Flex‐time as a moderator of the job stress‐work motivation relationship. A three nation investigation
| Published date | 08 June 2010 |
| Date | 08 June 2010 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483481011045434 |
| Pages | 487-502 |
| Author | Chet E. Barney,Steven M. Elias |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Flex-time as a moderator of the
job stress-work motivation
relationship
A three nation investigation
Chet E. Barney and Steven M. Elias
Department of Management, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces,
New Mexico, USA
Abstract
Purpose – It has been known for some time that job stress has a wide-ranging, negative impact on
employees. It has also been known that providing employees with autonomy and/or control over their
work environment reduces the deleterious consequences of job stress. The purpose of this study is to
examine whether control in the form of flex-time (i.e. allowing employees to create their own work
schedules) moderates the impact of stress on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation among Russian,
Canadian, and Israeli Arab employees (n¼933).
Design/methodology/approach – Archival data that was obtained from employees (n¼933)
residing in three different nations was analysed via hierarchical moderated multiple regression.
Findings – In relation to extrinsic motivation, a significant interaction was observed between job
stress, flex-time, and country of residence. Although flex-time and country of residence were
significant predictors of intrinsic motivation, no significant interactions were observed.
Originality/value – This is one of few papers to examine flex-time from an international
perspective. In terms of value, human resource managers are made aware that the impacts of flex-time
on employees’ motivation depends, in part, on the nation in which they are employed.
Keywords Flexible workinghours, Stress, Motivation (psychology), Russia, Canada,Israel
Paper type Research paper
Recently, there has been a tendency among any number of organizations within
diverse industries to eliminate fixed working hours in favor of allowing employees
to create their own work schedules. These types of work schedules have come to be
known as flexi-time, flexitime, or flexible work hours. The concept of flex-time
allows employees some liberty to choose their beginning and ending work hours in
order to better serve the needs of individual employees, as well as, the organization.
Typically, a flex-time program will include a core period of the day where all
employees must be present (e.g. 10:00 am to 2:00 pm). However, outside this core
period, employees are free to decide when they arrive to, and depart from, the
workplace. The purpose of this study is to investigate flex-time as a potential
moderator of the job stress-work motivation relationship among Russian, Canadian,
and Israeli Arab employees. By gaining insight into potential methods for
mitigating the job stress-work motivation relationship, managers may become better
able to reduce the negative consequences associated with job stress through the use
of flex-time programs.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
Flex-time as a
moderator
487
Personnel Review
Vol. 39 No. 4, 2010
pp. 487-502
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/00483481011045434
Flex-time
Hackman and Oldham (1975) demonstrated through the use of their job characteristics
model that worker autonomy gives employees a sense of responsibility in their work,
which in turn leads to high motivation, high performance, high satisfaction, and low
turnover. Autonomy is defined as:
The degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion of the
employee in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it
out (Hackman and Oldham, 1975, p. 162).
Through their work, Hackman and Oldham (1975, 1976) were able to theoretically link
job autonomy to job performance. More recently, autonomy has been studied under
several areas of business research including teams (Hoque et al., 2004),
entrepreneurship (Lumpkin et al., 2009), employee strain (Sprigg et al., 2000),
employee morale (McKnight et al., 2001), virtual workplaces (Broadfoot, 2001),
workflow management systems (Vanderfeesten and Reijers, 2006), attitudes and
performance (Dood and Ganster, 1996), employee safety (Parker et al., 2001), and job
performance (Morgeson et al., 2005; Kalbers and Cenker, 2008).
Because flex-time grants employees the freedom (i.e. autonomy) to select their work
hours, we believe the autonomy construct is of theoretical importance to our study. As
autonomy within a job grows, individuals will enjoy greater discretion in deciding the
best ways to perform the work (Fried et al., 1999; Troyer et al., 2000) and realize more
opportunities to increase their job functions (Morgeson et al., 2005; Organ, 1988). In
2007, DeVaro, Li, and Brookshire analyzed Hackman and Oldham’s (1975, 1976, 1980)
job characteristics model by using data collected from a large number of British
companies. They verified that autonomy is positively associated with productivity,
quality of work, and employee satisfaction.
Parker et al. (2001) found through a study of manufacturing employees that
autonomy, in part, led to a safe working environment. A recent study of accounting
professionals associated with five regional and five national accounting firms
demonstrated that autonomy has a direct and incremental impact on job performa nce
(Kalbers and Cenker, 2008). In a 2005 study of a large international company
headquartered in the USA, Morgeson et al. (2005) were able to demonstrate that
employee autonomy offers workers the opportunity to perform more tasks than are
minimally required from their job. Taking this into consideration, it may be the case
that flex-time motivates workers to perform at an increased level in comparison to
employees who lack control over their schedules. Dood and Ganster (1996) applied the
construct of autonomy to their study on worker attitudes and performance. They found
that in a high variety task environment, increased autonomy leads to increased
satisfaction, as well as increased performance. Kauffeld et al. (2004) found that a
flex-time work environment provides employees with a high degree of autonomy,
which leads to high determination, positive personal development, higher quality
work, and lower absenteeism.
Job stress
The belief that work-related stress can affect organizational outcomes has gained
wide-spread acceptance. With this in mind, increased awareness of work-related stress
is essential to the wellbeing of employees and organizations alike. For well over a
PR
39,4
488
To continue reading
Request your trial