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Call for abstracts: SGM Antecedents of Work Design

  • 1.  Call for abstracts: SGM Antecedents of Work Design

    Posted 03-05-2019 09:35

    Dear Colleagues,

    We would like to cordially invite you to participate in our Small Group Meeting on "Antecedents of Work Design" to be held in Amsterdam on June 3-4, 2019.

    The deadline for abstract submission is approaching: March 15, 2019. The call for submissions can be found below. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.


    We are looking forward to receiving your submissions,

    Anja van den Broeck, Daniela Andrei, & Maria Tims

     

    EAWOP Small Group Meeting
    "Antecedents of work design"
    June 3-4 2019
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    Organizers: Maria Tims, Anja Van den Broeck, and Daniela Andrei
    Abstract submission deadline: March 15, 2019

    Work design is central to many of the research topics in the Work and Organizational Psychology field. As indicated by Parker, Morgeson, and Johns (2017), work design is a key antecedent of many crucial dependent variables, such as productivity, employee well-being, creativity, and job performance, with considerable evidence pointing towards the beneficial effects of high quality work design for organizations and society overall (De Lange, Taris, Kompier, Houtman, & Bongers, 2003; Humphrey, Nahrgang, & Morgeson, 2007). Despite this body of evidence, poorly designed jobs remain surprisingly prevalent in advanced and developing economies (Dollard et al, 2012; Eurofound, 2015). This situation raises questions as of why these poor-quality work designs still persist, but the prevailing, rather passive, emphasis of existing research on work design as an input variable makes it ill-equipped to provide adequate answers.

    Therefore, it is of utmost importance to better understand why poor-quality work is perpetuated and how this situation can be changed. In other words, we need to focus on the antecedents of work design, ranging from global (e.g., technology, globalization), national (e.g., institutional regimes, legislation), organizational (e.g., HR-systems, organizational structure), and individual (e.g., age, gender, proactivity) forces that shape work design, as outlined by Parker, Van Den Broeck, and Holman (2017). Moreover, we need to improve our understanding of both top down (e.g., supervisor, HR; Parker, Andrei, & Van den Broeck, in press) and bottom up (e.g., job crafting; Tims, Bakker, & Derks, 2013; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) processes that ultimately shape work design.

    This SGM meeting aims to advance our understanding of the factors that shape work design and stimulate more scientific research into this neglected area. We aim to attract empirical and conceptual research addressing the antecedents of work design, and revolving on topics such as (but not limited to):

    • Research addressing the contextual factors that might facilitate or inhibit behaviors and decision-making of work designers
    • Research on how individual, team, and organizational factors can shape the quality of work design perceived by employees
    • Research on contextual factors and proactive work behaviors that change work design
    • Research on antecedents and work design outcomes of job crafting behaviors
    • Research on how the social context supports individual attempts to changing work design
    • Research on work design choices that are perceived, and enacted upon, by local 'job designers'
    • Research on innovative measures of work design behaviors
    • Research on how work design behaviors can be trained and improved

    Meeting format

    The format of this small group meeting (20-25 participants) is designed to foster in-depth discussions, constructive feedback, and research collaborations. Each paper will be presented to the entire group of participants, however, we will not focus on traditional 15 minute paper presentations but aim to have more time to engage in discussions about how to study the antecedents of work design. This means we will have short presentations grouped together based on their theme followed by in-depth discussions, moderated by a prominent researcher who is asked to act as a discussant. Prof. Sharon Parker will open the Small Group Meeting with a keynote. Attendance at the workshop is free. Tea, coffee, and lunches are provided. Participants need to provide for their own travel and accommodation costs.

    Submission of abstracts

    Scholars are invited to submit an abstract based on work that is in progress or emerging ideas. Abstracts should have a description of the study goals and relevance, method, results, and discussion (around 300 words). Abstracts should be submitted to m.tims@vu.nl no later than March 15, 2019. Interested scholars are also invited to contact the organizers in advance to discuss potential ideas. 

     




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    Maria Tims, PhD
    Associate Professor HRM and OB
    Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
    The Netherlands
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