Crossover of job demands and emotional exhaustion within teams: a longitudinal multilevel study

This study investigated the crossover of job demands and emotional exhaustion among team members and the moderating effect of cohesiveness and social support on this process. Participants were 310 employees of an employment agency in the Netherlands, working in one of 100 teams. Multilevel analysis using a longitudinal design did not reveal a main effect of crossover. However, consistent with the study's hypotheses, the results showed a moderating effect of team cohesiveness and social support. We detected crossover of job demands and emotional exhaustion across time from the group to individual team members only in teams characterized by high levels of cohesiveness and social support. Teams characterized by low levels of cohesiveness and social support showed no crossover of job demands and exhaustion. The findings demonstrate that team-level moderators play an important role in crossover processes. Moreover, social support and cohesiveness may not always be positive.     

Transmission of reduction‐oriented crafting among colleagues: A diary study on the moderating role of working conditions

Zooming into reduction‐oriented job crafting among employees, next to minimizing demands (i.e., making a job less strenuous), we introduced optimizing demands (i.e., simplifying the job and making work processes more efficient) and suggested that optimizing demands should be positively related to work engagement, whereas minimizing demands negatively related to work engagement. Moreover, we suggested that both forms of reduction‐oriented crafting can be transferred among colleagues, and this will particularly occur in jobs that are high on demands (workload and emotional demands), low on resources (autonomy), and when the colleagues have a high‐quality relationship. We examined these hypotheses among 65 dyads of employees who filled in a general questionnaire and a diary for three working days. Multilevel analyses supported the transmission of both job crafting dimensions among colleagues. Moreover, there is more transmission of minimizing demands among colleagues when workload and emotional demands are high and autonomy is low. Additionally, optimizing demands was transmitted among colleagues when autonomy was low and quality of relationship with colleague was high. Optimizing demands was positively related to work engagement, whereas minimizing demands was unrelated to work engagement. These findings imply that optimizing demands is a favourable behaviour and can be transmitted among colleagues under specific conditions.

Practitioner points

• Working smarter is related to higher work engagement
• Employees model their colleague's proactive behaviour
• Unfavourable working conditions stimulate modelling behaviour of colleagues

     

Job crafting for lean engagement: The interplay of day and job-level characteristics

The quality of working life under the production system known as lean manufacturing (LM) is a heavily debated topic. Little is known about the engagement level of employees under this system. Our study is concerned with how employees in this context craft their jobs to enhance their own engagement, and we specifically consider how daily skill utilization triggers this process. Using a cross-level perspective, we further consider whether job-level characteristics relevant to the lean context, namely task interdependence and boundary control, restrict or facilitate the effects of daily skill utilization. A daily diary study was conducted over 4 working days with 64 employees in a large company utilizing LM. The results of multilevel structural equation modelling demonstrated that on a given day, skill utilization was associated with seeking resources, and this relationship was stronger when employees had high boundary control and low task interdependence in their general job roles. Results further demonstrated that employees experienced higher work engagement on days when they sought resources and challenges. Our findings illustrate the motivational potential of job crafting under LM and how crafting activities can be facilitated by the design of jobs and allocation of daily tasks.     

Daily within-person effects of job autonomy and work engagement on innovative behaviour: The cross-level moderating role of creative self-efficacy

Adopting a dynamic within-person perspective on employee innovation, the present study investigates the role of situational job autonomy and momentary work engagement as day-level correlates of innovative behaviour. Anticipating individual differences in the strength of these intraindividual associations, we propose dispositional creative self-efficacy (CSE) to serve as a cross-level moderating influence amplifying the day-specific predictive power of autonomy and work engagement for innovative behaviour. Hierarchical linear modelling analyses of the nested data from 123 employees surveyed over 5 consecutive work days suggest that both autonomy and work engagement positively predict self-reported innovative behaviour on a daily basis. Whereas the engagement–innovation link emerges as homogenous across persons, results indicate that the daily within-person effect of autonomy on innovative behaviour varies significantly as a function of CSE such that it is greater for individuals who hold higher rather than lower CSE beliefs. Implications for future research, limitations, and practical implications are discussed.     

职业胜任力在工作要求-资源模型中的调节和中介作用

采用JD-R模型探讨了职业胜任力在工作要求-资源模型中的作用。结果表明:(1)职业胜任力弱化了工作要求和情感衰竭之间的正向关系;(2)职业胜任力正向影响工作投入;(3)职业胜任力在工作资源与工作投入之间起中介作用。本研究启示可通过提升员工的职业胜任力,促进员工的工作投入并缓解职业倦怠。     

The importance of emotional display rules for employee well-being: A multi-group comparison

‘Serving with a smile’ has generally been associated with negative effects for employee well-being. The present study investigated whether emotional display rules also relate to positive outcomes by distinguishing demands to suppress negative emotional response (negative display rules) from demands to express positive emotions (positive display rules). In line with the job demands-resources model, outcomes involved emotional exhaustion and work engagement. Participants were employees in three occupational groups in the human service profession: sales (N?=?480), healthcare (N?=?399), and education (N?=?220). The outcomes of a multi-group analysis in LISREL revealed for all three occupational groups that negative display rules were related to emotional exhaustion while positive display rules were associated with work engagement. Together, these findings suggest that ‘serving with a smile’ can enhance employee well-being, when the emphasis is on showing positive affects instead of suppressing negative affects.     

How personal resources predict work engagement and self‐rated performance among construction workers: A social cognitive perspective

Traditionally, research focussing on psychosocial factors in the construction industry has focused mainly on the negative aspects of health and on results such as occupational accidents. This study, however, focuses on the specific relationships among the different positive psychosocial factors shared by construction workers that could be responsible for occupational well‐being and outcomes such as performance. The main objective of this study was to test whether personal resources predict self‐rated job performance through job resources and work engagement. Following the predictions of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and the motivational process of the Job Demands‐Resources Model, we expect that the relationship between personal resources and performance will be fully mediated by job resources and work engagement. The sample consists of 228 construction workers. Structural equation modelling supports the research model. Personal resources (i.e. self‐efficacy, mental and emotional competences) play a predicting role in the perception of job resources (i.e. job control and supervisor social support), which in turn leads to work engagement and self‐rated performance. This study emphasises the crucial role that personal resources play in determining how people perceive job resources by determining the levels of work engagement and, hence, their self‐rated job performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Job demands and resources as antecedents of work engagement: A longitudinal study

By utilizing a 2-year longitudinal design, the present study investigated the experience of work engagement and its antecedents among Finnish health care personnel (n = 409). The data were collected by questionnaires in 2003 (Time 1) and in 2005 (Time 2). The study showed that work engagement—especially vigor and dedication—was relatively frequently experienced among the participants, and its average level did not change across the follow-up period. In addition, the experience of work engagement turned out to be reasonably stable during the 2-year period. Job resources predicted work engagement better than job demands. Job control and organization-based self-esteem proved to be the best lagged predictors of the three dimensions of work engagement. However, only the positive effect of job control on dedication remained statistically significant after controlling for the baseline level of work engagement (Time 1).     

Strengths use and work engagement: a weekly diary study

The present study among 65 civil engineers investigates the impact of organizational support for strengths use on weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour. Positive psychology postulates that strengths use makes people feel authentic and efficacious. We argue that employees use these positive psychological states as resources that fuel work engagement and proactive work behaviour. Participants completed a general questionnaire regarding strengths use support, and a weekly quantitative diary questionnaire regarding their strengths use, self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour over a period of five consecutive workweeks. In line with the hypotheses, the results of multilevel structural equation analyses showed that organizational strengths use support was positively related to weekly strengths use. Furthermore, the results indicated that weekly strengths use was positively related to weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour, through weekly self-efficacy (sequential mediation). Although strengths use support contributed indirectly to work engagement (mediated by strengths use and self-efficacy), there was no significant indirect relationship with proactive behaviour. Our study indicates that strengths use is associated with employees’ levels of self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour and that organizations can help employees to use their strengths more often by giving them the opportunity to do what they are good at.     

Watching the paint dry at work: psychometric examination of the Dutch Boredom Scale

Boredom at work is a state of employee unwell-being that is characterized by relatively low arousal and high dissatisfaction. At present little is known about boredom at work. In order to facilitate future research, the current study introduces a brief self-report questionnaire that assesses boredom at work, the Dutch Boredom Scale (DUBS). We argue that (1) boredom at work can be distinguished empirically from related concepts such as work engagement and job burnout; (2) boredom at work results from having an unchallenging, “passive” job; and (3) the subsequent lack of challenge in the form of boredom may result in dissatisfaction with the job and with the organization. Using data from 6315 employees, factor analysis supported the factorial and discriminant validity of the DUBS vis-à-vis engagement and burnout. As expected, structural equation modeling revealed that demands and resources were negatively associated with boredom. Moreover, boredom at work was negatively related with job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and positively with turnover intention. These findings support the validity of the DUBS. Future research may focus on underemployment as an antecedent of boredom at work, and on the effects of boredom on job performance.     

Type A behavior and work situation: associations with burnout and work engagement

The aim of the present study was to investigate Type A behavior as well as perceived work situation, and associations with burnout and work engagement. The associations in focus were investigated through hierarchical regressions in a sample (N= 329) of Swedish Information Communication Technology consultants. The findings indicated that both work situation and Type A behavior was correlated with work engagement and burnout; however, no interactions between Type A behavior and work situation were elicited. The main conclusion was that the achievement striving aspect of Type A behavior appears as "non-toxic" and is related only to work engagement. However, the irritability/impatience aspect appears to be responsible for burnout complaints among Type A individuals, possibly through negative effects of the mood itself than through perceived stress at work.     

Towards a multilevel approach of employee well-being

In this commentary, I respond to Ilies, Aw & Pluut’s (Intraindividual models of employee well-being: What have we learned and where do we go from here?, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, in press) call for a theory that distinguishes between traits and states of employee well-being. I use Job Demands–Resources theory to illustrate how we may integrate within- and between-person approaches and findings to design an overall multilevel model of employee well-being. My perspective builds on Ilies et al. and recent findings of research combining relatively stable “traits” with fluctuating states of employee well-being. My goals with this commentary are three-fold: (1) give more insight into possible differences between variables at different levels of analysis; (2) use research to show how trait and state levels of (predictors of) employee well-being may interact; (3) propose a multilevel model that may stimulate future research on the topic.