Why should I be left behind? Employees’ perceived relative deprivation and participation in development activities.

Abstract

Research on participation in development activities (PDA) has traditionally been examined from an advantage perspective: Employees engage in development activities out of a desire to enhance current and future advantages. In this study, the author examined PDA from a disadvantage perspective, which suggests that employees participate in development activities out of a desire to redress perceived disadvantages. Perceived individual relative deprivation was hypothesized to relate to PDA through intention to participate and counterfactual beliefs, and perceived behavioral control was proposed to interact with intention to participate in relating to development behaviors. In a sample of 144 employees from 27 companies in Ghana, an emerging economy, moderated structural equation modeling results confirm some of the hypotheses. Implications for PDA research and human resource management are discussed.

Antecedents of Employees’ Involvement in Work-Related Learning

“…Elman andO'Rand (2002) confirmed that more experienced employees were less willing to retrain. However, two studies did not find statistically significant results (Greenhalgh & Mavrotas, 1994;Zoogah, 2010). Kyndt et al (2011) found in their study that the more job autonomy employees perceive-the more freedom they perceive in how they go about their job-the higher their formal learning intention is.…”

Toward a Comprehensive Understanding of Stereotype Vulnerability and Stereotype Reactance in Organizational Settings: The Contribution of Relative Deprivation Theory

“…Several studies (e.g. Olson, Roesesc, Meen, & Robertson,; Zoogah, ) have shown empirically that there is a positive relationship between relative deprivation and self‐improvement behaviors. It has also been found that individuals who experience relative deprivation engage in self‐improvement behaviors in order to enhance current and future advantages (Zoogah, ).…”

Learning in the Twenty-First-Century Workplace

“…Fairness and justice perceptions have been shown to be important in understanding organizational behavior but have received little research attention in the learning literature. In one of the few studies investigating justice perceptions in learning contexts, Zoogah (2010) found that they were related to intentions to participate in development activities but not to actual participation.…”