ABSTRACT
Once we have established what discretionary behaviour is and why it is important we then look at the drivers of this behaviour. In order to do this we need to return to the ability-motivation-opportunity model that we discussed in Chapter 1. We can recall that this argues that employees must have the skill needed to exercise discretion (ability), the desire to do so (motivation) and they must be given the opportunity to do so by their organisation and their line manager (Boxall and Purcell 2008: 5; Appelbaum et al. 2000; Lepak et al. 2006). Our particular focus in this chapter is on motivation: what determines whether an employee will exercise whatever discretion they have in ways which will benefit the organisation? This involves distinguishing between what the employee can do and what they will do (Boxall and Purcell 2008: 173). This chapter argues that employee perceptions and experiences of HR practices are vital for understanding the answers to these questions. We will explore these influences at three levels: the individual, the individual and their line manager, and their interaction with the wider organisation. We argue that this multilevel approach gives good insights into the influences on employee attitudes and behaviour. Once we have established these we then examine the Tesco case in some detail to provide an illustration of the links between employee attitudes and behaviour and organisational performance. In doing so, we hope to provide an accessible way to access the key themes of this chapter as well as set the stage for the more detailed application of the HRM causal chain model in Chapters 6 to 8.
