True self-alienation positively predicts reports of mindwandering

Two studies assessed the relationship between feelings of uncertainty about who one truly is (i.e., true self-alienation) and self-reported task-unrelated thoughts (i.e., mindwandering) during performance tasks. Because true self-alienation is conceptualized as the subjective disconnect between conscious awareness and actual experience, we hypothesized that greater feelings of true self-alienation would positively relate to subjective reports of mindwandering. Two convergent studies supported this hypothesis. Moreover, this relationship could not consistently be accounted for by the independent influence of other aspects of authenticity, negative mood, mindfulness, or broad personality dimensions. These findings suggest that individual differences in true self-alienation are reliably associated with subjective reports of mindwandering. The implications of these findings for the true self-alienation construct, the ways that personality relates to mindwandering, and future research directions focused on curtailing mindwandering and improving performance and achievement are discussed.     

Refusal Self‐Efficacy Among SMART Recovery Members by Affiliation Length and Meeting Frequency

Using the Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire, the authors examined the refusal self‐efficacy of 105 Self‐Management and Recovery Training (SMART Recovery) members according to their affiliation length and meeting frequency. Results demonstrated that longer affiliation with SMART Recovery and higher meeting frequency significantly enhanced substance refusal self‐efficacy.     

The relation between off-job recovery and job resources: person-level differences and day-level dynamics

It is well-known that recovery from work and job resources can counteract negative effects of high job demands, but less is known about how off-job recovery and job resources are related to each other. In this two-level daily diary study, 67 employees filled out daily surveys over the course of 8 days to examine this issue. Consistent with our expectations, multilevel analyses revealed that previous day’s detachment from work is positively related to the state of being recovered before going to work, and that the state of being recovered is positively related to one’s level of job resources. Moreover, the results indicated that both person-level differences and day-level dynamics play a role in these relations. Our study highlights the importance of recovering from work in the sense that it does not only help individuals by repairing negative strain effects but can also function as a catalyst in the activation of job resources.     

Strengths use and work engagement: a weekly diary study

The present study among 65 civil engineers investigates the impact of organizational support for strengths use on weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour. Positive psychology postulates that strengths use makes people feel authentic and efficacious. We argue that employees use these positive psychological states as resources that fuel work engagement and proactive work behaviour. Participants completed a general questionnaire regarding strengths use support, and a weekly quantitative diary questionnaire regarding their strengths use, self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour over a period of five consecutive workweeks. In line with the hypotheses, the results of multilevel structural equation analyses showed that organizational strengths use support was positively related to weekly strengths use. Furthermore, the results indicated that weekly strengths use was positively related to weekly work engagement and proactive behaviour, through weekly self-efficacy (sequential mediation). Although strengths use support contributed indirectly to work engagement (mediated by strengths use and self-efficacy), there was no significant indirect relationship with proactive behaviour. Our study indicates that strengths use is associated with employees’ levels of self-efficacy, work engagement, and proactive behaviour and that organizations can help employees to use their strengths more often by giving them the opportunity to do what they are good at.     

Entraînement à la prise de décision avec un serious gaming : délibération et conflits de valeurs

This research analyzes the use of serious gaming (simulator of helicopter) in a management training program for executives. We have observed 16 game sessions and interviewed 44 volunteer participants from the same company through this training program. We have identified few sparring matches between executives, mostly concerning the tasks commanded. The discussion is based on the “how to do” and not on the pursued purposes even when the instructions are ethically questionable. From the theoretical and methodological frame of the psychosociology of the work perspective (Lhuilier, 2013), our analysis highlighted the lack even the absence of collective deliberation before the decision-making process and their modalities in game experience and in real work, after the training program.     

Validation d’une version française de la Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS)

The main purpose of this study was to validate a questionnaire in French to assess the two dimensions of workaholism, namely excessive and compulsive work (see Schaufeli, Taris, & van Rhenen, 2008), in samples of French-speaking workers. We first translated the short version of the DUWAS (Schaufeli, Shimazu, & Taris, 2009) and then examined the factorial structure of this French version using confirmatory factor analyses. We also tested the convergent validity of the French version of the DUWAS by examining the relationships between workaholism and perceived stress. Data were collected in two samples of French workers from different sectors (n = 411 and n = 254). Theoretical and practical implications of this work are discussed.     

Psychological availability and work engagement: The moderating role of sex and race

This study sought to determine the relationship of sex and race as moderators of psychological availability on work engagement in various South African organisations. Participants were 1 059 employees predominantly from the corporate sector in Gauteng province (females = 61%, blacks = 36%). Cross-sectional survey data were collected from the employees using the Psychological Conditions Scale and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Moderated hierarchical regression analyses tested the prediction of work engagement from psychological availability, while controlling for the sex and race of employees. Psychological availability increased the level of work engagement for both men and women, the relationship, however, was stronger for women as compared to men. White employees were less work engaged compared to other race group members. Psychological availability was higher for the black, Indian, and coloured employees compared to white employees. The results confirmed the positive relationship of psychological availability on work engagement, and that sex and race differences exist for employees in a developing country.     

Labour discipline in a Christian Orthodox sisterhood in Russia*

This article discusses the issue of labour discipline in a Christian Orthodox organisation in Russia. The sisterhood which I analyse is the meeting point of two types of ‘work’: the ‘secular work’ of employed workers is embedded into the ‘religious work’ of the sisters who live a monastic life. I argue that the religious–economic mix of the sisterhood suggests that three employment models are evident: ‘work more, get less’, ‘work less, get more’ and ‘work for free’. Religious and economic spheres are mediated by labour which takes different forms, creating distinct, but related disciplinary labour spaces. I thread the concept of discipline through religious and economic discourses in the monastic workplace, the conflicts between the religious and economic motivations to work and the role of ‘emotional work’. The analysis is based on the participant observation, conducted over a period of four months while I was a staff member of the sisterhood.     

Voluntary work with sporting activities for Jewish children and teenagers: commitment to inclusiveness,Jewish identity,and a future Jewish life – an interview study

Membership in Jewish congregations seems to be declining and modern society has been described as a challenge to Jewishness and to the future for Jews as a people with shared characteristics and traditions. Activities for children and teenagers have gained increasing attention, since such activities might be a reassurance of a future Jewish life. To arrange such activities is, however, demanding and individuals who commit themselves to voluntary work are essential. In this study, six members of a Swedish Conservative congregation, who were committed to voluntary work with sporting activities for children and teenagers, were interviewed about the way in which they perceived their voluntary work. A thematic analysis was conducted. The volunteers concluded that everyone should feel included in the activities. They had a nuanced view of Jewish identity and also welcomed those who were not considered halakhically Jewish. Moreover, they wanted to support a positive Jewish identity in the new generation. Their work was perceived as meaningful even though they said that congregants who felt that the activities should adhere to Halakhah had criticized them. It is proposed that congregations should support voluntary workers and facilitate their efforts, otherwise experiences of misrecognition might evolve, experiences that are counterproductive for a vital congregational life.