Job characteristics, work–school conflict, and school outcomes among adolescents: Testing a structural model.

A conceptual model of work–school conflict was developed and tested. This study extends prior adolescent employment research by investigating the process by which job characteristics are associated with school outcomes. Data were obtained from a sample of 319 adolescents (16 to 19 years old) who were full-time students and part-time workers. The model was tested using structural equation modeling techniques. Results supported the hypothesized path model. Job characteristics (workload, number of work hours, and job dissatisfaction) were positively related to work–school conflict. Work–school conflict was negatively related to school readiness. School readiness was positively related to school performance, which was negatively associated with school dissatisfaction. In addition, results support a feedback relation, such that school dissatisfaction is negatively related to school readiness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aptitudes, interests, and personality characteristics of farmers.

A group of 50 farmers were administered the DAT, the Kuder Preference Record, and the MMPI, and scores were related to two criterion measures—the Brayfield-Rothe job satisfaction index and instructor's rankings of on-the-job performance. Their personality test pattern was within the normal range, job satisfaction and job performance were unrelated, but distinctive aptitude and interest test profiles emerged. "Numerical ability and scientific interest were found to be positively and significantly related to performance on the job. Literary interest was negatively but significantly related to job satisfaction. The Depression and Social Introversion-Extroversion scales on the MMPI were negatively but significantly correlated with job satisfaction." 16 references. (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 involvement and satisfaction as related to mental health and personal time devoted to work.

A week-long daily record and self-report measures of job involvement, satisfaction, and mental health were completed by 54 female elementary school teachers. Results show that devoting personal time to work-related activities was positively associated with job involvement, but unrelated to job satisfaction. Mental health was positively related to job satisfaction, but did not correlate significantly with involvement. These differential relationships support the view that satisfaction and involvement should be thought of as separate and distinct job attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of job characteristics to job involvement, satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation.

Administered questionnaires to 291 scientists working in research and development laboratories. Results of a factor analysis indicate that job-involvement attitudes, higher order need-satisfaction attitudes, and intrinsic-motivation attitudes should be thought of as separate and distinct kinds of attitudes toward a job. These 3 types of attitudes related differentially to job design factors and to job behavior. Satisfaction proved to be related to such job characteristics as the amount of control the job allowed the holder and the degree to which it is seen to be relevant to the holder's valued abilities. Satisfaction was not related to either self-rated effort or performance. Job involvement, like satisfaction, bore a significant relationship to certain job characteristics; unlike satisfaction, however, involvement was positively related to self-rated effort. Intrinsic motivation was less strongly related to the job characterisitcs measured, but was more strongly related to both effort and performance than was either satisfaction or involvement. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among U.S. managers.

This study proposes that self-reported work stress among U.S. managers is differentially related (positively and negatively) to work outcomes depending on the stressors that are being evaluated. Specific hypotheses were derived from this general proposition and tested using a sample of 1,886 U.S. managers and longitudinal data. Regression results indicate that challenge-related self-reported stress is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to job search. In contrast, hindrance-related self-reported stress is negatively related to job satisfaction and positively related to job search and turnover. Future research directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderators of the Relationships Between Coworkers' Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Fellow Employees' Attitudes.

The authors developed and tested the prediction that the relationship hetween coworkers' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and fellow employees' attitudes depends on the supervisors' abusiveness. Results of a longitudinal study using data collected from 173 supervised employees at 2 points in time (separated by 7 months) suggested that coworkers' OCB was positively related to fellow employees' job satisfaction and affective commitment when abusive supervision was low. However, when abusive supervision was high, coworkers' OCB was negatively related to job satisfaction and was unrelated to organizational commitment. The results of a 2nd study were consistent with the idea that the attributions employees make for their coworkers' OCB explains the moderating effect of abusive supervision on the relationship between coworkers' OCB and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomic feedback in stressful environments: How do individual differences in autonomic feedback relate to burnout, job performance, and job attitudes in salespeople?

Individual differences in autonomic feedback—the dispositional tendency to experience signs and symptoms of autonomic nervous system activity in response to positive and negative emotionally evocative stimuli—were hypothesized to relate to affective and behavioral job outcomes in occupations characterized by job stress because higher autonomic feedback would intensify reactions to emotional evocation. In a cross-sectional study of Dutch salespeople, individual differences in autonomic feedback were independent of role stress and yet were strongly and positively related to burnout and negatively related to extra-role performance and job satisfaction; they were also nonsignificantly and negatively related to in-role job performance. Further, when job stress was higher–high role stress or low managerial support–individual differences in autonomic feedback were more strongly related to burnout, especially emotional exhaustion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between job difficulty, employee's attitude toward his job, and supervisory ratings of the employee effectiveness.

Using correlational techniques, an investigation was made of the relationships between job difficulty (estimated by job evaluation factors), employee attitudes toward his job, and job environment, and supervisory ratings of employee performance. As job difficulty increased, employee attitudes were significantly more positive toward the job, management, and communication, and opportunity for advancement. Partial correlations showed that the relationship between job satisfaction and job difficulty increased when the effects of general morale were eliminated. Supervisory ratings of employee effectiveness were significantly rated (negatively) to employee salary and job tenure. Correlations between employee's attitude dimensions indicate increasing complexity of job content and increased content with people as a part of the job, are positively related to an employee's attitude toward his job. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Participation in decision making as a strategy for reducing job-related strain.

Proposed a causal model that describes the effect of participation in decision making on perceived influence, role conflict, role ambiguity, personal and job-related communications, social support, emotional strain, overall job satisfaction, absenteeism, and turnover intention. The model was tested using a Solomon 4-group design and modified to include 2 posttests; it was conducted in a hospital outpatient facility with 95 nursing and clerical employees who were randomly assigned to an increased-participation or a control condition and to a pretest or no-pretest condition. Outcomes were assessed after 3 and 6 mo. Analysis provided support for a somewhat revised model. After 6 mo, participation was shown to have a significant, negative effect on role conflict and role ambiguity and a positive effect on perceived influence. Role conflict and ambiguity were, in turn, positively related to emotional strain and negatively related to job satisfaction. Emotional strain was positively related to absence frequency and turnover intention. Perceived influence was positively related to job satisfaction and positively related to turnover intention. Participation in decision making appeared to be an important causal determinant of role strains, which were, in turn, important precursors of both individual and organizational outcomes. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remaining time and opportunities at work: Relationships between age, work characteristics, and occupational future time perspective.

The authors adapted the concept of future time perspective (FTP) to the work context and examined its relationships with age and work characteristics (job complexity and control). Structural equation modeling of data from 176 employees of various occupations showed that age is negatively related to 2 distinct dimensions of occupational FTP: remaining time and remaining opportunities. Work characteristics (job complexity and control) were positively related to remaining opportunities and moderated the relationship between age and remaining opportunities, such that the relationship became weaker with increasing levels of job complexity and control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of role conflict and role ambiguity to job involvement measures.

Obtained measures of role conflict, role ambiguity, and various job involvement variables for 61 high-level managers. Role conflict was negatively related to the amount of reported influence and positively related to the amount of perceived threat and anxiety. Role ambiguity was negatively correlated with job satisfaction and influence, and positively related to job threat and anxiety. It is suggested that organizational level be taken into account when studying the relationship of role stress factors with job involvement measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

College student employment and drinking: A daily study of work stressors, alcohol expectancies, and alcohol consumption.

We examined the within-person relationships between daily work stressors and alcohol consumption over 14 consecutive days in a sample of 106 employed college students. Using a tension reduction theoretical framework, we predicted that exposure to work stressors would increase alcohol consumption by employed college students, particularly for men and those with stronger daily expectancies about the tension reducing properties of alcohol. After controlling for day of the week, we found that hours worked were positively related to number of drinks consumed. Workload was unrelated to alcohol consumption, and work-school conflict was negatively related to consumption, particularly when students expressed strong beliefs in the tension reducing properties of alcohol. There was no evidence that the effects of work stressors were moderated by sex. The results illustrate that employment during the academic year plays a significant role in college student drinking and suggest that the employment context may be an appropriate intervention site to address the problem of student drinking. (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)     

An examination of the mediating role of psychological empowerment on the relations between the job, interpersonal relationships, and work outcomes.

A field investigation of 337 employees and their immediate superiors tested the mediating role of empowerment in relations between job characteristics, leader–member exchange (LMX), team–member exchange (TMX), and work outcomes. The meaning and competence dimensions of empowerment mediated the relation between job characteristics and work satisfaction. The meaning dimension also mediated the relation between job characteristics and organizational commitment. Contrary to prediction, empowerment did not mediate relations between LMX, TMX, and the outcome variables. Rather, LMX and TMX were directly related to organizational commitment. In addition, TMX was directly related to job performance. These findings suggest that work satisfaction is explained largely by job characteristics (through empowerment) but that LMX and TMX combine with job characteristics and empowerment to explain variation in organizational commitment and job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Role perceptions, satisfaction, and performance: A partial reconciliation.

Role theory hypothesizes that role conflict and role ambiguity are negatively related to job satisfaction and performance. Results of recent research indicate, however, that role conflict and role ambiguity are not always negatively related to job satisfaction and performance: Sometimes no relationships are found. The present study used a rationale suggested by previous research and role theory to reconcile the inconsistent results of previous research. Data were obtained from 331 questionnaires completed by employees of a large manufacturing firm. The rationale for reconciliation was based upon the organization level of the employee. Role ambiguity was hypothesized to have a greater negative relationship than role conflict with job satisfaction and performance for employees at higher levels in an organization. Conversely, role conflict was hypothesized to have a greater negative relationship than role ambiguity with job satisfaction and performance for employees at lower levels in an organization. Results support the hypothesized relationships with job satisfaction but not with performance. The lack of support for the performance hypotheses is discussed in terms of an ability-adaptability phenomenon. (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)     

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 consequences of psychological and team empowerment in organizations: A meta-analytic review.

This paper provides meta-analytic support for an integrated model specifying the antecedents and consequences of psychological and team empowerment. Results indicate that contextual antecedent constructs representing perceived high-performance managerial practices, socio-political support, leadership, and work characteristics are each strongly related to psychological empowerment. Positive self-evaluation traits are related to psychological empowerment and are as strongly related as the contextual factors. Psychological empowerment is in turn positively associated with a broad range of employee outcomes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and task and contextual performance, and is negatively associated with employee strain and turnover intentions. Team empowerment is positively related to team performance. Further, the magnitude of parallel antecedent and outcome relationships at the individual and team levels is statistically indistinguishable, demonstrating the generalizability of empowerment theory across these 2 levels of analysis. A series of analyses also demonstrates the validity of psychological empowerment as a unitary second-order construct. Implications and future directions for empowerment research and theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)