Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature.

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance, 2% in turnover perceptions, 34% in job satisfaction, 24% in organizational commitment, and 26% in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9% of the variance in subjective performance, 24% in turnover intentions, 17% in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18% in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4% in job satisfaction and 16% in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High-quality work, job satisfaction, and occupational injuries.

The authors investigated whether and how 1 element of a high-performance work system, namely high-quality jobs (composed of extensive training, variety, and autonomy), affects occupational injuries. On the basis of data from the Australian WIRS95 database (N = 16,466; Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business, 1997), high-quality jobs exerted a direct effect on injuries and an indirect effect through the mediating influence of job satisfaction. Conceptual, methodological, and practical issues are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a global measure of job embeddedness and integration into a traditional model of voluntary turnover.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 96(6) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2011-20470-001). In the article, the authors published a seven-item measure of Global Job Embeddedness rated on a 5-point agreement scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Critical to job embeddedness theory and measures, this construct is designed to capture both organization and community factors that work together to embed or enmesh people in their current job and organization. Although they used instructions that ensured participants would consider both work and nonwork factors, these instructions were unintentionally omitted from the original published article. These instructions are included in the erratum, along with original items. Researchers are encouraged to use these instructions when using this scale.] Recent research on job embeddedness has found that both on- and off-the-job forces can act to bind people to their jobs. The present study extended this line of research by examining how job embeddedness may be integrated into a traditional model of voluntary turnover. This study also developed and tested a global, reflective measure of job embeddedness that overcomes important limitations and serves as a companion to the original composite measure. Results of this longitudinal study found that job embeddedness predicted voluntary turnover beyond job attitudes and core variables from traditional models of turnover. Results also found that job embeddedness interacted with job satisfaction to predict voluntary turnover, suggesting that the job embeddedness construct extends beyond the unfolding model of turnover (T. R. Mitchell & T. W. Lee, 2001) it originated from. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Impact of Job Characteristics on Work-to-Family Facilitation: Testing a Theory and Distinguishing a Construct.

This study used objective measures of job characteristics appended to the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS), self-reported job characteristics, and an individual resource characteristic (orientation toward personal growth) to test a theory of work-family facilitation. Results indicated that resource-rich jobs enable work-to-family facilitation. A higher level of work-to-family facilitation was reported by individuals in jobs with more autonomy and variety and whose jobs required greater substantive complexity and social skill. There was no support for the hypotheses that these effects would be more pronounced for individuals with higher levels of personal growth. The authors found significant differences in the strength of the associations of job characteristics with work-to-family facilitation and work-tofamily conflict, suggesting they are different constructs with distinct antecedents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job Strain or Healthy Work: A Question of Task Design.

Objectively evaluated task requirements were used to classify jobs causing high strain, low strain, and jobs conducive to personal development. Effects of these job characteristics on psychophysiological outcomes were tested in 241 employees by using 24-hr ambulatory assessment of blood pressure (BP), heart rate, and mood. Self-reports about job characteristics showed that employees working in jobs conducive to personal development perceived the highest job demands and decision latitude. They also showed a healthy cardiovascular behavior with increased diastolic BP at work and its strong unwinding at night. Although self-reports about job characteristics did not differ between low- and high-strain jobs, employees exposed to high-strain jobs had higher systolic and diastolic BP during work and more often a disturbed relaxation ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consensus in work role requirements: The influence of discrete occupational context on role expectations.

Although role theory has long described how expectations shape role behavior, little empirical research has examined differences among work role requirements and how features of the discrete occupational context may influence the extent to which role expectations are shared among role holders. The authors examined consensus in work role requirements from a sample of over 20,000 incumbents across 98 occupations. They found that consensus systematically decreased as work role requirements ranged from molecular tasks to responsibilities to molar traits. In addition, they found that consensus in these work role requirements was significantly influenced by the amount of interdependence, autonomy, and routinization present in the surrounding task and social contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How the rich (and happy) get richer (and happier): Relationship of core self-evaluations to trajectories in attaining work success.

In this study, the authors linked core self-evaluations to job and work success. Utilizing a dynamic design from participants in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth (NLSY79), core self-evaluations were hypothesized to predict individuals' intercepts (starting levels of success), and their growth trajectories (slope of individuals' success over time) with respect to job satisfaction, pay, and occupational status. Results indicated that higher core self-evaluations were associated with both higher initial levels of work success and steeper work success trajectories. Education and health problems that interfere with work mediated a portion of the hypothesized relationships, suggesting that individuals with high core self-evaluations have more ascendant jobs and careers, in part, because they are more apt to pursue further education and maintain better health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between general and specific attitudes toward work and objective job performance for outdoor advertising salesmen.

Product-moment correlations were computed between and among 10 scales measuring general and specific work attitudes and 2 objective, numerical measures of sales performance for 72 outdoor advertising salesmen who completed a 100-item attitude questionnaire. General work attitudes were positively related (r = .42, .46) to objective sales performance. In addition, attitudes toward supervision were strongly related to general work attitudes and other work aspects, suggesting that the supervisor really did represent the company to these salesmen who were on highly isolated jobs. Of some interest was the general low relationship between attitudes toward compensation and benefits to other attitudes and to actual job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Development of a global measure of job embeddedness and integration into a traditional model of voluntary turnover": Clarification to Crossley et al. (2007).

Reports an error in "Development of a global measure of job embeddedness and integration into a traditional model of voluntary turnover" by Craig D. Crossley, Rebecca J. Bennett, Steve M. Jex and Jennifer L. Burnfield (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2007[Jul], Vol 92[4], 1031-1042). In the article, the authors published a seven-item measure of Global Job Embeddedness rated on a 5-point agreement scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree). Critical to job embeddedness theory and measures, this construct is designed to capture both organization and community factors that work together to embed or enmesh people in their current job and organization. Although they used instructions that ensured participants would consider both work and nonwork factors, these instructions were unintentionally omitted from the original published article. These instructions are included in the erratum, along with original items. Researchers are encouraged to use these instructions when using this scale. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2007-09571-011.) Recent research on job embeddedness has found that both on- and off-the-job forces can act to bind people to their jobs. The present study extended this line of research by examining how job embeddedness may be integrated into a traditional model of voluntary turnover. This study also developed and tested a global, reflective measure of job embeddedness that overcomes important limitations and serves as a companion to the original composite measure. Results of this longitudinal study found that job embeddedness predicted voluntary turnover beyond job attitudes and core variables from traditional models of turnover. Results also found that job embeddedness interacted with job satisfaction to predict voluntary turnover, suggesting that the job embeddedness construct extends beyond the unfolding model of turnover (T. R. Mitchell & T. W. Lee, 2001) it originated from. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Acceptance and Job Control in Mental Health, Job Satisfaction, and Work Performance.

Acceptance, the willingness to experience thoughts, feelings, and physiological sensations without having to control them or let them determine one's actions, is a major individual determinant of mental health and behavioral effectiveness in a more recent theory of psychopathology. This 2-wave panel study examined the ability of acceptance also to explain mental health, job satisfaction, and performance in the work domain. The authors hypothesized that acceptance would predict these 3 outcomes 1 year later in a sample of customer service center workers in the United Kingdom (N = 412). Results indicated that acceptance predicted mental health and an objective measure of performance over and above job control, negative affectivity, and locus of control. These beneficial effects of having more job control were enhanced when people had higher levels of acceptance. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical relevance of this individual characteristic to occupational health and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Proactive personality in the context of job complexity.

This study examined the moderating influence of proactive personality (i.e., a disposition to initiate change in the environment) on the relationship between job complexity and demands–abilities fit (i.e., the extent to which a person's ability level matches the job demands), job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. It was found that for workers with a high proactive personality, moderate-to-high job complexity was positively associated with demands–abilities fit and job satisfaction; negatively with turnover intentions. Conversely, for workers with a low proactive personality, moderate-to-high job complexity was negatively associated with demands–abilities fit and job satisfaction; positively with turnover intentions. Many of the relationships were also curvilinear. This research supports the expansion of work design and job enrichment theories to include individual differences and a consideration of nonlinear relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction among school psychologists: A meta-analysis.

Meta-analytic techniques were used to analyze data from a collection of school psychologist job satisfaction studies that were conducted between 1982 and 1999. Eight studies, all of which used the Modified Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (m-MSQ) to measure job satisfaction among school psychologists, were included in the analysis. Two national studies and six state studies totaling 2,116 participants were analyzed. Results indicated that nearly 85% of school psychologists were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. School psychologists were most satisfied with their relationships with coworkers, the opportunity to stay busy on the job, the opportunity to work independently, and the opportunity to be of service to others. School psychologists were least satisfied with compensation, school policies and practices, and advancement. Findings were generally consistent between state and national studies, and between 1980s and 1990s studies. Results offered some evidence that overall job satisfaction may be related to state school psychology organization membership and to the opportunity to expand and influence the role of the school psychologist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work/family demands, work flexibility, work/family conflict, and their consequences at work: A national probability sample in Taiwan.

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work/family demands, work flexibility, work/family conflict, and work-related outcomes in the cultural context of Chinese society, using a national probability sample. For Taiwanese employees, work demands were positively related to work/family conflict, whereas both work and family demands were positively related to family/work conflict. Work/family conflict was negatively related to job satisfaction and family/work conflict to organizational commitment. More importantly, the authors found that organizational policies and practices such as work flexibility could alleviate feelings of work interfering with family, further enhancing job satisfaction and organizational commitment. It is recommended that various family-friendly company policies be reformulated taking into account core cultural values such as individualism-collectivism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job mobility, its determinants, and its effects: Longitudinal data from the Maastricht cohort study.

This prospective study of 12,140 employees examined the effects of work characteristics and situational, psychological, and health aspects on job mobility. Before job change, the mobility group reported significantly more conflicts with the supervisor, higher physical and emotional strain, higher degree of job insecurity, lower job satisfaction, and lower degree of commitment compared with employees who did not change jobs. After job change, the mobility group reported improved autonomy, task diversity, decreased occurrence of conflicts with the supervisor, decreased physical and emotional strain, and improved training possibilities and job security than before the change. Changing jobs had a positive effect on employees with respect to job perception and job satisfaction and led to reduced fatigue and need for recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building Healthy Workplaces: Where We Need to Be.

Many organizations are struggling to define a "healthy" workplace, to assess both the "healthy" and "unhealthy" aspects of their own environment, and to implement initiatives to improve the quality of their work and workplace. There is a huge body of literature documenting the direct and indirect costs of work stress. Research conducted primarily since the 1960s has identified the principal characteristics of jobs that affect well-being. There is a clear parallel between the literature addressing job design as a means of increasing motivation and organizational effectiveness and job design as a means of improving individual well-being. These observations and the supporting literature suggest three principal foundation blocks for a national strategy to address issues of work and mental health. We advocate a focus on the assessment of leading indicators of mental and physical health in the workplace. On the issue of job stress, the organizational research suggests a dual focus, not only on these types of stress management intervention, but also on changing the job stressors through activities such as job design and leadership training. Third, implementation of these first two points requires education and training at two levels: in the workplace and among mental-health professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

La constitution d’un milieu de travail sain: Où nous devons être.

Many organizations are struggling to define a "healthy" workplace, to assess both the "healthy" and "unhealthy" aspects of their own environment, and to implement initiatives to improve the quality of their work and workplace. There is a huge body of literature documenting the direct and indirect costs of work stress. Research conducted primarily since the 1960s has identified the principal characteristics of jobs that affect well-being. There is a clear parallel between the literature addressing job design as a means of increasing motivation and organizational effectiveness and job design as a means of improving individual well-being. These observations and the supporting literature suggest three principal foundation blocks for a national strategy to address issues of work and mental health. We advocate a focus on the assessment of leading indicators of mental and physical health in the workplace. On the issue of job stress, the organizational research suggests a dual focus, not only on these types of stress management intervention, but also on changing the job stressors through activities such as job design and leadership training. Third, implementation of these first two points requires education and training at two levels: in the workplace and among mental-health professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nonlinear effects of job complexity and autonomy on job satisfaction, turnover, and psychological well-being.

This study examines the interactive relationship between job complexity and job autonomy on job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and psychological well-being. It was hypothesized that the positive or motivating effects of job complexity are only realized when workers are given enough autonomy to effectively meet the challenges of complex jobs. Results show that not only do job complexity and job autonomy interact, but that the relationships to the outcome variables are curvilinear in form. Job complexity is shown to be both a motivator and a stressor when job autonomy is low. However, the most beneficial effects of job complexity occur when it is matched by a high level of job autonomy. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work-based resources as moderators of the relationship between work hours and satisfaction with work-family balance.

This study reports an investigation of the relationships of work hours, job complexity, and control over work time to satisfaction with work-family balance. Based on data from a sample of 570 telephone call center representatives, a moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed that work hours were negatively related to satisfaction with work-family balance, consistent with the resource drain perspective. Job complexity and control over work time were positively associated with satisfaction with work-family balance. Control over work time moderated the relationship such that as work hours rose, workers with low control experienced a decline in work-family balance satisfaction, while workers with high control did not. Results encourage greater research attention to work characteristics, such as job complexity and control over work time, and skills that represent resources useful to the successful integration of work and family demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job characteristics, flow, and performance: The moderating role of conscientiousness.

The present article aims to show the importance of positive work-related experiences within occupational health psychology by examining the relationship between flow at work (i.e., absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation) and job performance. On the basis of the literature, it was hypothesized that (a) motivating job characteristics are positively related to flow at work and (b) conscientiousness moderates the relationship between flow and other ratings of (in-role and out-of-role) performance. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 113 employees from several occupations. Results of moderated structural equation modeling analyses generally supported the hypotheses. Motivating job characteristics were predictive of flow, and flow predicted in-role and extra-role performance, for only conscientious employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The interactive effects of work-induced guilt and ability to manage resources on job and life satisfaction.

American workers are spending more time at work and less time at home than ever before-a consequence of which is an inability to devote adequate attention to nonwork activities. Utilizing a literal replication format (Lykken, 1968), the authors conducted two studies to examine the effects of work-induced guilt and the ability to manage work resources on job and life satisfaction. The authors found that work-induced guilt had its most negative association on job and life satisfaction when individuals were unable to manage work resources. Interestingly, the authors also found that work-induced guilt led to increases in job and life satisfaction when coupled with the ability to manage resources. Implications for theory and practice, strengths and limitations, and future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)