The role of career concerns and workplace friendship in the job embeddedness–retention practices satisfaction link

Abstract

Orientation: The demand for retaining top talent in the highly competitive and turbulent working environment has made retention research relevant and important. A central question in retention research revolves around the psychological factors that drive employees to remain at an organisation. Research purpose: This research explores the mediating and conditional (moderating) processes underlying the link between employees’ job embeddedness and satisfaction with organisational retention practices. Motivation for the study: Several research studies are available with regard to the association between job embeddedness and retention practices. However, there seems to be a paucity of information available on the psychological process of workplace friendship underlying the job embeddedness–retention practices satisfaction link, as well as the boundary conditions of this process as set by employees’ career concerns. Research design, approach and method: The study followed a cross-sectional, quantitative research design. Data were collected from a convenience sample of (N= 200) permanently employed staff members within a South African higher education institution. Moderated-mediation analysis was performed to achieve the research objective. Main findings: The findings indicated career concerns as important boundary conditions for the psychological (mediating) process of workplace friendship in the job embeddedness–retention practices satisfaction link. Practical/managerial implications: Enhancing work conditions and practices to support the evolving career development needs and concerns of valuable employees may be key to maintaining person–environment correspondence and retaining them. Contribution or value-add: The findings extend retention theory by adding new insights into under what circumstances employees’ job embeddedness positively influences their satisfaction with organisational retention practices. The study provides new evidence of the important role of employees’ career development needs in retention theory and practice.

Job Insecurity and Employees’ Extra-Role Behavior: Moderated Mediation Model of Negative Emotion and Workplace Friendship

“…The results verify that extra-role behavior is the result of interaction between situational factors and individual factors. Previous literature mainly studied workplace friendship as a pre-dependent variable or outcome variable (Potgieter et al, 2018;Xiao et al, 2020), and seldom analyzed the role of workplace friendship from the perspective of boundary conditions. In this study, the moderating role of workplace friendship between job insecurity and negative emotion was explored in the workplace context, which expanded the research perspective of workplace friendship.…”

How Employability Attributes Mediate the Link Between Knowledge Workers’ Career Adaptation Concerns and Their Self-Perceived Employability

“…Successful networking has been related to increased job opportunities, career advancement, and satisfaction (De Janasz & Forret, 2008). Research shows that workplace friendship (i.e., social relatedness) has a conditional indirect effect when individuals’ career concerns were low (Potgieter et al., 2018). Although research shows positive links between social support and perceived employability (Wittekind, Raeder, & Grote, 2010), more research is needed on the mediating role of sociability in the career adaptation concerns—perceived employability research context.…”

“…Career adaptation concerns reflect individuals’ cognitive appraisal of how changes in the external environment (i.e., job, occupation or employment market) affect the current fit between their personal interests, talents, and capabilities and employer demands for employability. Strong career adaptation concerns allude to preoccupations triggered by external demands and involve concerns about upskilling, making a career change, or pursuing different types of career opportunities with the view to restore optimal person-environment congruence, all of which signal a temporary state of loss of autonomy (Coetzee, 2017; Potgieter, Coetzee, & Ferreira, 2018). Preliminary research indicates associations between workers’ career adaptation concerns and their satisfaction with employability-supportive human resources practices such as, for example, training and development and career development opportunities.…”

Introductory Chapter: Job Satisfaction and Career Development

“…Josiane Fahed-Sreih Department of Management, Institute of Family and Entrepreneurial Business, Lebanese American University, Lebanon *Address all correspondence to: jsreih@lau.edu.lb Potgieter, Coetzee, and Ferreira [25] mention in that the person-environment fit is essential for the sake of a workers' job embeddedness and career. Moreover, the person-environment fit is determined by the employee satisfaction with his position in the company, culture, and work environment.…”

“…Also, it is determined by the career development and employee expectations [22,23]. The authors Potgieter, Coetzee, and Ferreira [25] mention that the result of their research that is facilitated by the person-environment fit theory is the embeddedness of employees in their career development, which will help the employee to acquire job satisfaction of his position and career. Thus, accomplishing employees' career needs to develop will play a huge role in the job satisfaction of the employee [25].…”