Employability and performance. The role of perceived control and affective organizational commitment
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-04-2017-0098 |
| Pages | 1299-1317 |
| Published date | 02 August 2019 |
| Date | 02 August 2019 |
| Author | Kristien Philippaers,Nele De Cuyper,Anneleen Forrier |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour,Global hrm |
Employability and performance
The role of perceived control and affective
organizational commitment
Kristien Philippaers
Research Group for Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology,
KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Nele De Cuyper
KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, and
Anneleen Forrier
Faculty of Economics and Business, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to advance two seemingly conflicting paths from perceived
employability to employee performance. Both paths start from the idea that feeling employable makes
employees more independent from their employer. Framed positively,independence implies the perception of
being in control,and perceived control may promoteemployee performance. Framednegatively, independence
implies reduced attachment to the organization, while such ties drive employee performance. Innovative
features in this studyare threefold. First, the authors introduce perceived justiceas a moderator. Second, the
authors distinguish between perceivedquantitative and qualitativeemployability: this relatesto seeing “other”
vs “better”job opportunities. Third, theauthors include a range of performanceindicators: task performance,
organizationalcitizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior.
Design/methodology/approach –Survey data were collected within one Belgian public-se ctor
organization (n¼1,500 employees) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings –Perceived control mediated the relationship between perceived employability and employee
performance, yet only upon high perceived justice. Affective organizational commitment mediated the relationship
between perceived employability and employee performance, regardless of perceived justice. Those relationships
were positive for quantitative perceived employability and negative for qualitative perceived employability.
Originality/value –Perceived employability relates positively to employee performance, especially upon
high perceived justice. Yet this relationship is bounded to which job alternatives are perceived, just “other”or
instead “better.”
Keywords Quantitative, Affective organizational commitment, Perceived control, Organizational success,
Self-rated employability
Paper type Research paper
Employability is generally portrayed as implying a win-win: employability would provide
employees with security in a dynamic labor market (Berntson et al., 2010) and employers
with flexible and well-performing staff (Acikgoz et al., 2016; van Harten et al., 2016). Yet, the
assumed win for employers is less certain than is sometimes suggested for two reasons.
The first reason is that employability may make employees more independent from
theiremployer(Forrieret al., 2018; Philippaers et al., 2017). This independence can be
interpretedintwoways,eitherpositivelyinterms of feeling in control over career-related
matters or negatively in terms of reduced affective commitment to the organization
(Direnzo and Greenhaus, 2011). While feeling in control may promote employee
performance (Skinner, 1996; Vander Elst et al., 2016), feeling less committed may reduce
employee performance ( for a review, see Mercurio, 2015). The second reason is that
employability has come to the fore against the background of overall labor market
turbulence and uncertainty. This increases the risk that employees feel treated unfairly by
their employer (Freese et al., 2011; Morrison and Robinson, 1997). Employable employees
are in the position to react upon perceptions of injustice.
Personnel Review
Vol. 48 No. 5, 2019
pp. 1299-1317
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-04-2017-0098
Received 3 April 2017
Revised 14 July 2017
10 September 2018
21 January 2019
Accepted 19 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
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Employability
and
performance
In this study, we bringthese aspects together. Our aim isto probe the relationship between
employability and employee performance along two paths, one via perceived control and the
other via affective organizational commitment. We argue that those paths are conditional
upon employeeperceptions of justice. Employability is defined as the employee’schanceinthe
external labor market. We focus upon perceptions of this chance, coined perceived
employability: perceptions have particular resonance as they are proximate drivers of
employeebehavior (Vanhercke et al., 2014).A particular feature is that we distinguish between
perceived chances to obtain another vs a better job elsewhere, coined perceived quantitative
and qualitativeemployability (De Cuyper and De Witte, 2011). A plausibleassumption is that
perceived qualitative employability more than quantitative employability signals employee
independence, and thus likely implies stronger relationships. Employee performance is
conceptualized broadly in terms of task performance (i.e. the quality of in-role performance;
Abramis, 1994), organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; i.e. going the extra mile; Williams
and Anderson, 1991) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB; i.e. willingly harming the
employer;Bennett and Robinson, 2000).If supported, this impliesthat perceived employability
is important also beyond task performance.
In all, our contribution is that we advance a more accurate view on the relationship between
perceived employability and employee performance. This relationship is often assumed but
deserves a more critical look (Hahn and Kim, 2018) , also in view of the inconsistent results from
earlier studies (Hahn and Kim, 2018; Kinnunen et al., 2011; Philippaers et al., 2016, 2017):
relationships between perceived employability and employee performance vary between
negative and positive. We provide this critical look in four ways. First, we probe two
underlying mechanisms with seemingly opposite implications: perceived employability may
relate positively to employee performance via perceived control, and negatively to employee
performance via reduced affective organizational commitment. Second, we argue that the
relationship is conditional upon perceived justice. Third, we distinguish between perceived
quantitative and qualitative employability. Fourth, we include multiple indicators of
employee performance.
From perceived employability to employee performance: a positive path via
perceived control
Employability has particular resonance in the context of the new employment relationship
(Solberg and Dysvik, 2016). This is mostly formulated positively as a shift in control from
the organization to the individual (Forrier et al., 2018; Guest and Rodrigues, 2015). Perceived
control in this context is seen as a motivational concept and a basic human need: it concerns
the extent to which a person feels she/he can gain desired and avoid undesired outcomes
(Skinner, 1996). Perceived control is tied to a situation and thus varies across situations,
unlike the concept of locus of control (e.g. Folkman, 1984).
We argue that perceived control carries the positive relationship between perceived
employability and employee performance. Our argument is twofold. First, perceived
employability brings about perceived control: perceived employability is often said to imply
feelings of being in control over the career (Berntson et al., 2010; Kalyal et al., 2010) and at
work (De Cuyper et al., 2015). This relationship is likely stronger for perceived qualitative
than quantitative employability. Perceived qualitative employability builds on and extends
perceived quantitative employability: better employment opportunities are a selection of
other employment opportunities and they provide the employee with a growth path
(De Cuyper and De Witte, 2008, 2011). Second, perceived control relates to overall positive
outcomes, including employee performance ( for an overview,see Skinner, 1996; Vander Elst
et al., 2016). Individuals who feel in control exert more effort, try harder, initiate adaptive
rather than maladaptive action and thus perform at a higher level. Support for a positive
relationship between perceived employability and various indicators of performance, both
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