(Still) Modern Times: Objectification at work

A great deal of research has investigated gender‐related objectification. In the current work, we aim to extend the empirical research on this phenomenon to the working domain. Consistent with several theoretical assumptions, we expected that factory workers would be objectified as a consequence of their work. In Study 1, we showed that each of the critical features of factory work (i.e., repetitiveness of movements, fragmentation of activities and dependence on the machine) significantly affected the view of the worker as an instrument (vs. a human being) and as less able to experience human mental states. Coherently, we found that factory workers, unlike artisans, were perceived as more instrument‐like (Study 2) and as less able to experience mental states (Study 3) when participants were asked to focus on the target's manual activities rather than on the target as a person. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered.     

Self‐monitoring,status, and justice‐related information flow

We develop and test a multi‐level interactive model of the relationships among self‐monitoring, co‐workers' formal and informal status, and justice‐related information flow in a scenario‐based field study of 4,011 unique relationships collected from 84 respondents. We predict that individuals high in self‐monitoring, because they attend more carefully to social cues and have higher levels of expressive control, will be more likely than low self‐monitors to intend to seek, accept, and provide justice‐related information as a function of their co‐workers' formal status, the size of their co‐workers' networks, and the advantageousness of their co‐workers' position in the networks (betweenness centrality). This cross‐level interaction hypothesis receives strong support in terms of co‐workers' network size, limited support in terms of co‐workers' betweenness centrality, and no support in terms of co‐workers' formal status. We address the implications of these findings for the literature on self‐monitoring, social construction of organizational justice, and social networks, as well as the strengths and limitations of our approach.     

An intra‐individual test of the demands‐control model: A weekly diary study of psychological strain in portfolio workers

Twenty‐five years of research on Karasek's job strain model has produced evidence that jobs involving high demands, low control and low social support may produce psychological strain. The present study takes this research in a new direction by using a time‐sampling methodology with a group of portfolio workers (self‐employed individuals who work for multiple clients) to examine whether working weeks that involve more of these characteristics are associated with greater psychological strain. The study also examines whether workers' optimism moderates the intra‐individual relationship between job characteristics and strain. Every week for 26 weeks, 65 portfolio workers completed a diary containing measures of work demands, job control, social support and strain. Multi‐level analyses supported the additive but not the interactive form of the job strain model. However, differences in portfolio workers' optimism moderated an interactive effect of weekly demands and control on anxiety and depression, such that the highest levels of strain were experienced by pessimists under conditions of low control and high demands. The results suggest that psychological strain can vary with temporal variations in job characteristics and that a person‐situation approach is appropriate for understanding these dynamics.     

On feeling good at work: the role of regulatory mode and passion in psychological adjustment

The major postulate of this work is that regulatory modes influence the type of passion people experience with regard to an activity, which in turn influences their psychological adjustment. Integrating regulatory mode theory and the dualistic model of passion, we hypothesized that locomotion—associated with intrinsic and autonomous motivations—would positively predict harmonious passion, which in turn would enhance workers' psychological adjustment. In contrast, we hypothesized that assessment—associated with extrinsic and non‐autonomous motivations—would positively predict obsessive passion, which in turn would reduce workers' psychological adjustment. Two field studies supported these hypotheses with psychological adjustment measures of stress (Study 1) and burnout (Study 2) in different work contexts.     

iObjectify: Self‐ and other‐objectification on Grindr,a geosocial networking application designed for men who have sex with men

Grindr is a smartphone application for men who have sex with men (MSM). Despite its reputation as a ‘hook‐up app’, little is known about its users' self‐presentation strategies and how this relates to objectification. This article explores objectification on Grindr. The results of Study 1 showed that Grindr users objectified other men more than non‐Grindr users. A content analysis of 1400 Grindr profiles in Study 2 showed that profile pictures with objectifying content were related to searching for sexual encounters. Finally, a survey of Grindr users in Study 3 revealed that objectification processes and sexualized profile pictures were related to some objectification‐relevant online behaviors (e.g., increased use of Grindr, discussion of HIV status). Interestingly, the presence of body focused profile content was more related to sexual orientation disclosure (not being ‘out’) than to objectification. This article presents evidence that Grindr usage and online presentation are related to objectification processes.     

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.     

Does Hub‐and‐Spoke organization of healthcare system promote workers' satisfaction?

The healthcare services network is a recent organizational structure of healthcare services that are interdependent and organized as a network on the basis of the Hub‐and‐Spoke model. This questionnaire‐based study analyzed socio‐psychological well‐being of health workers both in terms of team‐related experience and individual satisfaction and engagement with one's work in a Hub‐and‐Spoke healthcare service in comparison to non‐network healthcare service. Workers from two different public healthcare services involved in the treatment of the same skeletal rare diseases participated in the Study. We expected that working under a Hub‐and‐Spoke healthcare service—involving teamwork and cooperation among different healthcare services within the units, as well as among workers belonging to different units—would lead to greater psychological team‐related and individual benefits. In line with predictions, the findings showed that under a Hub‐and‐Spoke healthcare service, health workers felt highly interdependent by their team fellows and developed shared cognitions (i.e., team mental models) about their integration and their tasks to a higher extent than non‐network ones. They were also individually more satisfied of their job and displayed higher work engagement than non‐network workers. Beneficial team‐related dynamics, such as perceived interdependence, were responsible for the differences between the Hub‐and‐Spoke workers and non‐network ones. The implications of the present findings were discussed in terms of promotion of health workers' satisfaction and well‐being.     

Reflective Self‐Control in Self‐Control Scholarship: A Peircean Analysis

Vosgerau, Scopelliti, and Huh (this issue) present an important critique of much self‐control research, highlighting some of the ways that our customary operationalizations and methods may have created more confusion than clarity. Their insights, rooted in past literature and new data, offer recommendations that will undoubtedly help us improve our research in consumption self‐control. In this commentary, I frame their work using the thought of Charles Sanders Peirce, a philosopher, mathematician, and logician whose frustration with the management of the self‐control construct and subsequent revision parallels Vosgerau et al's in many ways. Further, his thought proposes that their thought traces the boundary of another type of self‐control problem, which I'll refer to as “reflective self‐control.” Taking together consumption self‐control and reflective self‐control, we're able to address a wide range of human experiences and connect self‐control to ethics, consistent with a long tradition bridging the two. Perhaps most importantly, though, a Peircean analysis suggests that Vosgerau et al's paper—whether we agree or disagree with its conclusions—exemplifies the kind of scholarly self‐control we need to display to make scientific progress, regardless of our specific domain of study.     

Body Objectification,MTV, and Psychological Outcomes Among Female Adolescents1

In response to the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, the present study explored the role of sexually objectifying media—in this case, music television—in a host of psychological consequences among a community sample of adolescents girls (M age = 13 years). Objectification theory posits that the consequences of sexual objectification involve the process of self‐objectification. As such, we hypothesized that music television consumption would first and foremost be associated with self‐objectification, which would, in turn, predict a number of body‐related consequences. The findings support a model in which self‐objectification mediates a direct relation between music television viewing and body esteem, dieting, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and confidence in math ability.     

Dirty work,dirty worker? Stigmatisation and coping strategies among domestic workers

Domestic work can be perceived to be ‘dirty work’ in several ways: it is associated with dirt handling, low occupational prestige, and domestic workers have a servile relationship to their clients/employers. This stigma may negatively affect domestic workers' sense of self, and thus coping strategies appear to be critical. In this article, we explore the coping strategies that moderate the relation between the stigma of dirty work and domestic workers' sense of self, based on the analyses of 43 interviews with domestic workers in Belgium. By using a social stress approach in which stigma is considered a stressor, our results reveal a range of maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies that contribute to a negative or a more positive sense of self. Four main categories of coping strategies are discussed: confronting or countering perceptions and behaviours, occupational ideologies, social weighting and defensive tactics. The first two categories are adaptive coping strategies; the last two can be adaptive or maladaptive. We also reveal that workers used adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies simultaneously, leading to mixed implications for their sense of self.     

Abusive leadership versus objectifying job features: Factors that influence organizational dehumanization and workers’ self-objectification

Recent research has revealed that work often can undermine people's humanness by promoting a view of them as mere objects. In particular, the workers’ meta-perceptions of being treated as company resources (i.e., organizational dehumanization) and their self-perceptions of being instrument-like (i.e., self-objectification) could be triggered by several factors. Previous research has identified that abusive supervisors and engaging in objectifying (repetitive, fragmented and other oriented) tasks are two of the main key factors that affect worker's dehumanization. The present project aims to disentangle the extent both factors (perceptions of abusive leadership and performing objectifying tasks) contribute to created perceptions of organizational dehumanization and self-objectification among workers that, ultimately, affects workers job satisfaction. In Study 1 (N = 208 workers), we measured the extent perceived abusive supervisors and objectifying job features predicted organizational dehumanization, self-objectification, and job satisfaction. The results indicate that abusive supervisors predicted perceptions of organizational dehumanization and workers self-objectification in a higher extent than objectifying job features, while workers job satisfaction was predicted in a higher extent by objectifying job features. In Study 2 (N = 141), we experimentally manipulated the abusive (versus nonabusive) supervisors and the objectifying (versus nonobjectifying) tasks in a laboratory setting. Results also indicated that the abusive supervisor exerts a greater influence than performing objectifying tasks on organizational dehumanization, self-objectification, and job satisfaction. The detrimental effect of an abusive supervisor in comparison with other working conditions on workers’ humanness is discussed, and practical implications are highlighted.     

The Role of Lad Magazines in Priming Men’s Chronic and Temporary Appearance‐Related Schemata: An Investigation of Longitudinal and Experimental Findings

We present a program of research investigating the effects of lad magazines on male body self‐consciousness and appearance anxiety. Study 1, based on panel data from undergraduate men, showed that lad magazine exposure in Year 1 predicted body self‐consciousness in Year 2. Study 2 was an experiment that showed that men assigned to view objectified women in lad magazines reported significantly higher levels of appearance anxiety and appearance‐related motivations for exercise than men assigned to view male fashion models. We speculated that participants believed that to be romantically successful with these women would require them to conform to an idealized appearance standard. Study 3 replicated the finding that exposure to sexually objectified women primed body self‐consciousness, and it further showed that this effect was mediated by romantic confidence.     

what helps and hinders workers in managing change

This research responds to calls for increased understanding of workers' experiences of their work and work contexts. Informed by positive psychology, this study focused on a seldom‐studied subset of working individuals who self‐identified as doing well with change affecting their work and on strategies that helped or hindered them in doing well, factors that would have helped, and their experiences of change within the context of volatile and changing work situations. Using the enhanced critical incident technique methodology, the authors extracted 790 incidents from 45 participant interviews. These data were organized into the following 10 categories: support from friends and family, support from colleagues, support from professionals, personal attitudes/traits/emotional set, self‐care, internal framework and boundaries, taking action, skill/role competence, management style and work environment, and personal life changes/issues. The implications of these categories for research, theory, practice, and organizations are discussed.     

(In)validating Stereotypes About Older Workers Influences Their Intentions to Retire Early and to Learn and Develop

Although many governments of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are currently trying to retain older workers in the workforce, numerous stereotypes question their motivation and ability to work, learn, and develop. In two studies, we examined the influence of age-related stereotypic information on Belgian older workers' aspirations in the work domain. In Study 1, early retirement intentions were lower following exposure to positive stereotypic information than following exposure to negative or no stereotypic information. In Study 2, older workers confronted with positive stereotypic information were less willing to retire early and more motivated to learn and develop than those confronted with negative stereotypic information. Results suggest that communicating positive information about older workers' ability may boost their work aspirations.     

Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder: An Initial Investigation of the Effects of Alcohol,Attractiveness, Warmth,and Competence on the Objectifying Gaze in Men

Despite literature revealing the adverse consequences of objectifying gazes for women, little work has empirically examined origins of objectifying gazes by perceivers. Integrating alcohol myopia and objectification theories, we examined the effects of alcohol as well as perceived female attractiveness, warmth, and competence on objectifying gazes. Specifically, male undergraduates (n?=?49) from a large U.S. Midwestern university were administered either an alcoholic or placebo beverage. After consumption, participants were asked to focus on the appearance or personality (counterbalanced) of pictured women who were previously rated as high, average, or low in attractiveness, warmth, and competence. Replicating previous work, appearance focus increased objectifying gazes as measured by decreased visual dwell time on women’s faces and increased dwell time on women’s bodies. Additionally, alcohol increased objectifying gazes. Whereas greater perceived attractiveness increased objectifying gazes, more perceived warmth and perceived competence decreased objectifying gazes. Furthermore, the effects of warmth and competence perceptions on objectifying gazes were moderated by alcohol condition; intoxicated participants objectified women low in warmth and competence to a greater extent than did sober participants. Implications for understanding men’s objectifying perceptions of women are addressed, shedding light on potential interventions for clinicians and policymakers to reduce alcohol-involved objectification and related sexual aggression.     

The effect of red color on perceived self‐attractiveness

Recent research showed that individuals are perceived as more attractive when presented with the color red. We seek to extend these findings by studying the effects of red color on individuals' perception of self‐attractiveness, rather than the attractiveness of others. Based on the color‐in‐context theory, we hypothesized that individuals would perceive themselves as more attractive under red chromatic conditions. In three experiments, participants were asked to wear a red or a blue shirt and rated their own attractiveness. As expected, participants in the red shirt condition indicated a higher level of self‐attractiveness than participants in the blue condition. Moreover, the results showed that the self‐perception red effect was mediated by the individuals' self‐perceived sexual receptivity and self‐perceived status.     

Japanese social workers' healthy behaviours as related to masculinity: Focus on mental health workers and caregivers of children and nursing home residents

Due to the rapid ageing of the Japanese population, the demand for social services is increasing. However, these professions are not generally recognized yet. According to the report by Kawata (1984, 1986), social workers were distressed by low pay and low recognition for the profession, an inflexible, hierarchical administration system, and staff shortages. However, few studies have focused on social workers' healthy behaviours. The present study focused on the healthy behaviours of Japanese social workers and examined the relationship of these habits to masculinity and femininity, in addition to gender differences. To identify the healthy behaviours of social workers, we compared the behaviours of 32 mental health workers and 63 caregivers to those of 91 members of the general public who attended a summer course. Four questionnaires were administered: health locus of control (Watanabe, 1985), healthy behaviours (Munakata, 1996), health state, and Masculinity‐Humanity‐Femininity scale (Ito, 1978). The results revealed that females scored higher in masculinity than males, and females tended to assess their health state as poorer and were more active in preventive health than males. Social workers practice preventive healthy behaviours more than the general public. Between the two types of social workers, mental health workers tend to rely on medical services and believe that health and sickness are matters of luck, whereas caregivers tend to believe they can control their health by themselves. In the health locus of control, external control was more closely associated with poor health than internal control, and it was negatively correlated with masculinity. As masculinity is related to healthy behaviours, it may be an important factor influencing them. Both masculinity and femininity could be desirable, not for only better caregiving but also for the social workers' own health.     

Antisocial Behavior: Exploring Behavioral,Cognitive, and Environmental Influences on Expulsion

We investigated the role of three significant potential contributors to antisocial behavior (ASB)—behavior, cognitive, and environmental influences—and their impact on expulsion. The following measures were administered to a community sample of antisocial adolescents: nonverbal ability and working memory, behavioral profile (rated by the social worker and self‐rated), and environmental background (socio‐economic background and family structure). The data indicated that their working memory performance was in the average range; however, group means were significantly lower in the nonverbal ability test. Although social workers' assessments of the adolescents' behavior were closely related to their self‐reports, it was the latter that was best able to correctly classify those who had been expelled from their non‐expelled ASB peers. Environmental background did not appear to have a strong role in expulsion rates. The results are discussed in the context of persistency of ASB and ways forward to provide support and intervention for adolescents. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The relevance of sleep and circadian misalignment for procrastination among shift workers

This daily diary study contributes to current research uncovering the role of sleep for employees’ effective self‐regulation at work. We focus on shift workers’ effective self‐regulation in terms of their general and day‐specific inclination to procrastinate, that is, their tendency to delay the initiation or completion of work activities. We hypothesized that transitory sleep characteristics (day‐specific sleep quality and sleep duration) and chronic sleep characteristics in terms of circadian misalignment are relevant for procrastination. Sixty‐six shift workers completed two daily questionnaires over the course of one work week, resulting in 332 days of analysis. Results of multilevel regression analyses showed that on days when shift workers slept better and longer—compared to days when they slept worse and shorter—they had more energy and willpower available after sleep and subsequently were less prone to procrastination. Moreover, the more work times (permanent shift) were misaligned with employees’ sleep–wake preferences (chronotype) the more pronounced was shift workers’ inclination to procrastinate at work. The present findings provide important implications for shift workers’ effective functioning at work.

Practitioner Points

• To promote shift workers’ effective functioning at work, when scheduling shift work, circadian principles should be taken into account, and work times should be aligned with workers’ chronotypes.
• Day‐specific sleep quality and duration co‐vary with procrastination at work. Thus, on days on which procrastination would be especially harmful, sleep of good quality and of sufficient duration should be obtained.

     

Energy‐Related Behaviors in Office Buildings: A Qualitative Study on Individual and Organisational Determinants

An analysis of individual and organisational determinants of energy‐related behaviors in office buildings and the interplay between the two is presented. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with office workers from four organisations in two Dutch provinces. The results indicate that, overall, work efficiency and productivity was prioritised over energy conservation. In general, self‐efficacy was the most salient individual determinant, and social norm the least discussed determinant of current office energy‐related behaviors. Nevertheless, both self‐efficacy and social norm elements were encountered in employees' proposed strategies to achieve future office energy‐saving. Formal and informal aspects of the organisational context were found to equally affect individual determinants and their related behaviors. Facility managers' and general office workers' views differed in a few but important ways. Interorganisational comparisons showed that differences in organisational foci were linked to the relative salience of normative, gain, and hedonic motivations.