Date of Graduation

8-1988

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Management

Advisor/Mentor

Gupta, Nina

Committee Member

Jenkins, G. Douglas Jr.

Second Committee Member

Curington, William P.

Third Committee Member

Hubbard, Charles W.

Keywords

Productivity; Quality output; Quality of work life; Management philosophy; Pay-for-knowledge

Abstract

In recent years, pay-for-knowledge compensation systems have received serious attention from practitioners and organizational researchers. Some have hypothesized that the specific mechanics of pay-for-knowledge systems are critical to success while others have suggested that contextual factors determine whether or not these systems will be successful. Empirical research has not been very supportive of these hypotheses, however.

Another hypothesis is that management philosophy is important to the success of pay-for-knowledge systems. The purpose of this study is to test this hypothesis by addressing three questions: 1) Are the components that make up management philosophy related to the successes experienced by companies using pay-for-knowledge systems?, 2) When the components are used together, do they predict success reasonably well?, and 3) Can the components of the management philosophy be used together with what we already know about the specific mechanics and contextual factors to improve predictions of success?

The pay-for-knowledge literature focusing on determinants of success is reviewed, and related findings are summarized. The management philosophy literature is discussed, and the management philosophy construct is explicated.

Using a sample of 35 Personnel Directors of companies with pay-for-knowledge systems, components of the management philosophy construct are operationalized by focusing on its manifestations. Respondents' perceptions of productivity, quality of output, employee attitudes and employee withdrawal behaviors are used as measures of success. The results show that manifestations of the management philosophy are often positively related to the success outcomes and that, when used together, some manifestations are reasonable predictors of the success outcomes.

The results also show that models using specific mechanics and contextual factors to predict success can be improved significantly by the addition of selected management philosophy manifestation measures.

Overall, the findings in this study suggest that the management philosophy communicated in day-to-day operations may be far more important than the philosophy communicated during the design and development of the pay-for-knowledge system. Implications of these findings for managers and directions for future research are discussed.

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