Job stress and employee behaviors

The relationship between four job stresses (role ambiguity, role overload, underutilization of skills, and resource inadequacy) and two employee withdrawal behaviors (absenteeism and turnover) was investigated. The joint prediction of employee withdrawal from measures of job stress and selected backgroundd variables was also investigated. Data were obtained regarding 651 employees in five organizations through personal interviews and company records. Analysis indicated that job stress is related to employee withdrawal behaviors, that prediction of subsequent behaviors is stronger than prediction of prior behaviors, and that the predictive power of job stress and background variables taken together is as strong as, or stronger than, the predictive power of background variables alone. Confidence in the strength of the findings is enhanced by the use of multiple data sources and multiple data points.     

Perceived Overqualification: A Multi-Source Investigation of Psychological Predisposition and Contextual Triggers

ABSTRACT. Although employee (subjective) perceived overqualification (POQ) has recently been explored as a meaningful organizational construct, further work is needed to fully understand it. We extend the theoretical psychological underpinnings of employee POQ and examine both its determinants and outcomes based on established and newly proposed theoretical developments. Four-hundred and fifteen employees completed an online questionnaire and 208 of their supervisors completed corresponding surveys about the employees’ withdrawal behaviors and job-related attitudes, in order to explore potential predictors and outcomes of subjectively experienced POQ. Among the predictors, work conditions (uniform requirements and repetitive tasks) were most strongly associated with POQ. In terms of individual differences, narcissism predicted higher POQ while general mental ability only did when holding other variables constant. In addition, among the outcomes, higher POQ was related to lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but was not related to withdrawal behaviors such as truancy, absenteeism, and turnover intentions.     

A comparison of individuals with unanswered callings to those with no calling at all

The purpose of this research was to compare the life-, job-, and health-related experiences of those who perceive an unanswered occupational calling to those who (1) are living a calling and (2) perceive no calling at all. Surveys containing measures of callings, work engagement, job involvement, career commitment, life and job satisfaction, turnover intentions, physical health and emotional well-being were administered to 378 American academics. As expected, academics with an answered occupational calling tended to report better job attitudes and domain-specific satisfaction and less withdrawal intentions than those who reported an unanswered occupational calling or no calling at all. Furthermore, those who did not have a calling to a particular vocation reported better life-, job-, and health-related outcomes than those experiencing an unanswered calling. Surprisingly, only those academics experiencing an unmet calling reported significantly poorer physical and psychological health as compared to the other two calling groups. These results are consistent with the self-determination theory, which predicts that those who are able to satisfy their basic psychological needs reap benefits in terms of psychological growth, optimal functioning, and wellbeing. The study contributes to the literature on callings by showing that having a calling is a benefit only if it is met, but can be a detriment when it is not as compared to having no calling at all.     

Psychiatric patient- and informant-reported personality: predicting concurrent and future behavior

The authors investigated the criterion and incremental validity of personality reports from psychiatric patients and knowledgeable informants in predicting patient substance use, social and risky behaviors, and psychological distress. Patient and informant reports of patient personality and behavior were collected from an adult psychiatric sample (N = 94). Hierarchical regressions indicated that patient reports of personality accounted for significant variance in both concurrent (17%-42%) and future behavior assessed 1 year later (17%-40%). Informant reports contributed significantly to the prediction of several behaviors and most strongly to social behaviors. Behaviors were predicted equally well by self-reports and informant reports in prospective as in concurrent regressions. Thus, both patient and informant reports of personality contribute importantly to prediction of behavior, and predictive ability is stable across time.     

Social influence processes affecting adolescent substance use

Social influence is central to models of adolescent substance use. Nonetheless, researchers fail to delineate the various forms of social influence. A framework that distinguishes between active (explicit drug offers) and passive (social modeling and overestimation of friends' use) social pressure was tested. The effect of these processes on alcohol and cigarette use was examined with 526 seventh graders taking part in an alcohol prevention program. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that pretest measures of alcohol use, offers, modeling, and overestimation each accounted for unique variance in posttest alcohol use. Similar results were obtained for cigarette smoking. The general model was not significantly different for boys and girls, or for prior users and prior nonusers, supporting the generalizability of the framework. Implications for intervention programs are discussed.     

Does Dispositional Aggression Feed the Narcissistic Response? The Role of Narcissism and Aggression in the Prediction of Job Attitudes and Counterproductive Work Behaviors

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to extend the personality and work-related outcomes literature by examining: (1) the effects of narcissism on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors and (2) the moderating effects of dispositional aggression on the narcissism–counterproductive work behaviors relationship.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Multi-wave data were collected from 381 workers employed in a variety of work settings within the United States.

Findings

Narcissism had consistent main effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors after controlling for the personality characteristics agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and aggression. Aggression moderated the relationship between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviors, such that the positive relationship between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviors was stronger when dispositional aggression was high.

Implications

This study provides greater clarity regarding the role of narcissism within job attitudes and behaviors, shows that dispositional aggression strengthens or amplifies the narcissistic response for counterproductive work behaviors, and provides a platform to further explore narcissism and aggression within the workplace.

Originality/Value

This study found that narcissism consistently predicted unique variance in work-related criteria after the effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and aggression were controlled. It also found evidence that aggression moderates the effects of narcissism on counterproductive work behaviors. This study is the first to directly examine these effects.     

Predicting well-being in managers: Test of a positive psychology model

Contemporary scholars in vocational, applied, and organizational psychology have emphasized that working must be understood as a relational act with important implications for worker well-being. Drawing upon emergent research extending the constructs of adult attachment security and authenticity to the workplace, this study tested a positive psychological model linking adult attachment orientations, and both experienced and expressed features of work authenticity, to the prediction of well-being within a sample of business managers. Findings indicated that, controlling for their gender and length of managerial experience, managers’ levels of adult attachment security and work authenticity accounted for significant and incremental variance in their reported levels of work stress and job satisfaction. In general, managers with high levels of adult attachment security and work authenticity reported lower work stress and higher job satisfaction. Implications of these findings for the counseling of distressed managers are briefly discussed.     

When Theory and Research Collide: Examining Correlates of Signature Strengths Use at Work

Signature strengths are individuals’ highest-ranked strengths, those that they own, celebrate, and frequently exercise. Their use has been theorized to elicit positive affect, and contribute significantly to individuals’ functioning and well-being. The present study examined two elements of these ideas in the work arena: (a) Associations of strengths use at work with work outcomes (work meaningfulness, engagement, job satisfaction, performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behaviors), focusing on differences in the associations of signature-strengths use, lowest-strengths use, and happiness strengths-use at work; (b) The role of positive affect in mediating these associations. The results, based on self-reports of an international sample of 1031 working individuals, generally indicated that the use of all kinds of strengths had positive correlates. As expected, using signature strengths had the highest, robust unique contribution to behavioral outcomes (performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and lower counterproductive work behavior). But unexpectedly, using happiness strengths (and not signature strengths) had the highest, robust unique contribution to psycho-emotional work-related outcomes (work meaningfulness, engagement, and job satisfaction). Positive affect mediated the association between strengths use and all work-related outcomes for the three kinds of strengths, when each was examined separately. However, when uses of the three kinds of strengths were examined together, positive affect mediated the effects of lowest strengths use and those of happiness strengths use, but not the effects of signature strengths use. These findings highlight the differential benefits of using different kinds of strengths, and suggest that additional (and different) mechanisms may underlie these effects.     

FURTHER EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB SEARCH AND VOLUNTARY INDIVIDUAL TURNOVER

This study tested the usefulness of a new job search behavior measure to account for voluntary turnover beyond more frequently tested work attitude and withdrawal cognition variables. Using two samples, 339 registered nurses and 234 insurance company employees, three measures of job search were distinguished: preparatory job search behavior, active job search behavior, and general effort job search. Active job search behavior had a stronger relationship to voluntary turnover than preparatory job search behavior or general effort job search, and it accounted for significant additional turnover variance beyond work attitude and withdrawal cognition variables. Stronger results were found when unavoidable leavers were deleted from the turnover subsample.     

Counterproductive behaviors: Relations across life domains,etiology, and implications for applied practice

Previous research on counterproductive work behavior (CWB) has shown that workplace deviance can be predicted from individual differences and environmental variables, but relatively little is known about CWBs’ relations with counterproductive behaviors in other domains of an individual's life. Data from 500 male twins were used to examine relations among counterproductive behaviors from several life domains, including school, non‐work, substance use, and work. The results supported the hypotheses that counterproductivity in work and a variety of personal life domains, previous and contemporaneous, are strongly and positively related. A general counterproductivity factor, giving rise to rule‐ and norm‐breaking behavioral repertoire of individuals, accounted for approximately half the variance across measures of counterproductivity in specific life domains. To inform theory and research, the etiology of inter‐individual differences in counterproductivity was examined. Biometric analyses revealed that most of the variance in the counterproductivity domains examined, including CWB, is attributable to genetic and unique (nonshared) environmental factors. The general counterproductivity factor spanning different counterproductivity domains was most influenced by genetic factors (75.4%), but was also influenced by unique environmental factors (24.6%). Biometric analyses indicated that 27% of the variance in CWB is attributable to genetic influences arising from the general factor of counterproductivity and 20% from genetic factors specific to CWB. Unique environmental influences associated with the work domain explained 12% of the variance in CWB. For the CWB criterion, regression analyses explored the usefulness of information from other counterproductivity domains for prediction and employee selection. Counterproductivity from academic and non‐work domains are potent predictors of counterproductivity at work (multiple Rs ranging between .50 and .54).     

Recruiting Through the Stages: A Meta‐Analytic Test of Predictors of Applicant Attraction at Different Stages of the Recruiting Process

We used meta‐analysis and semipartial correlations to examine the relative strength and incremental variance accounted for by 7 categories of recruiting predictors across multiple recruitment stages on applicant attraction. Based on 232 studies (250 samples, 3,518 coefficients, n= 108,632), we found that characteristics of the job, organization, and recruitment process, recruiter behaviors, perceived fit, and hiring expectancies (but not perceived alternatives) accounted for unique variance in applicant attraction at multiple stages. Perceived fit was the strongest relative and unique variance predictor of applicant attraction albeit a nonsignificant predictor of job choice. Although not among the largest zero‐order predictors, recruiter behaviors accounted for substantial incremental variance at the first 2 stages. Organizational characteristics are more heavily weighed by applicants when maintaining applicant status as compared to the stage of application, and recruitment process characteristics are weighed progressively more as the recruitment stages advance. Job characteristics accounted for the greatest unique variance in job choice decisions. Job characteristics are more predictive in field studies, whereas recruiter behaviors, recruitment process characteristics, hiring expectancies, and perceived alternatives produced larger effect sizes in the laboratory. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications with future research suggestions.     

Effects of lifestyle and stress on the employee and organization: Implications for promoting health at work

Abstract

This research was designed to determine the extent to which employee health and performance are predicted by lifestyle and stress. Data were collected from 345 employees working in a variety of organizations in southern California. Additionally, supervisors evaluated the work performance of the participating employees whom they directly supervised, and company records of employee health care costs were obtained. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed (a) that physical lifestyle (i.e., exercise pattern, eating habits, and general health practices) predicted unique variance in vitality and positive well-being; (b) that psychosocial lifestyle (i.e., social relations, intellectual activity, occupational conditions, and spiritual involvement) predicted unique variance in vitality, positive well-being, anxiety, depression, lack of self-control, and somatic complaints; (c) that employee stress predicted unique variance in vitality, positive well-being, anxiety, depression, physician visits, somatic complaints, illness absences, and supervisory ratings of job performance, absenteeism and tardiness; (d) that physical lifestyle buffered the adverse consequences of stress for anxiety, depression, physician visits, and company health care costs; and (e) that there was a Physical x Psychosocial Lifestyle interaction for anxiety, depression, and lack of self-control. However, the employee lifestyle factors were not related to supervisory ratings of performance at work. The findings have direct implications for organizational health programs and policies.     

Relationships of work stressors with aggression,withdrawal, theft and substance use: An exploratory study

Based on findings from the domain of organizational frustration, the conceptual similarity between stress and frustration, and the functional similarity between frustrated events and work stressors, the relationships of behaviours (aggression, withdrawal, theft and substance use) with work stressors and affective reactions were investigated. Relations between reported stressors and behaviours were strongest for the more directly aggressive actions (sabotage, interpersonal aggression, and hostility and complaints), and for intention to quit. Relations with theft and absence were modest. None of the stressors correlated with reported substance use at work. Among the relations between affective reactions and the reported behaviours, anger and job satisfaction correlated with all behaviours except substance use at work. Hierarchical regression results further showed that the observed associations between stressors and behaviours were not attributed to affective variables for most cases.     

Psychological Contract Breach as a Source of Strain for Employees

The present study investigated the role of psychological contract breach in employees' experience of emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction. Employees (N = 161) from a large financial corporation completed questionnaires assessing work-related attitudes and behaviors. Fulfillment of organizational obligations predicted both emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction, and job demands predicted only emotional exhaustion. Supervisory support and control did not predict emotional exhaustion or job satisfaction when controlling for fulfillment of organizational obligations and job demands. The results suggest that psychological contract breach contributes to employee experience of job strain.     

Stress and Distress as a Function of Jenkins Activity Survey-Defined Type A Behavior and Control Over the Work Environment

Although laboratory studies have demonstrated that situational factors which are particularly threatening to Type A individuals induce both Type A behaviors and cardiovascular reactivity, field studies have failed to demonstrate consistent differences between Types A and B in response to stress. Rhodewalt, Hays, Chemers, and Wysocki (1984) argued that this inconsistency is caused by the failure to take into account the individual's perception of the situation. They demonstrated that Type A individuals who perceived high levels of job stress reported more psychological and physical health problems than Type As under low stress or Type Bs under high or low stress. This study attempted to replicate this earlier finding, as well as identify factors in the situation which lead Type A individuals to perceive their job as stressful. Three hundred thirty-six male school principals (categorized as Type A or Type B by the Jenkins Activity Survey [JAS]) completed questionnaires assessing their degree of control in their work environment, perceived job stress, and physical and psychological well-being. A path mediation analysis indicated that Type A individuals reported more job stress under lower levels of perceived control, and that higher job-stress levels subsequently lead to greater incidence of physical and psychological symptoms, especially for Type As.     

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.     

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.     

Personality, job level, job stressors, and their interaction as predictors of coping behavior

Hypotheses concerning the relationships among job stressors, job level, personality, and coping responses were investigated in a sample of 305 electrical contracting employees. Coping behaviors were measured with questionnaire items based on interviews conducted with a sample of the subjects. Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E) were the personality variables most strongly related to coping behavior. Overall, more coping variance was explained by personality than by job stressors; however, when the effects of job level and job stressors were combined, they explained more variance in complaining/quitting and seeking social support than did the personality variables. Both work situation and personality seem to be important variables in the choice of coping behaviors. There was no evidence of interactions among personality, stressors, and job level in explaining coping behavior.     

工作恢复:重回良好工作状态的必由之路

工作恢复是指工作中精力消耗之后,个体生理和心理状态的恢复过程。工作恢复是个体补充消耗的生理和心理资源的过程,这一过程可用努力—工作恢复模型和资源保存理论加以解释。目前工作恢复研究多采用自我报告的日记研究法,探索心理剥离、放松、掌握经验和控制等工作恢复的心理过程,考察休整、非工作活动、员工所处社会环境等工作恢复的前因变量,并检验工作恢复对幸福感、健康、工作表现等结果变量的正向预测作用。研究表明,工作恢复有助于个体保持积极情感、提高工作业绩。今后需在工作恢复的测量指标和研究方法等方面改进研究设计,并在工作恢复的作用机制及干预等方面着力拓宽研究方向。     

Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD among Individuals in a Residential Substance Use Treatment Program: A Case Series

Clients with co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders present a unique challenge for clinicians in substance use treatment settings. Substance dependent individuals with PTSD tend to improve less during substance use treatment and relapse more quickly following abstinence attempts compared to those without PTSD. Recent scientific efforts have focused on understanding the potential benefit of providing PTSD treatment concurrent with substance use treatment. The current case study describes 4 individuals with PTSD in a residential substance use facility who received prolonged exposure therapy for treatment of PTSD, in addition to the substance use treatment. These individuals completed 9 bi-weekly 60-minute sessions of prolonged exposure, as well as in vivo and imaginal exposure homework between sessions. None of the clients met criteria for PTSD at the end of treatment, with these gains being maintained at 3- and 6-months post-treatment. Additionally, the clients did not relapse in response to undergoing exposure therapy. Implications for delivery of PTSD treatment in substance use treatment facilities are discussed.