory and conservation of resources theory, this study examined GHRM, leader–member exchange (LMX) and core self-evaluations (CSE) in relation to work engagement together with human resource management (HRM) performance attributions as a mediator.Design/methodology/approachPartial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data collected from 110 respondents working in ISO 14001 certified organisations in Malaysia.FindingsResults revealed that GHRM and LMX were positively related to HRM performance attributions that were intended to improve employee performance. However, CSE was not found to be related to HRM performance attributions. Consequently, HRM performance attributions were positively related to work engagement. Furthermore, GHRM and LMX had positive indirect effects on work engagement through HRM performance attributions as a mediator.Research limitations/implicationsSince the data collected were from Malaysia only, it limits the generalisability of the results to other regions.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that organisations should adopt GHRM and train its leaders to forge stronger social bonds with their subordinates to elicit higher work engagement by positively influencing employee attributions on the motives of HRM practices.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the acknowledged gap on GHRM and HRM attributions by examining the non-green employee outcomes of GHRM and the antecedents of HRM performance attributions. This study also contributes by integrating attribution theory with conservation of resources theory to provide the mediation mechanism in linking GHRM and LMX towards higher work engagement through HRM performance attributions as a mediator; thus empirically illustrating the resource gain spirals.

Impacts of salespeople’s biased and unbiased performance attributions on job satisfaction: the concept of misattributed satisfaction

Purpose This study aims to investigate an under-researched area, the impact of causal attributions (i.e. causal stability and company-related/-unrelated attributions) on salespeople’s job satisfaction following their performance appraisal. Design/methodology/approach A pre-test and a between-subjects experimental study test the effect of accurate or biased perceptions of causal attributions on salespeople’s job satisfaction. Data collected from 209 salespeople provide evidence that they make perceptual attribution errors in their appraisals of the performance outcome they achieve or do not achieve. Findings When salespeople correctly attribute their performance, causal stability affects their job satisfaction. However, company-related attributions affect their satisfaction only in the case of a poor performance outcome. As expected, salespeople who make biased attributions experience misattributed or “unwarranted” satisfaction or dissatisfaction, a higher or lower satisfaction level than they would have experienced had they made proper causal attributions. Research limitations/implications Using Weiner’s theory of emotion and motivation as a theoretical framework, this study confirms that cognitive appraisals of event outcomes (in this case performance reviews) impacts salespeople’s emotional experience. Furthermore, causal ascriptions following the salesperson’s performance appraisal affect job satisfaction. Practical implications This study discusses how managers can ensure the continued satisfaction of their salespeople, which constitutes a stable source of motivation, by understanding their performance attributions. Originality/value This study introduces a new concept of misattributed job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. While anecdotally some scholars have investigated when salespeople play “the blame game”, this study shows how salespeople correctly or incorrectly ascribe blame for the outcomes and the impact on job satisfaction.

Highlighting Effort Versus Talent in Service Employee Performance: Customer Attributions and Responses

Firms often attribute their service employees’ competent performance to either dedicated effort or natural talent. However, it is unclear how such practices affect customer evaluations of service employees and customer outcomes. Moreover, prior work has primarily examined attributions of one’s own performance, providing little insight on the impact of attributions of others’ performance. Drawing on research regarding the warmth–competence framework and performance attributions, the current research proposes and finds that consumers expect a more communal-oriented and less exchange-oriented relationship when a service employee’s competent performance is attributed to dedicated effort rather than natural talent, as effort (vs. talent) attribution leads consumers to perceive the employee as warmer. The authors further propose customer helping behaviors as downstream consequences of relationship expectations, finding that effort (vs. talent) attribution is more likely to induce customers’ word-of-mouth and idea provision behaviors. The findings enrich existing literature by identifying performance attributions as a managerially meaningful antecedent of relationship expectations and offer practical guidance on how marketers can influence consumers’ relationship expectations and helping behaviors.

Influence of Performance Attributions on Discounting and Devaluing Among High School Students: Does Academic Self-esteem Mediate?

Although considerable research on psychological disengagement exists, there is less focus on the influence of performance attributions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the extent to which performance attributions influence psychological disengagement, measured as discounting and devaluing; and whether academic self-esteem mediates the relationship. Four hundred and forty nine students (206 males and 243 females) whose age ranged from 15-19 years (M = 17.20, SD = 1.09) from 12 urban high schools in Mombasa, Kenya participated in the study. Using a questionnaire, participants’ performance attributions, academic self-esteem, discounting and devaluing were measured. Data collected were analyzed using SPSS. Findings show significantly higher discounting than devaluing; significant indirect effects of external attributions on devaluing; and of stable and unstable attributions on discounting and devaluing through academic self-esteem. Practical implications of findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Attributions of service quality: immigrant customers’ perspective

Purpose This study aims to investigate whether and how strongly cultural (mis)matches influence immigrant customers’ satisfaction, as well as if this relationship is mediated by cultural or service employee performance attributions. In addition, the authors test whether attributions differ depending on the service delivery outcome (success vs failure). Design/methodology/approach The 2 (origin of service employee: Austria or Turkey) × 2 (service delivery outcome: success or failure) scenario-based experiment includes 120 Turkish immigrant customers in Austria. Findings Contrary to previous research, the results indicate that in an immigrant customer context, cultural (mis)match does not influence customer satisfaction. The service delivery outcome is a boundary condition. With a positive service delivery outcome, immigrant customers attribute the results to the cultural background of the employee if it is the same as their own, but they attribute success to employees’ performance if they belong to the immigration destination culture. For negative service delivery outcomes, neither cultural nor performance attributions arise. Originality/value This study is the first to focus specifically on immigrant customer behavior in a high-involvement service context. The results challenge the predictions of social identity theory and the similarity-attraction paradigm and highlight that the immigrant context is unique. In this context, attributions play a key role in determining customer satisfaction.

Are Annual Report Graphs Being Used for Making Performance Attributions?

Previous literature on performance attributions has focused exclusively on annual report narratives. The objective of this article is to determine whether graphs in annual reports could be used for making performance attributions. The analysis focuses on annual reports of 33 commercial banks from 7 Central and Eastern European countries during 2006 to 2013. In line with expectations and results of previous research, there is strong support for the presence of negative performance attributions and attributional enhancements. A decrease in a bank’s profitability is associated with an increase in the use of external indicator graphs. If a bank’s profitability increases simultaneously with deterioration in a graphed external indicator, the use of such external indicator graphs increases compared with when profitability increase occurs simultaneously with an improvement in a graphed external indicator. There also exist signs that negative performance attributions are intentional and potentially driven by impression management motives.