Examining Type A behavior pattern to explain the relationship between job stressors and psychosocial outcomes.

Despite cautions against using a global measure of Type A behavior pattern (TABP), few studies have examined the TABP components of Achievement Striving (AS) and Impatience/Irritability (II). The authors examined these 2 components to assess whether they moderated the relationships between job stressors and psychosocial outcomes. Results based on 106 employees from a large Canadian organization supported the independence of the 2 TABP components. After controlling for the job stressors (i.e., overload, ambiguity, intrarole conflict, and lack of job control), II and AS accounted for additional variance in job satisfaction, perceived stress, and life satisfaction, although these components were uniquely related to different outcomes. Finally, AS and II moderated several of the stressor-psychosocial outcome relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature.

The authors reviewed more than 70 studies concerning employees' general belief that their work organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support; POS). A meta-analysis indicated that 3 major categories of beneficial treatment received by employees (i.e., fairness, supervisor support, and organizational rewards and favorable job conditions) were associated with POS. POS, in turn, was related to outcomes favorable to employees (e.g., job satisfaction, positive mood) and the organization (e.g., affective commitment, performance, and lessened withdrawal behavior). These relationships depended on processes assumed by organizational support theory: employees' belief that the organization's actions were discretionary, feeling of obligation to aid the organization, fulfillment of socioemotional needs, and performance-reward expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work and health outcomes among police officers: The mediating role of police cynicism and engagement.

This study examined the relationship between personality variables (Type A), job demands and job resources, and police cynicism and engagement, and also examined the mediating role of cynicism and work engagement in predicting both work and health related outcomes among police officers. The participants were 150 Norwegian police officers, and data were collected using questionnaires. Results showed that Type A behavior was related to both cynicism and engagement. As predicted, both job demands and lack of job resources were related to cynicism, and job resources were positively related to engagement. A series of regression analyses indicated direct relationships between Type A behavior, job demands and health complaints with no mediating effect of cynicism. Work engagement partially mediated the effects of individual characteristics, job demands and job resources on organizational commitment and self-efficacy. However, direct links between demands and resources and organizational commitment were also found, as well as direct links between Type A behavior, work demands and self-efficacy. The implications of work engagement for organizations were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job insecurity and employability in fixed-term contractors, agency workers, and permanent workers: Associations with job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment.

This study investigates how job insecurity and employability relate to job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment in permanent workers, fixed-term contract workers, and temporary agency workers. The authors hypothesized that (a) job insecurity relates negatively to job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment, and this relationship is strongest in permanent workers and weakest in temporary agency workers; and that (b) employability relates positively to job satisfaction and negatively to affective organizational commitment, and this relationship is strongest in temporary agency workers and weakest in permanent workers. Hypotheses were tested in workers (permanent: n = 329; fixed term; n = 160; temporary agency: n = 89) from 23 Belgian organizations. The results show that job insecurity related negatively to the outcomes for permanent workers and temporary agency workers. This relationship was not significant for fixed-term contract workers. Employability related negatively to the outcomes for fixed-term contract workers and temporary agency workers, and this relationship was not significant for permanent workers. The 3 groups had different interpretations of what constitutes a stressor and about what signals a good employment relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomy and workload among temporary workers: Their effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and self-rated performance.

This study investigates the role of autonomy and workload in explaining responses of temporary employees (N=189) compared with permanent employees (N=371) on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and performance. Results based on regression analyses suggest that the effects of contract type are not mediated by autonomy or by workload. Rather, this study partially supports hypotheses on the differential reactions of temporaries and permanents to autonomy or workload; autonomy was not predictive for temporaries' job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and workload was not predictive for temporaries' life satisfaction, whereas they were predictive for permanents' responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety at work: A meta-analytic investigation of the link between job demands, job resources, burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes.

In this article, we develop and meta-analytically test the relationship between job demands and resources and burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes in the workplace. In a meta-analysis of 203 independent samples (N = 186,440), we found support for a health impairment process and for a motivational process as mechanisms through which job demands and resources relate to safety outcomes. In particular, we found that job demands such as risks and hazards and complexity impair employees' health and positively relate to burnout. Likewise, we found support for job resources such as knowledge, autonomy, and a supportive environment motivating employees and positively relating to engagement. Job demands were found to hinder an employee with a negative relationship to engagement, whereas job resources were found to negatively relate to burnout. Finally, we found that burnout was negatively related to working safely but that engagement motivated employees and was positively related to working safely. Across industries, risks and hazards was the most consistent job demand and a supportive environment was the most consistent job resource in terms of explaining variance in burnout, engagement, and safety outcomes. The type of job demand that explained the most variance differed by industry, whereas a supportive environment remained consistent in explaining the most variance in all industries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stable predictors of job satisfaction, psychological strain, and employee retention: An evaluation of organizational change within the New Zealand Customs Service.

Recent changes in employment conditions have resulted in the increased exposure of workers to unfavorable job characteristics and to consequential increases in adverse individual and organizational health outcomes. In this article the authors evaluate the steps undertaken by one proactive employer to reduce these adverse outcomes. Three organization-wide surveys (n = 350, 316, and 405) were conducted over a 3-year period within the New Zealand Customs Service to determine the influence of perceived job conditions on individual and organizational health outcomes. Staff retention and employee satisfaction significantly improved over time and these increases were attributable to workplace improvements. Stable predictors of job satisfaction included minor daily stressors, positive work experiences, job control, and perceived supervisor support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reexamining the Job Satisfaction-Performance Relationship: The Complexity of Attitudes.

The present article argues that organizational researchers tend to adopt an overly simplistic conceptualization and operationalization of job satisfaction (and job attitudes in general). Specifically, past research has failed to examine the affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) of job attitudes and the implications this has for the strength of the attitude and its relationship with behavior (e.g., job performance). Results from Study 1 suggest ACC is a significant moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship, with those employees higher in ACC showing a significantly larger correlation between job satisfaction and performance than those lower in ACC. Study 2 replicated these findings. Implications for the study of job attitudes, limitations of the current studies, and multiple avenues for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior: A relational perspective.

Drawing from a relational approach, the authors conceptualize the quality of leader–member exchange as a mediator and procedural justice climate as a contextual moderator for understanding the role of proactive personality in job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. Data from a sample of 200 Chinese employees within 54 work groups were used to examine the hypothesized models. Results show that having a proactive personality was associated with employees establishing a high-quality exchange relationship with their supervisors; in turn, the quality of leader–member exchange was associated with greater job satisfaction and more organizational citizenship behaviors. Additionally, the relationship between proactive personality and organizational citizenship behavior was positively moderated by procedural justice climate within the group. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed. (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)     

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)     

Antecedents and outcomes of union loyalty: A constructive replication and an extension.

Primary data obtained from unionized employees in Singapore were used to examine P. A. Bamberger, A. N. Kluger, and R. Suchard's (1999) integrative model of the antecedents and outcomes of union commitment. Structural equation modeling results revealed support for their integrative model. Specifically, the results revealed the influence of job satisfaction on union loyalty to be indirect through organizational commitment. However, the union-related antecedents (union socialization and union instrumentality) were both directly and indirectly related to union loyalty through pro-union attitudes. In addition, union loyalty was related to the individually and organizationally directed union citizenship behavior dimensions. Limitations of the study and implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Conscientiousness and reactions to psychological contract breach: A longitudinal field study": Correction to Orvis, Dudley, & Cortina (2008).

Reports an error in "Conscientiousness and reactions to psychological contract breach: A longitudinal field study" by Karin A. Orvis, Nicole M. Dudley and Jose M. Cortina (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2008[Sep], Vol 93[5], 1183-1193). Six correlations in Table 1 on page 1187 are incorrectly reported. A corrected table is presented in the erratum, with corrected values in bold. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-12803-015.) The authors examined the role of employee conscientiousness as a moderator of the relationships between psychological contract breach and employee behavioral and attitudinal reactions to the breach. They collected data from 106 newly hired employees within the 1st month of employment (Time 1), 3 months later (Time 2), and 8 months after Time 1 (Time 3) to observe the progression through contract development, breach, and reaction. Results suggest that conscientiousness is a significant moderator for 4 of the 5 contract breach-employee reaction relationships examined (turnover intentions, organizational loyalty, job satisfaction, and 1 of 2 facets of job performance). Specifically, employees who were lower in conscientiousness had more negative reactions to perceived breach with respect to turnover intentions, organizational loyalty, and job satisfaction. In contrast, employees who were higher in conscientiousness reduced their job performance to a greater degree in response to contract breach. Future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Safety and Insecurity: Exploring the Moderating Effect of Organizational Safety Climate.

This research reconciled disparate findings regarding the relationship between job insecurity and safety by examining organizational safety climate as a potential moderator. It was predicted that a strong organizational safety climate would attenuate the negative effects of job insecurity on self-reported safety outcomes such as safety knowledge, safety compliance, accidents, and injuries. Data collected from 136 manufacturing employees were consistent with these predictions. Results are discussed in light of escalating interest in how organizational factors can affect employee safety. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work characteristics, learning-related outcomes, and strain: A test of competing direct effects, mediated, and moderated models.

Direct effect, mediated, and moderated models of the relationship among work characteristics (job control, job demands), learning-related outcomes (skill utilization, self-efficacy), and strain (anxiety, depression) were compared. Three independent samples of call center employees were used, 2 cross-sectional (Ns=427 and 203) and 1 longitudinal (N=144). Initial analysis of the cross-sectional samples using structural equation modeling revealed that mediated models provided the best fit to the data. Skill utilization mediated the effect of control on depression, and depression partially mediated the effect of control on skill utilization. Longitudinal hierarchical regression analysis confirmed these findings. Results indicate that, in this occupational context learning reduces strain, strain inhibits learning, and job control is an important precursor of both these relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conscientiousness and reactions to psychological contract breach: A longitudinal field study.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 95(5) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2010-18410-006). Six correlations in Table 1 on page 1187 are incorrectly reported. A corrected table is presented in the erratum, with corrected values in bold.] The authors examined the role of employee conscientiousness as a moderator of the relationships between psychological contract breach and employee behavioral and attitudinal reactions to the breach. They collected data from 106 newly hired employees within the 1st month of employment (Time 1), 3 months later (Time 2), and 8 months after Time 1 (Time 3) to observe the progression through contract development, breach, and reaction. Results suggest that conscientiousness is a significant moderator for 4 of the 5 contract breach-employee reaction relationships examined (turnover intentions, organizational loyalty, job satisfaction, and 1 of 2 facets of job performance). Specifically, employees who were lower in conscientiousness had more negative reactions to perceived breach with respect to turnover intentions, organizational loyalty, and job satisfaction. In contrast, employees who were higher in conscientiousness reduced their job performance to a greater degree in response to contract breach. Future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-interest and other-orientation in organizational behavior: Implications for job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative.

In this article, the authors develop the self-concern and other-orientation as moderators hypothesis. The authors argue that many theories on work behavior assume humans to be either self-interested or to be social in nature with strong other-orientation but that this assumption is empirically invalid and may lead to overly narrow models of work behavior. The authors instead propose that self-concern and other-orientation are independent. The authors also propose that job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative are a function of (a) individual-level attributes, such as job characteristics when employees are high in self-concern, and (b) group-level attributes, such as justice climate when employees are high in other-orientation. Three studies involving 4 samples of employees from a variety of organizations support these propositions. Implications are discussed for theory on work behavior and interventions geared toward job enrichment and team-based working. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feeling recovered and thinking about the good sides of one’s work.

Consistent with a positive psychology perspective, this longitudinal study investigated relations between positive and negative nonwork experiences (i.e., feeling recovered, thinking about the positive and negative aspects of one’s work during leisure time) with different job performance dimensions. In total, 358 employees working with persons with special needs responded to two questionnaires at an interval of 6 months. Results from hierarchical regression analyses showed that feeling recovered during leisure time predicted an increase in task performance after 6 months. This relation was mediated by occupational self-efficacy. Positive work reflection was found to predict an increase in proactive behavior (personal initiative, creativity) and organizational citizenship behavior. Negative work reflection was unrelated to job performance. Our results emphasize the role of positive nonwork experiences for employees’ job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of war exposure on air force personnel's mental health, job burnout and other organizational related outcomes.

Longitudinal data from a stratified representative sample of U.S. Air Force personnel (N = 1009) deployed to the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations were analyzed in this study. Using structural equation models, we examined the effects of war exposure on traumatic experiences, Post Traumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms, resource loss, and on subsequent functioning, perceived health, and on job and organizationally relevant outcomes. The job and organizational outcomes included job burnout, job involvement, job strain, job satisfaction, work-family conflict, organizational commitment, deployment readiness, and intention to reenlist. We found that deployment to the theater of the war increased risk of exposure to trauma, which in turn, predicted elevated PTS symptoms and resource loss. PTS symptoms predicted later loss of resources and deterioration in perceived health and functioning. In turn, resource loss predicted negative job and organizational outcomes. Exposure to trauma fully mediated the effects of deployment to the theater of war on PTS symptoms and resource loss and had additional significant indirect effects on several job and organizational relevant outcomes. For returning veterans, deployment to the theater of war, exposure to trauma, PTS symptoms, and resource loss represents a “cascading” chain of events that over time results in a decline of health and functioning as well as in adverse job and organizationally relevant outcomes that may affect organizational effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of psychological hardiness, job demands, and job control on sickness absence: A prospective study.

This study prospectively investigated the effects of psychological hardiness, job control, and job demands on medically certified sickness absence. Data from a questionnaire survey were combined with archival data for sickness absence among 7,239 civilian and military employees of the Norwegian Armed Forces (84.3% male, 69.8% military). A 2-component hurdle regression was used in the statistical analyses of the sickness absence data. After controlling for age, sex, and baseline absence, hardiness predicted both the likelihood of having any sickness absence (odds ratio = 0.97) and the number of absence spells (a 6.5% decrease in the expected count for 1 standard deviation change in hardiness). In addition, an interaction was found among hardiness, job control, and psychological demands. When demands were high, high job control was associated with more absence among employees with low levels of hardiness. Together, these findings point to hardiness as an important individual resource in relation to health, and that it is necessary to consider individual differences when examining the effects of work characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)