The Impact of Network Embeddedness on the Innovation Performance of New Generation of Employees in the Post-COVID-19 Era-The Mediating Role of Psychological Contract

How to influence food waste behaviour of urban residents? The combined effect of network embeddedness and incentive measures

Residents' food waste is a key part of environmental sustainability and food security. This study investigates influencing factors in reducing food waste by constructing a conceptual model examining the relationship between network embeddedness (NE) and food waste behaviour (FWB), using questionnaire data from 853 urban residents in eastern China, as well as the moderating role of incentive measures (IMs). We find that NE consists of three dimensions: structural embeddedness, relational embeddedness and functional embeddedness. There is an inverted-U-shaped relationship between structural embeddedness and food waste reduction behaviour, whereas relational embeddedness and functional embeddedness positively correlate with food waste reduction behaviour. Furthermore, IMs significantly strengthen the inverted-U-shaped relationship between NE and food waste reduction behaviour. This article reveals the significance of NE and IMs in influencing FWB, expands the application fields of NE and provides valuable guidance for policymakers to better utilize policy interventions.

Strategic human resource management practitioners' emotional intelligence and affective organizational commitment in higher education institutions in Georgia during post-COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the global workforce, presenting unprecedented challenges to managers and practitioners of strategic human resource management. Pandemic-influenced changes in the employment relationship highlighting the need for adaptation in order to facilitate a return to pre-pandemic conditions. Crises such as this can have a detrimental effect on employees' psychological contract, which in turn can hinder the organization's ability to thrive in the post-COVID-19 era and impede the development of high commitment levels in the aftermath of the crisis. Emotional intelligence plays an increasingly vital role in effectively navigating the crisis and providing support to employees, while also facilitating the reconstruction of the psychological contract. Therefore, this study aims to explain the role of emotional intelligence of strategic human resource management practitioners on affective organizational commitment and the possible mediating effect of the psychological contract in that relationship. A quantitative study took place in February 2023 among 286 HR directors, HR managers, and HR officers in higher education institutions in Georgia. Partial Least Squares for Structural Equation Modelling was applied for data analysis. The results revealed that the emotional intelligence of strategic human resource management practitioners has a positive impact on the psychological contract and the affective organizational commitment. This study supports the idea that emotional intelligence can transform strategic human resource management practitioners into individuals who engage in people-orientated activities. These activities aim to effectively acquire, utilize, and retain employees within an organization. The study also suggests that emotional intelligence can provide solutions to maintain high employee commitment during times of crisis and in the aftermath of unprecedented situations.

The Impact of Compulsory Citizenship Behavior on Job Performance of New-Generation Knowledge Workers: The Roles of Ego Depletion and Relational Energy

Purpose

Based on ego depletion theory and interaction ritual theory, this research explores the impact of compulsory citizenship behavior on new-generation knowledge workers' job performance via the mediating role of ego depletion and the moderating role of relational energy employees experienced in interactions with coworkers.

Methods

Two studies were conducted to explore the impact of compulsory citizenship behavior on job performance. Study 1 used a 10-day daily diary Survey (N=112) and Study 2 used a questionnaire survey conducted multiple times (N=356) to test the hypotheses.

Results

The results of Study 1 and Study 2 were almost convergent. Compulsory citizenship behavior had a negative effect on job performance through the mediating effect of ego depletion. In addition, relational energy negatively moderated the effect of compulsory citizenship behavior on ego depletion and negatively moderated the mediating effect of ego depletion between compulsory citizenship behavior and job performance.

Conclusion

The results deepen our understanding of the mechanism underlying the effect of compulsory citizenship behavior on job performance from the theoretical perspective of psychological energy, and also provide practical implications on how to manage new-generation knowledge employees' work behavior and job performance.

The impact of smart city Internet firms network embeddedness on product innovation: a moderated mediating model

While networking integration has been regarded as a significant driver in technology development, it remains unknown which and how situations influence the online business innovation process. This study used survey data from 466 smart city Internet firms in China to examine how three network embeddedness dimensions-structural embeddedness, relational embeddedness, and cognitive embeddedness-affect product innovation from the perspective of value network embeddedness, drawing on network embeddedness, intergrowth, and knowledge absorptive capacity theory. This paper also looked at the mediating variable of intergrowth and information knowledge transfer. According to our findings, intellectual, social, or architectural inclusion, all contribute to the enhancement of product innovativeness. Such beneficial connections are mediated to some extent by the resources provided. The association among networking involvement as well as technology innovation is moderated by information absorbent ability. Our findings add to the body of research in the areas of innovative technology, networking inclusion, and information absorbent ability.

Psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees: Considering the mediating effect of job burnout and the moderating effect of past breach experience

With the intensification of COVID-19 epidemic, it becomes prominent to discuss the issue about the influence of psychological contract breach on job performance of new generation of employees. Based on social exchange theory, fairness theory, and conservation of resource theory, this study constructed a relationship model between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees with considering the mediating effect of job burnout and the moderating effect of past breach experience. Our hypotheses were tested using data from 235 respondents working in Yunnan Province, China. The results were as follows: first, psychological contract breach had a significant negative effect on job performance of new generation of employees, whether in the whole sample or in two grouped samples; second, both in the overall sample and the grouped sample of state-owned enterprises, job burnout partially mediated the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees, and past experience of breach positively moderated the negative relationship between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees; third, in the grouped sample of non-state-owned enterprises, job burnout did not play a significant mediating role in the relationship between psychological contract breach and job performance of new generation of employees, and past breach experience did not play a significant moderating role in this relationship. These findings uncover the psychological mechanism underlying work performance of new generation of employees, and also provide useful theoretical reference for management practices of new generation of employees among different natures of enterprises.