Does HR affect employability? : a study of the relationship between HR practices, (perceived) employability, vitality and supervisor support

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Author: Karlijn Smit Student number: 10505784

Date: 25 June 2015 (final version) Institution: University of Amsterdam

Program: Executive Programme in Management Studies Track: Leadership & Management

Supervisor: Frank Belschak

Does HR affect employability?

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Signature:

Statement of Originality

This document is written by Karlijn Smit who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document. I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

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Abstract

Previous research agrees on the fact that employability becomes more and more important for organizations in order to remain competitive. Because of a rapidly changing market, organizations benefit from an adaptive, flexible and employable workforce. Employers should offer the right conditions and facilities that support employees’ employability, while at the same time, employees should take responsibility and develop new knowledge and skills in order to adapt and maintain their jobs. The HRM department is committed to the human capital of the organization and therefore a logical starting point for enhancing employees’ employability. But even though a lot of studies show the importance of this topic, a research on HR factors that cause perceived employability has been limited. Therefore this study tries to give a little insight into the relationship between HR practices and employability. Results indicate that a performance appraisal seems to predicts perceived employability and this relationship is partly explained by subjective vitality. On the other hand, a relationship between training and career management and employability cannot be found. The fact that perceived employability is positively related to employability behaviour may be useful for many organizations who want to address this topic. Whenever one can affect the perception, this may lead to actual employable behaviour. The role of the supervisor in the relationship between perception and behaviour, has not been proved in this study. It is therefore suggested to do a follow-up study and investigate other variables who might affect the relationship between HR and employability in the end. Implications of this study are discussed.

Key words: (perceived) employability, employability activities, HR practices, subjective vitality, supervisor career support

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1. Introduction

“The focus is shifted from job security and lifetime employment in one single organization to employability” (Thijssen et al., 2008).

We are living in the middle of a turbulent work environment. Organizations change rapidly and employees are forced to develop new knowledge and skills in order to adapt and maintain their jobs (Berntson, Sverke, & Marklund, 2006). Caused by many changes in the labour market, the concept of employability, i.e., “an individual’s chance of a job on the internal and/or external labour market” (Forrier & Sels, 2003, p. 106), has received an increased focus (Van der Heijden & Bakker, 2011). Job responsibilities have expanded, and employees are required to accomplish work more efficiently and with the support of fewer co-workers. This change emphasizes the need for adaptive and flexible organizations and employees (Berntson, et al., 2006) and underlines the importance of employees being able to cope with changes in organizations and jobs (Wittekind, Raeder, & Grote, 2009). Achieving flexibility in performance and development seems to be essential for both employee and employer to remain competitive because it is hard to predict future labour market needs (Thijssen, Van der Heijden, & Rocco, 2008).

For a long time, it was obvious that employees continued to work their whole lives in one organization (Thijssen et al., 2008). The provision of lifetime contracts by employers where seen as a way of showing appreciation to loyal employees. However, this is no longer the case. Thijssen et al. (2008) explained, “working with one company for decades and staying in the same occupation during an entire career have become rare phenomena” (p. 171). Instead of job security and long-term employment, the focus for employees has shifted to employability and the need for personal development in order to remain attractive to current and future jobs. Employees should be encouraged to make themselves employable, so they need to develop their personal and professional capacity to increase their future employment opportunities (Smith, 2010). Careers today ask for a more “self-directed job mobility and a shift in the employment relationship from long-term loyalty and employer-managed careers to a focus on competence development, employability, and self-managed careers” (Grote & Raeder, 2009: p. 220). This emphasis on the role of employees does not mean that employees are alone. Several scholars

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instance, O’Donoghue and Maguire (2005) argued that organization must pay attention to the changing way of employment and must support employees’ potential by providing the acquisition of new competencies. According to Clarke and Patrickson (2008), “the organization’s role is to ensure employees are developed in ways that will make them attractive to other employers so that, in the event of job loss, the individual can easily transition to alternative employment” (p. 129). Therefore, both employees and employers are responsible for maintaining and enhancing employability. Employers should offer the right conditions and facilities that support employees’ employability (e.g., career perspective instruments and training), while at the same time, employees should take responsibility by using those opportunities and adapting to the career choices and efforts (Thijssen et al., 2008). Improving the employability of employees appears to be beneficial for both organizational and employee outcomes (Fugate, Kinicki, & Ashforth, 2004; Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden 2006). Employable workers are necessary for organizations to face rapid organizational changes (Thijssen et al., 2008). Additionally, employability enables employees to cope with fast-changing job requirements and makes it easier to change tasks, or even jobs, when necessary (Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006).

Because of the advantages for both employers and employees, plus the rapid changes in the current labour market and the shift from job security to employability, it is interesting to know how employability develops and what organizations can do to stimulate employability. This knowledge could help organizations to increase the employability of their workforces. In most organizations, the HR department is committed to the human capital of the organization. Which HR instruments may enhance employability? For example, it might be logical to assume that when there are many training opportunities available within the organization, employees are more inclined to utilize them and become more employable. This relationship between HR practices and employability might be influenced by another aspect or underlying mechanism. For this study, “subjective vitality” was tested as a possible mediator between HR and employability. The availability of HR practices can be seen as an investment in employees, which ensures a greater commitment and lead to employees’ positive energy. This positive feeling of energy relates to a greater perception of employability because, when someone feels energetic and positive, he or she will probably feel more confident about his or her opportunities in the labour market. In this study, I also investigated subjective vitality as a possible moderator

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between the HR practices and employability because the feeling of aliveness and energy can encourages employees’ will to fully develop themselves and address all the available HR opportunities. Subjective vitality can lead to a stronger effect between the HR practices and employability. This study also addressed whether employability is predictive of employability activities. When employees perceive themselves as employable, does that mean they also show employability behaviour, and what affect does the role of a supervisor have in this relationship? A supervisor’s active involvement with the career development of his or her staff may have an effect on the relationship between perceived employability and actual employability behaviour. The relationship between HR and employability behaviour, in the end, has not been broadly investigated, although this relationship could be extremely useful for organizations in order to stay competitive. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between HR practices (facilitated by employers) and perceived employability, as well as how this employability predicts employability behaviour. This paper will begin by discussing the concept of perceived employability and the relationship with HR practices and will examine the mediating and moderating roles of subjective vitality and the effect of supervisor career support. Next, the research methodology and results will be reported, and finally, the discussion and limitations of the study will be presented.

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2. Theoretical background and hypothesis development

2.1 The concept of (perceived) employability

“The individual’s perception of his or her possibilities of obtaining or maintaining employment” (Berntson & Markund, 2007, p. 281). The definition of employability is slightly diffuse (Thijssen et al., 2008). Several scholars use different characteristics of the concept (De Grip, Van Loo, & Sanders, 2004; Forrier & Sels, 2003; Fugate et al., 2004; Van der Klink, Burdorf, & Schaufeli, 2010). Each definition emphasizes a combination of employees’ characteristics, for instance, proactivity, mobility, and flexibility. Forrier and Sels (2003) defined employability as “an individual’s chance of a job on the internal and/or external labour market” (p. 106). Their definition is in line with that of Van der Heijde and Van der Heijden (2006), who also emphasized the importance of the chance to be employable both on the internal and external labour markets. The willingness and capacity of employees to be employable was emphasized by Fugate et al. (2004), who defined employability as “a form of work-specific active adaptability that enables workers to identify and realize career opportunities” (p. 16). Van der Klink et al. (2010) added the aspect of health and well-being to the definition and emphasized that, while continuing the possibility and availability of current and future work, it is essential to maintain employees’ health and well-being. A healthy and vital life in this definition is, therefore, regarded as a precondition for employability. All these concepts are broadly in line and relate to how easy it could be for an individual to maintain current and future employment.

The difficulty of using this concept concerns the different levels of how people view it (Forrier & Sels, 2003). Some organizations use employability as a measure of functional flexibility (De Grip et al., 2004), but employability could also be viewed in the light of the individual’s perception. For this research, employability is seen as “the individual’s perception of his or her possibilities of obtaining or maintaining employment” (Berntson & Markund, 2007, p. 281). In other words, perceived employability is what employees believe their internal and external employment possibilities are. Froehlich, Beausaert, and Segers (2014) underlined the importance of employees’ self-ratings of employability. They argued that employees’ own

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perceptions are a more important driver than employers’ ratings. When employees think about themselves as employable, they are more confident about their opportunities and will probably more easily choose to switch to other jobs or take responsibility to enrich their current jobs. In line with Vanhercke, De Cuyper, Peeters, and Witte (2014), this study also emphasizes maintaining current employment and obtaining a new job as aspects of the perceived employability of employees. An individual with a high level of employability believes that his or her chances of obtaining a new job or finding new career opportunities is plausible. Clearly, the concept of perceived employability is not a static concept because employees’ perception of employability can change over time (Sanders & De Grip, 2004).

Whether an employee perceives him- or herself as employable depends on several factors, some of which employees can influence directly and some of which they cannot. There are some personality traits who showed to be antecedents of perceived employability. For instance, initiative, self-confidence, and tenure. Initiative refers to “an autonomous posture and behaviour that is self-started and proactive in contrast to being reactive and following orders” (Van Dam, 2004, p. 32). If an employee showed to be proactive and self-started, he or she will probably be more encouraged to take initiative in career enhancing activities. Self-esteem, in the work context, refers to an employees’ self-evaluation of his or her knowledge, skills, and competencies (Gardner & Pierce, 1998). If an employee is confident about his or her possibilities, then he or she will probably have more trust in current and future career opportunities and this can lead to higher levels of perceived employability. On the other hand, tenure, i.e., the number of years employees spend in an organization, might have a negative impact on perceived employability. Low-tenure employees are more willing to participate in employability activities (Van Dam, 2003b). Caused by, i.e. decreased multiskilling, more-tenured employees have fewer opportunities on the external labour market. This might affect their employability and their perceptions’ of employability. Although there are several studies approaching the determinants and antecedents of perceived employability (Berntson, et al., 2006, De Cuyper & De Witte, 2011), literature about the consequences of perceived employability is scarce. Wittekind et al. (2009) argued that the experience of less strain is a consequence of high levels of employees’ perceived employability. This is in line with Berntson and Marklund (2007), who demonstrated that perceived employability is related to engagement,

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lead to higher levels of well-being, life satisfaction, and makes it possible to cope with stressful situations. Organizations have the possibility to affect both individual factors and contextual factors, for example by offering HR practices, in order to enhance perceived employability.

2.2 HR practices and their relationships with perceived employability

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the organizational function that includes all major activities associated with the management of employment relations (Boxall & Purcell, 2000). The HR system, which contains all kinds of HR practices or personnel actions (Rousseau & Greller, 1994), can help a firm achieve a competitive advantage (Becker & Huselid, 1998) by influencing the attitudes and behaviours of employees, which then affect organizational outcomes. Becker’s (1993) study showed that the investment in effective combinations of HR practices are associated with positive outcomes, like higher productivity and lower turnover of employees. Outcomes can be divided into three types: Financial (e.g., market share), Organisational (e.g., productivity), and HR-related (e.g., attitudinal and behavioural impacts, such as commitment) (Boselie, Dietz, & Boon (2005). An HR system consists of a combination of several HR practices. Boselie et al. (2005) distinguished the most common HR practices: Training and development, performance management and appraisal, contingent pay and reward schemes, and recruitment and selection. HR systems improve both the quality of the organization and the employees and are beneficial to competitive advantage because they shape and strengthen the set of desired role behaviours in the workplace. Schuler and Jackson (1987) highlighted HR activities, such as performance appraisals and development programs, as essential to managing people to achieve organizational goals. In times of organizational change and a turbulent work environment, different role behaviours are needed to achieve organizational goals. Employees must be flexible to change and tolerant of ambiguity and unpredictability (Schuler & Jackson, 1987). This behaviour can be achieved by setting the right human resource practices, which facilitate employees and influence and shape the right skills, attitudes, and behaviours (Chen & Huang, 2009). Specifically, HR practices focused on employee development, like training, development appraisals, and career management, play an important part in guiding the workforce in the desired direction.

Although it seems like HR interventions are only meant to serve broader organizational goals, these interventions can have positive outcomes for employees as well (Van Dam, 2004).

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Developmental and career HR practices influence employees’ employability, for example, by providing training that makes it easier for employees to switch between jobs (Schyns, Torka, & Gössling, 2007). In addition, previous research (Birdi, Allan, & Warr, 1997) has shown that changes in work can lead both to improved labour market opportunities and to accomplishment of development needs as positive outcomes for employees. Hence, investment in employees should ensure a greater commitment by employees toward the firm and, therefore, increases employees’ motivation to show good organizational behaviour (Lee & Bruvold, 2003). This assumption is in line with the social exchange theory, which suggests that employees who perceive a high level of organizational support will do something in return to repay the organization through positive attitudes and behaviours (Coyle-Shapiro & Conway, 2004).

Employees often interpret HR practices in unintended ways. The same HR practice can have different effects depending on employees’ perceptions (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Den Hartog, Boon, Verburg, & Croon, 2012). The perceptions are influenced by employees’ values and expectations, and each person will interpret the “messages of HR practices” differently. HR practices elicit reactions that can be affective (attitudinal), cognitive (knowledge or skill), and behavioural (Nishii & Wright, 2008). For this reason, it is important for organizations to know how employees’ perceive the offers the organization makes by providing HR practices. When a particular practice, like providing training, is seen as a valuable facility, the employee will be more likely to show positive behaviour then when he or she assesses this as forced or unnecessary. As such, it is interesting to measure employees’ opinions about different HR practices. Employees’ perceptions regarding HR practices are important in understanding the connection between HR practices and organizational outcomes. The extent to which employees perceive the particular HR practices will drive effects on the employees (Den Hartog et al., 2012). For this reason, and because of the majority who relied on measures of perceived presence (Boselie et al., 2005), this study chose to approach the perceived presence of HR practices instead of measuring actual or intended HR practices because the HR practices will affect outcomes through their impact on employee attitudes (Nishii & Wright, 2008).

Considering the length of the available research time and the proven relevance of the operationalized developmental HR practices (Kooij, Jansen, Dikkers, & Lange, 2014; Kuvaas, 2008), three widespread HR practices aimed at improving employees’ employability were used

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performance appraisal, and career management. Providing training gives employees the opportunity to develop their skills and behaviours and guarantees their functional flexibility (Thijssen et al., 2008). An effective performance appraisal gives the employees feedback and can be a valuable basis for further development. The availability of career management provides opportunities for employees to set career goals and strive for growth in or outside the organization. Because these practices are commonly used in most organizations (Schuler & Jackson, 1987; Boselie et al., 2005) and are mainly deployed to reinforce (or maintain) employees’ personal and professional development, this research theorized that these three practices are positively related to employability.

2.2.1 Training

One of the proven HR practices in the case of employability is training (Groot & Maassen van den Brink, 2000; Sanders & De Grip, 2004). For this research, “training” will be approached as a formalized program and traditional classroom-based training offered by the organization (Evans & Davis, 2005) and not as a form of training-on-the-job or training by guidance or mentoring from a supervisor. Employers can provide training as an important human resource practice and enhance the opportunities for employees to develop their skills and behaviours and guarantee their functional flexibility (Thijssen et al., 2008). From the employee perspective, having the opportunity to develop themselves through training can be seen as a valuable benefit from the organization that supports their chances to gain employment in the labour market (Finegold, Levenson, & van Buren, 2005; Forrier and Sels, 2003). Kooij et. al (2014) approached training as part of the “developmental bundle”, which is a combination of practices that help employees to reach higher levels of performing. Training as an “employability instrument” may have a positive influence on the employees’ ability to remain attractive and also signal a worker’s willingness to be employable (De Grip et al., 2004). According to these positive effects of training, the perceived availability of training opportunities should have a positive effect on employees perceived employability. If an organization pays attention to training opportunities and this will be noticed by employees, then it seems likely that employees will seize these opportunities and thereby extend their knowledge and skills, which will benefit their perceived employability. Therefore, Hypothesis 1a is as follows:

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Hypothesis 1a: The perceived presence of the HR practice “training” is positively

related to employees’ perceived employability. 2.2.2 Performance appraisal

A performance appraisal is a human resource method by which the results or performances of employees are evaluated and documented; these can have both developmental and evaluative purposes (Delery & Doty, 1996). To be effective, performance appraisals must be part of career development and must consists of symmetric reviews of performance (Delery & Shaw, 2001). Rousseau and Greller (1994) argued that performance interviews are opportunities for the creation, maintenance, or change of contracts. The effect of appraisals on the feelings of employees can be twofold. Positive evaluations are generally found to have a positive effect on the motivation of employees (Alvero, Bucklin, & Austin, 2001), and this could lead to positive behaviour and organizational outcomes. However, negative feedback can also have a beneficial effect on employees since some studies have found that receiving negative feedback resulted in more effort in developmental activities (Hazucha, Hezlett, & Schneider, 1993) and ensured that employees were more likely to select developmental goals (Brutus, London, & Marineau, 1999). However, whether it is a positive or negative evaluation, the fact remains that periodically receiving feedback can help employees in their future careers and can be the basis for their personal development plans. Therefore, the availability of this HR practice should enhance employees’ perceived employability. When an employee periodically receives a performance appraisal, which gives a clear view of his or her current state and clear direction of development, it should lead to awareness of his or her current possibilities. This feedback should positively be related to perceived employability because the availability of this practice can help employees’ think about their opportunities and be the basis of their future development. Therefore, Hypothesis 1b is as follows:

Hypothesis 1b: The perceived presence of the HR practice “performance appraisal” is

positively related to employees’ perceived employability. 2.2.3 Career management

Baruch and Peiperl (2000) made groups of organizational career practices, like career counselling, career workshops, and career planning sessions, as part of the HR practice: Career

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a job) and vertically (to another function) (Dorenbosch, 2009). Therefore, the availability of career management practices might have implications for the perceived employability of employees since the attention and development of career competencies are important for employees’ career possibilities (Fugate et al., 2004; Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006). Noe (1996) described career management as “the process by which individuals collect information about values, interests, and skill strengths and weaknesses (career exploration), identify a career goal, and engage in career strategies that increase the probability that career goals will be achieved” (p. 119). The first part of this description underlines the responsibility of the employee him- or herself to make sure that he or she receives the right information, instead of a proactive role of the manager as initiator for personal development. When employees’ perceive the career management opportunities in their organizations as available and valuable, perceived employability should be positively affected. When these opportunities are available and well known within the organization, then employees’ perceived employability should be impacted because employees have the opportunity to grow within the organization and thereby increase their employability. Additionally, when opportunities are offered extensively, and the organization pays attention to this, then it seems quite natural to be working on this, and this will probably also lead to an increase in the awareness of employees about their employability. Therefore, Hypothesis 1c is as follows:

Hypothesis 1c: The perceived presence of the HR practice “career management” is

positively related to employees’ perceived employability.

2.3 The mediating role of subjective vitality

While I have proposed a direct link between the chosen HR practices and perceived employability, another outcome of the perceived presence of HR practices may be employees’ “subjective vitality”. Subjective vitality may help explain the process by which the HR practices relate to perceived employability. Subjective vitality can be described as “a positive feeling of aliveness and energy” (Ryan & Frederick, 1997, p. 529) and a psychological experience which includes spirit and enthusiasm (Ryan & Frederick, 1997). It consists of a combination of someone’s physical and psychological state and is an indicator of personal well-being. Dorenbosch (2009) added, in addition to the positive feeling of aliveness and energy, the initiative of a vital person to actually do something with it and described vitality as “high

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amounts of energy and the engagement in proactive behaviour” (p. 55). Proactivity or proactive behaviour can be described as “taking initiative in improving current circumstances or creating new ones; it involves challenging the status quo rather than passively adapting to present conditions” (Crant, 2000, p. 436). Vitality can be related to proactivity, which means that when someone feels vital and have feelings of energy and aliveness, he or she is probably more proactive and will take more initiative in private and work situations. Conversely, when someone is proactive and takes many initiatives, the feeling of vitality may increase.

In the literature, many concepts showed to be antecedents of subjective vitality. Deci and Ryan (1985) argued that intrinsic motivation is related to feelings of vitality. If someone is intrinsically motivated, for example to develop him- or herself, this motivation is accompanied by feelings of vitality. Ryan and Frederick (2006) also demonstrated a positive effect between employees’ self-esteem and subjective vitality. This positive self-evaluation enhance feelings of vitality. Another predictor of subjective vitality is harmonious passion, which can be described as “a strong desire to engage in the activity which remains under the person’s control”. (Philippe, Vallerand & Lavigne, 2009, p. 4). When someone is passionate about his or her work, this will have a positive effect on his or her vitality. Ryan and Frederick (1997) further argued that higher vitality is reported when employees perceived a high degree of autonomy, could take action by themselves, and experienced few conflicts in work or private situations. This result implies that if someone has control of his or her situation and his or her actions, he or she feels more secure, which corresponds to a higher feeling of vitality. This idea is in line with Deci and Ryan (2000), who argued that when employees feel autonomous and are allowed to utilize available opportunities (like available HR practices), employees’ vitality increases. This self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1991; Ryan, 1995) suggests that contexts that support autonomy, competence, and relatedness should enhance vitality, whereas those associated with perceptions of being controlled, incompetent, or unloved should diminish vitality. In work situations, these contexts can be influenced by the human resource management of an organization. Organizations can affect employees’ behaviours by providing consistent HR systems (Schuler & Jackson, 1987). According to the “optimistic perspective”, Peccei (2004) suggested that HRM is beneficial for workers because it makes the work climate more supportive and, therefore, increases employees’ well-being and vitality.

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Although some argue that HRM also can have a negative impact on employees, by the effect of work intensification (Peccei, 2004), HR practices are mostly seen as an investment in employees and a way to demonstrate involvement and appreciation. Dorenbosch (2009) showed that an HR bundle, consisting of practices like formal training and career development, is positively related to employee vitality. Van der Heijden and Bakker (2011) confirmed this theory and mentioned that a perceived lack of employment opportunities is related to lower well-being, which goes hand in hand with a decrease in vitality. Tummers, Kruyen, Vijverberg, and Voesenek’s (2013) research showed the same kind of effect of HR practices on employees’ subjective vitality. Training opportunities and (career) development activities can stimulate employees and thereby increase their vitality at work. These findings may imply that the presence of training activities intended to help employees in their development will have a positive effect on vitality, which is in some part the same for available performance appraisals and feedback. Shragra and Shirom’s (2009) study showed that respondents experienced high levels of vitality when receiving feedback, in theory because, when someone receives structured feedback, he or she will perceive him- or herself more in control of opportunities. The importance of sufficient control of employees’ vitality has been previously endorsed by the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1991).

To what extent is there a relationship between vitality and perceived employability? Dorenbosch (2009) emphasized the importance of employee well-being and vitality in order to deliver organizational performance. In line with Fay and Kamps (2006), he approached vitality as “an indicator for a healthy, productive and sustainable workforce” (p. 6). As both researchers outlined, in order to react and adequately perform in the rapidly changing environment, vital employees are necessary to survive (Dorenbosch, 2009; Fay & Kamps, 2006). The combination of positive energy, aliveness and proactivity makes an employee more resilient and able to cope with organizational changes, which is beneficial in relation to employability. Employees who feel energized and vital are more able to approach work in other and more challenging ways by constantly looking for new opportunities and thereby enhancing their employability (Kark & Carmeli, 2009). Besides, employees who experiences high levels of vitality are more optimistic and tend to view events more positively (Kark & Carmeli, 2009). This optimistic and positive state, makes it convincing that employees evaluate their employability on a higher level as well.

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Considering the studies demonstrating the relationships between HRM, aliveness and energy, subjective vitality, autonomy, self-esteem, and employability, examining whether the effect of subjective vitality acts as a mediator between perceived presence of the HR practices and perceived employability appears necessary. This study will specifically examine three HR practices: Training, performance appraisal, and career management. It is expected that the opportunity to follow training activities contributes positively to subjective vitality, because it helps by increasing knowledge and skills. This increase will contribute to employees’ self-esteem and confidence and thereby contributes positively to employees’ perceived employability. The relationship between performance appraisal and subjective vitality is expected because of the feedback part in performance appraisals. When someone receives structured feedback, he or she will perceive him- or herself more in control of opportunities and this contributes positively to vitality and their perceived employability. The availability of career management practices give employees the freedom to work on their careers by themselves. A work context where many career development opportunities are provided, will contribute positively to employees’ confidence, vitality and perceived employability. As noticed, all of these practices are somehow related to subjective vitality, mostly because of the positive effect on employees’ self-control. HRM, as a positive contribution for employees, will enhance employees feelings of vitality by giving them self-control and the possibility to develop themselves, which in turn will contribute positively to confidence about their employability. Therefore, Hypotheses 2a through 2c will assume that subjective vitality acts as a mediator among the three HR practices used in this study:

Hypothesis 2a: Subjective vitality will mediate the relationship between the perceived

presence of the HR practice “training” and employees’ perceived employability.

Hypothesis 2b: Subjective vitality will mediate the relationship between the perceived

presence of the HR practice “performance appraisal” and employees’ perceived employability.

Hypothesis 2c: Subjective vitality will mediate the relationship between the perceived

presence of the HR practice “career management” and employees’ perceived employability.

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2.4 Subjective vitality as moderator

Subjective vitality may also serve as a moderator, acting to increase the positive effect of the HR practices training, performance appraisal, and career management on perceived employability. Because of the positive experiences associated with perceived employability, like high self-esteem and well-being, when employees perceive a high level of aliveness and energy (Ryan & Frederick, 1997), they should be more likely to address the opportunities to achieve the most they can (Rogers, 1963). This theory was confirmed by Van Veldhoven and Dorenbosch (2008), who argued that proactive and energetic employees actively scan the work environment and seek new opportunities to ensure future employability. The condition of aliveness and energy encourages the will to fully develop oneself and will address all available possibilities. As Kark and Carmeli (2009) argued, someone who is vital and full of energy does not “[do] things halfway or half-heartedly” (p. 789). Therefore, the extent of employees’ vitality impact the effort they are willing to give to the attention of practices. If someone does not feel vital, he or she will probably be less motivated to examine or utilize the practices offered to him or her (Tummers et al., 2013) and, therefore, the availability of HR practices does not have impact on employees perceived employability.

For this reason, a higher level of subjective vitality should lead to a stronger effect between the presence of HR practices and perceived employability, simply because when vitality is high, an employee will be more in charge to fully develop him- or herself and approach the available HR practices as opportunities to expand his or her labour market chances. For example in the relationship between training, career management and perceived employability; a vital employee will be more inclined to develop him- or herself through offered training and career management opportunities than an employee who experiences low levels of vitality and energy and cannot muster him- or herself to gain the maximum of the opportunities presented. In the case of the HR practice performance appraisal; it is expected that when an employee is experiencing a high level of vitality, this feeling is accompanied by a high degree of self-confidence and a more optimistic view of events (Kark & Carmeli, 2009). Regardless of a positive or negative outcome of the performance appraisal, when someone is vital he or she will probably be more able to approach this feedback as a starting point for further development, than employees who lack a positive feeling of vitality. So, in this moderation model the relationship between the perceived presence of HR practices and perceived employability of

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those with high subjective vitality should be stronger than those with low subjective vitality. Thus, Hypotheses 3a through 3c are as follows:

Hypothesis 3a: Subjective vitality will moderate the relationship between the perceived

presence of the HR practice “training” and employees’ perceived employability, such that the effect will be stronger under high levels of subjective vitality than when subjective vitality is measured as low.

Hypothesis 3b: Subjective vitality will moderate the relationship between the perceived

presence of the HR practice “performance appraisal” and employees’ perceived employability, such that the effect will be stronger under high levels of subjective vitality than when subjective vitality is measured as low.

Hypothesis 3c: Subjective vitality will moderate the relationship between the perceived

presence of the HR practice “career management” and employees’ perceived employability, such that the effect will be stronger under high levels of subjective vitality than when subjective vitality is measured as low.

2.5 Employability activities and the influence of supervisor career support

Numerous studies on employability focus on the attitudes or perception of employees regarding employability (e.g., Berntson et al., 2006; Vanhercke et al., 2014; Wittekind et al., 2009) or explicitly examined the behavioural aspect (e.g., Noe & Wilk, 1993; Redmond, 2013). Perception is not the same as actual behaviour, although both concepts are strongly related. An employee’s attitude or perception refers to his or her feelings and expectations about a certain topic, while behaviour refers to an action taken based on that feeling. Harter, Schmidt, Asplund, Killham, and Agrawal’s (2010) article revealed that employee outcomes and behaviour are caused by employees’ attitudes and perceptions. Regarding the perception of employability, an employee’s perception or positive feelings about his or her employability may lead to actual employability behaviour. Therefore, instead of primarily focusing on the perception, this study goes one step further and also takes the actual behavioural aspect into account. Employability behaviour, or employability activities, can be defined as “employees’ voluntary efforts to enroll in activities that improve their knowledge, skills, and abilities, so that they are able to perform better in their current position, or in preparation for higher-responsibility positions within the

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in seminars or workshops to enhance knowledge (Noe & Wilk, 1993), are essential for employees to improve their employability (Van Dam, 2014). According to Noe and Wilk (1993), “the more employees have engaged in career exploration activities, the greater their rate of participation in development activities” (p. 93). By paying attention to both aspects, it is possible to investigate the interrelation between attitudes and behaviour. Since employees’ behaviour is influenced by their perceptions (Noe & Wilk, 1993; Sutton, 1998), implying that employees who perceive higher employability will probably undertake more activities to maintain or improve their employability, Hypothesis 4 assumes that perceived employability is positively related to actual employability behaviour:

Hypothesis 4: The perceived employability of employees (attitude) is positively related

to employability activities (behaviour).

In addition to individual attitudes and perceptions, work-related characteristics, such as supervisors’ career support, may also affect employees’ employability behaviour (Van Dam, 2004). Supervisor career support is “the extent to which supervisors encourage their subordinates to work on their careers and develop themselves” (Van Dam, 2004, p.33). Contrary to the aforementioned HR practice career management, this variable contains a proactive role of the supervisor, instead of the passive role of the HR practices. Although there is a growing emphasis on the role of the individual employee in managing his or her own career (Eby, Butts, & Lockwood, 2003), career development still remains an important responsibility for employers since the organization forms the environment in which career development often takes places (Baruch & Peiperl, 2000). Previous research has shown that perceived management support is important, according to actual development activities undertaken by employees inside the organization (Birdi et al., 1997). Perceived management support was found to predict voluntary learning and participation in updating activities (Noe & Wilk, 1993). Van Dam (2003b) confirmed this relationship and argued that supervisor support to develop oneself affects employees’ career development activities. It is therefore assumed that the role of a supervisor in supporting career development is essential in the relationship between perceptions and actual behaviour.

One could argue that supervisor career support plays a role in an earlier stage of the model used in this research. According to the “people management–performance causal chain”

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of Purcell and Hutchinson (2007), the method or style of leadership behaviour has a major influence on the perception of employees. In this case, one would expect that the perceived employability is influenced by supervisor support. This particular study’s primary focus is actually on the role of supervisors in the relationship between perceived employability and employability behaviour because it is interesting to investigate if a low level of perceived employability (whether or not this is partly caused by supervisor support) can be converted to an outcome: high employability behaviour. According to the proven effect of career support on developmental activities of employees, Hypothesis 5 assumes that supervisor career support will strengthen the effect between perceived employability and actual employability behaviour:

Hypothesis 5: The presence of high supervisors career support will moderate the

strength of the relationship between perceived employability and employability activities, such that the effect will be stronger under high levels of supervisors career support than when the perceived support level is low.

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3. Method

In this section, the empirical procedure of this study will be presented. The research approach, research sample, measurement of the variables, control variables, and the statistical procedure will be explained in more detail.

3.1 Research approach

For testing the hypotheses, a deductive research approach was applied. This research will quantitatively explain the different relationships between the variables in the conceptual model, meaning this study is explanatory (Lewis, Thornhill, & Saunders, 2012). Standardized scales were used to measure all the dependent, independent, mediating, and moderating variables. According to Lewis et al. (2012), “the questionnaire is one of the most widely used data collection methods within the survey strategy” (p. 417). A survey approach was chosen since questionnaires can be efficiently and economically distributed through a large population. The questionnaires were distributed by email and designed with the use of an online software program: Qualtrics. Since this questionnaire method presents each respondent with the same series of questions, it is possible to use statistical techniques to analyse the data and determine validity, reliability, and statistical significance (Field, 2013).

Because the questionnaire was distributed among Dutch employees, the items were translated from English to Dutch. For this research, the “direct translation technique” was used to translate each question (Usunier, 1998). This technique is an easy way to complete the translation but can lead to discrepancies. For this reason, the translation was double-checked by both a student and the supervisor to be sure that there were no discrepancies. Prior to the collection of data and the administration of the questionnaire, a pilot was performed to assess the validity and clarity of the questions (Lewis et al., 2012). Eight different respondents from different educational levels and of different ages were asked to give comments on the questionnaire and to provide suggestions for adjustments.

3.2 Research sample

This study focuses on employees who work in organizations. At this time, over seven million people in the Netherlands are employed (CBS, 2014) and are thus actually in the

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research group. Because I only had access to a small research population within one organization, data from other respondents from other organizations was also collected to make sure that I could collect enough respondents. Whether a respondent was someone from this single organization, X, or from another organization was reported as a control variable in the analysis. Therefore, for this research, a wide variety of respondents was used. Only respondents who possessed a contract of employment were selected for this research. This condition enabled them to judge available HR practices in their organizations. This group represents a large portion of society because the individuals worked in different sectors and vary in gender and age. There were no age limits or sector restrictions for this sample, which provides a broad picture of the opinion of working professionals on the relationship between HR practices and perceived employability. The chosen approach made sure that the results are applicable in different situations rather than just one organization. The respondents were personally approached via the researcher’s personal network and by social media, such as LinkedIn, during the period of 23 March to 10 April.

The sample consisted of 64 (31,7%) employees from organization X and 138 (68,3%) employees from other organizations. There were 68 (34%) male respondents and 134 (66%) female respondents. The average age in the sample was 43 years (SD = 12.58). The youngest respondent was 22 and the oldest was 64. The average current function age of the 202 respondents was 7,5 years (SD = 6.56). Of the 202 respondents, 96 (47,5%) respondents worked in the healthcare sector, 27 (13,4%) respondents in business services, 14 (6,9%) in education, and the rest (32,2%) worked in other sectors. The majority of the respondents (60,9%) worked in organizations where more than 500 people were employed. Respondents were asked to indicate their highest educational degree: 98 (48,5%) had an HBO, 40 (19,8%) an MBO, 35 (17,3%) an University Bachelor Master degree, 21 (10,4%) respondents indicated a High School degree, and 8 (4%) mentioned “other”.

3.3 Measurement of variables

It is essential that the questionnaire answers the research question. This measurement validity ensures that “what you find with your questionnaire actually represents the reality of what you are measuring” (Lewis et al., 2012, p. 429). To achieve a constructive analysis of the

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questionnaires, which have been proven in previous research were recommended (Robson, 2011). This study on the relationship between HR and employability consisted of seven variables, all of which were measured by a number of items. Respondents were asked to respond to each of the questions on a seven-point scale, with anchors “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (7).

Perceived employability is defined as “the individual’s perception of his or her possibilities of obtaining or maintaining employment” (Berntson & Markund, 2007, p. 281). This study relied on the perceptions of employees because prior research has proven that self-ratings are a better indicator than employers’ self-ratings (Froehlich et al., 2014). Based on Berntson and Markund’s (2007) definition, the scale of Rothwell and Arnold (2007) was partially used; this original scale has an internal consistency of .83. Examples of the items are “Even if there was downsizing in this organisation I am confident that I would be retained” and “I could easily get a similar job to mine in almost any organisation”. Because this study primary focused on employees’ confidence and conviction that they were employable now and in future jobs, three items were excluded from the scale used in this research. For example, the following question was deleted because it was not relevant for this study: “Among the people who do the same job as me, I am well respected in this organisation”. The variable, perceived employability, was measured by the mean score of items 1 to 8 of the subject employability in the questionnaire.

Employability behaviour or activities reflects employees’ effort to participate in activities that enhance their abilities and makes them perform better in current or future jobs (Redmond, 2013). The employability activities were measured by six items, developed by Van Dam (2004). An example of one item is “In the past year, I have been actively looking for possibilities to change my working situation”. The variable, employability activities, was measured by the mean score of items 9 to 14 of the subject employability in the questionnaire.

Three widespread HR practices aimed at improving employees’ employability were used in this study to investigate the relationship between HR and perceived employability: Training, performance appraisal, and career management. An HR practice, like performance appraisal or training, can be measured in different ways. Boselie et al. (2005) distinguished three categories of measuring HR practices: Presence, coverage, and intensity. For this study, the perceived presence was used and provided information about employees perception about the availability

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of an HR practice (e.g., “do you receive an appraisal?”). The presence of HR practices was measured by a 7-point Likert scale.

Training can be provided as an important HR practice that can enhance the opportunities for employees to develop general and specific skills to increase their employability (Thijssen et al., 2008). As already mentioned, for this research, training will be approached as a formalized program and traditional classroom-based training offered by the organization (Evans & Davis, 2005). The variable HR practice, training, was measured by four items taken from Newman, Thanacoody, and Hui (2011). An example of one of the items is “My organization provides its employees with good opportunities to undertake in-house job-specific training”. The variable, training, was measured by the mean score of items 1 to 4 of the subject HR practices in the questionnaire.

The performance appraisal is a human resource method by which both positive and negative feedback about an employee’s functioning and discussing problems is provided. These appraisals can have both developmental and evaluative purposes (Delery & Doty, 1996). The variable, HR practice performance appraisal, was measured by five items based on prior research from Kuvaas (2008). Items like “My performance is periodically reviewed with me” and “There is a clear procedure for my assessment” are examples of used items. The variable, performance appraisal, was measured by the mean score of items 5 to 9 of the subject HR practices in the questionnaire.

HR career management practices are focused on opportunities for employees’ growth within a job or to another function (Dorenbosch, 2009). The availability of career management as HR practices was measured by the four items taken from earlier research of Kuvaas (2008). One of the items is “This organization puts in a great deal of effort in organizing for internal career development”. The variable, career management, was measured by the mean score of items 10 to 13 of the subject HR practices in the questionnaire.

Ryan and Frederick’s (1997) scale, based on six items, was used to measure subjective vitality. Respondents were asked to answer the six items in terms of how they "apply to you and your life at the present time". One negatively-worded item of the original scale was rewritten as a positive question since subjective vitality in this study is described as “a positive feeling of aliveness and energy” (Ryan & Frederick, 1997, p. 529). The rewritten item is “I feel very

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Supervisor career support is described as “the extent to which supervisors encourage their subordinates to work on their careers and develop themselves” (Van Dam, 2004, p.33). Contrary to the aforementioned HR practice, career management, this variable includes a proactive role of the manager, instead of the “passive role” of the HR practices. For this study, six items, developed by Greenhaus, Parasuraman, and Wormley (1990), were used. Items in this scale were, for example, “My supervisor cares about whether or not I achieve my career goals”, and “My supervisor keeps me informed about different career opportunities for me in the organization.”

3.4 Control variables

In order to minimize unintended effects that influence the results of this study, a number of control variables were included. These variables were held constant in order to make a more adequate investigation of the relationship between the different variables (Field, 2013). “Group” indicates which group of respondents was involved (organization X = 0; others = 1). “Gender” was also assessed dichotomously (male = 1; female = 2) and was controlled for since some authors suggested that women are more mobile and more easily switched between jobs than men (Faggian, McCann, & Sheppard, 2007). Thereby, other differences were measured between men and women, according to health, vitality, and perceived employability (Berntson et al., 2006). The variable “age” was included because this may influence the perceptions of employees regarding their employability. Previous studies found negative relationships between age and employability (Rothwell & Arnold, 2007; Van Vuuren, Caniels, & Semeijn, 2011; Wittekind et al., 2009). Froehlich et al. (2014) even argued that the interest in formal training of older employees is lower and indicates that this group of employees also receives fewer training opportunities. “Education level” was included as well because the respondents’ educational background may influence their employability. A study of Birdi et al. (1997) indicated that the education level is predictive of participation in developmental activities. Employees with higher degrees probably are more aware of their opportunities in the labour market. In order to measure this concept, respondents were asked to indicate their highest completed education. “Function age”, or tenure, at the current organization was controlled for as well because, when employees are in the same function for a long period of time, they probably have more difficultly switching or to leaving their current function. Organizational tenure has even been found to have a

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negative relationship with developmental behaviour and mobility activities. Low-tenure employees will react more positive toward provided employability interventions (Van Dam, 2004). To measure function age respondents were asked to indicate how long they worked in the same function within the same organization.The “sector” of the organization can also affect the results of this study. De Grip et al. (2004) considered employability from the perspective of sectors of industry. The need for being employable depends on the extent to which employees need to cope with developments in their sectors. For example, new legislation could ensure that employees must follow new training, or a structural declining market makes it necessary that employees must be retrained. Previous research showed differences among self-rated employability between sectors (De Cuyper & De Witte, 2011). In regard to specific employability supporting activities, the non-profit sector is far more active than the market sector (De Vries, Gründemann, & Van Vuuren, 2001). For this study, respondents were asked to indicate in which sectors they operated. “Organization size” may also have an impact on the results of this study. Opportunities for internal employability are probably more available in larger organizations than in smaller firms. De Vries et al. (2001) showed that there is more employability stimulating activities in large organizations than in smaller ones. Respondents were asked to indicate the size of the organization in which they were currently working.

3.5 Statistical procedure

To perform the statistical analyses, the Statistical software Package for Social Sciences 21 (SPSS) was used. First, a check of frequencies was completed in order to examine the data and to ensure that there were no errors. Missing values were dealt with by excluding cases, list-wise, which means that only cases that had no missing data in any variable were analysed, for a total of 202 cases. After checking the frequencies and dealing with missing data, scale reliabilities and normality distribution were checked.

3.5.1 Reliability check

Reliability checks were run for HR training, HR performance appraisal, HR career management, perceived employability, subjective vitality, employability activities, and supervisor career support. The Cronbach’s alpha, which represents the estimator of the internal

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questions should not be used for analysis. As shown in Table 1, all seven variables had a Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.7, which indicates high levels of internal consistency.

3.5.2 Test for normality

After the reliability checks, the means of all variables were calculated and descriptive statistics, including skewness and kurtosis, were computed. SPSS used the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to check for normality of the variables. A p-value above 0.05 indicates a normal distribution. Furthermore, the values of skewness and kurtosis provide more insight into the shape of the curve. Results showed that none of the variables were normally distributed because all scores on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test were significant and the scales were all negatively skewed. This result means that most of the respondents gave more positive scores on the 7-point Likert scales. Because abnormally distributed data has implications for further statistical analyses, transforming the data and trying to make the variables normally distributed was an option. This transformation could be accomplished by taking the log or square root of the scale (Field, 2013). Because, in this case, I needed to correct for negative skewness, I needed to “reverse the scores by subtracting the highest score + 1” (Field, 2013, p. 203). The transformations on the original data did not lead to different results in the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test; therefore, the original variables were used in the statistical analyses. Given the lack of normality distribution of the variables, bootstrapping seemed valuable because “the bootstrapped confidence intervals will be unaffected by the distribution of the scores” in contrast to the significance level (Field, 2013, p. 275). Therefore, bootstrapping was performed in further analyses.

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4. Results

4.1 Correlation analysis

A correlation matrix was computed and gave insight into standard deviations, means, and relationships between all variables (including the control variables). This correlation matrix is shown in Table 4. The Pearson’s correlation coefficient, r, indicates the strength of the relationship between variables. A Pearson’s r value of ± 0.3 represents a medium effect and a score above ± 0.5, a strong effect (Field, 2013), which means that changes in one variable are strongly correlated with changes in the second variable.

Results in the correlation matrix showed that perceived employability was correlated with all the other variables except supervisor career support (r = .121; p = .088). On the other hand, there was a moderate to strong effect between supervisor career support and the three HR practice. Subjective vitality was strongly correlated with perceived employability (r = .417) but only had a small correlation with HR practice performance appraisal (r = .153) and no significant correlation with HR training (r = .870; p = .216) or HR career management (r = .086; p = .224). This result may have implications for the first hypothesis and will be further discussed in Section 4.3 in this chapter. There were also some significant correlations between the variables and the control variables. The control variables, age, gender, and group, were all moderately correlated to perceived employability. Furthermore, the HR practices were strongly correlated with each other.

Although the correlation coefficients provided information about relationships between variables, they did not give an indication about the direction of those relationships, such as the relationship between perceived employability and gender. The correlation matrix showed a moderate effect between those two variables (r = .246). With this correlation matrix, it is not possible to say which variable caused the other to change. Although it seems logical that gender causes the level of perceived employability and not the other way around, statistically, one causality is no less true than the other.

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4.2 One-Way ANOVA

In this study, some of the control variables were nominal, and it was not possible to included categorical variables in the correlation matrix (educational level, sector, and organization size). Therefore, a one-way ANOVA test was used to check for significant differences between the control variables and the other variables in the study. The results showed no significant differences between educational level and the other variables. Therefore, this control variable could be excluded in further analysis. The control variable sector did show some significant differences in relation to HR training (F = 2.325; p = .013) and supervisor career support (F = 1.881; p = .050). Organization size also revealed some differences in relation to HR training (F = 8.045; p = < .001) and HR career management (F = 5.205; p = .001). Therefore, these last two control variables were included as control variables in further analyses.

4.3 Direct effects between HR and perceived employability

A multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the direct effect of the three HR practices on perceived employability. Before running this test, ensuring multicollinearity would not occur was necessary. Multicollinearity can be identified in the correlation matrix (Table 5) by correlations above .80 (Field, 2013). In the correlation matrix, no scores above .80 were found, which indicates that multicollinearity was not a problem. This result was confirmed by the collinearity statistics of SPSS, which gives insight into the VIF and Tolerance values, which both showed that multicollinearity did not occur in this study.

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4.3.1 Single regression analysis

To test the direct relationship between the single HR practices and perceived employability, a regression analysis was completed. First, all control variables (group, age, gender, sector, and organization size) were entered into the model. Together they explained 11,4% of the variance in perceived employability (F = 5.058, p = < .001), but results showed that only gender was significant, which means that the other variables were not included in the final model. In Model 1, the control variable gender was entered into the model. An overview of the results in shown in Table 6. Gender explained 6% of the variance in perceived employability (F = 12.835; p = < .001).

The first hypothesis stated that the perceived presence of HR training is positively related to perceived employability. In Model 2a, the variable HR training was added into the model, and the variance increased to 7,5%. The overall Model 2a, including the control variables gender, HR training, and perceived employability, was not significant (F = 8.085; p = .075), which means that the presence of the HR practice training is not a significant predictor of perceived employability (β = .123; p = .075), and therefore, Hypothesis 1a is rejected.

The second hypothesis stated that the perceived presence of the HR practice performance appraisal is positively related to perceived employability. The introduction of HR performance appraisal in Step 2b (instead of HR training) explained 12,1% of the variance in perceived employability, after controlling for gender (F = 13.728; p = < .001). This result explained an additional 6,1% of total variance. HR performance appraisal had a significant relationship with perceived employability (β = .249; p = < .001), which means that Hypothesis 1b is supported.

The perceived presence of the HR practice career management was also assumed to have a positive relationship with perceived employability. This independent variable explained 7,2% of the variance in perceived employability, after controlling for gender (F = 7.767; p = .109). The HR practice career management had no significant relationship with perceived employability (β = .112; p = .109), which means that Hypothesis 1c is rejected.