ARLA 04 2015 0073

authors develop a model for staff turnover in call center companies to explain this
process in the management of human resources. They base their work on the theory of
meeting expectations, that is, the expectations that the employee had before starting
work, and their actual experience on the job. By conducting a survey and creating
a statistical model for survival, the authors conclude thatexpectations such as level of
income and job recognition do in fact significantly influence the percentage of employees
who leave their jobs and must therefore be replaced. Practical solutions for addressing
this problem include setting realistic employee expectations, and continuously
monitoring whether the expectations of the organization’s employees are being met, in
order to undertakecorrective measures in a timely manner. The development and use of
a statistical model are the most important contributions of this study.
Pinto and Maia (University of Porto, Portugal) conducted an exploratory study into
work-life interaction for executives who have to take short but frequent international
trips as part of their work routine. The study was carried out through semi-structured
interviewswith 14 international Portuguese executives. Their accounts of the interplay
between life and work were analyzed in terms of demands and resources that need to be
adjusted or accommodated, as well as how these two aspects of life and work affect
their work identity.
The authors found that rather than being separate, life and work are truly
interconnected and are the source of conflicts as well aspersonal enrichment. Second,
integrating life and work requires self-management and the relationship between the
two is in fact socially determined. Third, the work-life relationship influences work
identity. International business trips can be the source of positive self-definition and
personal satisfaction leading to a strong professional identity and a blurred line
between work and life. But theycan also cause conflicts and a less solid identity. In
both cases, managing the work-life relationship leads to the development of a sense of
personal worth. The authors put forward various hypotheses for studying
international executives and the centrality of the work-life relationship, the give and
take and limits between the two areas, and work identity. By extending the research
into thework-life relationship for executives who frequently travel internationally, this
study reveals just how much the advances in studies of work-life interaction can
benefit, both theoretically and empirically, from the literature on work identity.
Lowe, Araya-Castillo, Thieme and Batista Foguet (the first and last from ESADE
Business School, the second from Universidad de Santiago de Chile, and thethird from
Universidad Diego Portales, Spain and Chile) study how being self-employed affects the
relationship between life satisfaction and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction should be an
important factor in general life satisfaction; nevertheless, studies are not conclusive
about the positive relationship between these two constructs. The authors indicate that
the differences in results may be dueto the different groups of workers studied, or the
different contexts they live in. They go on to identify the effect that being self-employed
or a salaried employee can have on life satisfaction and job satisfaction by examining
a sample of 658 Chilean workers, using the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and
part of the Occupational Stress Inventory (OSI) scale.
The results show a clear linkbetween the scales, particularly for people who are
self-employed. The authors then performed a multiple regression analysis to study the
moderator effect of self-employment in the relationship between work and life.
Unexpectedly, results showed that salaried employees were happier with their lives
than independent workers. The authors suggest making the distinction between
self-employment in the...