Constructing a normative national identity: the Leitkultur debate in Germany 2000/2001

In recent years, public discourse about German national identity has increasingly focussed on the large foreign population within Germany's borders. Whilst right-wing politicians such as Edmund Stoiber foster fears of identity loss ('Überfremdung'), more liberal observers, and indeed the ruling red-green coalition, acknowledge that multiethnicity has by now become an integral part of this identity. The debate experienced its provisional climax in late 2000 and early 2001. Friedrich Merz, then parliamentary leader of the CDU party, introduced the term 'Leitkultur' into the political discourse. The notion suggests the existence of a clearly identifiable spectrum of German cultural values and proposes that foreigners who wished to live in Germany should adhere to these values. Merz's proposal triggered a wave of highly controversial comments which have been evaluated for the purpose of this paper. It draws on roughly 350 newspaper articles and interviews and aims to introduce the English-speaking reader to the complex range of arguments. The Leitkultur debate is taken as symptomatic of the current state of public discourse about foreigners and national identity in Germany.

Externalizing, internalizing and fostering commitment:the case of born-global firms in emerging economies

This paper examines the HR practices of mature born-global firms from 29 emerging economies. Through an examination of large scale survey data the paper questions the extent to which firm size impacts the employment of temporary workers, the employment of skilled workers and the extent of employee training. Findings suggest that as firm size increases the use of temporary workers decreases, the number of skilled workers increases and the number of employees receiving training also increases. The paper highlights how born-global firms are able to shift away from externalized, market-based approaches towards more internalized, commitment-based approaches in order to survive, adapt and grow.

Corporate social responsibility and organizational commitment:the moderating role of individuals’ attitudes to CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) becomes ever more important for organizations. In times of corporate scandals and more governmental regulation on the one hand and a foreseeable shortage of highly qualified employees on the other, CSR is both a means to serve the wider society and to attract employees with a positive reputation and image. The aim of the present study was to determine whether CSR activities as perceived by employees indeed lead to more employee affective commitment and whether this would be moderated by employee differences in importance of CSR. The study differentiated two forms of CSR, namely corporate social responsibility directed towards individual employees (CSR-E) and directed towards the wider society (CSR-S). We surveyed 89 employees and found evidence for the predicted moderation and for both forms of CSR such that CSR-E and CSR-S and affective commitment were only positively related for those employees who evaluated CSR as important. Implications for recruitment and future research are discussed.

How leadership and commitment influence bank employees' adoption of their bank's values

Retail banking is facing many challenges, not least the loss of its customers' trust and loyalty. The economic crisis is forcing banks to examine their relationships with stakeholders and to offer greater reassurance that their brand promises will be delivered. More than ever, banks need to stand for something positive and valued by stakeholders. One way to achieve this is through paying more attention to brand values. Our article explores how values are adopted by employees within a bank. When employees 'live' their brand's values, their behaviour during customer interactions reflects this, encouraging the strengthening of customer relationships. Specifically, we test the relationship between leadership style, employee commitment, and the adoption of values. Data was collected from a survey of 438 branch employees in a leading Irish retail bank. The study found that a structured and directive leadership style was effective at encouraging the adoption of the bank's values. Moreover, when employees are committed to the organisation, this has a significant impact on their adoption of values. Thus, this study supports the literature which suggests that leadership and commitment are prerequisites for values adoption. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

A study of employee affective organisational commitment and retention in Pakistan:the roles of psychological contract breach and norms of reciprocity

Social exchange theory and notions of reciprocity have long been assumed to explain the relationship between psychological contract breach and important employee outcomes. To date, however, there has been no explicit testing of these assumptions. This research, therefore, explores the mediating role of negative, generalized, and balanced reciprocity, in the relationships between psychological contract breach and employees’ affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions. A survey of 247 Pakistani employees of a large public university was analyzed using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping techniques, and provided excellent support for our model. As predicted, psychological contract breach was positively related to negative reciprocity norms and negatively related to generalized and balanced reciprocity norms. Negative and generalized (but not balanced) reciprocity were negatively and positively (respectively) related to employees’ affective organizational commitment and fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and affective organizational commitment. Moreover, affective organizational commitment fully mediated the relationship between generalized and negative reciprocity and employees’ turnover intentions. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.