Bankers closing idiosyncratic deals: Implications for organisational cynicism

• Author: Anja Feierabend,Arnold B. Bakker,Manuela Morf
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12245
• Date: 01 November 2019
• Published date: 01 November 2019

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Bankers closing idiosyncratic deals: Implications

for organisational cynicism

Manuela Morf

1

|Arnold B. Bakker

2

|Anja Feierabend

1

1

Center for Human Resource Management

(CEHRM), University of Lucerne, Switzerland

2

Center of Excellence for Positive

Organizational Psychology, Erasmus University

Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Correspondence

Manuela Morf, Center for Human Resource

Management (CEHRM), University of Lucerne,

Frohburgstrasse 3, Postfach 4466, 6002

Luzern, Switzerland.

Email: manuela.morf@unilu.ch

Funding information

Swiss National Science Foundation, Grant/

Award Number: 168566

Abstract

To better meet flexibility demands and increase person–job

fit, organisations might offer their employees the opportunity

to negotiate task‐related arrangements, namely, idiosyn-

cratic deals, referred to as “i‐deals.”However, not every

employee who requests an i‐deal is successful in their

negotiations. Thus, this study aims to further the

knowledge of potential shortcomings of task‐related i‐deals

and the role of supervisors in determining them. Drawing

on social exchange theory, we hypothesise that low‐quality

supervisor–employee relationships (i.e., leader–member

exchange) are more likely to result in unsuccessful

task‐related i‐deal negotiations, which consequently might

provoke increased organisational cynicism. We analysed

three waves of data from 202 Swiss bankers who had

requested task‐related i‐deals within the investigated

business cycle. The results supported our hypothesis. Our

findings highlight the role of supervisors in reducing the

potential costs of using task‐related i‐deals as employee‐

initiated job design practices.

KEYWORDS

employee voice,individualised HRM practices,job design, leadership,

negotiation

1|INTRODUCTION

To meet the flexibility demands of markets and account for the different needs of employees, organisations are

increasingly seeking human resource (HR) practices that allow individualisation. In line with this trend is the broader

use of idiosyncratic deals (abbreviated to i‐deals), which are personalised work arrangements, negotiated between

Received: 31 October 2017 Revised: 26 March 2019 Accepted: 16 May 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12245

Hum Resour Manag J. 2019;29:585–599. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltdwileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj 585