Identifying the Antecedents and Consequences of Employees’ Vitality in Organization by Meta Synthesis and Delphi Methods

In today's dynamic environment, survival and growth are two major concerns for organizations. The uncertainty of these environments acts as a factor, and organizations are at risk of survival. Some organizations have found a way to survive in today's dynamic environment and have experienced growth for a long time. But what is the process or strategy that may help the sustainability and growth of organizations for a long time? It seems that organizational vitality and related processes are the answer to this.The existing literature in the field of organizational vitality has mainly focused on a small number of antecedents and consequences. Therefore, conducting comprehensive studies in this field is of great importance. In the current research, an attempt has been made to identify the antecedents and consequences of vitality in the Family Chain Store Company. It is expected that by conducting this research in the applied part, antecedents and consequences resulting from this concept will be identified so that human resource managers can use them to improve organizational vitality and thus ensure the performance, survival, and growth of their organizations. In the theoretical part, it is expected that conducting this research will lead to the development of previous literature in the field of organizational vitality.

Design/ methodology/ approach: 

The current research is applied in terms of purpose and developmental in terms of its method, which was done in a mixed (qualitative-quantitative) way. In the qualitative part (meta-synthesis method), the research population is made up of all the studies conducted in this field, which were selected using the criterion-oriented purposeful sampling method. In the quantitative part, the multi-step fuzzy Delphi method was used in order to reach a consensus about the components extracted from the qualitative part. The statistical population of a small part includes experts in family chain stores.

 In this research, the antecedents of employees' vitality in organizations were identified in 2 individual and organizational categories, and the consequences were also identified in 2 categories of individual and organizational results. Then the fuzzy Delphi method was used to obtain experts' opinions about the importance of these factors. In the first phase of the fuzzy Delphi for antecedents, the results showed that the center of control, legitimacy, and individual effectiveness were removed due to the lower value of the obtained index. Also, the results of Fuzzy Delphi for consequences showed that employee productivity, creative job dependence, and job satisfaction were the most important, respectively. In this section, all the consequences were approved.
The difference between the de-fuzzified average of experts' opinions in two stages for antecedents and consequences is less than 0.1. Based on this, the experts of the Family Chain Stores have reached a consensus regarding the antecedents and consequences of employee vitality in the organization, and the survey is stopped at this stage.

Limitations & Consequences:

 Based on the findings of the present study, a job should be defined and designed in such a way that it provides the necessary richness and meaning and leads to positive and fruitful results. There are some factors that should be given special attention when defining any job. Job meaningfulness, job transparency, job security, autonomy at work, and career development are among these factors, and implementing each one will undoubtedly lead to numerous positive outcomes. There are many factors at the individual level that can potentially influence organizational vitality. These factors were included in several themes, such as demographic factors, personality characteristics, psychological characteristics, and individual attitudes. Therefore, it is suggested that human resource managers definitely consider the mentioned categories and their subcategory factors in their recruitment strategies and plans. 

Practical Consequences:

 According to the results obtained in the present research, welfare programs and extra-organizational activities for the welfare and health of employees are among the most important factors promoting organizational vitality. Also, trust in work environments can lead to organizational vitality. Therefore, it is suggested that in order to strengthen trust and, as a result, increase vitality in the organization, managers adhere to honesty in business relationships, observe justice among employees, and prioritize common goals over individual goals.

Innovation or value of the Article: 

Human resource managers may use the results of this research to improve the vitality of employees and ultimately improve the performance and growth of their organization.