Browsing by Author "Byrne, Zinta S., advisor"
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Item Open Access Employee engagement: interpersonal leadership predictors and identification(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Hansen, Anne M., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisorPrior research has demonstrated that employee engagement is related to positive work outcomes, such as high performance and commitment (Hallberg & Schaufeli, 2006; Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002). Though employee engagement has been investigated in a wide variety of studies, little research has investigated the role of leadership as a predictor. The purpose of the present study was to introduce a framework to explain the relationship between interpersonal leadership characteristics and employee engagement. Based on this framework, it was hypothesized that leadership characteristics (transformational leadership, interpersonal justice, and informational justice) will predict employee engagement indirectly through the effects of organizational identification. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test this hypothesis. Alternative models testing direct effects were also examined. Results are based on responses from 430 working adults from locations across the United States and Canada. Results partially supported the framework, showing that interpersonal leadership characteristics significantly predicted organizational identification and engagement. However, the results did not support mediation, as the best fitting model was the fully direct model where leadership and identification are both directly related to engagement. These findings are further discussed, along with implications, practical applications, and future research directions.Item Open Access Fostering employee engagement through supervisory mentoring(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2015) Nowacki, Emily C., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Kraiger, Kurt, committee member; Vacha-Haase, Tammi, committee member; James, Susan, committee memberEmployee engagement is an increasingly salient topic in organizations given the reported financial, attitudinal, and behavioral gains of having an engaged workforce, and as such, considered a means for achieving effective performance. Supervisors are typically charged with motivating their employees to accomplish work effectively, primarily because of their proximity and often close relationship they have with their subordinates. Consequently, organizations have begun encouraging and expecting supervisors to foster employee engagement. However, little is known about how employees become engaged from observing, working with, and learning from their supervisors. This study contributes to the development of a new theory of how employees, as protégés, become engaged through mentoring received from their supervisors. Using self-report data from 173 employees, I explored the relationships between protégé engagement and perceived mentoring functions (role modeling, career-development, and psychosocial support) in the context of a supervisor-subordinate relationship. Results from this study highlight the theoretical value of mentoring functions, which are understudied aspects in the supervisor-subordinate relationship and are critical for leadership and future leader-development efforts. Thus, this study contributes not only to the theoretical advancement of work engagement, but also to the practical application of efforts to foster employee engagement and to an empirical understanding of how engagement is fostered through satisfaction of intrinsic needs and social learning mechanisms.Item Open Access Restoring employer image after a crisis(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Steiner, Zachary J., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Gibbons, Alyssa, committee member; Gingerich, Karla, committee member; Plaisance, Patrick, committee memberOrganizational image is a key predictor of employee recruitment variables, such as attraction to a company, intentions to pursue employment, and pursuit behavior. A company's image can suffer when faced with negative events or crisis. I applied image restoration theory from the crisis communication literature to explore the process by which a company's image can be restored post-crisis for job seekers. I also applied insights from research on the psychology of apologies to understand the mechanism by which a company's image changes in the context of image restoration. I employed a repeated measures 2 x 3 factorial experimental design. Time 1 information was either negative or neutral about a company. Time 2 information was one of two forms of image restoration (reduce offensiveness and corrective action) or neutral information about the same company. The study also examined a chain of recruitment outcomes from image to attraction, to intentions to pursue a job opportunity. As predicted, results suggest that participants who initially viewed negative information had lower image ratings than those who viewed neutral information at time 1. Those who initially viewed negative information at time 1 showed improvements in image perceptions at time 2 in response to new information, as hypothesized. However, at time 2 there were no differences in participants who were exposed to the image restoration as compared to the neutral information, contrary to predictions. Attraction fully mediated the relationship between image and intentions to purse a job opportunity, as hypothesized. This study provided an initial test of image restoration theory in a recruitment context. Though there were no observed differences between the two types of image restoration and neutral information conditions, all three conditions showed improvements in image perceptions at time 2. Results of the study suggest that the mere absence of negative information may serve as an image recovery mechanism for job seekers; hence, actual efforts to construct the message to include image restoration content that will restore image after a crisis event may not be necessary.Item Open Access The perception of organizational prestige and employee engagement(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2012) Smith, Christine L., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Steger, Michael F., committee member; Sarason, Yolanda, committee memberInterest concerning employee engagement is on the rise, especially given the reported financial and behavioral gains of engaged employees. Naturally, as a consequence of the astounding reports from consulting firms that significant dollars are saved because of engaged employees, organizations are seeking ways to hire, retain, and foster employee engagement. This study contributes to the literature by examining how perceptions of organizational prestige, a construct studied in recruitment and attraction of employees, relates to experiences of employee engagement. Full-time, working adults completed a web-based survey assessing employee engagement, organizational identification, and perceived organizational prestige. It was hypothesized that perceived organizational prestige would be positively related to employee engagement. This study used this archival data to explore this relationship. Results support the positive association between perceived organizational prestige and employee engagement. Furthermore, results indicate organizational identification partially mediates this relationship. By examining the relationship between employee engagement and perceived organizational prestige, a variable that organizations can influence, this study contributes to the practical application of initiatives to increase employee engagement, as well as the scientific understanding of employee engagement.Item Open Access The relational context of employee engagement: an intrinsic perspective(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014) Smith, Christine L., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Gibbons, Alyssa, committee member; Vacha-Haase, Tammi, committee member; Cross, Jennifer, committee memberThe purpose of the current study was to expand on the existing understanding of the relational context of employee engagement. Previous studies and theories applied to understanding the relational context of work and employee engagement have predominately adopted an instrumental perspective of relationships. An instrumental perspective of relationships assumes individuals engage in relationships (and benefit from them) because the relationship is a means to an end, with the end being some other reason such as task-related support, power, influence, or other extrinsic reasons. Conversely, an intrinsic perspective of relationships views them as beneficial due to the inherent enjoyment, interest, and holistic wellbeing individuals experience as a result of their interactions. Based on an intrinsic perspective of relationships, grounded in self-determination theory, this study tests the notion that the quality of work relationships is an important consideration for more fully understanding the relational context of employee engagement. Data collected from 364 working adults, across diverse industries and occupations, revealed that leader relationship quality (intrinsic perspective) is a stronger predictor of employee engagement than leader support (instrumental perspective), thereby supporting the argument that the previous focus of engagement research (i.e., mainly adopting an instrumental perspective of relationships) is incomplete. Additionally, results showed that coworker relationship quality (relative to leader relationship quality) is a stronger predictor of satisfaction of relatedness needs at work. Overall, the results of this study suggest there is value in examining an intrinsic perspective of relationships in regards to engagement.Item Open Access Towards a better understanding of virtual team effectiveness: an integration of trust(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Pitts, Virginia E., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Kraiger, Kurt, 1957-, committee member; Henry, Kimberly, committee member; Maynard, Michael Travis, committee memberThe purpose of the current study was to expand the traditional input-process-output (IPO) models of team effectiveness to address the dynamic and distal work arrangements prevalent in the 21st century. Considering the critical role that trust plays in driving virtual team effectiveness, I proposed a model of virtual team effectiveness in which cognitive and affective trust dimensions mediate the relationships between team processes (action, transition, and interpersonal) and outcomes (team viability and performance). Participants were 191 undergraduate students who comprised 49 teams. Survey measures were completed following each of three interdependent tasks in which teams engaged. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM), an innovative statistical technique that combines the benefits of multilevel modeling and structural equation modeling), was used to test hypotheses. The results of the analyses supported the mediational hypotheses at the individual level, but not at the team level of analysis.Item Open Access Understanding organizational injustice: are injustice and justice polar opposites?(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2010) Palmer, Christa E., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Gibbons, Alyssa M., committee member; Henry, Kimberly L., committee member; Hogler, Raymond L., committee memberThe goal of this study is to clarify our understanding of organizational injustice. It appears that the extant research has assumed that organizational justice is bipolar, with injustice being its opposite construct. Based on this assumption, organizational injustice has been equated with low levels of organizational justice, and has been measured accordingly. However, the bipolar assumption has yet to be empirically tested, giving validity to the use of existing scales of justice for the measurement of injustice. The present study removes all assumptions of the relationship between organizational justice and injustice. A model and understanding of injustice is developed based on qualitative analysis of employees’ experiences of both justice and injustice. Semi-structured interviews are conducted to extract experiences of organizational injustice, and the role of emotion in the experience of justice and injustice. The qualitative data is analyzed using the grounded theory approach, and it is concluded that organizational justice and injustice are not bipolar constructs occupying a single continuum of perceptions. Results call for a more accurate measurement tool of injustice.Item Open Access Understanding the connection between organizational justice, emotions and employee strain(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2009) Mazurkiewicz, Mark D., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisorPeople who experience injustice at work often hide the negative emotions that result and fake positive emotions in their place. This process of emotion management-called emotional labor-produces emotional dissonance, which has been linked with undesirable work outcomes such as job burnout and turnover intentions. This paper investigates a theoretical model that merges two different literatures: one that has shown relationships between organizational justice and emotions, and another that has shown relationships among emotions, emotional dissonance, and resulting outcomes such as burnout and turnover. Taken as a whole, the model proposed and investigated in this paper demonstrates the mediating influence of emotion management when low fairness perceptions lead to job burnout and ultimately, turnover. One hundred and sixty-seven participants completed surveys, and analysis of their responses supported many of the hypotheses proposed in this paper. Specifically, the data indicated that organizational justice was inversely related to negative emotions and that negative emotions were positively related to emotional dissonance. Emotional dissonance showed a strong association with burnout and burnout showed a strong association with turnover intentions. The model demonstrates how the experience of unfairness at work leads to the instantiation and suppression of negative emotions, which subsequently create a sense of emotional dissonance in the perceiver. This emotional dissonance can further contribute to the feeling of burnout and intentions to quit. In addition to the hypothesized theoretical model, a set of alternative models were also evaluated to determine if emotional dissonance and burnout acted as full or partial mediators. Theoretical contributions of these findings and future directions for research are discussed.Item Open Access Virtually engaged: the effect of a virtual work environment on task engagement, its antecedents, and consequences(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2011) Hurd, Brian M., author; Byrne, Zinta S., advisor; Kraiger, Kurt K., committee member; Steger, Michael F., committee member; Cross, Jennifer E., committee memberAs organizations continue to adopt virtual work environments in an effort to reduce costs and offer employees greater flexibility, the effect of this work setting on employee engagement is not fully understood. This laboratory study investigates the effect of a virtual work environment on participant perceptions (N = 242) of engagement, its antecedents, and consequences in an effort to extend the Job Demands-Resources model of employee engagement (JD-R; Bakker & Demerouti, 2007). Specifically, it was proposed that the JD-R be expanded to include contextual variables (e.g., work environment) and that these variables potentially influence individuals' appraisals of whether a work variable is a resource or a demand. To test this modified model, participants were assigned to work on a marketing task in either a virtual (N = 126) or co-located environment (N = 116). Results revealed that task engagement, quality of coworker relations, social presence, task performance, and task satisfaction were all higher and team uncertainty was lower for those working in a co-located environment compared to those working virtually. Team uncertainty and social presence partially mediated the relationship between work environment and quality of coworker relations. Team uncertainty was higher and social presence was lower for those working virtually as compared to those who were co-located, which in turn resulted in perceptions of reduced quality of coworker relations. Furthermore, task engagement fully mediated the relationship between quality of coworker relations and both performance and effort, and task engagement partially mediated the relationship between quality of coworker relations and task satisfaction. Quality of coworker relations was positively related to task engagement, which was related to increased task performance, effort, and task satisfaction. When combined, the results provide support for the proposed expansion of the JD-R to include contextual variables. Because resources and demands are fundamental to the JD-R and determine when employees become engaged versus disengaged, this extension to the model makes a significant contribution to the employee engagement and virtual work literatures. These results also offer practical applications for those organizations that operate virtual work environments.