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Few studies have examined how customer behaviour shapes the outcomes of employees' emotion regulation. Drawing on existing literature, this article tests two alternative models of customer affiliative behaviour (e.g. smiling, engaging in short conversation), employee emotion regulation (surface acting, deep acting) and employee outcomes (emotional exhaustion, objective task performance). In one model, customer affiliative behaviour is a mechanism that mediates the relationship between employee emotion regulation and outcomes, and in the other model customer affiliative behaviour moderates this relationship. The models were tested on data drawn from a daily diary study of 49 supermarket checkout operators and store performance records. The findings from multilevel analyses make a significant contribution to understanding how a key part of the social context during service interactions (i.e. customer affiliative behaviour) is a mechanism and moderator of employee emotion regulation. Results show that the effects of deep and surface acting on employee well-being are mediated by customer affiliative behaviour, and that relationship between surface acting and task performance is mediated by customer affiliative behaviour and emotional exhaustion. In addition, customer affiliative behaviour moderated the relationship between deep acting and emotional exhaustion, and the indirect effect of deep acting on task performance through emotional exhaustion.

Employment regime theory is used to examine whether cross-national variation in call centre job quality is a result of differences in national institutional regime, i.e. inclusivist, dualist and market regimes. Analysis of an establishment-level survey of 1734 call centres revealed that, as expected, call centre job quality was highest in inclusivist regimes (Denmark, Sweden) and higher in dualist regimes (Austria, France) than in market regimes (Canada, UK, USA). Job quality in Germany, a dualist regime, was of a similar level to that in inclusivist regimes. There was also evidence that, only within dualist regimes, job quality was higher in call centres attached to larger firms than in independent call centres. The findings suggest that national institutional regimes are still sufficiently different and influential to produce cross-national variations in job quality, and have not been weakened and homogenized as a result of the internationalization of national economies.

This article shows how an analysis of job types can deepen our understanding of job quality and how job quality varies across 27 European countries. First, using the European Working Conditions Survey 2005, a taxonomy of six job types is developed and their quality established. This taxonomy suggests that there are different types of high- and low-quality jobs. Second, institutional theory is drawn on to examine why job quality varies cross-nationally. The results of a multilevel analysis indicate that national differences in institutional regimes (social democratic, continental, liberal, southern European, transitional) result in cross-national variation in both the level of job quality (i.e. the overall proportions of high- and low-quality jobs) and the nature of job quality (i.e. the particular types of high- and low-quality jobs found). It is concluded that institutional theory is able to explain the level but not the nature of cross-national variation in job quality. © The Author(s) 2013.

This article shows how an analysis of job types can deepen our understanding of job quality and how job quality varies across 27 European countries. First, using the European Working Conditions Survey 2005, a taxonomy of six job types is developed and their quality established. This taxonomy suggests that there are different types of high- and low-quality jobs. Second, institutional theory is drawn on to examine why job quality varies cross-nationally. The results of a multilevel analysis indicate that national differences in institutional regimes (social democratic, continental, liberal, southern European, transitional) result in cross-national variation in both the level of job quality (i.e. the overall proportions of high- and low-quality jobs) and the nature of job quality (i.e. the particular types of high- and low-quality jobs found). It is concluded that institutional theory is able to explain the level but not the nature of cross-national variation in job quality.

The focus of this paper is on the nature of the linguistically based skills that are generally thought to be significant at an intra-personal, interpersonal and organizational level of analysis (e.g. communication, teamwork, decision making, critical thinking). The aim is to develop a dialogical account of skill and skilled activity by drawing on ethnomethodology, activity theory and social constructionism. The paper starts by outlining mainstream cognitive and social psychological accounts of skill and skilled activity, and discussing the main problems associated with these accounts. Following this, the dialogical approach is described and put forward as an alternative to mainstream accounts. In the dialogical approach, there is a particular emphasis on the narrative and non-narrative aspects of skill and skilled activity. Implications for organizational practice and teaching practice are then drawn, and these are followed by concluding comments on possible future avenues of research.

Research suggests that people deliberately try to improve others' feelings in a variety of social contexts. However, little is known about whether and how interpersonal affect regulation influences the quality of people's relationships. Two applied social network studies investigated the relational effects of interpersonal affect regulation. In Study 1 attempts to improve others' affect among grocery store employees were associated with both regulatory targets' and agents' perceptions of friendship and trust. In Study 2 we replicated this finding among staff and prisoners in a high-security prison. Additionally, we showed that these associations were mediated by positive changes to regulatory targets' and agents' affect. The results provide insights into the social consequences of interpersonal affect regulation and help to elucidate the factors influencing the formation and maintenance of high-quality relationships.

Expatriate adjustment has been a prominent theme in international management research; nevertheless, the mechanisms of adjustment have rarely been investigated. This article addresses the issue by introducing a conceptual framework that integrates the theoretical notion of adjustment `modes' used in expatriation research with empirical descriptions of adjustment behaviours from the literature on intercultural management. The article further reports on a qualitative, in-depth study of German expatriates in the People's Republic of China. Participants detailed the differences they perceived in the new environment, as well as ways of adjusting to them. These included changes of expatriates' norms of interaction, the implemention of new working methods in the Chinese workplace, and the acquisition of new living habits. Perceived environmental conditions and adjustment behaviours were contingent a number of factors, such as education and job level of Chinese colleagues. Conclusions are drawn and implications for organizational practice and future research are made.

AbstractRegulatory authorities in safety‐critical industries typically seek to influence the safety culture of the organizations they oversee. However, we know little about how regulatory authorities achieve this influence (e.g., what roles are adopted, relationship characteristics) and, more generally, about how external actors shape an organization's safety culture. Using a qualitative design in the nuclear industry, we developed our conceptual and empirical understanding of the roles through which a regulator influences the safety culture of their regulated organizations and what characteristics within the regulator–regulatee relationship facilitate positive safety culture developments. Data were collected through interviews with inspectors from a nuclear regulator and employees of regulated nuclear organizations, and from an inspection of regulatory documents. The findings identified that the regulator was perceived to hold three complementary roles for safety culture development: being an enforcer, working as a partner (providing opportunities for licenseholders to improve beyond compliance), and acting as an advisor to regulated organizations. Analysis also showed that effective relationships in these roles, and which were central to influencing safety culture, were perceived to be characterized by professionalism, transparency, and balance between formal enforcement and informal exchange. Theoretical implications to advance conceptualizations of safety culture as well as practical implications for risk regulators are discussed.