The determinants for sustainability of an employee suggestion system

Abstract

Purpose – Although the corporations widely use the suggestion schemes to elicit the creative ideas of their employee, sustaining a suggestion scheme is still a challenge. Employee suggestion schemes have been studied from many perspectives to illustrate its objectives, nature, content, process, significance and the benefits. Arguments have also been made with respect to the success and failures of the suggestion schemes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors to assess the sustainability of a suggestion system. Design/methodology/approach – This paper thus explores the critical success factors of suggestion scheme through a literature review and filters the critical determinants for sustainability of suggestion using factor analysis. The data collection was done using a survey technique. Findings – The results identity the five major factors as determinants to sustainability of a suggestion system as reported in the paper. Originality/value – This paper has made an attempt to explore the determinants to assess the sustainability of a suggestion system and has contributed toward the new knowledge in terms of sustainability of a suggestion system.

Antecedents to employee suggestion schemes: the study of UAE

“…This paper addresses the call for research proposed by several authors to take into consideration individual attributes in the ESS process to enhancing performance in organizations (Carrier, 1998;Griffiths-Hemans and Grover, 2006;Gupta and Banerjee, 2016;Marin-Garcia et al, 2018;Marksberry et al, 2014;Shalley and Gilson, 2004;McAdam and McClelland, 2002;Moneim, 2009;Prado-Prado et al, 2018;Van Dijk and Van den Ende, 2002). Previous studies carried out in United Arab Emirates (UAE) have largely overlooked individual characteristics or attributes, such as cognitive skills, personal characteristics, domain-relevant skills, which constitute the idea generation process and largely concentrated on success factors from organizational perspective (Arif et al, 2010;Lasrado et al, 2015Lasrado et al, , 2017Moneim, 2009). With the growing emphasis on emerging economies, placed on innovation and creativity in the knowledge economy, the study was an attempt to unravel both individual-level factors and organizational factors that promote ESS and to prioritize them to improve performance and corporate health in the complex work setting by actively involving employees.…”

“…Literature review and theoretical framework ESS is not a new concept. Literature from past studies has widely commented on the history, nature, goals, and evolution of ESS (Carrier, 1998;Lasrado et al, 2015). Moreover, ESS has a considerable history in Europe, America, Middle East, and Asia and has been researched by several authors (Arif et al, 2010;Carrier, 1998;Lasrado et al, 2015).…”

Challenges to the Promotion of Employee-Driven Innovation in State-Owned Enterprises: Two Cases from the Automotive Sector in China

“…Therefore, some top managers choose to not adopt EDIs in their firms. Although in firms that have adopted EDIs, it has been found that the firms' design and use of their suggestion systems are different, and therefore the system does not work in some firms [40,43]. Top managers' decision making is a key determinant to a firm's adoption of innovative management practices [44], thus, whether the suggestion system works or not is highly influenced by characteristics of managers in top positions.…”

Employee suggestion scheme sustainability excellence model and linking organizational learning

“…Similarly, to assess the sustainability of a suggestion scheme, the key elements that focus on these perspectives need to be considered. Lasrado et al (2015a) defined the sustainability of a suggestion scheme as "The achievement of stakeholder's stated goals involving competence management, profitability, employee productivity and continuous process improvement now and in the future".…”

“…Further, the variables emerging from the literature that foster suggestion scheme are: top management support, supervisor encouragement, coworker support, organizational encouragement, support for innovation, communication evaluation, awareness, resources, rewards, training, effective system, feedback, implementation of ideas, empowerment, job factors, expertise, self-efficacy and individual characteristics, teamwork, employee participation, job control, organizational impediments and the competition, employee confidence, sense of security, commitment and accountability, improvement in process, customer satisfaction, product quality, new revenue, cost 429 Employee suggestion schemes saving, employee satisfaction (Lasrado et al, 2015a). Also, there are typical pitfalls noted in the literature which would impact suggestion schemes negatively.…”