Spiritual resources as antecedents of clergy well-being: The importance of occupationally specific variables

This study tests the job demands–resources model's proposal that the prediction of well-being at work is improved by identifying the most salient cohort-specific resources. Spiritual resources, conceptualized as a subcategory of personal resources, are identified as a salient resource for clergy, and their longitudinal influence on the occupational well-being of clergy (n = 399) is examined in three waves of data collection over an 18-month period. Results supported the antecedent role of spiritual resources in relation to well-being at work. Spiritual resources positively predicted future work engagement, which in turn predicted reduced turnover intention. The negative indirect effect of spiritual resources on turnover intention was fully mediated by work engagement. The findings support the need to identify relevant resources for specific work cohorts. For clergy, spiritual resources are important for motivation and vocational longevity, suggesting the need for spiritual interventions among this at-risk and under-researched population.     

本土心理资本与职业幸福感的关系

职业幸福感是国内外学者和管理实践者关注的重要问题, 本文综合资源保存理论、工作要求-资源模型和本土心理资本理论, 构建并检验了本土心理资本对职业幸福感的影响模型。研究一通过访谈、问卷调查等方法研制了信效度较好的问卷, 1566名教师的调查结果表明, 本土心理资本包含事务型心理资本(希望、乐观和坚韧)与人际型心理资本(自谦、感恩、利他、情商/情绪智力和信心/自我效能)。研究二使用2280名教师的有效数据, 通过控制了其他变量影响后进行结构方程建模及交叉验证分析, 结果表明：(1)职业幸福感(工作投入、工作倦怠、离职意愿和工作满意度)的积极情感体验(工作投入)与认知评价(工作满意度)存在增益螺旋过程; (2)心理资本通过能量补充和动机激发双过程促进职业幸福感; (3)人际型心理资本通过一级、二级能量补充与动机激发过程影响职业幸福感; 事务型心理资本也通过一级、二级动机激发过程影响职业幸福感, 但是只通过二级能量补充过程影响职业幸福感。在中国文化背景下, 人际型心理资本对职业幸福感的作用更大。     

Teachers' feeling of belonging, exhaustion, and job satisfaction: the role of school goal structure and value consonance

In their daily teaching and classroom management, teachers inevitably communicate and represent values. The purpose of this study was to explore relations between teachers' perception of school level values represented by the goal structure of the school and value consonance (the degree to which they felt that they shared the prevailing norms and values at the school), teachers' feeling of belonging, emotional exhaustion, job satisfaction, and motivation to leave the teaching profession. The participants were 231 Norwegian teachers in elementary school and middle school. Data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling (SEM). Teachers' perception of mastery goal structure was strongly and positively related to value consonance and negatively related to emotional exhaustion, whereas performance goal structure, in the SEM model, was not significantly related to these constructs. Furthermore, value consonance was positively related to teachers' feeling of belonging and job satisfaction, whereas emotional exhaustion was negatively associated with job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was the strongest predictor of motivation to leave the teaching profession. A practical implication of the study is that educational goals and values should be explicitly discussed and clarified, both by education authorities and at the school level.     

专念对工作重塑的影响：工作投入的中介作用

基于工作要求-资源理论,检验工作投入在专念与工作重塑之间的中介作用。以238名医务人员为研究对象,开展两阶段的追踪问卷调查。专念对工作重塑有积极的直接预测作用。另外,在横断数据中,工作投入在专念与工作重塑之间的中介作用显著。在纵向数据中,专念(T1)能正向预测工作投入(T2),进而影响工作重塑(T2),中介效应显著。专念(T1)能正向预测工作投入(T1),但工作投入(T1)不能显著正向预测两个月后的工作重塑(T2)。在一定的时间范围内,专念可以通过激发工作投入,进而促进工作重塑行为。     

Resources and time pressure as day‐level antecedents of work engagement

This diary study adds to research on the Job Demands‐Resources model. We test main propositions of this model on the level of daily processes, namely, additive and interaction effects of day‐specific job demands and day‐specific job and personal resources on day‐specific work engagement. One hundred and fourteen employees completed electronic questionnaires three times a day over the course of one working week. Hierarchical linear models indicated that day‐specific resources (psychological climate, job control, and being recovered in the morning) promoted work engagement. As predicted, day‐specific job control qualified the relationship between day‐specific time pressure and work engagement: on days with higher job control, time pressure was beneficial for work engagement. On days with lower job control, time pressure was detrimental for work engagement. We discuss our findings and contextualize them in the current literature on dynamic and emergent job characteristics.     

大学生专业内部动机与主观幸福感的关系:专业投入与主观专业成就的中介作用

自我决定理论认为,内部动机是主观幸福感的重要影响因素。为了探究大学生专业内部动机与主观幸福感的内部机制,研究者使用专业内部动机问卷、专业投入问卷、主观专业成就问卷、主观幸福感问卷对3527名在校大学生进行了调查。研究结果表明：（1）专业内部动机正向预测主观幸福感;（2）专业投入在专业内部动机与主观幸福感之间起中介作用;（3） 主观专业成就在专业内部动机与主观幸福感之间起中介作用;（4）专业投入和主观专业成就在专业内部动机和主观幸福感之间起链式中介效应。据此得出结论：专业投入和主观专业成就在专业内部动机和主观幸福感之间起链式中介效应。     

Reciprocal relationships between job resources, personal resources, and work engagement

This study examined longitudinal relationships between job resources, personal resources, and work engagement. On the basis of Conservation of Resources theory, we hypothesized that job resources, personal resources, and work engagement are reciprocal over time. The study was conducted among 163 employees, who were followed-up over a period of 18 months on average. Results of structural equation modeling analyses supported our hypotheses. Specifically, we found that T1 job and personal resources related positively to T2 work engagement. Additionally, T1 work engagement related positively to T2 job and personal resources. The model that fit best was the reciprocal model, which showed that not only resources and work engagement but also job and personal resources were mutually related. These findings support the assumption of Conservation of Resources theory that various types of resources and well-being evolve into a cycle that determines employees’ successful adaptation to their work environments.     

Relationships between Teachers' Occupational Stress and Their Burnout and Distress: Roles of Coping and Negative Mood Regulation Expectancies

Teaching school is a highly stressful occupation. Consequences of this stress are burnout, physical and emotional distress, and choosing to leave the profession. Research on teacher stress and burnout has largely focused on environmental and contextual factors while ignoring personality characteristics of teachers that may have an impact on relationships between job stress and its consequences. The current study has a cross-sectional self-report design, focusing on teachers' negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies as predictors of their coping, burnout and distress, in response to occupational stress. NMR expectancies are people's beliefs that they can control the negative moods they experience. Participants were 86 primary and secondary school teachers, who filled out questionnaire measures of teacher stress, NMR expectancies, coping, burnout, and distress. Simultaneous regression analyses showed that higher stress on the job did indeed predict greater burnout and distress. Additionally, stronger NMR expectancies predicted more active coping. NMR expectancies also predicted less burnout and distress, independent of stress level and coping. Believing one could control one's negative moods was associated with more adaptive outcomes for teachers. Results argue for the value of examining individual difference variables in research on occupational stress, in particular negative mood regulation expectancies.     

The Role of Leisure Interest and Engagement for Subjective Well-Being

During the last decades, the association between leisure engagement and subjective well-being (SWB) has been examined. Yet, the role of the interest in specific leisure activities for SWB has been neglected. Thus, we examined whether the pure leisure engagement or the opportunity to realize the longing to pursue a leisure activity is linked to well-being. A sample of 402 participants completed an online survey about interests and the frequency of engagement in diverse leisure activities as well as physical, cognitive, and affective well-being. The study revealed that leisure engagement showed stronger associations with all aspects of well-being than leisure interest per se. More specifically, interest and engagement in social activities and sports showed robust associations with different facets of well-being. Furthermore, a high individual fit between leisure interest and engagement across diverse activities incrementally predicted SWB beyond leisure engagement per se. Analyses of nonlinear associations indicated that too much leisure engagement was associated with lower levels of SWB, but high interest in leisure activities buffered this effect. Thus, the intrinsic motivation to leisure activities may play an important role for well-being in addition to the sheer leisure engagement.     

Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence on the Associations between Core Self-Evaluations and Job Satisfaction,Work Engagement as Indices of Work-Related Well-Being

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of emotional intelligence in relation to core self-evaluations (CSE) and work-related well-being. A sample of 356 employees who are all females completed measures of CSE, emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and work engagement. Results revealed that higher levels of CSE were correlated with higher levels of emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and work engagement. Higher levels of emotional intelligence were associated with greater job satisfaction and work engagement. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicated that emotional intelligence partially mediated the association between CSE and work-related well-being. The results revealed the importance of emotional intelligence in order to improve occupational well-being of employees. This research makes a contribution to the potential mechanism of the relationship between CSE and work-related well-being.     

Complex Relationships Among Personality Traits,Job Characteristics,and Work Behaviors

The aim of the study was to investigate the additive, mediating, and moderating effects of personality traits and job characteristics on work behaviors. Job applicants (N=161) completed personality questionnaires measuring extraversion, neuroticism, achievement motivation, and experience seeking. One and a half years later, supervisors rated the applicants' job performance, and the job incumbents completed questionnaires about skill variety, autonomy, and feedback, work stress, job satisfaction, work self‐efficacy, and propensity to leave. LISREL was used to test 15 hypotheses. Perceived feedback mediated the relationship between achievement motivation and job performance. Extraversion predicted work self‐efficacy and job satisfaction. Work stress mediated the relationship between neuroticism and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction and experience seeking were related to propensity to leave. Autonomy, skill variety, and feedback were related to job satisfaction.     

Young managers’ drive to thrive: A personal work goal approach to burnout and work engagement

This study approaches young managers’ occupational well-being through their work-related goal pursuit. The main aim was to identify content categories of personal work goals and investigate their associations with background factors, goal appraisals, burnout, and work engagement. The questionnaire data consisted of 747 young Finnish managers (23-35 years; M = 31 years) who were mostly men (85.5%). Seven work-related content categories were found on the basis of qualitative data analysis: (1) competence goals (30.5%), (2) progression goals (23.7%), (3) well-being goals (15.2%), (4) job change goals (13.7%), (5) job security goals (7.4%), (6) organizational goals (5.6%), and (7) financial goals (3.9%). ANCOVA analyses, where goal appraisals and significant background factors were controlled for, indicated that organizational goals were related to low burnout and the highest level of work engagement, whereas well-being and job change goals were related to higher burnout and lower work engagement. The study shows that the contents of young managers’ work-related goals can contribute to the understanding of individual differences in occupational well-being.     

The Job Demands–Resources model: An analysis of additive and joint effects of demands and resources

The present study investigated the additive, synergistic, and moderating effects of job demands and job resources on well-being (burnout and work engagement) and organizational outcomes, as specified by the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model. A survey was conducted among two Chinese samples: 625 blue collar workers and 761 health professionals. A series of multi-group structural equation modeling analyses supported the two processes proposed by the JD-R model: (1) the stress process that originates from job demands and leads, via burnout, to negative organizational outcomes (turnover intention and low organization commitment); and (2) the motivational process that originates from job resources and leads, via work engagement, to positive organizational outcomes. In contrast to moderating effects, synergistic effects of job demands and job resources on burnout and work engagement were found in both samples. However, after controlling for additive effects of job demands and job resources, these synergistic effects largely disappeared. In conclusion, the hypothesized additive effects of the JD-R model were found but the evidence for additional synergistic and moderating effects was weak.     

Are You Being Served? The Relationship between School Climate for Service and Teachers' Engagement,Satisfaction, and Intention to Leave: A Moderated Mediation Model

The notion of service has been receiving increasing attention in organizational psychology literature in recent years, due to the client-oriented managerial movement. Yet, little to no attention has been paid to the service notion in educational psychology despite its high relevance to educational settings, given the pressure to be more service-oriented and possess a client-focused state of mind. The present study explores the notion of service in school domains by examining the joint effects of climate for service and the internal service in schools on teachers' work attitudes: work engagement, job satisfaction, and intention to leave their work. The notion of climate for service emphasizes the school's attitude of teachers as service providers to its clients (students and their parents); internal climate emphasizes the school's attitude of providing service to its teaching staff. The study was conducted via a sample of 423 teachers from 30 different schools in Israel. We hypothesized that the indirect relationship between the climate for service and teachers' job satisfaction and intention to leave work would be mediated by teacher work engagement. Our findings supported this hypothesis. Moreover, this indirect relationship via teacher work engagement was demonstrated most strongly when the internal service quality received was high, providing teachers with the capability to deliver what the service climate motivates them to do. Therefore, service-oriented resources—both climate for service and internal service—may be crucial in affecting teachers work attitudes and should be specifically targeted by principals and other educational decision makers.     

Self-efficacy,Work, and Psychological Outcomes in a Public Service Context

The study examined the prediction of psychological outcomes (conceptualized as psychological well-being and engagement) by general self-efficacy (GSE) and work context (conceptualized as job demands and job resources). The role of GSE as a moderator between work context and psychological outcomes was also examined in a cross-sectional survey of a sample of public sector employees (N = 459: males = 151, females = 273, and age ranging between 25 and 55). Multiple regression analyses showed that job demands and resources and GSE significantly predict both psychological well-being (positive affect, negative affect and satisfaction with life) and engagement (vigour and dedication). GSE moderated the relationship between work context and psychological outcomes. Work contexts characterised by a preponderance of job resources appear to facilitate both satisfaction with life and dedication.     

Can job crafting reduce job boredom and increase work engagement? A three-year cross-lagged panel study

Building upon the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this longitudinal study examined whether job crafting behaviors (i.e. increasing structural and social job resources and increasing challenges) predict less job boredom and more work engagement. We also tested the reverse causation effects of job boredom and work engagement on job crafting and the dynamics between the three job crafting behaviors over time. We employed a two-wave, three-year panel design and included 1630 highly educated Finnish employees from a broad spectrum of occupations in various organizations. Our results indicated that seeking challenges in particular negatively predicted job boredom and positively predicted work engagement. Seeking challenges fueled other job crafting behaviors, which, in their turn, predicted seeking more challenges over time, thus supporting the accumulation of resources. Job boredom negatively predicted increasing structural resources, whereas work engagement positively predicted increasing both structural and social resources. These findings suggest that seeking challenges at work enhances employee work engagement, prevents job boredom, and generates other job crafting behaviors. Conversely, job boredom seems to impede job crafting.     

Weekly work engagement and performance: A study among starting teachers

This study among 54 Dutch teachers tested a model of weekly work engagement. On the basis of theories about the motivational potential of job resources, we predicted that teachers' weekly job resources are positively related to their week‐levels of work engagement, and that week‐level work engagement is predictive of week‐level performance. In addition, we hypothesized that momentary work engagement has a positive, lagged effect on next week's job resources. Teachers were asked to fill in a weekly questionnaire every Friday during 5 consecutive weeks. Results of multi‐level analyses largely confirmed our hypotheses, by showing that week‐levels of autonomy, exchange with the supervisor, and opportunities for development (but not social support) were positively related to weekly engagement, which, in turn, was positively related to weekly job performance. Moreover, momentary work engagement was positively related to job resources in the subsequent week. These findings show how intra‐individual variability in employees' experiences at work can explain weekly job performance.     

Goal engagement in coping with occupational uncertainty predicts favorable career-related outcomes

We investigated whether goal engagement and disengagement in coping with occupational uncertainty (e.g., perceptions of growing difficulties in career planning and lacking job opportunities) predicts three objective career-related outcomes: job loss, job finding, and income change. We also tested for the buffering effects of these coping strategies on the association between objectively unfavorable labor market conditions (as indicated by regional unemployment rates) and these outcomes. We used four-wave survey data from a longitudinal sample of 620 German adults aged 16–43 years at the first wave and analyzed changes in the three career-related outcomes across 1294 pairs of successive annual waves. Analyses revealed that goal engagement predicted a higher chance of job finding over one year. Moreover, goal engagement buffered the association between higher regional unemployment rates and a higher likelihood of job loss, as well as a lower income, over one year. Goal disengagement predicted a lower income but had no other statistically significant effects. Thus, even in a relatively highly regulated labor market like the German one, goal engagement in coping with occupational uncertainty can contribute to objective career success.     

Testing a holistic conceptual framework for early childhood teacher well-being

Using a holistic conceptualization of teacher well-being in concert with the Job Demands and Resources (JD-R) framework, our interdisciplinary study examined associations among various job demands and resources and whole teacher well-being (i.e., professional, psychological, and physical well-being) in early care and education settings. First, we investigated direct associations of job demands and resources with teachers' professional well-being. Second, we tested two models of potential mediation for the relationship of job demands and resources to well-being using structural equation modeling techniques: (a) that psychological and physical well-being mediate the relationship between demands, resources, and professional well-being; and (b) that professional well-being mediates the relationship between demands, resources, and psychological and physical well-being. Although our sample of early childhood teachers (n = 262) reported high levels of professional well-being (i.e., work commitment, self-efficacy), a substantial number of them experienced challenges in both psychological (e.g., perceived stress, depressive symptoms) and physical (e.g., ergonomic pain) well-being. As expected, teachers' work-related stressors and work resources (positive work climate, quality of the physical environment) were directly associated with teachers' professional well-being. Contrary to our expectations, however, instrumental resources (i.e, wages, health insurance) did not predict any aspects of teachers' professional well-being. Our data only supported the first of the two tested mediation hypotheses (i.e., that psychological and physical well-being mediated the associations between working conditions and professional well-being), but with one caveat: physical well-being preceded psychological well-being in mediating the associations. These results advance our understanding of the challenges present in the early childhood workforce and have implications for policies and programs to improve teacher working conditions and well-being.     

Exploring the Role of Sport Sense of Community in Perceived Athlete Burnout,Sport Motivation,and Engagement

The main purpose of this work was to examine the relationships between the sport sense of community, athlete burnout, engagement, and motivation in adolescent athletes, adopting a longitudinal perspective, and using both person- and variable-centred approaches. A total of 250 adolescent athletes were involved in the study. Athletes' perceptions of burnout, engagement and motivation significantly differed across two different clusters: high and low sport sense of community profiles. Consistent with our hypothesis, sport sense of community dimensions (i.e., satisfaction of needs and influence) negatively predicted athlete burnout and controlled motivation, and positively predicted engagement and autonomous motivation six months later.

Lay Summary: Athlete burnout is associated with negative consequences for athletes’ well-being, whereas engagement reflects a positive state. The sport sense of community refers to the athletes’ relationship with their sport environment. In this study, we provided preliminary evidence of the protective role of the sport sense of community on athlete burnout.