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.     

Applying the Bradley-Terry-Luce method to P-E fit

This study attempted to increase the size of the correlation between person-environment (P-E) fit and job satisfaction by rescaling the instrumentation of the Theory of Work Adjustment using the Bradley-Terry-Luce method and a probability-based fit index. This approach worked as well as, but failed to outperform, the currently used correlation-based fit index. However, a probability-based fit index offers the advantage of being intuitively easier to understand than a correlation-based index. The very high correlation between the correlation-based fit index and the probability-based fit index suggests that both assess the same construct. It is argued that, considering the restriction of range common to all assessments of job satisfaction, the correlation between fit index and job satisfaction may not represent an upper limit, but rather a lower bound of the relationship between P-E fit and job satisfaction.     

Differences in self-reported work ethic across three career stages

Miller and Woehr’s Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile (as described in Miller, Woehr, & Hudspeth, 2002) was used to examine differences in work ethic across career stages. Participants in the trial stage scored significantly higher on the hard work and delay of gratification dimensions, but participants in the stabilization and maintenance stages scored higher on the morality, wasted time, and leisure dimensions. No significant differences were found for centrality or self-reliance. The results provide evidence of the importance of studying work ethic across the lifespan and of the multidimensional nature of the work ethic construct.     

《淮南子·缪称训》所见子思《累德篇》考

《淮南子·缪称训》除首尾两段为编者所加前言后语外 ,其他悉为子思书佚文。而种种迹象表明 ,这篇佚文正是《后汉书》李贤注所提到的《累德篇》。该佚篇与子思的其他著作血肉相连 ,与郭店简中子思弟子遗著也存在着极为密切的关系。     

Eldercare demands, strain, and work engagement: The moderating role of perceived organizational support

Demographic changes give rise to an increasing number of middle-aged employees providing home-based care to an elderly family member. However, the potentially important role of employees' perceptions of organizational support for eldercare has so far not been investigated. The goal of this study was to examine a stressor–strain–outcome model (Koeske & Koeske, 1993) of eldercare strain as a mediator of the relationship between eldercare demands and caregivers' work engagement. Perceived organizational eldercare support was expected to attenuate the positive relationship between eldercare demands and eldercare strain and to buffer the negative relationship between eldercare strain and work engagement. Results of mediation and moderated mediation analyses with data collected from 147 employees providing eldercare supported the hypotheses. The findings suggest that perceived organizational eldercare support is especially beneficial for employees' work engagement when eldercare demands and strain are high.     

Évaluer la satisfaction envers l’espace de travail : développement d’une échelle et première validation

Organizational space is a meaningful environment that can contribute to the well-being of the individual or lead to dissatisfaction and stress. The objective of this research is to develop a scale of satisfaction of employees toward their work place and test its factorial structure and internal validity. Two principal satisfaction factors have been isolated in an exploratory study carried out among 214 participants. A second-order factorial structure has been established in a cross-validation of the scale during a confirmatory study applied to a second sample of 261 participants. The internal consistency of the satisfaction dimensions, the adequacy of the measurement model to the data, and the stability of the factorial structure are proof of the good psychometric qualities of this scale.     

Socialization and development of the work ethic among adolescents and young adults

Work ethic is part of a broader field of attitudes, identified as cultural conservatism. The results of this longitudinal study—three repeated measurements with 620 adolescents and one of their parents as participants—show that parents' social economic status and educational level are associated with their cultural conservatism, and with the educational level and cultural conservatism of their children. During adolescence, parents effectively transfer their own cultural (non-)conservatism to their children. These socialization factors of adolescent cultural conservatism and adolescent educational level are important determinants of their work ethic. Lower educational level and higher cultural conservatisms of adolescents predict a stronger work ethic. Work ethic is a stable type of attitude, with work ethic at a younger age strongly predicting work ethic at a later age.     

Convergence between measures of work-to-family and family-to-work conflict: A meta-analytic examination

The overlap between measures of work-to-family (WFC) and family-to-work conflict (FWC) was meta-analytically investigated. Researchers have assumed WFC and FWC to be distinct, however, this assumption requires empirical verification. Across 25 independent samples (total N = 9079) the sample size weighted mean observed correlation was .38 and the reliability corrected correlation was .48. The pattern of external correlates for the two types of conflict was also examined. Both forms of conflict had similar (.41) reliability corrected correlations with measures of organizational withdrawal. WFC conflict correlated .41 (k =  15, N = 4714) with job stressors and .17 (k = 13, N = 3312) with non-work stressors whereas FWC conflict correlated .27 with job stressors and .23 with non-work stressors. Correlations between the two forms of work/family conflict and other variables such as organizational commitment, job and life satisfaction, and health were examined. Implications for the discriminant validity of the two types of conflict measures are discussed.     

Examination of the structure of Irish students’ vocational interests and competence perceptions

A sample of 307 Irish high school students completed a modified version of the Personal Globe Inventory (PGI, Tracey, 2002). Results of separate principal components analyses demonstrated the presence of three substantive factors: People/Things, Data/Ideas, and Prestige, similar to the structure of the PGI in US samples (Tracey, 2002). The fit of Holland’s six-type RIASEC, the PGI eight-type model, and the PGI spherical structure to the data were examined using the randomized test of hypothesized order relations. The results demonstrated that each model fit the Irish data well. No structural differences were found between gender groups. The results support the structural validity of the modified PGI in an Irish context.     

Validating the theory of mental self-government in a non-academic setting

This study pioneered the investigation of the efficacy of the theory of mental self-government in a non-academic setting. Three hundred and thirty-three people from various business sectors in Guangzhou, PR China, volunteered to participate in the research. The participants responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised and to a range of questions concerning their actual and perceived work environments. Results indicated that the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised is reliable and valid for assessing the thinking styles of the participants. Furthermore, the participants’ reported work environments statistically predicted their thinking styles. Results supported Sternberg’s claim that the theory of mental self-government is a general theory of styles that applies to both academic and non-academic settings. Implications of the findings are discussed for organizational psychologists, human resource management personnel, providers of management training and development, as well as for the ordinary workforce.