Job resources (Organisational variable)

In the following section, various definitions of job resources are presented.

2.7.2.1 Definitions of job resources.

Bacharach and Bamburger (1995) refer to the concept of job resource adequacy.

These authors define this concept as the extent to which individuals have the means at their disposal in their immediate work situation to fully utilise their relevant

abilities and motivation to accomplish work-related goals. Resources needed by individuals to perform their tasks may include equipment and tools, materials, facilities, support services, space, and time (Fuller, Marler, & Hester, 2006; Jex, Adams, Bacharach, & Sorenson, 2003; Martinez-Tur, Peiro, & Ramos, 2005; Spreitzer, 1996). These resources are generally beyond the control of employees in the sense that they (i.e. employees) have to deal with resources at hand (Bacharach &

Bamburger, 1995; Phillips & Freedman, 1984).

Martinez-Tur et al. (2005) posit that when job resources are inadequate, employees may be more or less able to compensate for them. These authors point out that a lack of job resources makes it more demanding for employees to complete their tasks and may diminish performance to levels below their full potential. Specifically, when the supply of job resources is inadequate, the accomplishment of work related goals may be inhibited or impeded (Peters & O’Conner, 1980; Phillips & Freedman, 1984).

Spreitzer (1996) adds that this type of situation is likely to make individuals feel frustrated and powerless.

According to Kouvonen, Kivimäki, Vahtera, Oksonen, Elovaino and Cox (2006), social capital may be considered as collective job resources, as it makes reference to features of the group, social relationships, interactions and sharing of information between supervisors and colleagues in informal networks. These authors suggest the shared experience of high levels of social capital in the work environment engenders mutually beneficial cooperation, and elicits perceptions of support, trust and consideration. Moreover, this enables goal achievement and access to further additional resources. Baruch, Bell and Gray (2005) suggest that social capital is revealed in networking and by creating personal contacts.

Job resources will be defined in the current study according to Jackson and Rothmann’s (2005) four dimensions (i.e. organisational support, social support, growth opportunities and advancement). Organisational support refers to the relationship with supervisors, flow of information, communication, role clarity and participation in decision making); social support (a sub-dimension of organisational support) refers to the relationship with colleagues and contact opportunities within the organisation;

growth opportunities refers to having enough variety, opportunities to learn and independence in the job, and advancement refers to remuneration, career possibilities and training opportunities.

In the following section, the theories of job resources as found in literature are presented. This is followed by a discussion of the impact of job resources on the construct of career success.

2.7.2.2 Theories of job resources.

Demerouti, Bakker, de Jonge, Jansen and Schaufeli (2001) developed the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Model, which assumes that two underlying psychological processes play a role in the well-being of individuals: an effort-driven process in which excessive demands and a lack of job resources lead to distress, and a motivation-driven process in which job resources lead to work engagement (Demerouti et al., 2001; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). Job resources refer to the extent to which the job offers assets/opportunities to individual employees. Job resources include those physical, psychological, social, or organisational aspects of the job that:

(a) reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs, (b) are functional in achieving work goals, and/or (c) stimulate personal growth, learning, development (Demerouti et al., 2001). According to Demerouti and Bakker (2011), job resources are physical, psychosocial, or organisational aspects of work which should assist employees in managing work-related pressure.

Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1998, 2001) is a relevant theory for understanding the effects of resources (or the lack thereof) on employees in the working environment. This theory suggests that employees strive to obtain, retain and protect what they value. Resources refer to those personal energies and characteristics, objects and conditions that are valued by individuals or that serve as means for attainment of other objects, personal characteristics, conditions or energies. Examples of resources include social support, job enhancement opportunities, degree of participation in decision-making, being psychologically well, having an optimistic personality, level of autonomy, and established behaviour outcome contingencies (Hobfoll, 1989; Lee & Ashforth, 1996).

The COR theory argues that personal resources affect each other and exist as a resource pool, and that an expansion of one is often associated with another being augmented (Hobfoll, 1989). Bakker (2008) argues that job resources can play an intrinsic motivational role through increasing employees’ growth, learning and development. According to conservation of resources (COR) theory (Halbesleben, 2006; Hobfoll, 1985), as referred to in the previous section, job resources like social support or support provided at the departmental level, play an important role in reinforcing positive images of oneself, and in fostering positive work outcomes (Demerouti et al., 2001).

In line with this notion, research has shown that beliefs about the relevance of job resources are equally important in the prediction of job-related outcomes as beliefs about the availability of job resources (de Jonge, Dormann, & Van Nordheim, 2006).

Moreover, the less resources people have, the more likely they are to conserve their resource reserves and save them for future use. Despite the perceived availability and relevance of certain job resources in a particular demanding job situation at work, employees may not always be willing to use job resources due to resource conservation (Hobfoll, 1989, 2002). In a similar vein, the Effort-Recovery Model of Meijman and Mulder (1998), suggests that job resources may play an extrinsic motivational role through work environments that offer many resources and foster the willingness to dedicate one’s efforts and abilities to the work task. According to this model, support from colleagues, and proper feedback from supervisors, will thus increase the individual’s likelihood of achieving work goals, and employees will thus be successful in their daily tasks. According to Coetzer and Rothmann (2005) this will create an energy backflow to the individual, and when the results are positive, the chances for an employee to be engaged will increase. Hence, the tendency for employees to leave the organisation will also decrease if organisations provide their employees with valued job resources that enhance learning, growth and development (Houkes, Jannssen, De Jonge, & Nijhuis, 2001).

As similarly referred to earlier in Chapter 2, the impact of past occurrences (in this case, the impact of past job resources) on an individual’s career success, may also be explained by the notion of careers viewed as a journey of transitions over one’s

working life, (Hall, 1976, 1996; Sullivan, 1999; Super 1980), in which there is an implicit understanding that what has already occurred, (namely, the role of past job resources), will affect current and future career success (Feldman & Ng, 2007; Super, 1980).

2.7.2.3 Type of resources.

According to the Job Demands-Resources Scale (Jackson & Rothmann, 2005), there are four different resource dimensions: Social support, organisational support, growth opportunities and advancement. Social support or job autonomy plays an extrinsic motivational role in better achieving work goals (Bakker, 2008). For example, a team-related resource such as “social support” may fulfil the basic human need of wanting to relate to others, whereas a task-related resource such as “task autonomy” may fulfil needs for autonomy or competence (Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Frederick, 1997;

van den Broeck, Vansteenkiste, De Witte, & Lens, 2008). According to self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) work contexts that support psychological autonomy, competence and relatedness, enhance intrinsic motivation and increase employee well-being (Ryan & Frederick, 1997).

Rousseau and Aubé (2010, p. 323) highlight that both immediate supervisors and co-workers are instrumental in providing job resources in the form of support which creates positive work experiences and that may lead to individuals becoming affectively tied to an organisation. The resources that supervisors and co-workers have are in the form of support that they could potentially provide to employees.

Supervisor support encompasses, for instance, caring about subordinates, valuing their contributions, helping them on work-related issues, and facilitating skill-development (Oldham & Cummings, 1996; Rafferty & Griffin, 2004). According to Eisenberger, Stinglhamber, Vandenberghe, Sucharski and Rhoades (2002), the support provided by supervisors may be interpreted as formal interventions to sustain employees’

functioning in the organisational setting, given that supervisors are in the position of authority over employees.

In addition, Bakker (2008) suggests that proper feedback from supervisors fosters learning, thereby increasing job competence, whereas decision latitude satisfies the

need for autonomy. This intrinsic motivational potential of job resources is also recognised in more traditional theories such as Job Characteristics Theory (JCT) (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). According to JCT, every job has specific motivational potential that depends on the presence of five core job characteristics: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Furthermore, JCT proposes that these job characteristics are linked, through so-called psychological states, with positive outcomes, such as high quality work performance, job satisfaction, low absenteeism and low staff turnover (Hackman & Oldham, 1980).

Co-worker support refers to the degree of assistance enacted by work colleagues (Liao, Joshi, & Chuang, 2004). The support from co-workers includes the provision of caring, tangible aid, and information to fellow employees (Ducharme & Martine, 2000;

Parris, 2003). According to Chiaburu and Harrison (2008), co-worker support is likely to be perceived as informal, since no authority relationship exists with colleagues.

According to Stinglhamber and Vandenberghe (2003), the support provided by immediate supervisors and co-workers may increase employees’ comfort within the organisation, by fulfilling their needs for esteem, approval, and affiliation.

The predictor job resources seem to be related to the organisational sponsorship predictor of career success, as discussed earlier in Chapter 2. Organisational sponsorship is a predictor of career success by way of organisational resources (Dreher

& Ash, 1990). Employees may obtain access to organisational resources (e.g. growth opportunities and organisational support) when their supervisor and co-workers share this with them.

Leaders seem to hold the key to facilitating the allocation of job resources to their subordinates. Thus one could expect that transformational leadership behaviours may enhance follower perceptions of the work environment by providing them with adequate resources. From this viewpoint, one could anticipate that the focus on leadership in a conceptual model may therefore precede job resources. A study by Piccolo and Colquitt (2006) found a significant positive correlation (r= .32) between transformational leadership and core job characteristics, of which autonomy can be viewed as a job resource. In another study, Liaw, Chi and Chuang (2010) found a

significant positive correlation (r= .68) between transformational leadership and perceived supervisor support (the latter being an aspect of job resources). These authors (Liaw et al., 2010) also found a significant positive bivariate correlation (r=

.25) between transformational leadership and co-worker support (the latter is an aspect of job resources). Cheung and Wong (2011) found a significant positive correlation (r= .20) between transformational leadership and task support (the latter being an aspect of job resources). In addition these authors also found a significant correlation (r= .17) between transformational leadership and relations support (the latter being an aspect of job resources). Supporting previous studies, a study by Den Hartog and Belschak (2012) found a significant positive bivariate correlation (r= .40) between transformational leadership and job autonomy (the latter being an aspect of job resources).

In addition to the researcher’s theoretical convictions, the above four studies provide empirical support to justify the proposed relationship between transformational leadership and job resources.

Therefore the following proposition is proposed:

Proposition 1: Transformational leadership is positively related to job resources.

In the following section, the relationship between job resources and career success is discussed.

2.7.2.4 The relationship between job resources and career success.

Seibert and Kraimer (2001) state that access to resources is positively related to career satisfaction, which is regarded as a dimension of career success (Greenhaus et al., 1990).

Interpersonal processes, such as mentoring, have been found to impact career success (Supangco, 2011). Mentoring includes support and sponsorship, which provides protégés with the technical and interpersonal skills, and visibility opportunities that enable them to succeed in their careers (Whitely et al., 1991). Having access to a

mentor positively influences compensation (Whitely et al., 1991; Whitely & Coetsier, 1993); promotability (Wayne et al., 1999) and salary (Daley, 1996). Mentoring was also found to be positively related to subjective career success (Eby et al., 2003;

Fagenson, 1989; Joiner et al., 2004).

Adler and Kwon (2002) note that mentors and network resources can assist career progression by providing access to power and influence bases, information, encouragement and emotional support. An individual’s network resources within a particular context (e.g. work organisations) include an individual’s totality of interpersonal ties of any strength and in any direction (Bozionelos, 2008). The latter author claims that network resources are beneficial to career success, even in the presence of a mentor. Bozionelos (2008) further maintains that networking may even be more beneficial than a mentor.

The theoretical basis for the relationship between job resources and subjective career success is that organisations may provide important resources, such as supervisor support and training, and skills development opportunities to employees that may serve as cues to employees that they are valued and possess career potential. These cues are then likely to elicit favourable affective reactions, including higher levels of career satisfaction and a stronger sense of career success (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978).

Moreover, according to Tanksi and Cohen (2001), perceived supervisory support influences career satisfaction. In similar vein training received by individuals also influences career satisfaction (Ng et al., 2005; Wayne et al., 1999).

When employees have access to job resources, such as supervisor support and training, and skills development opportunities, they are likely to be more successful in their careers. It is also plausible that as a consequence of career success, employees may be noticed by other senior managers in the organisation, which may improve their internal marketability (Johnson, 2001). This success may also be noticed by managers from other organisations, which may influence their perceptions of external marketability (Johnson, 2001), which may ultimately increase their own perceptions of career success.

It was advocated that transformational leadership is conducive to certain organisational resources. In a similar vein, it is plausible that the creation of a supportive organisational climate may be a consequence of transformational leadership behaviours demonstrated by leaders in a work environment. Followers may perceive the provision of resources by leaders as supportive, which may lead to a positive impact on their perceptions of the organisational climate. Research suggests that when employees perceive the availability of organisational resources (i.e., training, autonomy and technology) which assist in the removal of obstacles at work, they feel more engaged in work. This in turn has a very positive impact on climate perceptions (Salanova et al., 2005).