Workplace bullying and its relation with work characteristics,personality, and post-traumatic stress symptoms: an integrated model

Workplace bullying refers to prolonged exposure to frequent hostile behaviors at work, which can lead to severe stress reactions. Research in this area has not revealed a clear picture on how bullying escalates in organizations. Drawing on recent developments in work stress theory, this study tested a comprehensive model of bullying in which work environmental and personality factors were hypothesized to act as antecedents of bullying and post-traumatic stress symptoms as an outcome. Structural equation modeling on data provided by 609 public sector employees in Italy showed that job demands (workload and role conflict) and job resources (decision authority, co-worker support and salary/promotion prospects) were related to bullying over and above neuroticism, and that bullying mediated the relationship between job demands and PTSD symptoms. Evidence also emerged for a buffering effect of job resources on the job demands–bullying relationship. Overall results are compatible with a view of bullying as a strain phenomenon, initiated by both work environmental and personality factors.     

工作要求-资源、心理资本对工作家庭关系的影响

本研究选取253名已婚全职员工为研究对象,采用自陈式问卷调查的方法,考察了工作要求、工作资源、心理资本对工作家庭关系的影响。结果发现：（1）工作要求与工作家庭双向冲突均呈显著正相关;（2）工作资源与工作家庭双向冲突均呈显著负相关,与工作家庭双向促进均呈显著正相关;（3）心理资本在工作资源与工作家庭关系间起中介作用。     

Psychosocial safety climate as a precursor to conducive work environments,psychological health problems,and employee engagement

We constructed a model of workplace psychosocial safety climate (PSC) to explain the origins of job demands and resources, worker psychological health, and employee engagement. PSC refers to policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety. Using the job demands–resources framework, we hypothesized that PSC as an upstream organizational resource influenced largely by senior management, would precede the work context (i.e., job demands and resources) and would in turn predict psychological health and work engagement via mediation and moderation pathways. We operationalized PSC at the school level and tested meso‐mediational models using two‐level (longitudinal) hierarchical linear modelling in a sample of Australian education workers (N = 209–288). Data were repeated measures separated by 12 months, nested within 18 schools. PSC predicted change in individual psychological health problems (psychological distress, emotional exhaustion) through its relationship with individual job demands (work pressure and emotional demands). PSC moderated the relationship between emotional demands and emotional exhaustion. PSC predicted change in employee engagement, through its relationship with skill discretion. The results show that the PSC construct is a key upstream component of work stress theory and a logical intervention site for work stress intervention.     

Tenderness and Steadiness: Relating Job and Interpersonal Demands and Resources With Burnout and Physical Symptoms of Stress in Canadian Physicians

This study examined the extent to which job and interpersonal demands and resources are associated with burnout and physical symptoms of stress among Canadian physicians. Using the job demands‐resources (JD‐R) model, we predicted that demands would be more strongly related to emotional exhaustion and physical symptoms, whereas resources would be more strongly related to personal accomplishment and decreased depersonalization. The findings reveal that communication skills and emotional labor contributed to the explained variances beyond workload and work–life conflict (as job demands), as well as autonomy, predictability, and understanding (as job resources). The predictors were differentially associated with the outcome variables in a manner that is consistent with the JD‐R model. Implications for physician well‐being and improved patient outcomes are discussed.     

Work Engagement: Investigating the Role of Transformational Leadership,Job Resources,and Recovery

While the relationship between job resources and engagement has been well established, a greater understanding of the upstream factors that shape job resources is required to develop strategies to promote work engagement. The current study addresses this need by exploring transformational leadership as an upstream job resource, and the moderating role of recovery experiences. It was hypothesized that job resources would mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and engagement. Recovery experiences were expected to moderate the relationship between resources and engagement. A sample of 277 employees from a variety of organizations and industries was obtained. Analysis showed direct relationships between: transformational leadership and engagement, and transformational leadership and job resources. Mediation analysis using bootstrapping found a significant indirect path between transformational leadership and engagement via job resources. Recovery experiences did not significantly moderate the relationship between job resources and engagement. To date, the majority of published literature on recovery has focused on job demands; hence the nonsignificant result offers insight of a potentially more complex relationship for recovery with resources and engagement. Overall, the current study extends the JD-R model and provides evidence for broadening the model to include upstream organizational variables such as transformational leadership.     

Testing the Work Environment Hypothesis of Bullying on a Group Level of Analysis: Psychosocial Factors as Precursors of Observed Workplace Bullying

The present paper scrutinises the work environment hypothesis of bullying by examining relationships between psychosocial factors at work and bullying within departments on a group level of analysis, as compared to the many studies executed on an individual level of analysis. Relationships between quantitative demands, job control, role demands, leadership behaviour and social climate, and observed bullying were studied in a convenience sample consisting of 276 departments with a total of 4,064 respondents. Between‐group bivariate correlations showed relatively strong relationships (r > .52) between the predictors social climate, leadership behaviour, and role demands, respectively, and observed bullying in the department. A two‐factor higher‐level model was formulated for the independent variables yielding two latent factors reflecting an interpersonal domain and a task‐oriented domain, where the former was strongly associated with observed bullying at a group level of analysis (Beta =?.73), while the last factor yielded an insignificant contribution. The results confirm that a poor social work environment exists within departments in which bullying takes place, hence, yielding further support to the work environment hypothesis. In line with the present results, future studies on workplace bullying should include a group level of analysis.     

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.     

The moderating role of work pressure on the relationships between emotional demands and tension,exhaustion, and work engagement: an experience sampling study among nurses

The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of state work pressure (conceived as a hindrance demand) on the relationships between situational emotional demands (conceived as a challenge demand) and tension, emotional exhaustion and work engagement within nursing while considering job resources as covariates. Ninety-seven nurses from two German hospitals provided 1026 measurements. Multilevel analyses indicated a significant Work Pressure × Emotional Demands interaction for emotional exhaustion, with high situational work pressure exacerbating the positive association between state emotional demands and emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, work pressure moderated the relationship between emotional demands and vigour: state emotional demands related negatively to vigour only when work pressure was higher than usual, while the relationship was non-significant when work pressure was lower than usual. For dedication, similar results were obtained: state emotional demands were negatively associated with dedication only when combined with high situational work pressure; with low situational work pressure, state emotional demands did not relate to dedication. Contributing to the job demands-resources literature, this study shows that there are stress-exacerbating and stress-buffering interactions between different job demands from a within-subject perspective. However, we did not find positive relationships between challenge demands and work engagement, even in the case of low situational hindrances, indicating that there are conditions for the functioning of job demands as a challenge beyond hindrances.     

The role of work–family role integration in a job demands–resources model among Chinese secondary school teachers

The current study examines an integrative demands–resources model of the work–family interface in a sample of 259 Chinese secondary school teachers. Participants completed questionnaires relating to job demands, job resources, work‐to‐family conflict, work‐to‐family enrichment, work–family role integration (WFRI) and burnout scale. Results show that: (i) job demands were strongly and positively associated with work‐to‐family conflict, which further led to an increase in burnout; job resources were strongly and positively associated with work‐to‐family enrichment, and consequently to a decrease in burnout. Job demands also had a significant direct impact on burnout; (ii) a newly proposed construct, WFRI, was found to partially mediate the relationship between job demands and work‐to‐family conflict, as well as between job resources and work‐to‐family enrichment. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, and future research directions are provided.     

秒回?信息通讯技术时代的职场通讯压力

职场通讯压力是指员工想要快速回复基于信息通讯技术(information and communication technology, ICT)的工作消息而体验到的紧迫性, 现有研究对其成因及影响路径的探讨较为零散且缺乏系统性认识。基于工作要求-资源模型并结合努力-恢复模型, 讨论作为工作要求的ICT使用以及作为个人要求/资源的个体因素对职场通讯压力的前因作用; 探讨职场通讯压力因阻碍恢复活动而对员工身心健康以及工作和家庭领域产生的消极影响, 以期增进对职场通讯压力的全面了解, 丰富现有研究对ICT使用后果的认识, 并为未来研究的展开以及员工职业心理健康干预实践提供参考。     

A time-lagged analysis of the effect of authentic leadership on workplace bullying,burnout, and occupational turnover intentions

Destructive interpersonal experiences at work result in negative feelings among employees and negative work outcomes. Understanding the mechanisms through which bullying can lead to burnout and subsequent turnover is important for preventing and managing this problem. Leaders play a key role in shaping positive work environments by discouraging negative interpersonal experiences and behaviours. The aim of this study is twofold. Specifically we aim to examine the relationship between authentic leadership and new graduate nurses experiences of workplace bullying and burnout over a 1-year timeframe in Canadian healthcare settings. Furthermore we aim to examine the process from workplace bullying to subsequent burnout dimensions, and to job and career turnover intentions. Results of structural equation models on new graduate nurses working in acute care settings in Ontario (N = 205) provide support for the hypothesized model linking supervisor's authentic leadership, subsequent work-related bullying, and burnout, and these in turn to job and career turnover intentions. Thus, the more leaders were perceived to be authentic the less likely nurses’ were to experience subsequent work-related bullying and burnout and to want to leave their job and profession. The results highlight the important role of leadership in preventing negative employee and organizational outcomes.     

Job demands,supports, and constraints as predictors of psychological strain among schoolteachers

The literature on occupational stress contains two relatively independent bodies of literature, one of which shows that stress results from high work demands and the other which indicates that stress is associated with low levels of autonomy/discretion. Recent work has also shown that social support moderates the relationship between environmental stress and psychological strain. This paper uses a model of stress which assumes that stress is a function of the balance of demands, supports, and job constraints. The model is tested on a homogeneous professional group of workers because a previous study had suggested that models of this kind are powerful enough to detect differences in psychological strain when unskilled groups are compared with managers, but not when managers are compared with managers. The empirical results of this study of teachers show very modest support for the model, but confirm that the percentage of variance accounted for by these sorts of measures is rather small.     

Inability to Withdraw from Work as Related to Poor Next‐Day Recovery and Fatigue among Women

Recovery from work stress is crucial in avoiding stress‐related ill‐health. The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether processes that prolong the mental exposure to work stressors, such as inability to withdraw from work (IW), the core construct in overcommitment, predicts fatigue and poor next‐day recovery 6 months later over what is predicted by job control and job demands. Self‐ratings in questionnaires were completed by 160 women working in dental care at two time points, 6 months apart. Job demands, job control, and IW were used to predict fatigue and poor next‐day recovery, respectively. Multiple regression analyses show that having children living at home, high job demands, and high IW were associated with fatigue 6 months later. Job demands and IW, but not having children at home, predicted poor next‐day recovery. Mediation analyses using a bootstrapping procedure indicated that IW partly mediated the relationship between job demands and fatigue and between job demands and next‐day recovery. These findings highlight the importance of considering IW in relation to fatigue and recovery from work and that such factors should be included in interventions targeting work‐related stress.     

Interpersonal conflict and sarcasm in the workplace

Violence and aggression in the workplace are problems that most Americans confront on a daily basis. The present study is an exploration of the predisposition to conflict in a work environment in which personality traits responsible for increased sarcasm and increased anger in response to sarcasm are identified. Participants represented two subdepartments within a city general hospital. The Keirsey Temperament Sorter (D. Keirsey, 1998) test for departmental temperament and a sarcasm survey designed by the author were used to test for frequency of sarcasm and anger in relation to differing categories of sarcasm. Angry reactions were gauged in relation to sarcasm directed at job performance, personal life, behavior, and appearance. Conclusions from this study point to many variables as causes for workplace anger; these include influences from organizational culture, work environment, psychological defense mechanisms, leadership decisions, stress, task orientation, and personality differences. Sarcasm trigger points leading to anger may be predicted based on a work group's personality composition. A homogeneous personality composition within a work group may involve factors such as personality characteristics common to a particular profession, organizational demands, and hiring practices.     

Emotional dissonance,emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction in call centre workers

The rapid rise of the service sector, and in particular the call centre industry has made the study of emotional labour increasingly important within the area of occupational stress research. Given high levels of turnover and absenteeism in the industry this article examines the emotional demands (emotional labour) of call centre work and their relationship to the job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in a sample of South Australian call centre workers (N?=?98) within the theoretical frameworks of the job demand?–?control model, the effort?–?reward imbalance model, and the job demands?–?resources model. Qualitatively the research confirmed the central role of emotional labour variables in the experience of emotional exhaustion and satisfaction at work. Specifically the research confirmed the pre-eminence of emotional dissonance compared to a range of emotional demand variables in its potency to account for variance in emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction. Specifically, emotional dissonance mediated the effect of emotional labour (positive emotions) on emotional exhaustion. Furthermore emotional dissonance was found to be equal in its capacity to explain variance in the outcomes compared to the most frequently researched demand measure in the work stress literature (psychosocial demands). Finally, emotional dissonance was found to exacerbate the level of emotional exhaustion at high levels of psychosocial demands, indicating jobs combining high levels of both kinds of demands are much more risky. Future theorizing about work stress needs to account for emotional demands, dissonance in particular. Potential ways to alleviate emotional exhaustion due to emotional dissonance is to reduce other psychosocial demands, increase rewards, support and control as conceptualized in the JDR model. Ways to boost job satisfaction are to increase control, support, and rewards.     

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.     

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.     

社会自我效能感与工作倦怠的关系：社会交换视角下有调节的中介模型

本研究基于工作要求-资源模型和领导-成员交换理论,采用两时点追踪问卷调查方法收集了313份数据,探讨了员工的社会自我效能感与工作倦怠之间的关系及其内在机制。分析结果表明：社会自我效能感对工作倦怠有显著的负向预测作用;领导-成员交换关系在社会自我效能感和工作倦怠之间有着显著的中介作用;领导-成员交换社会比较调节了社会自我效能感通过领导-成员交换关系预测工作倦怠的间接效应。     

Demands,resources, and work ability: A cross-national examination of health care workers

Understanding work ability, with the goal of promoting it, is important for individuals as well as organizations. It is especially important to study work ability in health care workers, who face many work-related challenges that may threaten work ability. We studied various job demands, job resources, and interactions of demands and resources relating to work ability using the Job Demands–Resources model as a framework. Acute care health care workers from six nations (US, Australia, UK, Brazil, Croatia, and Poland) completed a survey. Role demands related to work ability in the Australia sample only, and supervisor support related to work ability in the Australia sample only. Yet, high levels of supervisor support significantly moderated (buffered) negative relationships between physical demands and work ability in the US sample, along with negative relationships between role demands and work ability in both the Croatia and UK samples. Skill discretion related to work ability in every nation sample, and therefore appears to be particularly important to work ability perceptions. In addition, skill discretion moderated (buffered) a negative relationship between role demands and work ability in the Australia sample. We therefore recommend that interventions to help preserve or improve work ability target this important job resource.     

Safety at work: a meta-analytic investigation of the link between job demands, job resources, burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes

In this article, we develop and meta-analytically test the relationship between job demands and resources and burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes in the workplace. In a meta-analysis of 203 independent samples (N = 186,440), we found support for a health impairment process and for a motivational process as mechanisms through which job demands and resources relate to safety outcomes. In particular, we found that job demands such as risks and hazards and complexity impair employees' health and positively relate to burnout. Likewise, we found support for job resources such as knowledge, autonomy, and a supportive environment motivating employees and positively relating to engagement. Job demands were found to hinder an employee with a negative relationship to engagement, whereas job resources were found to negatively relate to burnout. Finally, we found that burnout was negatively related to working safely but that engagement motivated employees and was positively related to working safely. Across industries, risks and hazards was the most consistent job demand and a supportive environment was the most consistent job resource in terms of explaining variance in burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes. The type of job demand that explained the most variance differed by industry, whereas a supportive environment remained consistent in explaining the most variance in all industries.