MANAGERIAL USE OF DISMISSAL - ORGANIZATIONAL-LEVEL DETERMINANTS

Although much variation exists across organizations in the use of dism issal, little is known about the source of this variation. This study examines organizational-level determinants of the willingness of manag ers to attempt dismissal. Using survey data from HR managers, we measu red organizational-level factors likely to be associated with the expe cted costs and benefits of dismissal. We then examined how these facto rs affect the willingness of line managers from corresponding organiza tions to attempt dismissal. As hypothesized, the results indicate that in most cases where threats to just cause were present, informal norm s, disciplinary procedure restrictiveness, and appeal system character istics all affected dismissal. Also, as was expected, where just cause for dismissal could unquestionably be established, dismissal was sign ificantly influenced by informal norms but not by disciplinary procedu re restrictiveness or appeal system characteristics. Finally, little c onsistent support was found for the hypothesized relationships between dismissal and human capital investment, performance pressures, monito ring costs, and labor market conditions.