Engaged at Work and Happy at Home: A Spillover–Crossover Model

The current diary study among 50 Spanish dual-earner couples examines whether engagement at work has an impact on own and partners’ well-being. Based on the Spillover–Crossover model, we hypothesized that individuals’ work engagement would spill over to the home domain, increasing their happiness level at the end of the day. Moreover, we predicted a crossover of happiness between the members of the couple. Participants filled in a diary booklet during five consecutive working days (N = 100 participants and N = 500 occasions). The results of multilevel analyses showed that daily work engagement has a direct effect on daily happiness. We also found that employees’ daily work engagement influenced partner’s daily happiness through employees’ daily happiness. Finally, results showed a clear bidirectional crossover of daily happiness between both members of the couple. These findings indicate that the positive effects of work engagement go beyond the work setting and beyond the employee.     

From mental strain to burnout

This study examines the relationships between burnout and short-term consequences of mental strain within and outside human services professions, at the same time contributing to the understanding of the development of burnout as a long-term effect of impairing work and job design. A total of 294 German employees working in human services (N=149) and industrial production (N=145) completed the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and four scales measuring short-term consequences of mental strain. Results of factor analyses confirmed that the elements of the OLBI's two-factor structure-exhaustion and disengagement-are distinct from a range of impairing short-term consequences of mental strain. In addition, structural equation modelling showed that each burnout dimension is differentially related to specific short-term consequences of strain: Exhaustion is primarily related to mental fatigue, whereas disengagement is primarily related to satiation and the experience of monotony. The findings did not differ substantially for the two occupational groups. Burnout, as a long-term consequence of impairing mental strain, is distinct from and presumably temporally-causally related to specific impairing short-term consequences of mental strain, which, in turn, can be attributed to inadequate job design.     

The Job Demands and Resources Decision Making (JD-R-DM) Model

This study explores the effects of nurses’ daily job characteristics (i.e., job demands and resources) and general work engagement on their daily decision making (i.e., analytical and intuitive) and consequently their daily performance (i.e., task and contextual). Participants completed a baseline questionnaire and a diary for five consecutive days. Results reveal a positive influence of the job demands “work pressure” and “predictability” on analytical decision making. In turn, analytical decision making promotes task performance. Work pressure also negatively influences intuitive decision making which, in turn, stimulates task and contextual performance. However, the job resource (i.e., autonomy) had a nonsignificant relationship with decision making. General work engagement had positive effects on analytical decision making and moderated the relationship between intuitive decision making and contextual performance. For those high on work engagement, the relation was stronger compared to their counterparts low on work engagement. Results corroborate that expanding and testing decision-making theories can increase understanding on how the work environment and engagement influence employee decision making and performance.     

When fit matters more: The effect of regulatory fit on adaptation to change

Regulatory fit theory predicts that motivation and performance are enhanced when individuals pursue goals framed in a way that fits their regulatory orientation (promotion vs. prevention focus). Our aim was to test the predictions of the theory when individuals deal with change. We expected and found in three studies that regulatory fit is beneficial only when a prevention focus is involved. In Study 1, an experiment among students, prevention- but not promotion-focused participants performed better in a changed task when it was framed in fit with their regulatory orientation. In Study 2, a survey among employees experiencing organizational changes, only the fit between individual prevention (and not promotion) focus and prevention framing of the changes by the manager was associated with higher employee adaptation to changes. In Study 3, a weekly survey among employees undergoing organizational change, again only prevention regulatory fit was associated with lower employee exhaustion and higher employee work engagement. Theoretical and practical implications of applying regulatory focus theory to organizational change are discussed.     

Derived Trail Making Test indices: demographics and cognitive background variables across the adult life span

We examined the contribution of demographics and cognitive background variables (processing speed, visuospatial skill, working memory, and interference control) on derived Trail Making Test (TMT) scores in a large sample of Greek healthy participants. We included 775 participants and administered the TMT (TMT-A and TMT-B) and the Wechsler Intelligence Adult Scale (WAIS). Direct (TMT-A & TMT-B time-to-completion) and derived [difference TMT-(B ? A) & ratio TMT-(B/A)] scores were calculated. Demographics (age, age², education, and gender) and WAIS Full Intelligence Quotient significantly predicted the direct TMT-A (R² = 0.426) and TMT-B (R² = 0.593) scores and to a lesser extent, the derived TMT-(B ? A) (R² = 0.343) and TMT-(B/A) (R² = 0.088) scores. In a subsample of 537 healthy participants who also completed the Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test (SNST), demographics (age and education), WAIS Digit Symbol, Block Design, Arithmetic, and SNST accounted for 44.8% and 59.7% of the variance on TMT-A and TMT-B, and 32.5% and 9.6% of the variance on TMT-(B ? A) and TMT-(B/A), respectively. We found minimal influence of Block Design and Arithmetic on TMT-(B ? A) and an absence of significant influence of any cognitive variable on TMT-(B/A) score. Concluding, derived TMT scores are suggested as indices to detect impairment in cognitive flexibility across the adult life span, since they minimize the effect of demographics and other cognitive background variables.     

Cognitive deficits presenting as psychiatric symptoms in a patient with Moyamoya disease

The case of a middle-aged man who had intraventricular hemorrhages secondary to Moyamoya disease (MMD), and initially, presented with psychiatric symptoms which did not respond to treatment is described. Neuropsychological assessment showed underlying significant cognitive deficits, mostly of complex attention and speed of information processing, visuospatial and constructional abilities, verbal and nonverbal memory, and executive functions. These deficits remained stable or slightly improved in follow-up assessments. Cognitive dysfunction should be suspected in case of psychiatric or psychiatric-related symptoms in MMD patients. This case study in Greece highlights the range of preserved and impaired cognitive functions in adult MMD by means of repeated neuropsychological evaluations in which a broad range of cognitive abilities were assessed.     

Job crafting and extra-role behavior: The role of work engagement and flourishing

This study investigates whether crafting of job demands and resources relates positively to extra-role behavior (i.e. contextual performance and creativity) through work engagement and flourishing. We collected data from 294 employees and their supervisors regarding employees' contextual performance and creativity. Results show that seeking resources had a positive indirect relationship with contextual performance through work engagement, and with creativity through work engagement and flourishing. Reducing demands had negative indirect relationships with both contextual performance and creativity through work engagement. We conclude that particularly seeking resources has important implications for extra-role behavior and discuss the practical implications of these findings.     

How job demands affect partners' experience of exhaustion: integrating work-family conflict and crossover theory

This study among 168 couples of dual-earner parents uses insights from previous work-family conflict and crossover research to propose an integrative model delineating how job demands experienced by men and women carry over to the home domain. The authors hypothesized that for both men and women, job demands foster their own work-family conflict (WFC), which in turn contributes to their partners' home demands, family-work conflict (FWC), and exhaustion. In addition, they hypothesized that social undermining mediates the relationship between individuals' WFC and their partners' home demands. The results of structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for the proposed model. The hypothesis that gender would moderate the model relationships was rejected. These findings integrate previous findings on work-family conflict and crossover theories and suggest fluid boundaries between the work and home domains.     

The loss spiral of work pressure, work-home interference and exhaustion: Reciprocal relations in a three-wave study

This study tested the ‘loss spiral’ hypothesis of work-home interference (WHI). Accordingly, work pressure was expected to lead to WHI and exhaustion, and, vice versa, exhaustion was expected to result in more WHI and work pressure over time. Results of SEM-analyses using three waves of data obtained from 335 employees of an employment agency offered strong support for this hypothesis. It was found that T1 work pressure and exhaustion were determinants of T2 and T3 WHI, whereas T1 WHI was a causal determinant of T2 and T3 exhaustion and work pressure. In addition, work pressure and exhaustion had causal and reversed causal relationships over time. These empirical findings suggest that common theoretical models postulating the causal chain of work pressure → WHI → exhaustion are inadequate. Rather, more elaborated models including reciprocal relationships between work characteristics, WHI and employee well-being seem more appropriate.     

Job demands and job resources as predictors of absence duration and frequency

This study among 214 nutrition production employees uses the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model to predict future company registered absenteeism. According to this model, job demands are primarily responsible for health impairment, whereas job resources lead primarily to increased motivation and attachment to work and the organization. Consistent with hypotheses derived from the JD-R model and the absenteeism literature, results of structural equation modeling analyses show that job demands are unique predictors of burnout (i.e., exhaustion and cynicism) and indirectly of absence duration, whereas job resources are unique predictors of organizational commitment, and indirectly of absence spells. These findings have implications for individual and organizational interventions aimed at reducing absenteeism.