Tag Archives: D.C. Feldman

Have innovative ideas that need implementing? Increase job embeddedness of mid- to late- career stage employees.

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Topic: Performance
Publication: Human Resource Management (NOV-DEC, 2010)
Article: The impact of job embeddedness on innovation-related behaviors
Authors: T.W.H. Ng, D.C. Feldman
Reviewed By: Rebecca Eckart

In recent years, organizations have faced increased pressures to continually be innovative in order to survive in a competitive marketplace. New work by Ng and Feldman (2010) suggests that job embeddedness could be a potential strategy to bolster innovative behaviors by employees. Job embeddedness attempts to explain how employee fit (organization-employee match), links (personal relationships at work), and sacrifice (loss of rewards and benefits if turnover) keep employees with their current organizations even when other opportunities are available. Research consistently shows that highly embedded employees are increasingly motivated to perform well in their jobs because they feel committed and invested in the success of the organization. But are highly embedded employees also more likely to engage in innovative-related behaviors and is this consistent across all employees?

In short, the answer is yes. Highly embedded employees are more apt to engage in innovation-related behaviors. However, while they are not more likely to generate innovative ideas, they are more inclined to spread the innovative ideas throughout the organization and actually implement the ideas. But wait; before you run to implement new policies, the current article also suggests that this trend is not consistent across all employees. In fact, those highly embedded employees in their mid- to late-career stages are significantly more likely to spread and implement innovative ideas than those early in their career.


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Cheated Employees: Less Organizational Commitment and Less Creativity

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Topic: Fairness Organizational Commitment Creativity
Publication: Journal of Applied Psychology (July, 2010)
Article: Psychological Contract Breaches, Organizational Commitment, and Innovation-Related Behaviors: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach
Authors: T.W.H. Ng, D.C. Feldman, S.S.K. Lam
Reviewed By: Ben Sher

Okay, here’s the deal. Employees make assumptions about what they owe their employers and what their employers owe them in return. This is called a psychological contract. According to Ng, Feldman, and Lam (2010), when employees think this psychological contract is being violated, they may feel less organizational commitment and become less innovative.

So what does happen when employees feel bamboozled? According to the authors, two things happen. First, employees will naturally begin to feel less emotional attachment to the company. This is not revenge; it’s just an inevitable emotional reaction. Secondly, employees will indeed have some interest in getting back at the employer as long as they can keep their jobs.

That sounds ominous. So, what do the employees do about it? Basically, they become less creative. The authors explain that there are two ways an employee can be creative on the job. Employees can solve problems and they can implement ideas. Problem solving is difficult to measure, so instead the authors measured idea implementation. They defined this as anytime an employee shared a new idea with a colleague or superior, or anytime an employee either worked to implement those new ideas or helped others to implement them. When employees perceived psychological breaches, they ended up engaging in less of these innovative behaviors. Because the study included employees from a wide variety of jobs, the authors concluded that the complexity of the job makes no difference, and innovation will always suffer.

A key finding of this study is that this decrease in innovation continued over time. Employers may mistakenly think that breaking psychological contracts won’t have lasting consequences and that employees will eventually forgive and forget. This is a mistake. Because the authors were able to identify the role psychological contract breaches have in reducing organizational commitment, or the overall attitude employees have towards their employers, it is easy to understand how innovation will continue to decrease over the long run. Employers should be warned of these consequences, and should be encouraged to fix the situation and give employees what they believe they are owed.

Ng, T.W.H., & Feldman, D.C., & Lam, S.S.K. (2010). Psychological Contract Breaches, Organizational Commitment, and Innovation-Related Behaviors: A Latent Growth Modeling Approach. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 744-751.