Massey Research Online - Browsing by Author "Haar J"

Browsing by Author "Haar J"

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An Employee’s Living Wage and Their Quality of Work Life: How Important Are Household Size and Household Income?
(Hapres Co Ltd, 2019-07-01) Carr SC; Haar J; Hodgetts D; Arrowsmith J; Parker J; Young-Hauser A; Alefaio-Tuglia S; Jones H
Living Wage (LW) campaigns normally assume a prototype household configuration in setting their LW rate, comprised of number of dependent householders and the number of incomes. This information is used to calculate the hourly pay rate required to sustain their quality of life and work life. Real households are nonetheless diverse in terms of number of householders and incomes, rendering the living wage conceptually more of a continuous variable than a single constant, across a wage spectrum. We explored this spectrum and its links to job attitudes with a nationally representative sample of N = 1011 low-waged New Zealanders. We measured each participant’s: hourly pay rate, number of household dependents and total household income, alongside individual job attitudes indicative of quality of work life (job satisfaction, work engagement, career satisfaction, meaningful empowerment, affective commitment, organizational citizenship behaviours and work-life balance). As a set, job attitudes consistently pivoted upwards into positive values approximating the campaign LW rate in New Zealand, regardless of either number of household dependents or household income (net of personal wage). However household income net of personal wage (unlike number of household dependents) buffered the gradient of the pivot upwards. The gradient was steeper (more clearly transformational and binary) among lowest-waged workers, in single-income households. To the extent that job attitudes as a set are already widely linked to individual and unit-level productivity, paying at or above the living wage threshold may bring productivity gains and thereby contribute toward decent work and economic development combined.
An optimisation process to motivate effective adoption of BIM for refurbishment of complex buildings in New Zealand
(Higher Education Press Limited Company. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd., 2019-12) Okakpu A; GhaffarianHoseini A; Tookey J; Haar J; Ghaffarian Hoseini A
Despite the multidisciplinary networks involved in refurbishment of complex building projects, the lack of BIM adoption signifies lack of real BIM benefits towards acceptance of BIM within Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC). To this end, this study empirically examines the potential real benefits between traditional network and BIM network for a real-time refurbishment case study project, through agent-based simulation modelling. A social network analysis theory is adapted to model the project interaction networks and a BIM prototype network. An assessment of the main stakeholders for BIM perception is carried out. We offered three prototype interaction networks for comparison of real BIM benefit. An agent-based Bayesian network model is used to simulate the propagation of design error within the project networks. The result of the analysis show that BIM project diffuses error efficiently, while stakeholders recovers faster and nearly at the same time than traditional network. The optimised network shows better performance to the traditional network, when there is early involvement of subcontractors. The main contribution of this study is providing a novel approach to compare real benefits for traditional method to BIM method for refurbishment project and to provide avenue for project stakeholders to optimise their interaction through adoption of BIM.
Deliberating Upon the Living Wage to Alleviate In-Work Poverty: A Rhetorical Inquiry Into Key Stakeholder Accounts
(Frontiers Media S.A, 2022-06) Hodgetts DJ; Young-Hauser AM; Arrowsmith J; Parker J; Carr SC; Haar J; Alefaio S
Most developed nations have a statutory minimum wage set at levels insufficient to alleviate poverty. Increased calls for a living wage have generated considerable public controversy. This article draws on 25 interviews and four focus groups with employers, low-pay industry representatives, representatives of chambers of commerce, pay consultants, and unions. The core focus is on how participants use prominent narrative tropes for the living wage and against the living wage to argue their respective perspectives. We also document how both affirmative and negative tropes are often combined by participants to craft their own rhetorical positions on the issue.
Developing, Validating, and Applying a Measure of Human Quality Treatment
(Springer Nature B V, 2023-07) McGhee P; Haar J; Ogunyemi K; Grant P
Human Quality Treatment (HQT) is a theoretical approach expressing different ways of dealing with employees within an organization and is embedded in humanistic management tenants of dignity, care, and personal development, seeking to produce morally excellent employees. We build on the theoretical exposition and present a measure of HQT-Scale across several studies including cross-culturally to enhance confidence in our results. Our first study generates the 25 items for the HQT-Scale and provides initial support for the items. We then followed up with a large study of managers (n = 363) from Nigeria in study 2, which confirms the theoretical properties of the five dimensions of HQT and highlights a two-factor construct: HQT Ethically Unacceptable and HQT Ethically Acceptable using a 20-item HQT-Scale. Study 3 with a large sample of New Zealand employees (n = 452) again confirms the nature of the construct and provides construct validity tests. Finally, using time-lagged data, study 4 (n = 308) focuses on New Zealand employees and job attitudes and behaviors, and a well-being outcome. That study not only confirms the theoretically implied effects but also shows the HQT Ethically Acceptable factor mediates the detrimental effects of HQT Ethically Unacceptable. Overall, our four studies provide strong support for the HQT-Scale and highlight important understandings of HQT and humanistic management in the workplace.
Does positive relational management benefit managers higher up the hierarchy? A moderated mediation study of New Zealand managers
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2019-08-13) Haar J; Di Fabio A; Daellenbach U
Interpersonal relationships play an important role in work success, and this is especially so for managers. The present study tests the Positive Relational Management (PRM) Scale and its influence on organizational trust, with the effects potentially mediated by work-life balance. Hence, more positive relationships at work shape better management of work-life issues, and ultimately build trust perceptions. We test this on a sample of 600 New Zealand managers and include managerial hierarchy as a moderator to determine whether positive relationships become less important as management level increases. Ultimately, we test a moderated mediation model in PROCESS and confirm the dimensionality and reliability of the scale. We find PRM is positively related to work-life balance and organizational trust, while work-life balance partially mediates this effect. In addition to two significant two-way interactions, we find support for a moderated mediation effect, with the indirect effect of PRM being positive and strongest for low-level managers, but a reduction in the strength of the indirect effects for middle- and senior-managers. Hence, the importance of interpersonal relationships is especially powerful for low-level managers. The implications for understanding the importance of PRM for managers are discussed.
Does supporting cultural diversity benefit only Māori? A study of Māori and Pākehā employees
(Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2024-02-05) Haar J; Spiller C; Mika J; Rout M; Reid J
Māori are the Indigenous people of Aotearoa but experience workplace disadvantages including high discrimination, lower pay, and greater unemployment. This study uses psychological contracts theory to explore employee perceptions of a set of mutual obligations and implicit promises from their employer around supporting Māori employees. Cultural diversity promise fulfilment (CDPF) focuses on the way firms provide Māori cultural representation, seeks broad inputs from Māori, and work to eliminate bias against Māori. We empirically test CDPF on 165 Māori and 729 Pākehā. We include Pākehā because theoretically, under social exchange theory, all employees might react positively to employer support for a disadvantaged group. We test a moderated mediation model and find support with CDPF being significantly related to job satisfaction, cultural wellbeing, and turnover intentions, with the former mediating CDPF effects to turnover. Next, moderation effects are found (Māori versus Pākehā) but with mixed support. However, moderated mediation effects are supported with Māori employees reporting a stronger indirect effect from CDPF than Pākehā, through both mediators (job satisfaction and cultural wellbeing). The paper establishes the importance of CDPF and helps build the arguments for diversity support.
Ethical leadership and employee mental health: Comparing private and public sector employees
(ER Publishing Ltd, 2023-10-19) Haar J; McGhee P; Grant P
Ethical leadership research mainly focuses on job outcomes while largely ignoring the potential influence on employee mental health. We seek to rectify this by examining the links between ethical leadership and work-life balance, anxiety, and depression. In addition, we include the role of organisational trust due to the important links between ethical leadership and trust. With two samples from the public sector and private sector, and using structural equation modelling, we find consistent effects across both samples. Ethical leadership is positively related to all outcomes, but organisational trust mediates the influence on work-life balance (fully in public sector, and partially in private sector), and fully mediates the influence towards anxiety and depression (both samples). In addition, we find that work-life balance also partially mediates the influence of organisational trust on anxiety and depression. This highlights the importance of organisational trust and work-life balance for ethical leaders to better alleviate mental health issues in the workplace.
Exploring gender differences in employee attitudes towards work-family practices and use of work-family practices
(Emerald, 2005) Haar J; O'Driscoll M
Giving science innovation systems a 'nudge'
(Talent First Network, 2019-10) de Jong K; Daellenbach U; Davenport S; Haar J; Leitch S
In this article we consider the role that contextual factors play in science innovation systems - that is, the choice architecture, that influences the orientation and outcomes of publicly-funded research. More specifically, we examine how choice architects, particularly policymakers and funding administrators, can affect the decision-making behaviour of researchers. The context for today's science innovation systems continues to shift as governments seek solutions to the world's "grand societal challenges" such as climate change and ageing populations, in addition to greater and more demonstrable impact from funded research. This means that the assumptions of "basic research [being] performed without thought of practical ends" (Bush, 1945) that have shaped such projects, actually run counter to the growing expectations of greater commercialisation and use of multidisciplinary mission-led approaches. We argue that a closer examination of the choice architecture of publicly-funded research is required to understand and address how these potentially conflicting objectives may be pursued most productively through interventions that could formthe basis of a novel, behaviourally-based toolkit for science innovation policy.
He aronga takirua: Cultural double-shift of Māori scientists
(SAGE Publications on behalf of the Tavistock Institute, 2022-06) Haar J; Martin WJ
Can cultural identity be a disadvantage for indigenous employees? Can it lead to critical issues around workload and pressures? This article explores the role of cultural identity for Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the findings are telling. We target Māori scientists, given their limited number but growing legislated sector demands around cultural engagement. We conducted several studies. Study one (12 interviews) identified cultural themes of whakawhanaungatanga (relationship management), kawenga (responsibilities) and taumaha (workload). Study two (wave one and wave two) focused on a large cohort of Māori scientists (between 41 and 60), and themes showed commonality with study one. Also, other themes emerged specifically āheinga tangata (human capacity), tikanga (correct practice), hauora (well-being), and umanga takaware (career disruption). Ultimately, we classify these pressures as aronga takirua (cultural double-shift) and present a theoretical model for understanding the drivers and consequences of this cultural double-shift for Māori scientists. Finally, study two (wave three) and study three were conducted to examine job descriptions/contracts and, overall, we find limited employer support for adequate engagement in cultural roles. These findings reinforced the themes from the previous studies. We discuss implications for employers and the sector.
Hospitality leadership competencies and employee commitment: new insights from the booming hotel industry in Vietnam
(Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, 2022-07) Nguyen LV; Haar J; Smollan R
Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine how the leadership competencies of frontline managers influence the organizational commitment of their subordinates. The study further examines the relationship between the dominant (strongest) competency and organizational commitment and how this relationship is mediated by leadership consistency. Design - Data were collected from employees in seven hotels in two cities using a multilevel scale for competencies and standardized scales for leadership consistency and commitment. Construct validity of the hospitality leadership competency model (HLCM) was tested by confirmatory factor analysis. A stepwise analysis was run to identify dominant competencies (predictors). Finally, a moderated mediation model was tested. Methodology - This research adopted a quantitative approach to collect and analyse the data. Findings - All competencies were highly and positively related to organizational commitment, with team leadership being the dominant competency and predictor. A moderated mediation mechanism analysis shows that leadership consistency mediated the relationship between team leadership and organizational commitment, but this relationship was slightly attenuated by team size. Originality - The study contributes to (1) validating the HLCM at the frontline level and from the employees' perspective, (2) quantifying the relationships between organizational commitment and leadership competencies, especially team leadership under the mediating effect of leadership consistency, and (3) creating several evidence-based implications for hospitality educators, employers, and managers.
How Decent Wages Transform Qualities of Living – By Affording Escape from Working Poverty Traps
(Hapres Co Ltd, 2021-03-31) Carr S; Young-Hauser A; Hodgetts D; Schmidt W; Moran L; Haar J; Parker J; Arrowsmith J; Jones H; Alefaio-Tugia S
Research in this journal has suggested that job satisfaction and other job attitudes in New Zealand undergo a quantitative shift upwards once wages cross a pivotal wage range. However, the focus did not extend to actual changes in qualities of living beyond work. A fresh analysis of additional qualitative responses to the question, “How well does your wage work for you?”, from the same survey of N = 1011 low-income workers across New Zealand, content-analysed diverse qualities of living along a wage spectrum from Minimum to Living Wage, crossed with household income net of own pay (using median wage as a splitting factor). Converging with the quantitative research reported earlier, there was a reliable pivot range upwards in qualities of living as wages first rose from Minimum Wage, to become transformational after crossing the Living Wage value. This transformational effect of a Living Wage was most clearly pivotal when there was no buffer from any other incomes in the same household. A further, more idiographic analysis of case “outliers” from the wage-wellbeing curve (lower wage-higher satisfaction, plus higher wage-lower satisfaction) revealed additional contextual factors that moderated and mediated qualities of living. Examples included acute sense of a workplace injustice and reduced mental wellbeing. Such factors further inform the ILO’s and UN’s 2016–30 Decent Work Agenda, which includes justice and wellbeing at work.
How research agendas are framed: Insights for leadership, learning and spillover in science teams
(Elsevier B V, 2024-09) O'Kane C; Mangematin V; Zhang JA; Haar J
Research agendas in science are fundamentally important to the generation of new knowledge and innovation. Yet, there remains a lack of scholarly attention and poor understanding on how science teams engage with research agendas in ways that influence their development. New insights are needed to better understand the factors that contribute to research agenda development and adaptation. In this paper, we draw on the framing perspective to explore how research agendas are framed in science teams over time. Research agendas can be understood as collective action frames within science teams that mobilize, guide, and coordinate the transformation of innovative but abstract science aspirations into something more concrete. Our research utilises a longitudinal case study analysis of two science teams over seven years (2016–2022). Our findings provide several new insights. First, we detail two ways in which research agendas are framed. Through centralised framing, research agendas are embodied and dictated by a visionary science team leader. In contrast, through decentralised framing, team leadership is weakly enacted and multiple team members discuss and deliberate the composition and direction of the research agenda. Second, we show centralised and decentralised approaches to framing enable and constrain the reframing and transformation of research agendas. Third, we demonstrate centralised and decentralised framing of research agendas are respectively stabilised by passive and active team learning environments across three areas: research agenda responsibility and accountability, nature of autonomy, and leadership development pathways. Finally, we theorise that, to enhance spillover, leaders who centralise framing of the research agenda need to balance between the benefits of reframing efficiency, and enabling greater team interaction and opportunities for S&T human capital development. On the other hand, when framing of research agendas is decentralised, team leaders need to balance between the benefits of team collaboration and leader development, and path dependent decision making. These insights lead to propositions that offer implications for theory and practice.
How scientists interpret and address funding criteria: value creation and undesirable side effects
(Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 2023-08) O’Kane C; Zhang JA; Haar J; Cunningham JA
Scientists and funding bodies are interdependent actors involved in an ongoing two-way signalling interaction; however, we lack insight on the social mechanisms underpinning this interaction. To address this issue, we examine how successfully funded scientists interpret and address criteria set by the funding body to maximise their chances of funding success. We also consider the possible adverse side effects that can arise from scientists’ competitive efforts to address these criteria. Our findings identify a portfolio of funding criteria—research feasibility, research alignment and team credentials—that scientists address when preparing grant applications. Effectively addressing these criteria enhances the prospects of funding success and value creation. However, we also find that scientists can over-address funding criteria, which is counterproductive and yields undesirable side effects. Our research therefore makes an important distinction between the possibilities for value creation and the value creation frictions that can unintentionally arise based on how grant-submitting scientists interpret and address the criteria signalled by the funding body. Our research has implications for policymakers, funding bodies and scientists which we also discuss.
Is the dark triad always detrimental to firm performance? Testing different performance outcomes and the moderating effects of competitive rivalry
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2023-03-10) Haar J; de Jong K; Thiel M
There is growing evidence that CEOs who have the 'dark triad' of personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) detrimentally influence firm performance. However, there is still much we do not know. The present study suggests that the CEO dark triad might directly influence typical performance indicators in different ways: positively affecting external performance indicators (breakthrough sales), but negatively affecting internal performance indicators (organizational performance). We argue that the CEO dark triad can be interpreted differently by those external to the firm versus internally, where managers are much closer to the CEO's dark personality. Our model includes managerial capital as a mediator and competitive rivalry as a moderator, and ultimately tests a moderated mediation model. Using data from 840 New Zealand firms, we find that the dark triad links to outcomes, as expected. While the CEO dark triad is negatively related to managerial capital, managerial capital does positively predict both performance indicators, and partially mediates the CEO dark triad effect. Overall, moderating effects highlight that the CEO dark triad is less detrimental in fiercely competitive business environments, acting as a consistent boundary condition across models. As competitive rivalry increases, the indirect effect of the CEO dark triad on performance decreases. We discuss the implications for understanding the role that the CEO dark triad can play in firms.
Pandemic or Not, Worker Subjective Wellbeing Pivots About the Living Wage Point: A Replication, Extension, and Policy Challenge in Aotearoa New Zealand
(Frontiers Media S.A, 2022-07) Carr SC; Haar J; Hodgetts D; Jones H; Arrowsmith J; Parker J; Young-Hauser A; Alefaio-Tugia S
Recent pre-pandemic research suggests that living wages can be pivotal for enhancing employee attitudes and subjective wellbeing. This article explores whether or not the present COVID-19 pandemic is impacting pivotal links between living wages and employee attitudes and subjective wellbeing, with replication indicating robustness. Twin cohorts each of 1,000 low-waged workers across New Zealand (NZ), one pre- (2018), and one present-pandemic (2020) were sample surveyed on hourly wage, job attitudes, and subjective wellbeing as linked to changes in the world of work associated with the pandemic (e.g., job security, stress, anxiety, depression, and holistic wellbeing). Using locally estimated scatter-point smoothing, job attitudes and subjective wellbeing scores tended to pivot upward at the living wage level in NZ. These findings replicate earlier findings and extend these into considering subjective wellbeing in the context of a crisis for employee livelihoods and lives more generally. Convergence across multiple measures, constructs, and contexts, suggests the positive impacts of living wages are durable. We draw inspiration from systems dynamics to argue that the present government policy of raising legal minimum wages (as NZ has done) may not protect subjective wellbeing until wages cross the living wage Rubicon. Future research should address this challenge.
Recognising and valuing Māori innovation in the high-tech sector: a capacity approach
(Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2019-10-06) Ruckstuhl K; Haar J; Hudson M; Amoamo M; Waiti J; Ruwhiu D; Daellenbach U; Priestley R
This paper explores what it takes to develop a common language and shared sense of purpose between Māori and the high-tech science sector. Robotics and automation, 3-D printing, sensors, and digital technologies are shaping New Zealand’s economy in fundamental ways. If, as envisioned under New Zealand’s Vision Mātauranga policy, Māori contribution to economic growth through distinctive Indigenous innovation is to be recognised and valued, then how this happens in these frontier science domains requires investigation. Findings are presented from the first phase of a longitudinal study of one National Science Challenge: Science for Technological Innovation (SfTI)–Kia Kotahi Mai, Te Ao Pūtaiao me te Ao Hangarau. Collecting a variety of data from science, business and Māori participants, the findings suggest that while there is enabling macro policy, organisational and science team human and relational capacities require recalibrating. The authors outline a model of how this can be done through a focus on mātauranga (knowledge), tikanga (practice) and kaupapa (focus areas) and how SfTI is reshaping its organisational practice to align to this model. The research also identifies the important role of the science intermediary as crucial to this alignment within teams.
Smartdevice use in a COVID-19 world: Exploring work–family conflict and turnover intentions
(John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), 2023-10-19) Wilkinson S; Haar J
Technology has made life more complex, and mobile working (mWork) captures the way employees’ smart-device use (e.g. smartphones, laptops etc.) can facilitate working during family time at home and what the effects of this use are. Engaging in mWork is expected to be detrimental to employee outcomes. In this study, mWork is explored as it relates to turnover intentions and work–family and family–work conflict, with conflict expected to mediate the influence on turnover. Furthermore, given the potential dynamics from gender and parental status, these are both included as moderators, and ultimately a moderated mediation model is tested. Using data from 419 New Zealand employees just after New Zealand's lockdown finished in May 2020, there is overall strong support found for the direct and mediation hypotheses. Overall, mWork influences turnover intentions by blurring the line between work and personal life (leading to higher work–family and family–work conflict), and these also influence turnover intentions.
The role of relationships at work and happiness: A moderated moderated mediation study of New Zealand managers
(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2019-06-22) Haar J; Schmitz A; Di Fabio A; Daellenbach U
Interpersonal relationships at work are important especially for the well-being of employees. The present study tests Positive Relational Management (PRM) and its influence on employee happiness, and we include two firm-level moderators and an individual-level mediator to better understand the potential complexity of effects. Importantly, we test this in the context of New Zealand, which has been under-represented in employee studies of happiness and is important due to a growing national interest in wellbeing. We test whether positive relationships at work shape greater meaningful work (MFW) and this then influences happiness and mediates the effects of PRM. We also include Human Capital (the quality of people inside the firm) and firm size as moderators and combine these all to test a moderated moderated mediation model in PROCESS. We test this on a sample of 302 New Zealand managers with time-separated data. We confirm the dimensionality and reliability of the PRM scale and find it is positively related to MFW and happiness, while MFW fully mediates the direct effect of PRM. We find interaction effects including a moderated moderated mediation effect, with the indirect effect of PRM differing depending on firm size and the strength of human capital. The implications for understanding the importance of relationships on employee happiness is discussed.
Understanding New Zealand firm innovation: exploring human resource factors by firm size and strength
(Taylor and Francis Group on behalf of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2024) Haar J; O’Kane C
Firm innovation is of vital importance to New Zealand’s economy, but we understand little about how different human resource (workforce) factors influence innovation approaches (product/services innovation, process innovation, and innovation speed). We explore three human resource (HR) factors: workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), workforce attraction, and workforce retention, using a sample of New Zealand private sector firms (n = 402). Regression analysis shows all HR factors are significant predictors of all innovation approaches. Further analysis shows workforce KSAs is dominant towards product/service innovation, workforce attraction is dominant towards process innovation, and workforce retention is dominant towards innovation speed. Moderating effects by firm size are found showing small-sized firms out innovate large-sized firms when workforce KSA are high, despite small-sized firms having, on average, weaker HR factors and innovation approaches than large-sized firms. We highlight the organisational implications across small–and large-sized firms.

Browsing by Author "Haar J"

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