Perception of organization's value support and perceived employability: insights from self-determination theory

Perceived employability (PE; i.e. the worker's perception about available job opportunities) is portrayed as the upcoming resource for workers and organizations. However, organizations might particularly want to stimulate perceptions of job opportunities on the internal labor market (i.e. inter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of human resource management 2014-07, Vol.25 (13), p.1904-1918
Main Authors: Van den Broeck, Anja, De Cuyper, Nele, Baillien, Elfi, Vanbelle, Els, Vanhercke, Dorien, De Witte, Hans
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Employers
Employment opportunities
Expectations
HR-policies
Human resource management
Labor market
Labour market
Motivation
Organizational behavior
Organizational culture
Organizations
perceived employability
perceived job alternatives
Perception
Perceptions
Studies
Values
Work ethic
Workers
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Summary:Perceived employability (PE; i.e. the worker's perception about available job opportunities) is portrayed as the upcoming resource for workers and organizations. However, organizations might particularly want to stimulate perceptions of job opportunities on the internal labor market (i.e. internal PE). In contrast, they may be hesitant in stimulating perceptions of job opportunities on the external labor market (i.e. external PE), as this might foster workers' voluntary turnover. The contextual influences adding to these different types of PE are relatively unknown. Building upon self-determination theory, we argue that the organization's support of intrinsic (e.g. personal growth) and extrinsic (e.g. status) values may play a critical role. In line with expectations, the results reveal a positive association of the perceived organization's support of intrinsic work values and a negative association of the perceived extrinsic value support with internal PE, both in terms of a similar job (i.e. internal lateral PE) and a better job (i.e. internal upward PE). Unexpectedly, perceived organization's support of extrinsic values did not relate negatively to external PE. These results show that employers can invest in the workers' employability without disadvantaging the organization. To arrive at a flexible workforce, the support of intrinsic values is of key importance.
ISSN:0958-5192
1466-4399
DOI:10.1080/09585192.2013.860385