An Empirical Study Of Positive Organizational Behavior Of The Staff In Manufacturing-type Enterprises

Human factor is the most active productivity element and the most valuable wealth of a corporate. Against the background of the knowledge-based economic globalization, an unprecedented attention has been given to the development and application of human resources. How to explore the potential of its staff, stimulate their positive organizational behavior and change human resources into human capital at its maximum has become an important problem which needs to be solved urgently in the management of Chinese modern enterprise.Much research is done into the staff's working motivation in the foreign countries while empirical study of their positive organizational behavior seems less. Theories on organizational motivation are not rarely seen abroad, however, whether they are suitable for Chinese management cultural tradition is still to be considered. For example, when Adams' theory of organizational justice applies to Chinese traditional organizational behavior culture, such as respect of person, being sensitive of one's reputation, thinking better of the collective and circumbendibus in dealing with human relations, it is a question whether organizational justice will still have a direct effect on the staff's positive organizational behavior. So far, studies of staff's positive organizational behavior have just started at home and abroad, and systematic studies of the concepts of staff's positive organizational behavior, its internal structures and its measurement have not yet been formed. Especially at home, empirical studies of positive organizational behavior have been rarely seen. The present research attempts to make an empirical study of the concept, the structure, its state and features and some influencing factors of positive organizational behavior of the staff in manufacturing-type enterprises in China.A series of poly-element researching methods including behavior event interview, brain storm, questionnaire investigation, content analysis, situational experiment, factor analysis, structural equation model and statistical techniques have been employed in the study, based on systemic empirical studies of staff's positive organizational behavior done by investing 2566 corporate staff members from 65 manufacturing-type enterprises from Hunan, Guangdong, Hebei, Xinjiang, Chongqing, Guizhou and Zhejiang, etc.,the main conclusions are the following:(i) Positive organizational behavior of the staff in manufacturing-type enterprises in China consists of indulgent behavior, responsibility behavior, active behavior, innovative behavior, assistance behavior and behavior aimed at interpersonal harmony, (ii) With good reliability and validity, self-made questionnaires on corporate staff's positive organizational behavior, psychological ownership in organization, organization-based self-esteem and corporate image can be used as effective and reliable tools for measuring positive organizational behavior of the staff in manufacturing-type enterprises.(iii) The main features of corporate staff's positive organizational behavior are the following: a. responsibility behavior and behaviors aimed at interpersonal harmony are given adequate attention and develop relatively well, but the average grade of indulgent behavior is the lowest, that is, indulgent behavior develops worse compared with the other positive organizational behaviors; b. corporate staff's positive organizational behavior shows no difference in sex; c. in the factor of age, middle-aged staff's positive organizational behavior is better than that of other age groups; d. in the factor of position, the higher the position is, the higher the grade turns out to be; e. in the factor of working years, as their working years increase, the corporate staff is of the tendency to elevate the positive organizational behavior; f. in the factor of salary, staff members of middle-level salary, compared with the staff members of relatively lower and higher salary, get a comparatively low grade in their positive organizational behavior; g. as to the element of enterprise type, foreign-capital enterprises, limited responsibility corporations and limited stock corporations have got higher grades than other types of enterprises in positive organizational behavior, joint-partner enterprise has got the lowest grade; h. as to the element of region, staff members in the north have got a higher grade in positive organizational behavior, and the grade of the staff members in the south is obviously lower than that in other regions.(iv) It is found in the study that the direct effect of organizational justice on positive organizational behavior is not obvious. Organizational justice imposes its influences indirectly through factors including psychological ownership in organizations, perceived organizational support, organization-based self-esteem and corporate image, which have more influence on positive organizational behavior; that is, when the staff think in their mind that organization's products, achievements, and honor belong to them, when they feel that the organization cares about them and support them, and when they feel worthy and proud as a member of the organization and integrate themselves with the organization's ideal, corporate staff's positive organizational behavior will be formed easily.(v) The present study also shows that organizational justice, psychological ownership in organization, organization-based self-esteem and corporate image are the important factors that affect staffs positive organizational behavior, which are of significant positive correlations with staff's positive organizational behavior and of significant positive prediction effect on every individual factor of positive organizational behavior. A comprehensive observance of their influence on the factors of positive organizational behavior shows that organization-based self-esteem and psychological ownership in organizations have significant influences on indulgent behavior; while the effects of psychological ownership in organizations and corporate image are more effects on responsibility behavior and organization-based self-esteem; in active behavior and behaviors aimed at interpersonal harmony, organization-based self-esteem and corporate image have more significant effects; in innovative behavior and assistance behavior, the effects of perceived organizational support and psychological ownership in organizations are more prominent.Besides, based on the above conclusion of empirical study, five brief suggestions are given on how to excite staff's positive organizational behavior in manu—facturing-type enterprises.In a word, the innovations in the present research are as follows: as to the theory, the study shows that direct effect of the traditional theory of organizational justice toward Chinese staff's positive organizational behavior is not obvious, and psychological ownership in organizations, perceived organizational support, organization-based self-esteem and corporate image have more influence on Chinese corporate staff's positive organizational behavior in manufacturing-type enterprises; also its structural model is constructed against the Chinese cultural background. As to the research methods, the research combines qualitative study and quantitative study, and by using kinds of methods, an investigation of the structure of connotation, the state and features and the influencing factors of positive organizational behavior is made on the multi-perspective; as to the practice, a series of scientific and effective tools for measurement of positive organizational behavior are made for the first time in the research, that is, questionnaire on corporate staff's positive organizational behavior, questionnaire on psychological ownership in organizations, questionnaire on organization-based self-esteem and questionnaire on corporate image. Furthermore, corresponding practical strategies for management of enterprise are brought out according to the result of empirical study.