Towards a further understanding of the relationship between job attitudes and employees’ responses: the case of Greek banks in recessionary times

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Aravopoulou, E., Mitsakis, F.V. ORCID: 0000-0001-8454-5777 and Branine, M., 2018. Towards a further understanding of the relationship between job attitudes and employees’ responses: the case of Greek banks in recessionary times. In: 19th International Conference on Human Resource Development Research and Practice across Europe (UFHRD), Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, 6-8 June 2018.

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Abstract

The 2008 global financial crisis is described as the deepest the world has experienced since the stock market crash in 1930s. This has led to a liquidity shortfall and solvency problems for most banking systems across the globe (Otero-Iglesias 2015; Soriano 2011). The crisis has mostly been concentrated on the financial systems of US and Europe, and although it did not affect all EU countries with the same intensity, its aftermaths were almost identical to all EU member states, including Greece (EC 2012). Precisely for the Greek case, due to the unprecedented Greek debt crisis and the subsequent recession, the domestic economy has been struggling against bankruptcy. In response to the political pressures from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, the Greek banking sector underwent a momentous structural transformation through tremendous business amalgamations, the rationalisation of most banks’ branch network, and extensive retrenchment implementations, all of which radically changed the domestic banking landscape.

This paper examines the impact of employees work-related attitudes (namely their organisational commitment, job satisfaction and psychological contract breach) on their Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect (EVLN) behavioural responses towards the organisational changes introduced in the Greek banking sector. By developing greater understanding of the issues relating to employees’ engagement in relation to their attitudes and behaviours, the paper enhances our understanding on human behaviour within organisations operating under business and economic uncertainty and complexity. As to that, to serve its purpose, the study aims at addressing the following research question: What is the impact of work-related attitudes on employees’ EVLN behavioural responses?

The paper adopts the positivism paradigm through a quantitative approach. A questionnaire survey distributed to 1,500 employees in Greek banks. Data collected from a sample of 1,259 responses returned 84% response rate, and data analysed by carrying out Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using the AMOS statistical software. Contrary to prior research examinining the process of planning and implementating organisational change at organisational levels (Armenakis and Bedeian 1999; Weick and Quinn 1999), this study follows a more anthropocentric approach by focusing at a micro-level (individuals) within organisations to examine their attitudes, behaviours and cognitions (Vakola 2013; Oreg et al. 2011; Armenakis et al. 2007; Cunningham 2006; Rafferty and Griffin 2006;). The significance of understanding individuals’ attitudes towards organisational change is of great importance as their responses are determined by the extent to which they embrace organisational change, and therefore their behaviours could determine its smooth and successful implementation.

Item Type:	Conference contribution
Description:	Working paper
Creators:	Aravopoulou, E., Mitsakis, F.V. and Branine, M.
Date:	June 2018
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	04 Jun 2018 15:11
Last Modified:	05 Jun 2018 09:07
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33811