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The information and communication technology (ICT) sector within the Netherlands is a major driver of globalization, the country’s economic growth and innovation. The Dutch ICT sector’s performance is increasingly becoming dependent upon employee driven innovations in order to address the needs of the sectors they service. In other words, the ICT sector within the Netherlands is largely dependent upon the performance and innovative capacity of its employees; both of which are functions of employee engagement. Given the high demand, and low supply of talent within this sector, ICT organizations need to develop innovative ways to enhance the performance capacities of its people. Developing an engaged and highly innovative workforce seems to be an efficient way to activate employees’ performance. As such, the aim of this paper was to investigate the mediating function of employee driven innovative work behaviors in the relationship between work engagement and task performance within the a Dutch ICT consulting firm. A cross-sectional survey-based research design, employing a census-based sampling method, was employed to obtain data from a global ICT consulting firm within the Netherlands (n = 232). The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, the Innovative Work Behavior Scale and the Task Performance Scale was used to assess the associative subjective experiences of ICT employees. The results showed that work engagement is a significant driver for innovative work behaviors, which in turn affects the task performance of employees. Further, innovative work behaviors are therefore important to translate the engaging energies of employees into performance. This paper discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.
The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties (i.e., factorial validity, measurement invariance, and reliability) of the Grit-Original scale (Grit-O) within the Netherlands. The Grit-O scale was subjected to a competing measurement modeling strategy that sequentially compared both independent cluster model confirmatory factor analytical- and exploratory structural equation modeling approaches. The results showed that both a two first order, bi-factor structure as well as a less restrictive two factor ESEM factorial structure best-fitted the data. The instrument showed to be reliable at both a lower- (Cronbach’s alpha) and upper-level (composite reliability) limit. However, measurement invariance between genders could only be established for the B-ICM-CFA model. Finally, concurrent validity was established through relating the GRIT-O to task performance. The linear use of the Grit-O scale should therefore carefully be considered.
Psychological ownership is a cognitive–affective construct based on individuals’ feelings of possessiveness towards and of being psychologically tied/attached to objects that are material (e.g. tools or work) and immaterial (e.g. ideas or workspace) in nature. Research suggests that psychological ownership could be influenced by various individual, organisational and contextual factors. The South African Employment Equity Act, which was implemented to grant equitable opportunities to previously disadvantaged employees, could be a significant contextual factor affecting psychological ownership, due to perceptions associated with inequality. Ethnicity may also act as a moderator for the relationship between perceptions of employment equity and psychological ownership. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between employment equity perceptions and psychological ownership and to explore whether ethnicity plays a moderating role in the relationship. A cross-sectional survey design was employed with a purposeful sample of 202 respondents employed in a large South African mining house. Pearson product–moment correlations and structural equation modelling confirmed that employment equity perceptions could predict the five components of psychological ownership. However, the results revealed that ethnicity has no moderating effect on the relationship between perceptions of employment equity and the emergence of psychological ownership. By implication, organisations that seek to retain employees targeted through equity initiatives need to find ways to enhance and develop the psychological ownership of these employees. The research contributes new insights into and knowledge of how contextual factors could influence employees’ psychological ownership.