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Table of Contents

1. Motivation of working women in the Greek retail sector: an empirical analysis........................................... 1

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Document 1 of 1 Motivation of working women in the Greek retail sector: an empirical analysis Author: Giannikis, Stefanos K; Mihail, Dimitrios M Publication info: International Journal of Manpower 31. 1 (2010): 4-20. ProQuest document link Abstract: A significant trend in the retail sector is women's over-representation in part-time work. Given the feminisation and adverse working conditions of part-time employment, the purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding of the motivation of female sales employees. Initially, a theoretical framework is presented with the aim of stipulating the research hypotheses. Empirical evidence was obtained from 349 Greek female sales employees using a structured questionnaire. Analyses of covariance and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with the aim of exploring the research hypotheses. It was found that part-time and full-time female employees are similar in designating the job motivators that they find important in the workplace. However, surprisingly, results indicated that female part-timers are more optimistic about receiving intrinsic rewards. Further analysis provided evidence on how the work status (part-time/full-time) and the individual characteristics of employees have an impact on the reported importance of work motivators and on the expectations of receiving these rewards. The findings provide retail firms with significant guidelines on how to develop a flexible motivational plan that fits the needs of their employees. In addition, the results of the paper provide retail managers with a profile of motivated, full-time and part-time female employees. Given the dearth of empirical research on employee motivation in Greece, the results of the paper provide the wider academic community with new empirical evidence on how the motivation of employees is differentiated by work status. Links: Base URL to Journal Linker: Full Text: 1. Introduction Over the last two decades there has been a growing body of literature concerning the differences in attitude between full-time and part-time employees. The animus for this research interest resides in the international proliferation of part-time employment. According to official statistics, part-time work represents approximately 18 per cent of the total employment in EU countries ([4] Eurostat, 2007) and 19.1 per cent of the US workforce ([2] Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). What is also notable is that this expansion of part-time work affects women especially. Labour statistics clearly reveal the feminisation of part-time employment. Specifically, at the end of 2006 the part-time workforce accounted for 31.3 per cent for women but only 7.7 per cent for men in the EU ([4] Eurostat, 2007). In addition, women's over-representation in part-time employment is more evident if we focus on the retail sector. According to the Labour Force Survey, women accounted for 61 per cent of the workforce in retail trade across the EU in 2005. In addition, 30 per cent of people employed were working part-time, 75 per cent of whom were women ([33] Urbanski, 2007). Since the early 1990s, Feldman has suggested that research on part-time labour is critical for at least two reasons other than the increasing numbers of part-timers. First, retail trade relies most heavily on part-time workers, and, second, part-time work is an important labour opportunity for women. Not surprisingly, past studies of part-time employment have focused on the retail sector, and the sample units included major retail firms. However, special attention should be given to the nature and quality of part-time employment in the retail sector. Previous research has indicated that part-time workers and retail sales workers are more likely to be concentrated in the "secondary labour market" in low-level jobs ([31] Tilly, 1992; [1] Barker, 1993; [7] Freathy, 1993; [3] Dickens, 1996; [10] Jenkins, 2004; [35] Walsh, 2007). Employees in the "secondary labour market" face low compensation, low training levels, minimal skill levels, little job security and a low level of demarcation between jobs. Nevertheless, there is a scarcity of empirical research focusing on the motivation of part-time, female employees in such a demanding and stressful work environment. In addition, it is important to shed light on

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motivation, because of its link with job performance ([25] Oldham, 1976; [23] Mitchell, 1982) as well as with job satisfaction ([12] Lam and Zhang, 2003; [15] Linz, 2003) and organisational commitment of employees ([20] Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; [12] Lam and Zhang, 2003; [16] Linz, 2004). Furthermore, replicating previous research on employee motivation will allow us to draw comparisons across countries. The results of this survey study contribute to the existing employee motivation research that utilises data ([28] Silverthorne, 1992; [9] Huddleston and Good, 1999; [14] Linz, 2002, [15], [16] 2003, 2004) from the US, China, Russia and Poland. Moreover, to our knowledge, there are no updated studies that examine the motivation of employees by work status for the Greek case. Since the rate of Greek female part-time work is more than three times that of the Greek males (10.2 and 2.8 per cent, respectively) ([4] Eurostat, 2007), clearly it would be valuable to shed light on the behaviour of the part-time female employees in the Greek retail sector. Focusing on women in retail trade, we identify the job rewards part-time employees find important in the workplace when compared to those of full-time salespeople. In addition we explore their expectations of receiving such rewards. Furthermore, this article enhances researchers' understanding of motivation by exploring the relationship between individual characteristics of employees and their perceptions of whether they receive what they deem as important in the workplace. In particular, apart from the actual working conditions, we enquire whether there are any subjective factors that may influence employees' perceptions with regard to rewards. 2. Research hypotheses Previous studies have demonstrated how motivational factors may differ across cultures, job level (managers compared to workers), age, and gender ([28] Silverthorne, 1992; [9] Huddleston and Good, 1999; [14] Linz, 2002, [15], [16] 2003, 2004; [26] Parsons and Broadbridge, 2006). Much of this research was based on the expectancy theory developed by [34] Vroom (1964). According to this theory, employee motivation is related to the valence, which is the intensity of the desire for extrinsic (e.g. pay, promotion, benefits etc.) or intrinsic (e.g. self-satisfaction, skill development, learning etc.) rewards, and to the expectation of receiving these rewards. In particular, [9] Huddleston and Good (1999) examined, first, what work characteristics motivate employees of Russian and Polish retail firms and, secondly, employees' expectations of receiving these rewards. Results indicated that for both Russian and Polish sales employees the most important work motivators were pay, the friendliness of co- workers, and the opportunity they have to do something important for themselves. Nonetheless, this study also presented the finding that in both countries sales employees' expectations about receiving these important rewards were lower than the importance ratings of the rewards. In another empirical study, [16] Linz (2004) extended the research of Huddlestone and Good by taking into account job level (managers compared to workers), gender, and age differences of employees. Gender comparisons based on mean values showed that women are more likely than men to report that specific motivators (i.e. pay, the chance to do something that makes them feel good, job security, praise from supervisor, respect and friendliness of co-workers) are more important in the workplace. However, further analysis showed that women consistently reported lower expectations of receiving a desired reward despite the quality of their work. Associating motivation theory and work status (full-time/part-time) of employees is especially widespread in studies that explore attitudinal differences at work. In particular, this association is evident in studies concerning the job satisfaction of employees. Job satisfaction is defined as a positive state that depends not only on the quality of the employment but also on the job experience ([17] Locke, 1976). In particular, job satisfaction results from the comparison between the expectations of rewards that should be received and perceptions of actual rewards received ([13] Lawler, 1973): the greater the gap between the two, the greater the level of job dissatisfaction. Studies that reported part-timers to be more satisfied than their full-time counterparts hypothesised that this outcome may be an indication that part-timers hold different expectations about work and have different motivation than do full-timers ([18] Logan et al. , 1973; [36] Wortuba, 1990; [6] Fenton-O'Creevy, 1995). It was hypothesised that part-time employees may give a lower priority to pay and advancement and a higher priority to the flexibility of working hours than full-time employees do. Based on this rationale, it was suggested that when the initial expectations of part-timers were lower, their reactions to a similar workplace would be more

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positive. Thus, not surprisingly, they are more easily satisfied and tend to report greater levels of job satisfaction ([36] Wortuba, 1990; [6] Fenton-O'Creevy, 1995). Nevertheless, empirical research revealed a different picture. [27] Shockey and Mueller (1994) found that female full-time and part-time employees enter the work experience with similar orientations, expectations, and perceptions. Hence, the authors suggest that it is the less rewarding conditions for part-time female employees that influence later negative responses to work. In another study, [11] Kalleberg (1995) found that part-time and full-time employees are similar in both the work roles and the characteristics they find important in a job. Nevertheless, differences exist in the rewards that these two groups receive. Part-timers receive lower pay and fringe benefits, while male part-timers exercise lower job autonomy and have fewer opportunities for advancement than do full-time workers. Similarly, recent studies indicate that part-time employment is associated with adverse working conditions. Part-timers are not satisfied with the variety of tasks or opportunities for occupational mobility ([32] Tomlinson, 2006), are allocated to unfavourable tasks, are treated as inferior and "second class" ([35] Walsh, 2007), and enjoy less job autonomy ([8] Harley and Whitehouse, 2001). Focusing on the retail sector, the literature supports the contention that part-time workers are indeed less involved in organisational functioning, have shorter tenure, and spend fewer hours in the workplace ([36] Wortuba, 1990; [29] Sinclair et al. , 1999; [10] Jenkins, 2004). More specifically, [10] Jenkins (2004) found that part-timers in the retail sector (i.e. supermarkets) are either "peak" or "ancillary" employees. "Peak" part-timers are employed to cover surges in demand across the working day and week and undertake a wide diversity of tasks, while "ancillary" part-timers are characterised by the routinised nature of work (e.g. stock replenishment), which they undertake outside normal working hours. Consequently, based on previous findings, we would expect full-time and part-time female sales employees to be similar in the work motivators (rewards) that they find important in retail firms. However, taking into account the poor working conditions of part-time work in the retail sector, it is suggested that for part-timers the expectations of receiving the desired rewards are significantly lower: H1 . Part-time and full-time female sales employees are similar in the work motivators that they find important in the workplace. H2 . In comparison with their full-time female counterparts, part-time female sales employees hold lower expectations of receiving the desired work motivators in the workplace. Previous research exploring the attitudes of employees also developed indicators of the "fit" of job rewards ([11] Kalleberg, 1995; [12] Lam and Zhang, 2003; [15] Linz, 2003). These indicators were constructed by subtracting the expectations for rewards from the importance (perceptions) that the respondents attached to them. A positive gap implies that there is a gap in motivation and that employees do not receive what they perceive as important. [11] Kalleberg (1995) indicated that full-timers overall expressed greater gaps with regard to having a job that provides flexible working hours, while full-time men expressed greater gaps with regard to job security. In another study, [15] Linz (2003) reported that the biggest gap between the "importance" of rewards and the "likelihood" of receiving intrinsic rewards occurred for the opportunity to learn new things, the sense of freedom, and the development of skills. For extrinsic rewards, the greatest gaps appeared for the amount of pay and the chances of receiving a promotion. Likewise, [12] Lam and Zhang (2003) showed that in the fast-food industry there is a significant difference between expectations and perceptions of rewards among new employees. Nevertheless, past research has not elaborated on the factors predicting the development of these gaps in motivation. Apart from the working conditions and the actual rewards provided by an employer (objective factors), are there any subjective factors that affect employees' perceptions of the importance of work motivators and their expectations of receiving rewards? Previous studies suggest that demographic (gender, age, marital status etc.) and work-related characteristics of individuals (tenure, experience with unemployment, number of jobs held etc.) should be considered when attempting to explain attitudes and behaviours of part-time employees. In particular, [5] Feldman (1990, p. 107), argued that: ... demographic groups might weight facets of part-time work differently when they assess their overall job satisfaction or motivation. A thorough examination of the demographic heterogeneity of part-time employees has been provided by [29] Sinclair et al. (1999), [21] Maynard et al. (2006) and [19] Martin and Sinclair (2007). These researchers remarked that part-time workers

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are not a homogenous workforce, but instead differ not only from full-timers but also from each other. In particular, they identified different subgroups of part-timers based on demographic profiles, on the reasons for taking up part-time work, and on "life-circumstances" (for instance, "moonlighters", "supplementers", "primaries", "students", "caretakers", etc). These studies underline the significant demographic differences of the part-time subgroups and indicate how these groups differ from each other with regard to job attitudes and behaviours. Hence, based on the above findings, one would expect that demographic and work-related characteristics of part-time employees have a significant impact on employees' perceptions of the importance of work motivators as well as their expectations of receiving rewards. For instance, part-time employees with the burden of care for dependents ("caretakers" based on [21] Maynard et al. , 2006, p. 152) may place greater importance on the motivators of flexibility of work schedule and of having more leisure time. On the other hand, part-time employees that earn over 50 per cent of their total family income ("primaries" based [29] Sinclair et al. , 1999, p. 343; [19] Martin and Sinclair, 2007) may place a greater importance on the motivators of pay and job security: H3 . For part-time compared with full-time female sales employees, the demographic and work-related characteristics of individuals have a significant impact on the reported importance of work motivators and the expectations of receiving these rewards. 3. Method 3.1 Procedure and participants Data were collected from 349 female sales employees from 15 retail firms in Northern Greece. The questionnaires were hand-delivered by the researchers to the sales employees, and, prior to the completion, participants were informed of the purpose of the study and the fact that all identities would be kept completely confidential. The function of this preface was to set the participants at ease, so they would express their unmet job expectations more openly. Completed questionnaires were handed back to the researchers. The sample consisted of 186 full-time and 163 part-time employees. Of the 186 full-timers, 133 (71.5 per cent) had at least a high school diploma, 94 (50.5 per cent) provided care to a dependant (i.e. childcare, eldercare, dependents with disabilities), and 95 (51.0 per cent) had tenures of one to 24 months. Similarly, of the 163 part-timers, 112 (68.7 per cent) had at least a high school diploma, 103 (63.2 per cent) were responsible for the care of dependents, and 107 (65.6 per cent) had tenures of no more than two years. This trend reflects the high turnover of part-timers. 3.2 Measures Work motivators were measured with the instrument developed by [9] Huddleston and Good (1999). The specific instrument was developed to measure the importance and the likelihood of receiving work motivators in retail firms. This methodology has also been applied by [14], [15], [16] Linz (2002, 2003, 2004). Specifically, six extrinsic and five intrinsic work motivators are evaluated. The extrinsic motivators include pay, promotion, job security, praise from supervisor, friendliness, and respect of co-workers. The intrinsic motivators include self- satisfaction, skill development, learning, accomplishment, and freedom. Initially, participants were asked to rate the importance of each of the total eleven motivators on a Likert scale of 1 to 5 (1=not important and 5=extremely important). For example, "How important is the amount of pay you get?". After the completion of this set of 11 questions concerning their perceptions of what is important, a second series of 11 questions was given asking respondents about their expectations of receiving these 11 motivators. The design of the questions was as follows: "how likely is it that you would get a bonus or pay increase if you performed your job extremely well?" Once again the questions used a five-point Likert scale, with 1=not at all likely and 5=extremely likely. The "motivation gap" variables used in this analysis were calculated by subtracting the "likelihood" mean values from the "importance" mean values. A positive value score for each of the eleven variables implies that unmet expectations regarding motivation exist. In other words, a positive value implies that even if they performed their jobs extremely well, respondents were not likely to receive what they perceived as important. Furthermore, a number of demographic variables were considered as controlled variables. In order to secure a high response rate of female employees, instead of using an open-ended question to assess age, we provided a closed question based on six age groups. However, because 21.2 per cent of the respondents were less that 24 years old and 76.8 per cent were 25 to 54 years old, age was treated as a dummy variable (AGE 0=18-24 years old, 1=older than 25 years old). Similarly, previous research has shown that there is a relatively large proportion of

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part-timers in the young age group (<25 years old). In addition, we obtained information regarding the educational level of the participants (EDUC, 0=at least high school diploma, 1=Bachelor's degree or higher) and whether they provided care to dependent people - childcare, eldercare, dependents with disabilities - (CARE, 0=No, 1=Yes). Finally, information on work-related characteristics was obtained. Tenure in an organisation was measured in months (TENURE). Data concerning experience with unemployment, number of jobs held at the time of survey, and number of times they had changed employers in the last five years were obtained adopting the questions applied by [15] Linz (2003). Experience with unemployment was obtained with the following question: "in the last five years, have you been unemployed, that is without work for more than two weeks, when you wanted to be working?" (UNEMPLOY, 0=No, 1=Yes). Also, respondents were asked to report the number of jobs held at the time of survey (NJOBS, 0=Two or more regular jobs for pay, 1=This is the only regular job that I have), as well as to report the number of times they had changed employers in the last five years (CHJOBS). 4. Research findings Table I [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] presents the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations among the variables in the study. It shows that no high correlations between the independent variables exist, thus multicollinearity does not seem to be a problem. To assess more rigorously the relationships between predictors included in the analysis, a more sophisticated collinearity statistic was estimated: the variance inflation factor (VIF). The value of the statistic for each single independent variable was much lower than the critical value of two ([22] Miles and Shelvin, 2001, pp. 127-132), indicating that the predictors of the study can be included in regression analyses. With the aim of ensuring that any reported differences in motivation across groups are indeed attributed to the work status of employees, it is essential to use covariates. A series of analyses of variance of demographic and work-related characteristics by work status were conducted. Not surprisingly, according to the theoretical background of working women, part- time female employees are more likely to care for dependents (F=5.717, p ≤0.05), to have experienced unemployment (F=65.944, p ≤0.001), to have shorter job tenure (F=32.310, p ≤0.001), and to have changed more jobs in the last five years (F=150.796, p ≤0.001). As a result, the coded variables of CARE, UNEMPLOY, TENURE and CHJOBS were retained as control variables in this study. First, in order to evaluate the effect of work status (full-time/part-time) on the importance of all of the 11 work motivators (H1 ), 11 separate analyses of covariance were conducted. The results are presented in Table II [Figure omitted. See Article Image.]. The independent variable was work status, and the dependent variables were the reported importance of pay, promotion, job security, praise from supervisor, friendliness of co-workers, respect of co-workers, self- satisfaction, skill development, learning, accomplishment, and freedom. Table II [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] shows that statistically significant differences between full-time and part-time employees are observed in five of the 11 work motivators. Full-timers exhibit a preference for extrinsic motivators while part-timers a preference for intrinsic motivators. Specifically, full-timers find the extrinsic rewards of respect (F=6.393, p ≤0.05) and friendliness of co-workers (F=5.747, p ≤0.05) most desirable. Conversely, part-time salespeople express a preference for the intrinsic rewards of opportunities for learning new things (F=5.560, p ≤0.05), of accomplishment of something worthwhile (F=5.724, p ≤0.05), and the development of skills (F=15.578, p ≤0.001). Therefore, the ANCOVAs results indicate that H1 is partially supported. In more than half of the cases, full-time and part-time female sales employees are similar in the work motivators that they find important in the workplace. In addition, it is noteworthy that the relative ranking of work motivators indicates that both part-time and full-time female employees believe that the rewards of pay, friendliness of co-workers, and job security are the three most important motivators in the workplace. Next, in order to explore possible differences between full- time and part-time female employees with regard to their expectations of receiving the desired motivators (H2 ), a second series of 11 univariate ANCOVAs was conducted. Again, the work status of employees was introduced as the independent variable, while the dependent variables included the likelihood of retail employees to receive the 11 extrinsic and intrinsic rewards. Table III [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] presents the findings of the univariate ANCOVAs. It is evident that part-timers are more optimistic in their

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expectations of receiving the desired rewards. Statistically significant differences in expectations of rewards are observed in four of the 11 total work motivators. Contrary to H2 , part-time retail employees report not lower but higher expectations of receiving rewards. Specifically, part-timers are more optimistic about receiving the rewards of promotion (F=3.854, p ≤0.05) and the intrinsic rewards of skill development (F=6.505, p ≤0.05), learning (F=6.685, p ≤0.01) and the feeling of accomplishment (F=12.452, p ≤0.001). Thus, H2 is not supported. Furthermore, the relative ranking of the likelihood of receiving the desired work motivators is quite diverse. Both full-timers and part-timers indicated that they are likely to experience the feeling of self-satisfaction through their job. Apart from this common point, full-timers reported that they are more likely to receive the extrinsic rewards of friendliness and respect of co-workers as well as praise from the supervisor. On the other hand, part-timers reported that they are more likely to receive intrinsic rewards and, in particular, the feeling of accomplishment, skill development, and learning. Moreover, it is noteworthy that the combined results of Tables II and III [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] reveal that both part-time and full-time female employees do not receive the desired rewards in retail firms. Clearly there is a significant discrepancy between what retail employees desire and what they expect to receive in the workplace. It is remarkable that while Table II [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] shows that part-time employees mostly desire the motivators of pay, job security, and friendliness of co- workers, Table III [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] indicates that for these three work motivators employees express the lowest expectations of receiving them in the workplace (11th, 10th and 9th relative rank position, respectively). Similarly, while Table II [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] shows that full-time employees mostly desire the motivators of pay and promotional opportunities, Table III [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] indicates that these sales employees least expect to receive these two motivators (11th and 10th relative rank position, respectively). Consequently, for female employees in the retail sector, despite the quality of their work, there is a considerable gap between what employees perceive as important and what they expect to receive. With the purpose of identifying how individual characteristics of employees may impact the reported importance of work motivators and the expectations of receiving these rewards (H3 ), a series of separate hierarchical regression analyses was conducted by work status (full-time/part-time). Dependent variables included the 11 "motivation gaps". For each analysis, step 1 is comprising of the demographic variables of age (AGE), education (EDUC), and care for dependents (CARE). Step 2 evaluated the amount of variance explained by work-related characteristics after controlling for demographics. Work-related variables included experience with unemployment (UNEMPLOY), number of jobs held at the time of the survey (NJOBS), length of tenure (TENURE), and number of job changes in the last five years (CHJOBS). The results of these hierarchical regression analyses for full-time and part-time employees are summarised in Tables IV and V [Figure omitted. See Article Image.], respectively. Table IV [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] shows that for full-time employees the initial entry of the demographic variables is significant for all of the reported gaps at the level of p ≤0.001, apart from the gap regarding pay (F=2.764), p >0.05). Furthermore, demographic characteristics jointly explain 12.2 to 23.3 per cent of the variance of motivation gaps. The entry of work-related characteristics (step 2) indicated that for all of the eleven models the variance explained (R2 ) is significant at the level of 0.001. However, the change of R2 is quite low, ranging from 1 to 10.8 per cent, and is statistically significant only for the gap of pay (F change=5.689, p ≤0.001), the gap of friendliness of co-workers (F change=2.701, p ≤0.05), and the sense of self-satisfaction (feel good) (F change =2.590, p ≤0.05). It is worth mentioning that the development of gaps in motivation is strongly related to the age (negative relationship) and particularly to the educational level of employees (positive relationship). In other words, the greater the age of employees, the smaller the reported gap between expectations of receiving rewards and the importance attached to them; furthermore, the higher the level of education, the greater the gap in motivation. Accordingly, Table V [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] shows that for part-time employees the gap variables in step 1 are all significant at the level of p ≤0.001. The variance explained (R2 ) for the significant regressions ranged from 15.6 to 30 per cent. The entry of the work-related characteristics (step 2) improved the R2 for all of the motivation gaps.

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Specifically, the change of R2 ranged from 1.8 to 20.7 per cent and was statistically significant for all of the dependent variables apart from the gap with pay (F change=0.446, p >0.05). Therefore, Tables IV and V [Figure omitted. See Article Image.] provide support for H3 . For part-time female sales employees, the demographic and work-related characteristics of individuals have a significant impact on the reported importance of work motivators and the expectations of receiving these rewards. Specifically, for part-time employees it is evident that the development of motivation gaps has a strong and negative relationship with the age of employees. The greater the age of employees, the smaller the gap between the perceptions of an important reward and the expectation of receiving this reward. Furthermore, the findings reveal that part-time employees report smaller gaps in motivation when they care for dependents, have experienced unemployment, have changed several jobs in the last five years, and currently hold one regular job. 5. Discussion The aim of this paper was to compare the motivation of part-time and full-time female employees in the Greek retail sector. Initially, we examined which work motivators part-time and full-time employees find important. We sought to answer the question of whether these groups of employees value things differently in their work environment. Findings revealed that both part-timers and full-timers feel that the rewards of pay, friendliness of co-workers, and job security are the three most valuable motivators. These results are in accordance with the previous findings of [9] Huddleston and Good (1999) and [14], [16] Linz (2002, 2004). In particular, these studies showed that both Russian and Polish employees report these motivators to be among the most valuable ones. In addition, we found that full-timers were more responsive to extrinsic rewards, while part-timers expressed a preference for intrinsic rewards. Specifically, full-timers valued the motivators of respect and friendliness of co-workers highest. On the other hand, part-time female salespeople expressed a preference for opportunities to learn new things, develop skills, and feel a sense of accomplishment. Furthermore, for both part-time and full-time employees we investigated their expectations of receiving the rewards that they find important in the workplace, asking whether there are any differences in their expectations of rewards even when they perform their jobs extremely well. Previous studies of motivation provided evidence that there is a considerable gap between what employees perceive as important and what they expect to receive ([11] Kalleberg, 1995; [9] Huddleston and Good, 1999; [12] Lam and Zhang, 2003; [16] Linz, 2004). In line with these past findings regarding different countries, we found that for both full-time and part-time Greek female employees there is significant discrepancy between what employees desire and what they actually expect to receive in the workplace. Nevertheless, contrary to our hypothesis, results indicated that part-timers are more optimistic about receiving intrinsic rewards. Part-timers indicated that they are more likely to receive promotions, develop skills, learn new things, and feel a sense of accomplishment in the workplace. Manifestly, the literature review suggests that employers are not in fact likely to act in favour of part-timers. Therefore, we speculate that female part-timers who are involuntary (could not find a full-time job) or part-timers who try to balance work with family, education, or other personal obligations may feel that part-time work at that stage of their life-cycle is just a transient phase. In this phase, part-time employment is a means to develop skills, learn new things, and perhaps be promoted to a full- time position. Indeed, Greek Law 2639/1998 established that part-timers have priority in filling full-time openings that occur in their occupational categories. Given this regulation and taking into account the continued phenomenon of high unemployment in Greece, we suggest that part-time work may be regarded by some employees as a valuable opportunity to acquiring intrinsic rewards and as a "stepping stone" to better full-time jobs. On the other hand, permanent full-time salespeople may have developed a more realistic picture of the adversities of the labour market. Hence, compared with part-timers, they express lower expectations of accomplishment and promotional opportunities. As a practical implication, these results provide retail firms with significant guidelines on how to develop a flexible motivational plan. Retail firms that seek to retain a highly satisfied and motivated workforce should provide incentives plans such as commissions or bonuses, ensure job security, and foster a friendly climate among co-workers. Furthermore, since full-time and part-time workers value rewards differently, it is suggested that employers should provide a variety of rewards that fit the needs of

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both full-time and part-time employees. Because full-timers are more likely to be involved in the functioning of the organisation, have greater tenure and spend more hours in the work environment ([36] Wortuba, 1990; [29] Sinclair et al. , 1999), employers should pursue the development of a congenial working environment that promotes friendliness and mutual respect among co-workers. On the other hand, with regard to part-timers, retail firms should make training programs such as seminars and workshops available, with the aim of enhancing skills and knowledge. The working environment would thereby support the development of part-time employees and would provide a "stepping stone" towards better job positions. In addition, this study contributes new empirical evidence regarding how individual characteristics of employees may impact the reported importance of work motivators and the expectations of receiving these rewards. In other words, we have identified subjective factors that influence whether salespeople perceive that they receive what is desired and ranked important in the workplace. For full-time employees, unmet expectations with regard to rewards are more likely to develop when employees are young and have high educational qualifications. The findings may be viewed in light of the high unemployment rate in Greece (8.9 per cent), and in particular the high unemployment rate for females (13.6 per cent) compared to males (5.6 per cent) in 2006 ([24] National Statistical Service of Greece, 2007). It is speculated that due to the lack of alternatives, young, female university graduates are currently compelled to accept employment in retail sales positions that are characterised by less competitive pay, low training, low job security, and a low level of demarcation between jobs. Nevertheless, not surprisingly, they feel overqualified and disappointed about not making the best of their higher educational qualifications. On the other hand, for part-time workers, the reported gaps in motivation decrease when employees experience personal and occupational hardships. In particular, female part-timers express limited unmet expectations with regard to rewards when they are older, have the burden of care for dependants, and have faced an unstable employment status characterised by periods of unemployment and frequent jobs changes. We suggest that these "life-stressed" employees have to make compromises and settle on the employment options of the "secondary labour market". Therefore, because of this disadvantaged position, they are more likely to express the opinion that they receive the desired rewards through part-time employment in the retail sector. It is proposed that female employees stressed by factors such as age (older employees), care (e.g. mothers), and poor employment background (i.e. unemployment and/or many changes of jobs) consider that part-time work is a source of learning and of developing skills as well as of accomplishing something worthwhile. For these groups of employees, it may be difficult to attend school or seminars or to find a full-time job. Therefore, they are more likely to indicate that they receive the desired rewards, as these rewards are fulfilled through part-time employment. The conclusion, that a variety of individual characteristics should be considered when assessing the motivation of employees, can provide retail managers with a profile of the motivated full-time and part-time female employees. In the context of the demanding retail sector, this profile can be used in the recruiting process with the aim of identifying candidates that are most suitable for an available full-time or part-time position. Female employees with specific personal characteristics appear to balance the importance of work motivators and their expectations of receiving rewards, while other employees develop greater unmet expectations. In order to gain a more complete understanding of the motivation of retail employees, future research should investigate the motivation of employees both by work status and by gender. Comparisons between full-time and part-time and between female and male employees would provide a holistic picture of motivation in the retail sector. In addition, further qualitative research is needed to explore both employees' and employers' attitudes and opinions, such as whether employers actually treat and reward full- timers and part-timers differently or whether employees hold different points of view and frames of reference ([30] Thorsteinson, 2003). This research was supported by the European Commission (75 per cent) and the Greek Secretariat for Research and Technology (25 per cent), 3rd Community Support Programme - Measure 8.3. References 1. Barker, K. (1993), "Changing assumptions and contingent solutions: the costs and benefits of women working full- and part-time", Sex Roles, Vol. 28 Nos 1/2, pp. 47-71.

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2. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2007), Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, US Department of Labor, Washington, DC. 3. Dickens, P. (1996), "Human services as service industries", The Service Industry Journal, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 82-91. 4. Eurostat (2007), Labour Force Survey Results, Statistical Office of the European Communities, Luxembourg. 5. Feldman, D.C. (1990), "Reconceptualizing the nature and consequences of part-time jobs", The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 103-12. 6. Fenton-O'Creevy, M. (1995), "Moderators of differences in job satisfaction between full-time and part-time female employees: a research note", Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 5 No. 5, pp. 75-82. 7. Freathy, P. (1993), "Developments in the superstore labour market", The Service Industries Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 65-79. 8. Harley, B. and Whitehouse, G. (2001), "Women in part-time work: a comparative study of Australia and the United Kingdom", Labour and Industry, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 33-59. 9. Huddleston, P. and Good, L.K. (1999), "Job motivators in Russian and Polish retail firms", International Journal of Retail &Distribution Management, Vol. 27 No. 9, pp. 383-92. 10. Jenkins, S. (2004), "Restructuring flexibility: case studies of part-time female workers in six workplaces", Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 306-33. 11. Kalleberg, A.L. (1995), "Part-time work and workers in the United States: correlates and policy issues", Washighton and Lee Law Review, Vol. 52 No. 3, pp. 771-98. 12. Lam, T. and Zhang, H.Q. (2003), "Job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the Hong Kong fast food industry", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 214-20. 13. Lawler, E.E. (1973), Motivation in Work Organizations, Brooks Cole, Monterey, CA. 14. Linz, S.J. (2002), "Motivating Russian workers: analysis of age and gender differences", William Davidson Institute working paper No. 466. 15. Linz, S.J. (2003), "Job satisfaction among Russian workers", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 24 No. 6, pp. 626-52. 16. Linz, S.J. (2004), "Motivating Russian workers: analysis of age and gender differences", Journal of Socio- Economics, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 261-89. 17. Locke, E.A. (1976), "The nature and causes of job satisfaction", in Dunnette, M.D. (Ed.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Rand McNally, Chicago, IL, pp. 1297-349. 18. Logan, N., O'Reilly, C.A. III and Roberts, K.H. (1973), "Job satisfaction among part-time and full-time employees", Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 33-41. 19. Martin, J.E. and Sinclair, R.R. (2007), "A typology of the part-time workforce: differences on job attitudes and turnover", Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 80 No. 2, pp. 301-19. 20. Mathieu, J.E. and Zajac, D.M. (1990), "A review of the meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment", Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 108 No. 2, pp. 171-94. 21. Maynard, D., Thorsteinson, T.J. and Parfyonova, N.M. (2006), "Reasons for working part-time: subgroup differences in job attitudes and turnover intentions", Career Development International, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 145- 62. 22. Miles, J. and Shelvin, M. (2001), Applying Regression and Correlation, Sage Publications, London. 23. Mitchell, T.R. (1982), "Motivation: new directions for theory, research, and practice", The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 80-8. 24. National Statistical Service of Greece (2007), "Labour force survey", press release (ESYE): Athens (in Greek). 25. Oldham, G.R. (1976), "Job characteristics and internal motivation: the moderating effect of interpersonal and individual variables", Human Relations, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 559-69.

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26. Parsons, E. and Broadbridge, A. (2006), "Job motivation and satisfaction: unpacking the key factors for charity shop managers", Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 121-31. 27. Shockey, L.M. and Mueller, W.C. (1994), "At-entry differences in part-time and full-time employees", Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 355-64. 28. Silverthorne, C.P. (1992), "Work motivation in the United States, Russia, and the Republic of China (Taiwan): a comparison", Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 22 No. 20, pp. 1631-9. 29. Sinclair, R.R., Martin, E.J. and Michel, R.P. (1999), "Full-time and part-time subgroup differences in job attitudes and demographic characteristics", Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 55 No. 3, pp. 337-57. 30. Thorsteinson, J.T. (2003), "Job attitudes of part-time vs full-time workers: a meta-analytic review", Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 76 No. 2, pp. 151-77. 31. Tilly, C. (1992), "Dualism in part-time employment", Industrial Relations, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 330-47. 32. Tomlinson, J. (2006), "Part-time occupational mobility in the service industries: regulation, work commitment and occupational closure", The Sociological Review, Vol. 54 No. 1, pp. 66-86. 33. Urbanski, T. (2007), Main Features of the Services Sector, Eurostat, Statistics in Focus. 34. Vroom, V. (1964), Work and Motivation, John Wiley &Sons, New York, NY. 35. Walsh, J. (2007), "Experiencing part-time work: temporal tensions, social relations and the work-family interface", British Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 155-77. 36. Wortuba, T.R. (1990), "Full-time vs part-time salespeople: a comparison on job satisfaction, performance, and turnover in direct selling", International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 97-108. Appendix About the authors Stefanos K. Giannikis is a PhD candidate in the Department of Business Administration, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. He received a bachelor's degree in Economics from Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece. He holds an MSc in Marketing from the University of Birmingham, UK and an MBA in Human Resource Management from the University of Macedonia. His current research interests include flexible work arrangements, part-time work, gender issues and employee attitudes. Dimitrios M. Mihail is Professor and the Head of the MBA program at the University of Macedonia, Greece. He holds a PhD in Economics. Department of Economics, The Graduate Faculty, New School for Social Research, New York, USA. His current research focuses on labour market flexibility, career development and student and women employment issues. Dimitrios Mihail is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected] AuthorAffiliation Stefanos K. Giannikis, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece Dimitrios M. Mihail, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece Illustration Table I: Means, standard deviations (SD), and correlations Table II: ANCOVAs tests on the importance of motivators on the effect of work status Table III: ANCOVAs tests on the likelihood of receiving rewards for the effects of work status Table IV: Hierarchical regression results for full-time female employees Table V: Hierarchical regression results for part-time female employees Subject: Studies; Motivation; Psychological aspects; Retailing industry; Part time employment; Female employees; Working conditions; Statistical analysis; Human resource management; Management development Location: Greece Classification: 9130: Experimental/theoretical, 9176: Eastern Europe, 1220: Social trends&culture, 8390: Retailing industry, 6100: Human resource planning, 2200: Managerial skills Publication title: International Journal of Manpower Volume: 31 Issue: 1 Pages: 4-20

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Publication year: 2010 Publication date: 2010 Year: 2010 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing, Limited Place of publication: Bradford Country of publication: United Kingdom Journal subject: Business And Economics--Labor And Industrial Relations ISSN: 01437720 Source type: Scholarly Journals Language of publication: English Document type: Feature Document feature: References;Tables DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01437721011031667 ProQuest document ID: 231912394 Document URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/231912394?accountid=8289 Copyright: Copyright Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2010 Last updated: 2010-07-17 Database: ABI/INFORM Global

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Bibliography Citation style: APA 6th - American Psychological Association, 6th Edition

Giannikis, S. K., & Mihail, D. M. (2010). Motivation of working women in the greek retail sector: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Manpower, 31(1), 4-20. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/01437721011031667

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