Alberto Bayo-Moriones

This article examines the evolution of the attitudes of Spanish viewers to television from 2008 to 2016. This has been a period of time characterised by a substantial increase in the number of television channels. More specifically, the analysis is focused on audience satisfaction, perceptions of content quality and moral and pragmatic concerns. The data used in the empirical analysis come from three rounds of a survey conducted in 2008, 2012 and 2016. The size of the sample is 1,000 respondents for each year. The findings suggest that the attitudes to television have remained very stable in spite of the changes in the growth of the offer and technological upgrading.

Workplace digitalisation is a pervasive phenomenon associated to an increase in wage differentials between occupations. This paper analyses the relationship between computer use and pay for performance, whose incidence has also followed a positive growth pattern. More concretely, we examined three pay‐for‐performance schemes: productivity/piece rate, team and firm pay for performance. We also investigated the mediating role of job design in this relationship. The complementarity framework perspective and the economic theory of incentives were the theoretical approaches applied in the development of hypotheses. Data from four waves of the European Working Conditions Survey were used in the empirical analyses. A positive association was found between computer use and the three pay for performance schemes considered, particularly team and firm pay for performance. The results also indicated that this relationship was partially explained by changes in job design due to computerisation, such as higher job complexity, on‐the‐job training and teamwork.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact on manufacturing performance of human resource management (HRM) practices across two job levels within manufacturing firms in Argentina and Uruguay: that of line managers and frontline workers. HRM practices are categorised into three bundles defined by the AMO theoretical framework: ability, motivation and opportunity.Design/methodology/approach: The article uses data from a survey to 301 manufacturing plants in Uruguay and Argentina. Given the characteristics of the dependent variable, linear regression models have been estimated in order to test the hypotheses.Findings: The results show that the ability and opportunity bundles for line managers are positively associated with manufacturing performance. However, only the motivation bundle affects manufacturing performance for frontline workers.Research limitations/implications: The main limitations are the use of cross-sectional data, the focus on two specific countries and the analysis of two employee categories that are not completely homogenous. The paper extends the contingency perspective in HRM by examining the relevance of job level as a contingent factor in the HRM-performance relationship in the manufacturing industry.Practical implications: The results suggest that manufacturing companies should target HR investments more towards line managers than to frontline employees. More specifically, they should concentrate efforts on the ability and opportunity bundles.Originality/value: The article contributes to the very limited empirical evidence on the impact of HRM differentiation on firm performance by analysing sub-dimensions in a context not previously analysed.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze how the design of performance appraisal is influenced by the competitive strategy of the firm. Then, this paper examines if the alignment between appraisal and strategy impacts firm performance. Design/methodology/approach: The study sample includes 258 Spanish firms in the manufacturing and services sectors. This information was gathered through questionnaires addressed to the CEO and the senior human resources manager. Several econometric models are estimated, using robust regression analysis and including a set of relevant control variables. Findings: A positive relationship is found between an innovation strategy and developmental performance appraisal. A cost strategy has a negative impact on the adoption of developmental performance appraisal. The findings also confirm that firms with a quality strategy and developmental appraisal have higher performance. In addition, firms adopting an innovation strategy and administrative appraisal enjoy higher return of equity. Research limitations/implications: Future research should analyze the dynamics of the relationships between appraisal, strategy and performance to rule out the flaws of cross-sectional data. Another potential extension is the analysis of the interactions of the design of other human resources management practices with both competitive strategy and firm performance. Practical implications: Firms can improve performance by aligning performance appraisal design with strategy. Those with an innovation strategy should choose administrative appraisal, and those competing on quality should focus on developmental appraisal. Originality/value: This paper compares the theoretical recommendations on performance appraisal for different competitive strategies, what firms actually do, and the impact that the alignment between appraisal and strategy has on firm performance.

This article analyzes what the audience understands by the concept of quality as applied to television channels. This research also examines the influence of the perceived quality of the different programs broadcasted by a channel on the perceived quality of the whole channel. The empirical part is based on the answers provided by a sample of 405 respondents in Spain. The factors found to be associated with the idea of quality television by the audience are somewhat different depending on the method used to assess it, which points to the existence of social desirability bias when asking directly about it. Notwithstanding these differences, entertainment is the characteristic that the audience most consistently associates with the concept of quality in television channels. The results also show that news programs, movies and magazines, and talk shows are the genres with a greatest influence on the assessment of the quality of a television channel by the audience.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to study how high-involvement work systems (HIWS) affect job satisfaction, and tries to disentangle the mechanisms through which the effect occurs.Design/methodology/approach: – The authors use data for a representative sample of 10,112 Spanish employees. In order to test the mediation mechanism implied by the hypotheses, the authors follow the procedure outlined in Baron and Kenny (1986). Given the nature of the dependent variables, ordered probit models were estimated to study the effect of HIWS on the mediating variables (job interest, effort and wages), and regression models were estimated to analyze the effect of HIWS on the final attitudinal variable (job satisfaction).Findings: – Empirical results show that HIWS results in higher levels of effort, higher wages and perceptions of a more interesting job. Moreover, greater involuntary physical effort reduces job satisfaction while higher wages, greater voluntary effort, involuntary mental effort and having an interesting job increase job satisfaction. The net effect of these opposing forces on job satisfaction is positive.Research limitations/implications: – The use of secondary data posits some constrains in aspects such as the type of measures or the failure to control for personal traits. Additionally, the non-longitudinal nature of the data set implies that some relationships cannot be considered causal in the intended direction.Practical implications: – Managers should implement HIWS since in general they increase job satisfaction. A significant portion of this positive effect is channeled through perceptions of interesting job, higher wages and increased effort demands. Managers should pay attention to implementation issues.Originality/value: – The paper contributes to enrich the understanding of the relationship between the HIWS and job satisfaction, proposing a model that aims to disentangle the mediating mechanisms through which HIPWS affect job satisfaction. Unlike previous attempts, this model integrates opposing views about the positive or negative effects associated with HIWS.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the association between Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Advanced Manufacturing Technologies (AMT) and the adoption of a number of new work practices, such as job autonomy, teamwork, job breadth, suggestion systems and involvement groups. Special attention is paid to examining whether the strength of the association with new work practices is the same for the two technologies. The data used in the empirical part of the research come from a survey conducted in 281 Spanish manufacturing plants. The results show that ICT use among production workers is only positively related to higher coverage of involvement groups. On the other hand, AMT use is positively associated with the incidence of self-managed teams, job autonomy and suggestion systems. We have found differences between ICT and AMT in the strength of association with new work practices for self-managed teams and suggestion systems.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the relationship between the political orientation of television viewers and their perception of television programming quality.Design/methodology/approach: – Information from a sample of 2,843 viewers is used. Ordinary least square models are estimated to test the theoretical hypotheses.Findings: – The results suggest that the ideological position of viewers has a significant bearing on their evaluation of the quality of television channels. They also point to the key role played by news programming in the audience’s general assessment of channels quality.Research limitations/implications: – There are a number of limitations to this research, which are largely related to the data analyzed, since they are cross-sectional and measures based on a single item are used. Future research in this field ought to take the multidimensional nature of the concepts discussed here into greater consideration.Practical implications: – If political orientation colors viewer perception of quality television, it seems worthwhile for television schedulers to have more information about the political-ideological profile of their audience, so as to design a more appealing programming range for their target viewers. Regarding the impact of the perceived quality of news programs on the perceived quality of the whole channel, it would make sense for television managers to invest in news programs not only on the basis of the size of the audience reached, but also as a way to build up a strong brand and to differentiate it from competitors.Originality/value: – There is scarce empirical research on the perceptions of quality media and television by viewers. This paper develops and tests hypotheses that contribute to a better knowledge of the mechanisms that generate the perceptions of consumers about the quality of television channels.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the specific relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and high performance work practices (HPWP) at employee level, both generally and per job category.Design/methodology/approach: – Generalized ordered logit and logit models are estimated in relation to data from 31 European countries using the fourth European Working Conditions Survey.Findings: – This paper reveals a generally positive association between ICT use and HPWP participation by workers but different results when ICT and HPWP variables are analysed separately. Worker autonomy and participation in autonomous teams are linked to greater ICT use, but the cases of job rotation and task variety are not so clear. Additionally, the authors find how worker occupation conditions such links and note divergences between high and low-skilled positions.Research limitations/implications: – The cross-sectional nature of the data does not allow the authors to report causal relations.Practical implications: – The results suggest that depending on the work practices to be considered, as well as occupation, some ICTs are more suitable than others.Originality/value: – Two main features make this paper novel. First, previous studies on the link between ICT and HPWP made use of indexes, rendering the generation of assorted results impossible. Thus, the authors study how different ICT variables are related to different HPWPs at employee level. Second, the authors test whether employee occupation is a moderator in such relationships.