Example of a research proposal 英国硕士论文开题报告范文样本

Research Proposal:A Study of the Relationship between Organisational Citizenship Behaviours,Psychology Contract and Organisational Justice: Focusing on the ChineseWorkers[Note: This proposal has been reproduced in anonymised from with full permission from the student. It is reproduced using single line spacing to save paper].Name: ????Student Number: ????Date of submission: dd mmm yyyyWord account: 2122 excluding referencesContents1 Research Background 12 Research aim and objectives 13 Literature review 23.1 Organisational citizenship behaviours 23.2 Psychological contract 33.3 Organisational justice 44 Methodology 54.1 Questionnaire survey 54.2 Sample selection and data collection 54.3 Research ethics 64.4 Data analysis 65 Timetable 66 Conclusions 77 References 71 Research BackgroundFuelled by increasing globalization and international competition, many enterprises have realised the importance of recruiting, retaining, and managing human resources, which contribute to increasing competitiveness of organisations and gaining sustainable competitive advantages (Nadiri & Tanova, 2010). Recently, many scholars and practitioners devote multiple efforts to organisational citizenship behaviours. The reason is that organisational citizenship behaviours contribute to improving organisational performance by maximizing their job efficiency and productivity (Organ, 1988; Wagner & Rush, 2000). Jahangir et al. (2004) assert that “successful organisations have employees who go beyond their formal job responsibilities and freely give their time and energy to succeed at the assigned job” (p.75). From these perspectives, organisational citizenship behaviours act as an essential role in strengthening organisational effectiveness. Given its importance, this study aims to examine organisational citizenship behaviours of Chinese workers in order to improve research generalizability.Either in academic study or in practice, organisational citizenship behaviours have gained much attention. Hence, many scholars examine and explore the definition, structure, antecedents and consequences of organisational citizenship behaviours. Among all antecedents, organisational justice and psychological contract have received much attention in the field of organisational psychology and organisational behaviours. The existing studies have illustrated that organisational justice and psychological contract are positively related to organisational citizenship behaviours (Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2001; Turnley et al., 2003). Through surveying samples from United Kingdom, mainland China, France and the United States, Fok et al. (1996) also found that employees with different cultural background had different perception of fairness and organisational citizenship behaviours. Concerning for the difference of culture, it is necessary to examine organisational citizenship behaviours and its antecedents in the Chinese cultural background. At the same time, Hui et al. (2004) point out that employment relationship is different due to different psychological, social, and interpersonal mechanism. Furthermore, the existing studies associated with organisational justice, psychological contract, and organisational citizenship behaviours are rooted in western cultural background. Whether they work or not in the Chinese cultural background has not been known. Therefore, in order to improve research generalisability, this study attempts to identify the effect of organisational justice and psychological contract on organisational citizenship behaviours focusing on the Chinese workers.This proposal is arranged as follows: section two provides research aim and objectives. As such, section three reviews literatures associated with organisational justice, psychological contract, and organisational citizenship behaviours. Section four presents data collection methods. Section five provides timetable. This proposal ends with conclusions.2 Research aim and objectivesThe aim of this research is to examine and understand the relationship between organisational justice, psychological contract, and organisational citizenship behaviours.To address research aim, the specific research objectives are presented as follows:(1)To examine the relationship between organisational justice and psychological contract focusing on the Chinese workers;(2)To examine how organisational justice affects organisational citizenship behaviours focusing on the Chinese workers;(3)To examine how psychological contract affects organisational citizenship behaviours focusing on the Chinese workers.3 Literature review3.1 Organisational citizenship behavioursThe term organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) was introduced by Organ (1977). In 1988, Organ defined it as ‘‘discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organisation’’ (Organ, 1988). Subsequently, Organ (1995) redefined OCB as ‘‘performance that supports the social and psychological environment in which task performance takes place” (p. 95). In terms of this definition, OCB is a part of job performance. The definition of Organ (1995) has gained considerable attention from scholars. According to Bolino et al. (2002), OCB is defined as “the willingness of employees to exceed their formal job requirements in order to help each other, to subordinate their individual interests for the good of the organisation, and to take a genuine interest in the organisation’s activities and overall mission”. This definition has gained the support of Appelbaum et al. (2004), who defined it as “a discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirement, but - is that which promotes the effective functioning of the organisation”. Based on their definitions, it can be known that OCB is an extra-role bahviour of promoting performance. In this study, the definition of Appelbaum et al. (2004) is used to understand organisational citizenship behaviours of Chinese workers.Concerning for the structure of OCB, there are different perspectives due to different research background and cultural background. In general, the structure of OCB is generalized into two dimensions, three dimensions, four dimensions, five dimensions, and seven dimensions, which I have summarised and presented in table 1.Table 1 structure of organisational citizenship behavioursReference ContentsTwo dimensionsSmith et al. (1983) altruism and generalised complianceThree dimensionsColeman and Borman (2000) interpersonal citizenship, organisational citizenship, and job/taskcitizenshipFour dimensionsGraham et al. (1989) organisational obedience, interpersonal helping, organisationalloyalty, and organisational participationFive dimensionsOrgan (1988) altruism, conscientiousness, courtesy, civic virtue, andsportsmanshipFarh, Early and Lin (1997) identification with the company, altruism toward colleagues,conscientiousness, interpersonal harmony, protecting companyresourcesSeven dimensionsPodsakoff and Mackenzie (2000) Helping behaviour, sportsmanship, organisational loyalty, organisational compliance, individual initiative, civic virtue, and self developmentAccording to Table 1, different scholars present different perspectives. Among these dimensions, the perspective of Organ (1988) has gained considerable attention from scholars. Because of this, different scholars with different cultural background construct different structures of OCB. At the same time, the Chinese scholars Farh et al. (1997) also build five-dimensional structure of OCB. In order to reduce the effect of cultural difference, this study employs the structure of Farh et al. (1997) to measure organisational citizenship behaviours.3.2 Psychological contractThe study of psychological contract was originated from Argyris (1960). Psychological contract is used to understand employment relationship between employees and employers. Employment relationship is reciprocity in terms of social exchange theory (Rousseau, 1990). Given its importance, many scholars define and study what is meant by psychological contract. For example, psychological contract is defined by Rousseau (1989) as “individual’s belief in the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between the focal person and another group” (p.123). In 1995, Rousseau redefined it as “individual beliefs, shaped by the organisation, regarding terms of an exchange agreement between individuals and their organisation” (p. 9). This definition of psychological contract has been widely accepted by many scholars. In this study, the definition of Rousseau (1995) is used to understand Chinese workers’ psychological contract.As for the structure of psychological contract, there are different perspectives. The earliest structure of psychological contract includes transactional and relational dimension (Rousseau, 1990), which has gained wide application in academic study. In here, transaction contract refers to “a set of short-term economically focused attitudes involving limited involvement between the parties” (Raja et al., 2004). And relational contract refers to sustain relationship with organisations depending on emotional involvement or financial benefits (Robinson et al., 1994). Subsequently, in 1995, Rousseau (1995) reconstructed four dimensions of psychological contract, namely transactional, relationship, balanced, and transitional contract. Furthermore, the Chinese scholars Hui et al. (2004) develop dimensions of psychological contract of Chinese workers, namely balanced, relational, and transactional contracts. Therefore, in order to reduce cultural difference, this study employs the dimension of Hui et al. (2004) to measure psychological contract of Chinese workers.3.3 Organisational justiceJustice in organisations has gained considerable attention from scholars and practitioners. The reason is that organisational justice significantly affects attitudes and behaviours of employees (Cropanzano et al., 2001). Because of this, many scholars explore and study organisational justice in different contexts. The organisational justice is defined by Folger and Cropanzano (1998) as ‘‘the conditions of employment that lead individuals to believe they are being treated fairly or unfairly by their organisation’’. According to this definition, organisational justice refers to employees’ perception towards organisation, especially for pay and promotion. In this study, the above definition is used to understand organisational justice of Chinese workers.In terms of understanding organisational justice, different scholars provide different types. The earliest study on organisational justice shows that it has two primary dimensions, namely distributive and procedure justice (Greenberg, 1990). In here, distributive justice refers to “feelings of fairness surrounding the allocation of organisational resources, including pay, bonuses, terminations, or any other resources that an organisation can provide to employees” (Deutsch, 1975). Procedural justice refers to “feelings of fairness regarding the procedures associated with determining promotions, terminations, performance ratings, bonuses, or anything else of value that the organisation provides” (Thibaut & Walker, 1975, cited in Roch & Shanock, 2006). In addition, some scholars provide three-dimensional structure of organisational justice, namely distributive justice, interactional justice, and procedural justice (e.g. Bies & Moag, 1986). They define interactional justice as “feelings of fairness concerning for how employees are treated within the organisation”. This three-dimensional structure has gained considerable application in the academic study. Furthermore, Colquitt (2001) provides four-dimensional structure, namely distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice. From these perspectives, there has not consistent findings about the structure of organisationaljustice. In order to better identify the structure of organisational justice, the scale of Colquitt (2001) is used in this study.4 MethodologyIn terms of research objectives, among research strategies presented by Yin (1994), survey is applied in this study, aiming to understand respondents’ actual attitudes, perspectives, and behaviours. In this study, primary data collection methods are employed in order to gain actual information of Chinese workers.4.1 Questionnaire surveyIn this study, questionnaire survey aims to identify Chinese workers’ actual perspectives and attitudes towards organisational justice, psychological contract and organisational citizenship behaviours. The process of conducting questionnaire survey is presented as follows:The first step is to design questionnaires of this study. The questionnaire includes four sections. More specifically, section one is used to establish the samples’ characteristics, which includes a series of indicators, such as gender, age, marriage, and tenure. Correspondingly, section two is used to measure organisational citizenship behaviours. In this section, the scale of Hui et al. (1999) is used, which includes 15 items. Section three is used to measure psychological contract which also employs the scale of Hui et al. (2004). Furthermore, section four is used to measure organisational justice which uses the scale of Colquitt (2001). A five point Likert type scale used to assess Chinese workers’ identification degree with each indicator (1=strongly disagree; 5=strongly agree).The questionnaire will be pilot tested with 10 employees from the company and amendments made as necessary.4.2 Sample selection and data collectionThe second step is used to send collection questionnaires. In this study a systematic random sample of employees will be selected from the human resource records of the ????? Company in China which employs 750 people. These records are stored in salary order by department. In order to ensure 95% confidence and a margin of error of 5% I require 254 responses (Saunders et al., 2009). Assuming a response rate of 52.7% (Baruch and Holtom, 2008), this means I will have to administer my questionnaire to 482 employees using SurveyMonkey using work emails. The questionnaire will be administered in Chinese. I have gained the company’s agreement by contacting with human resource department manager. Assurances have been given that all respondents’ information is confidential and anonymous.4.3 Research EthicsPermission has been given in writing by the company to undertake this research. I have agreed that the data will be anonymised and it will not be possible to identify individuals. In addition, the company name will not appear anywhere within the dissertation, thereby preserving anonymity.Individual respondents will be told in the questionnaire covering letter that their participation is optional.4.4 Data analysisThe final step is to do data analysis. In terms of the received data, some statistic analysis techniques are used to analyse the received data, such as descriptive statistic analysis, confirmation factor analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis. All of these operations will be achieved by using SPSS software.5 TimetableThe timetable of this dissertation is presented below:Table 2 Timetable of this DissertationTask MarchWeek3,4AprilWeek1,2AprilWeek3,4MayWeek1,2MayWeek3,4JuneWeek1,2JuneWeek3,4JulyWeek1.2JulyWeek3,4Aug.Week1,2Select topic Confirm research questions Research proposalQuestionnaire surveyData entry and analysis Introduction and literature review Methodology Findings and discussions Conclusions and Recommendations Final format and indexingPrint, bind submitKey dates within this are:Submission of dissertation: dd mmm yyyyI confirm I have the resources to pay for the SurveyMonkey software subscription. There are no associated travel costs.6 ConclusionsThis proposal provides a framework for the writing of this dissertation. In general, research background, literature review, research objectives, methodology and timetable have been provided in this proposal, aiming to better conduct the writing of this dissertation.7 ReferencesAppelbaum, S., Bartolomucci, N., Beaumier, E., Boulanger, J., Corrigan, R., Dore, I., Girard, C., Serroni, C. (2004). Organizational citizenship behavior: A case study of culture, leadership and trust. Management Decision, 42(1), 13-40.Argyris, C. (1960). Understanding organisational behaviour. London: Tavistock Publications.Baruch , Y. and Holtom, B.C. (2008). Survey response rates and trends in organizational research. Human Relations. 61(8), 1139-60.Bolino, M. C., Turnley, W. H., Bloodgood, J. M. (2002). Citizenship behavior and the creation of social capital in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 27(4), 505-522.Bies, R. J., Moag, J. S. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria for fairness. In B. 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