The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout: A Two Sample Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach

This study examines the factorial structure of a new instrument to measure engagement, the hypothesized `opposite' of burnout in a sample of university students (N=314) and employees (N=619). In addition, the factorial structure of the Maslach-Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS) is assessed and the relationship between engagement and burnout is examined. Simultaneous confirmatory factor analyses in both samples confirmed the original three-factor structure of the MBI-GS (exhaustion, cynicism, and professional efficacy) as well as the hypothesized three-factor structure of engagement (vigor, dedication, and absorption). Contrary to expectations, a model with two higher-order factors – burnout and engagement – did not show a superior fit to the data. Instead, our analyses revealed an alternative model with two latent factors including: (1) exhaustion and cynicism (core of burnout); (2) all three engagement scales plus efficacy. Both latent factors are negatively related and share between 22% and 38% of their variances in both samples. Despite the fact that slightly different versions of the MBI-GS and the engagement questionnaire had to be used in both samples the results were remarkably similar across samples, which illustrates the robustness of our findings.     

Pre-Hispanic perspectives on the modern Mexican psyche; contemporary subjects and ancient objects. A Mayan text of evolution: the stages of creation in the Popol Vuh or sacred book of the Mayans

The ancestral tribes of Mexico, like any people living within a certain culture, may be affected by the archetypal images and values of their surroundings. Access to the imagery of the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh, has provided an orientation in my analytical work with Mexican patients as they attempt to recreate themselves by engaging their conflicts around their reality, individuality and capacity to relate. I will address the psychological meaning of the different stages of creation: the original creative event, the man of mud, the man of wood, the false sun and the man of corn. With these images, I will illustrate their clinical application in analytic work with three Mexican middle age male patients dealing with different issues of identity and with a young female patient struggling to separate from a manipulative and destructive family system.     

Measuring moral disengagement with a situational judgment test: Advancing the assessment of an important workplace construct

Moral disengagement (MD) has been characterized as a uniquely important predictor of counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs). This study describes the development and validation of a situational judgment test (SJT) for measuring MD in the workplace, which offers potential advantages over existing Likert‐type scales. The development/validation efforts involved two independent rounds of subject‐matter expert (SME) review and data collected from three independent samples. The resulting test, labeled the MD‐SJT, displayed high reliability, was related to an established measure of MD as well as hypothesized personality variables, and was incrementally predictive of CWBs above the established measure of MD. This study advances knowledge pertaining to the assessment of MD, which is a critically important construct in the workplace.     

Technologies émergentes et transformations digitales de l’activité : enjeux pour l’activité et la santé au travail

The question of the introduction of emerging technologies and their incessant renewal in organizations basically refers to the place and role that these devices play in activity, as well as how they can affect activity and health at work … Thought as a prospective reflection trying to grasp the logic and the modalities of the digital transformations in progress, the ambition of this paper is: (i) first, identify and characterize the emerging technologies that are deployed in the company; (ii) discuss their impact on the activity and well-being of employees, showing the uses and paradoxical effects that these devices can have on work; and (iii) finally think about the psychosocial function of these devices as potential health and business development operators.     

Work–family conflicts,cognitive appraisal,and burnout: Testing the mediation effect with structural equation modelling

Work–family conflict constitutes an important source of occupational stress predicting teachers’ burnout, and cognitive variables have shown to be core structures in explaining human adaptation to stress. Nevertheless, the role of cognitive appraisal needs to be fully analysed to comprehend how it can mediate the relationship between stress and burnout. In order to understand the potential mediation of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between stress and burnout, we adopted conceptual models of stress that highlighted the value of cognitive appraisal on positive and negative reactions to work demands. Also, we analysed the potential moderation of sex and age in the relationship between work–family conflict, cognitive appraisal, and burnout due to inconsistent findings on how these personal variables can interfere on these relations. In this study, we used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the mediating of cognitive appraisal in the relationship between work–family conflicts and burnout. A survey with measures of work–family conflicts, cognitive appraisal, and burnout was administered to the participants consisting of 438 Portuguese teachers from kindergarten through high school, aged between 28 and 67 years (M = 46.85; SD = 7.88), 304 of whom were females (69.41%). The results confirmed that cognitive appraisal partially mediated the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout. The mediation effect of cognitive appraisal on the relationship between work–family conflict and burnout was invariant regardless of teachers’ sex or age. In sum, cognitive appraisal should be considered in order to understand teachers’ adaptation to work.     

Within‐person Relationship between Creative Self‐efficacy and Individual Creativity: The Mediator of Creative Process Engagement and the Moderator of Regulatory Focus

Integrating the dynamic self‐regulatory framework with the motivational self‐regulation perspective, we theorize and test how and when creative self‐efficacy increases individual creativity at the within‐person level. Conceptualizing creative process engagement as a self‐regulation effort, we theorize that creative process engagement mediates the within‐person effect of creative self‐efficacy on individual creativity. We further explore how creative self‐efficacy and chronic regulatory focus interact to affect the within‐person mediating effect. A sample of 145 R&D workers provided two monthly reports for their creative activities and experiences over 8 months. The findings provide empirical support for the hypothesized mediating mechanism. At the within‐person level, creative process engagement mediates the relationship between creative self‐efficacy and individual creativity. The results also show that chronic regulatory focus moderated the mediated relationship. Specifically, creative self‐efficacy is positively related to individual creativity for employees with a strong prevention focus and negatively related to individual creativity for employees with a strong promotion focus.     

Shared leadership development and team performance: A new look at the dynamics of shared leadership

The present study offers new theoretical insights into the dynamics of shared leadership. Integrating arguments from shared leadership and team development theory, we examine how shared leadership changes over the course of a project team's life cycle and how this pattern of change relates to team performance. Guided by shared leadership theory and project team literature, we also explore team‐level factors, which may alter the pattern of shared leadership development. In particular, we propose that in project teams shared leadership develops in a nonuniform way, approximating an inverted U‐shaped pattern, increasing early in the team's life cycle, peaking around the midpoint, and then decreasing in the later phase. In turn, this development pattern relates positively to team performance. We also extend theory by explaining how specific team characteristics influence the pattern of shared leadership development. Using a three‐study approach, we empirically examine the hypothesized relationships and conclude with a general discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.     

“激将法”会激发还是打击员工?感知能力不被领导信任的“双刃剑”效应

感知能力不被领导信任是信任研究的重要内容。已有研究普遍认为感知不被领导信任会对员工的自我产生不利影响。相反, 传统领导方式“激将法”则认为领导的不信任可以刺激员工展现更好的自我。为了解释上述矛盾, 本研究基于自我评价理论和心理逆反理论, 采用实验研究和多源多时间点问卷调查研究方法, 探讨了感知能力不被领导信任对员工自我的“双刃剑”效应及边界条件。研究结果表明, 当员工感知领导能力较强时, 感知能力不被领导信任会通过降低员工的工作效能感削弱员工的工作努力和绩效表现; 当员工感知领导能力较弱时, 感知能力不被领导信任会通过增强员工证明自我能力动机提升员工的工作努力和绩效表现。     

Client attendance measures in counselling psychology trainees

Counselling supervisors and educators have yet to reach a consensus about standard measures for evaluating the performance of graduate student therapists. Compared to self‐reports and rater judgements, client attendance records provide low‐inference behavioural data partially reflective of clients’ engagement with therapists. This naturalistic study evaluates client attendance data using archival records of 92 doctoral students in beginning and advanced counselling practica who produced data for 771 clients, 3,949 scheduled sessions and 3,186 attended sessions. Providing evidence of the sample representativeness for clinicians, results indicated that the mean number of sessions attended per client for student therapists (5.65) was very similar to that reported in the literature for outpatient therapists (<6). As expected because of structural differences in client assignment, beginning and advanced students evidenced statistically significant differences on attendance variables such as number of clients and scheduled sessions. In contrast, attendance ratios were equivalent across counsellor experience, suggesting that these individual difference variables could be useful for evaluation of therapist competencies related to client engagement.     

Psychological capital bolsters motivation,engagement, and achievement: Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has been widely investigated in the organizational context. However, limited attention has been given to the role of PsyCap in the academic setting. The primary objective of this study was to examine how PsyCap is associated with academic motivation, engagement, and achievement using both cross-sectional (Study 1) and longitudinal (Study 2) approaches. Study 1 revealed that PsyCap was associated with higher autonomous motivation and controlled motivation even after controlling for relevant demographic variables. PsyCap was also associated with lower levels of amotivation. Study 2 showed that PsyCap was both a concurrent and prospective predictor of autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, academic engagement, and academic achievement even after controlling for their respective autoregressors and other relevant covariates. Mediational analyses indicated that the effects of T1 PsyCap on T2 achievement and T2 engagement were mediated by T2 autonomous motivation. The theoretical and practical implications are elucidated.