Does Psychological Empowerment Mediate the Relationship Between Psychological Climate and Job Satisfaction?

This study tested a model in which empowerment was hypothesised to mediate the relationship between psychological climate and job satisfaction. Individual levels of negative affectivity were controlled for. The sample consisted of 174 customer service employees (59% female and 39% male). Support was found for a model in which empowerment mediated the relationship between climate and job satisfaction, the dimensions of meaning and competence were largely responsible for the mediating effects of empowerment. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were explored.     

The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment on the Relationships between P–O Fit,Job Satisfaction,and In-role Performance

Purpose  

The direct relationships between person–organization fit (P–O fit) and multiple individual-level outcomes such as job satisfaction and in-role performance have been heavily studied in the extant literature; potential mediators of these relationships have been studied much less frequently. Consequently, a complete picture of the psychology surrounding P–O fit is missing. This research aims to begin to fill this gap in the literature.     

Compensation for Inconsistencies: The Effects of Stereotype Strength on Expectations of Applicants’ Job Success and Satisfaction

This research was designed to examine how exposure to information about a man described in terms of gender-typed, cross gender-typed, or androgynous characteristics affected judgments about his potential satisfaction and suitability for male- and female-dominated occupations. In addition, we examined how this exposure affected judgments about another man who was applying for the same job. Drawing from prior theory and research on the schema maintenance through compensation model (e.g., Seta & Seta, 1993; Seta, Seta, & McElroy, 2003), it was predicted and found that participants with strong gender stereotypes develop compensatory expectancies. Specifically, in comparison to control conditions, participants exposed to information about the first applicant that was inconsistent with a typical man’s behavior expected the second applicant to be especially “macho” and to be unsuitable in and dissatisfied with traditionally, female-dominant occupations. Implications for employment interviews were discussed.     

A Longitudinal Investigation of Person–Organization Fit,Person–Job Fit,and Contextual Performance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Ownership

In this study we present new insights into the relationships surrounding employees’ feelings of psychological ownership (PO) at work and the resulting effects on contextual performance. Characterized by a feeling of possession, PO has been theorized to have positive influences on the attitudes and behaviors of employees. To explore PO’s effects, we conducted a three-stage questionnaire survey of employees and their supervisors at a multinational pharmaceutical company in Taiwan. To help attenuate the errors associated with common method variance that trouble most studies using simultaneous data, a longitudinal approach was taken to investigate the relationships between person–organization fit, person–job fit, and PO. During the first stage of data collection, 330 questionnaires were sent to employees, and 168 (51%) valid questionnaires were returned. During the second stage, questionnaires were sent to the 168 employees who had responded to the first-stage survey. There were 134 (80%) valid questionnaires returned. Finally, during the third stage, questionnaires were sent to the supervisors of all 134 employees who had responded to the second-stage survey. There were 88 (66%) valid questionnaires returned. Findings reveal that person–job fit was significantly related to PO, and PO was significantly related to contextual performance. However, contrary to predictions, person–organization fit was positively, but not significantly, related to PO. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for both academics and practitioners and make suggestions for future research.     

The Experiences of Guilt and Shame: A Phenomenological–Psychological Study

This study aims at discovering the essential constituents involved in the experiences of guilt and shame. Guilt concerns a subject’s action or omission of action and has a clear temporal unfolding entailing a moment in which the subject lives in a care-free way. Afterwards, this moment undergoes a reconstruction, in the moment of guilt, which constitutes the moment of negligence. The reconstruction is a comprehensive transformation of one’s attitude with respect to one’s ego; one’s action; the object of guilt and the temporal-existential experience. The main constituents concerning shame are its anchorage in the situation to which it refers; its public side involving the experience of being perceptually objectified; the exclusion of social community; the bodily experience; the revelation of an undesired self; and the genesis of shame in terms of a history of frozen now-ness. The article ends with a comparison between guilt and shame.     

Contextual Performance and the Job Satisfaction–Dissatisfaction Distinction: Examining Artifacts and Utility

The relationship between contextual performance and job satisfaction is reexamined by considering the distinction between scores on measures of satisfaction and measures of dissatisfaction. Data from four samples and two measures of job satisfaction suggest that scores on measures of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction provide significant incremental validity in predicting contextual performance, that the satisfaction–dissatisfaction distinction is valid at the facet level, and that the satisfaction–dissatisfaction distinction cannot be accounted for by the artifactual explanations previously proposed in the literature.     

The Affective Temperaments and Well-Being: Swedish and Iranian Adolescents’ Life Satisfaction and Psychological Well-Being

The aim was to investigate the role of the affective temperament model (AFTs) in distinguishing variations in well-being among adolescents from Sweden (n = 222) and Iran (n = 120). Participants self-reported positive (PA) and negative affect (NA), life satisfaction (LS) and psychological well-being (PWB). The model categorizes participants in four different temperaments using the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS): self-actualizing (high PA and low NA), high affective (high PA and high NA), low affective (low PA and low NA), and self-destructive (low PA and high NA). Across cultures, self-actualizing adolescents reported higher LS and PWB. The PWB sub-scale of self-acceptance was positively related to LS regardless of temperament profile or cultural background. Nevertheless, Iranian adolescents with self-destructive profiles reported higher LS than high affective Iranians. The AFTs model is suggested to offer something unique by taking into account the interaction of PA and NA.     

Assessment of Implicit Health Attitudes: A Multitrait–Multimethod Approach and a Comparison Between Patients With Hypochondriasis and Patients With Anxiety Disorders

Two adaptations of the Implicit Association Task were used to assess implicit anxiety (IAT–Anxiety) and implicit health attitudes (IAT–Hypochondriasis) in patients with hypochondriasis (n = 58) and anxiety patients (n = 71). Explicit anxieties and health attitudes were assessed using questionnaires. The analysis of several multitrait–multimethod models indicated that the low correlation between explicit and implicit measures of health attitudes is due to the substantial methodological differences between the IAT and the self-report questionnaire. Patients with hypochondriasis displayed significantly more dysfunctional explicit and implicit health attitudes than anxiety patients, but no differences were found regarding explicit and implicit anxieties. The study demonstrates the specificity of explicit and implicit dysfunctional health attitudes among patients with hypochondriasis.     

Job Demand–Control–Support and diabetes risk: The moderating role of self-efficacy

Work-related stressors, including high demands and low control, play a significant role in the aetiology of diabetes. Nevertheless, most studies focus on main effects, and few consider individual differences that may moderate the stress–health association. Drawing from the Job Demands–Control-–Support (JDC-S) model, this study addresses this gap by testing how baseline levels of JDC-S affect an increase in two risk factors for diabetes—glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG)—and by investigating the moderating role of self-efficacy. Participants (N = 1618) were Israeli employees who attended two consecutive routine health examinations. All were free of diabetes at baseline. JDC-S and self-efficacy were assessed at baseline (T1), and HbA1C and FPG were assessed at T1 and T2. Data were analysed with logistic and linear regressions, controlling for well-established diabetes risk factors. High demands and low support predicted an increase in HbA1C and FPG. In addition, high self-efficacy interacted with high demands and with low control in the prediction of an increase in HbA1C and FPG. Although employees with high self-efficacy might function well at work, overloading them may harm their physical health. Similarly, incongruence between employees’ sense of ability and the control given to them at work may result in physical impairment.     

Parental Psychological Control and Adolescents’ Problematic Mobile Phone Use: The Serial Mediation of Basic Psychological Need Experiences and Negative Affect

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Drawing on self-determination theory and problem-behavior theory, we tested the relation between parental psychological control and adolescents’...     

An Examination of the Relationship Between the Work–School Interface,Job Satisfaction,and Job Performance

Purpose

This study provides a comprehensive examination of how the work–school interface relates to work outcomes such as task performance and job satisfaction. Additionally, this study builds upon past research by examining a range of work- and school-related resources and demands that collectively influence the work–school interface.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained from 170 working undergraduate students at multiple time points over the course of a semester, as well as from participants’ supervisors at the organizations in which the students work.

Findings

The strongest antecedent of job satisfaction, interpersonal facilitation, and job performance was work–school facilitation. Demands in one role create pressures in the other. Contrary to expectations, job demands positively related to work–school facilitation, while school demands positively related to school–work facilitation.

Implications

For practitioners, this study highlights the need to better understand the interplay between school and work roles for employees at a time when continuing education is emphasized. Employers benefit from the performance gains and positive attitudinal shifts that stem from experiences of facilitation between roles. From a theoretical perspective, this study reveals a unique pattern of results that adds to our understanding of the dynamics involved in the integrated work–school routines of working students.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to investigate the relationships between four bi-directional forms of the work–school interface and subsequent multi-source assessments of organizational outcomes. As such, it offers an examination of how conflict and facilitation from both the work and school domains relate to work outcomes.

     

Employees’ Adaptability and Perceptions of Change-Related Uncertainty: Implications for Perceived Organizational Support,Job Satisfaction,and Performance

Purpose

The literature on organizational change has increasingly recognized that characteristics of change recipients influence their reactions to workplace change. Yet little is known about the influence of employees’ adaptability and change-related uncertainty on their interpretation of organizational actions. We examined these antecedents and the mediating role of perceived organizational support as explanations for employees’ job satisfaction and performance.

Design/Methodology/Approach

A survey was administered to material handling employees from two organizations. Employees completed measures of individual adaptability, uncertainty experienced regarding changes in the workplace, support received from the organization, and job satisfaction. Performance data were collected from the records of one organization.

Findings

Results from both samples support the role of perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relationship between employees’ adaptability and perceptions of change-related uncertainty and employees’ satisfaction and performance.

Implications

Change is a frequent occurrence in today’s workplace; thus, improving employee satisfaction and performance requires the consideration of change-related perceptions and individuals’ dispositions relevant to change. The present study offers insights regarding how organizations may help improve perceptions of organizational support by reducing perceived uncertainty as well as identifying employees who may need assistance to adapt to workplace changes.

Originality/Value

Despite practitioners’ expressed interest, there is scant research examining employees’ adaptability and change-related uncertainty. We provide the first evidence explaining how and why these variables impact important workplace outcomes and extend existing theory by identifying appraisals of the organization (and not the self) as a mechanism explaining stressor–strain relationships.     

Marital Satisfaction and Quality of Father–Child Interactions: The Moderating Role of Child Gender

The authors aimed to investigate the prospective links between normative variation in fathers’ marital satisfaction and the observed quality of father–toddler interactions, as well as the moderating role of child gender in these associations. Sixty-three fathers reported on their marital satisfaction when their children were 15 months of age, and were observed interacting with their child at 18 months. The results suggested that marital satisfaction was positively associated with the quality of father–son interactions, while no relations emerged among fathers of girls. These findings reiterate the importance of marital relationships for the quality of fathers’ parenting, while reaffirming previous suggestions that the role of child gender in the marriage-parenting connections requires further investigation.     

The Association of Externalizing Behavior and Parent–Child Relationships: An Intergenerational Study

We investigated the influence of the child’s behavior on the quality of the mutual parent–child attachment relationships across three generations. We did so using a prospective longitudinal study which spanned 20 years from adolescence through adulthood. Study participants completed in-class questionnaires as students in the East Harlem area of New York City at the first wave and provided follow-up data at 4 additional points in time. 390 participants were included in these analyses; 59% female, 45% African American, and 55% Puerto Rican. Using structural equation modeling, we determined that externalizing behavior in the child was negatively related to the mutual parent–child attachment relationship for two generations of children. We also found continuity in externalizing behavior for the participant over time and from the participant to his/her child. Additionally, we found continuity in the quality of the mutual attachment relationship from the participant’s relationship with his/her parents to the participant’s relationship with his/her child. Finally, the mutual attachment relationship of the participant with his/her parents had a negative association with the participant’s externalizing behavior in adulthood. Based on these results, we propose that family interventions should focus on the role of the child’s externalizing behavior in the context of the parent–child attachment relationship. Furthermore, we suggest that prevention programs should address externalizing behavior as early as possible, as the effects of externalizing behavior in adolescence can persist into adulthood and extend to the next generation.     

The Moderating Effect of Machiavellianism on the Psychological Contract Breach–Organizational Identification/Disidentification Relationships

Purpose

We explore whether Machiavellianism—a personality trait which describes the extent to which individuals ignore values and ethical considerations when the ends justify the means—will influence their responses to their employing organizations’ failure to fulfil promised obligations (psychological contracts). Specifically, we draw on psychological contracts theory and the group value model to argue that Machiavellianism will moderate the relationships between psychological contract breach and (1) organizational identification; and (2) organizational disidentification.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We tested our hypotheses in a study of 262 employees from various organizations at two points in time.

Findings

We found that psychological contract breach was negatively related to organizational identification and positively related to organizational disidentification. Furthermore, employees with higher levels of Machiavellianism tended to disidentify with their organizations to a greater extent (at Time 2) in response to psychological contract breach (at Time 1) than did employees with low levels of Machiavellianism. Machiavellianism did not moderate the relationship between psychological contract breach and organizational identification.

Implications

Our study contributes to extant research exploring the importance of Machiavellianism in the workplace. Specifically, we show that employees with high levels of Machiavellianism are more likely to disidentify in response to psychological contract breach but do not tend to identify to a lesser degree.

Originality/Value

This study builds on the extant research exploring individual differences in the psychological contract dynamics by considering Machiavellianism as a moderator of the breach–outcome relationship.     

A Path to Teacher Happiness? A Sense of Meaning Affects Teacher–Student Relationships,Which Affect Job Satisfaction

Meaningful work and meaningful relationships at work have been highlighted for their potential desirable consequences for employees and organizations. The present research focuses on teaching, as a potentially meaningful occupation, and suggests that teachers’ sense of meaning at work affects teacher–student relationships, which in turn affect teachers’ job satisfaction. This hypothesized path is examined in two complementary studies. In Study 1, 312 teachers completed self-report measures of their sense of meaning at work, perceived relationships with students, and job satisfaction. Results, based on structural equation modeling analysis, showed a good fit of the data to the theoretical model. In Study 2, 120 teachers completed daily measures of their sense of meaning at work, relationships with students, and job satisfaction. Results, based on HLM analyses, confirmed daily effects of teachers’ sense of meaning on teacher–student relationships, and daily effects of perceived teacher–student relationships on teachers’ job satisfaction. These findings point to a potential path through which teachers’ sense of meaning at work may affect work outcomes and attitudes. The theoretical and practical implications for the effects of meaningfulness and relationships at work for researchers, educators, and organizations are discussed.     

The Optimality of Tax Transfers: What does Life Satisfaction Data Tell Us?

This paper addresses an important policy question: who gets the largest utility gain from income and does the tax system adequately reflect this? We address this question by using Australian panel data and taking life satisfaction as a proxy for utility, allowing us to identify the marginal utility of additional income for different groups of individuals. We find that optimal transfers consist of transfers from the old to the middle aged, and from the married to the unmarried. This optimal utilitarian welfare policy is then contrasted with information on who actually receives transfers and who pays for them in Australia, where we find that taxes are too high for some groups, like the young, and that they are too low for other groups, like the elderly. We believe that the methodology developed in this paper could be fruitfully applied to the issue of optimal taxation in other countries.     

Construct Overlap Between Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction: A Function of Semantic Equivalence?

The evidence for employee engagement as a distinct construct, separate from related work attitudes such as job satisfaction, has been contradictory. Despite a growing inventory of research, current statistical techniques fall short in providing additional answers beyond those previously documented through discriminant and incremental validity, among others. Understanding the semantic similarity between scales however could uncover the potential bounds of current evidence and highlight areas of further exploration. This study examined the semantic similarity between three measures of employee engagement frequently found in the research literature and a commonly used measure of job satisfaction. Examining a relatively new indicator of validity, manifest validity, semantic relatedness between items from employee engagement and job satisfaction instruments was assessed using latent semantic analysis. Semantic similarity between employee engagement and job satisfaction items predicted moderate to high amounts of variance (R ² = 25–69 %) in corresponding correlations of survey responses. Findings suggest that high correlations between certain employee engagement measures and job satisfaction scores may be a function of semantic equivalence rather than individual perceptions of separate theoretical constructs.