Adolescents who work: Health and behavioral consequences of job stress.

Compared 212 10th and 11th graders holding their 1st part-time jobs with 319 youngsters who had never worked, with respect to self-reported frequency of psychological and physical health symptoms, school absence, and use of cigarettes, alcohol, marihuana, and other drugs. These aspects of health and well-being, along with job absence, were examined in the workers as a function of exposure to 6 types of job stress and to significant life changes. Findings indicate that workers, especially boys, reported fewer somatic symptoms than nonworkers; and that boys who worked under stress reported fewer somatic and psychological symptoms than boys who held less stressful jobs. Exposure to job stress was related to alcohol and marihuana use for both boys and girls. Although poor environmental conditions appeared to operate as a stressor for both sexes, some stressors were sex-specific: Constraints on autonomy adversely affected boys but not girls, whereas an impersonal work setting adversely affected girls but not boys. No support was found for the hypothesis that the effects of job stress are accentuated by more general life stress. These findings indicate that adolescents who work experience both benefits and disadvantages. However, closer examination of the apparent positive effects of working on boy's health suggests alternative explanations. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational stress: measuring job pressure and organizational support in the workplace

Person-environment fit and demand-control theoretical models developed to explain stress and strain in the workplace have guided the construction of most measures of occupational stress. The strengths and limitations of 8 job stress measures are briefly reviewed, and the Job Stress Survey (JSS), designed to assess the severity and frequency of occurrence of 30 specific sources of occupational stress, is described in some detail. Factor analyses of responses to the JSS items identified Job Pressure and Lack of Organizational Support as major dimensions of occupational stress for male and female employees in a wide variety of work settings. JSS Index, scale, subscale, and item scores assess general and specific aspects of the work environment that are most distressing for individual workers and that adversely affect groups of employees.     

Occupational group as a moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship.

In a study of 2 occupational groups at small scientific stations in Antarctica, the motivations of 129 Navy enlished men who volunteer were less related to their specific jobs in the Antarctic than those of 66 civilian scientists. Results confirm the hypothesis that occupational group is a moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship, and that the relationship is more pronounced for the scientist group than for the Navy enlisted group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job stress and job performance controversy revisited: An empirical examination in two countries.

This study examined the relationship between the measures of job stress and job performance among employees working in a large North American-based multinational corporation in Malaysia (N = 305) and Pakistan (N = 325). Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire from employees on job stress and turnover intention. Job performance and absenteeism data were obtained from the company's records. In both countries, data were more supportive of the negative linear relationship between stress and performance than other types of relationships. Overall, 90% of comparisons supported the negative linear relationship, whereas a u-shaped/curvilinear relationship was supported in 10% of instances. Implications of the findings are discussed for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Wedded to the job: Moderating effects of job involvement on the consequences of job insecurity.

Two hundred eighty-three public-sector employees experiencing a workplace reorganization completed surveys assessing the relationships between job involvement and job insecurity on self-report measures of psychological, behavioral, and physical outcomes. Using C. L. Hulin's (see record 1993-97200-008) job adaptation theory, differential predictions were made regarding the specific outcomes of job insecurity for high job involvement versus low job involvement employees. Results indicate that employees who were highly invested in their jobs were most adversely affected by job insecurity. Specifically, they reported more negative job attitudes, more health problems, and a higher level of psychological distress than their less involved counterparts when they perceived their jobs to be threatened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis.

Coded 9 variables in a meta-analysis of 74 empirical studies of job satisfaction–job performance. Aggregated studies had an S sample size of 12,192 and 217 satisfaction–performance correlations. Findings show that (1) the best estimate of the true population correlation between satisfaction and performance was relatively low (.17); (2) much of the variability in results obtained in previously research was due to the use of small sample sizes, while unreliable measurement of the satisfaction and performance constructs has contributed relatively little to this observed variability in correlations; and (3) the 9 variables coded (composite vs unidimensional criteria, longitudinal vs cross-sectional measurement of performance relative to satisfaction, the nature of the performance measure, self-reports vs other sources, use of specific performance measures, subjectivity or objectivity of measures, specific-facet satisfaction vs global satisfaction, well-documented vs researcher-developed measurement, and white-collar vs blue-collar) were only modestly related to the magnitude of the satisfaction–performance correlation. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction: Occupational Stress and Its Management.

In this introduction to the special issue, the current key issues in the area of occupational stress and its management are summarized. These include the link between stress and ill health, job stressors and strain outcomes, work-life balance and individual worker characteristics and the experience of occupational stress. The editors argue that the concept of occupational stress and its corollary, coping, may not be useful concepts for moving forward and that the implicit adoption of a psychomedical model for understanding workers' reactions to work demands has hindered progress in this field. Finally, there is a lack of good research on stress management interventions, but on the basis of current evidence, it is concluded that there are few benefits to workplaces implementing many such programs. It is speculated that the concept of occupational stress has had its day and that a return to a focus on occupational stressors and worker fatigue, where the field originated, might be more productive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Occupational role stress in the Canadian forces: Its association with individual and organizational well-being.

Studies on workplace stress have been conducted in various occupational environments. However, published reports exploring occupational stress in the military are rare. This study examines occupational stress in the Canadian Forces within the framework of social role theory and its relation to employee health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Ss were 1,068 Regular Forces military members who completed a survey questionnaire. Of interest were the psychological resources (e.g., individual coping skills, workplace leadership, and perceived organizational support) that have the potential to alter the perception of work stress and/or alleviate its association with individual and organizational outcomes. Regression analyses indicated a negative association between occupational role stress and both individual (strain) and organizational (job satisfaction and organizational commitment) well-being. No moderating effects were found for coping strategies, workplace leadership, or perceived organizational support, although these factors had direct relationships with both individual and organizational well-being The results are discussed in terms of the potential of organizational resources and role stress to cascade across organizational levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational socialization: Its content and consequences.

Content dimensions of the socialization domain were defined to determine relationships between learning particular features of a job/organization and the process and outcomes of socialization. Six socialization dimensions (performance proficiency, politics, language, people, organizational goals/values, and history) were supported by a factor analysis on data from 594 full-time professionals. The socialization process was then examined by comparing 3 groups of respondents who did not change jobs, changed jobs within the organization, or changed jobs and organizations. Results showed these groups had significantly different response patterns on all dimensions. Finally, relationships between socialization content and career outcomes showed the dimensions accounted for more variance in all criteria than typical tenure operationalizations of socialization. Furthermore, socialization changes were significantly related to changes in career outcomes for 1-, 2-, and 3-yr time intervals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological well-being and job satisfaction as predictors of job performance.

The happy–productive worker hypothesis has most often been examined in organizational research by correlating job satisfaction to performance. Recent research has expanded this to include measures of psychological well-being. However, to date, no field research has provided a comparative test of the relative contribution of job satisfaction and psychological well-being as predictors of employee performance. The authors report 2 field studies that, taken together, provide an opportunity to simultaneously examine the relative contribution of psychological well-being and job satisfaction to job performance. In Study 1, psychological well-being, but not job satisfaction, was predictive of job performance for 47 human services workers. These findings were replicated in Study 2 for 37 juvenile probation officers. These findings are discussed in terms of research on the happy–productive worker hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping with job stress: Measures and future directions for scale development.

Presents construct validity evidence for 3 measures of coping behavior related to job stress: control, escape, and symptom management. The questionnaires were completed by 109 managers and professionals in a manufacturing firm or an osteopathic hospital. The psychometric properties of the scales as well as preliminary evidence for construct validity support their further use and evaluation. Measurement issues are identified, particularly by the time-dependent nature of coping and the dilemma of multimethod assessment. Suggestions are offered for future coping scale development. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and job performance: The Big Five revisited.

Prior meta-analyses investigating the relation between the Big 5 personality dimensions and job performance have all contained a threat to construct validity, in that much of the data included within these analyses was not derived from actual Big 5 measures. In addition, these reviews did not address the relations between the Big 5 and contextual performance. Therefore, the present study sought to provide a meta-analytic estimate of the criterion-related validity of explicit Big 5 measures for predicting job performance and contextual performance. The results for job performance closely paralleled 2 of the previous meta-analyses, whereas analyses with contextual performance showed more complex relations among the Big 5 and performance. A more critical interpretation of the Big 5-performance relationship is presented, and suggestions for future research aimed at enhancing the validity of personality predictors are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Continuing education and job performance: A longitudinal study.

Investigated the relationship of participation in continuing education to job performance of engineers. Performance and education data were obtained for 110 engineers in 3 organizations that differed in their technology, ranging from research and development (R & D) to manufacturing. The number of graduate courses taken early in the career was strongly related to job performance only for engineers working in the R & D organization. Engineers with poor job performance, regardless of organizational technology, had a greater likelihood of enrolling in more in-house courses, but this greater participation had no relationship to subsequent performance. The possible moderating effects of organizational variables, course characteristics, and individual differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

No security: A meta-analysis and review of job insecurity and its consequences.

Meta-analytic techniques were used to estimate how job insecurity relates to its postulated outcomes. Consistent with the conceptual framework, the results indicate that job insecurity has detrimental consequences for employees' job attitudes, organizational attitudes, health, and, to some extent, their behavioral relationship with the organization. Moderator analyses suggest that these relationships may be underestimated in studies relying on single-item measures of job insecurity and that the behavioral consequences of insecurity are more detrimental among manual, as compared with nonmanual, workers. Recommendations made for future research include utilization of multidimensional measures, consideration of a broader spectrum of outcomes and moderators, and use of longitudinal designs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of job experience and ability on job knowledge, work sample performance, and supervisory ratings of job performance.

Based on data from 4 independent studies reported by R. Vineberg and E. N. Taylor (1972) with a total sample size of 1,474, path analysis was used to examine the causal impact of job experience on job knowledge, performance capability as measured by job sample tests, and supervisory ratings of job performance. Findings support the conclusion that (1) when mean job experience is 2–3 yrs, there is substantial variance in job experience and (2) when the jobs are of an intermediate complexity level, job experience has a substantial direct impact on job knowledge and a smaller direct impact on performance capabilities as assessed by job sample measures. Job experience also has a substantial indirect effect on work sample performance through its effect on job knowledge, which, in turn, was found to be the strongest determinant of work sample performance. The pattern and magnitude of causal effects of general mental ability were similar to those of job experience. The effect of job knowledge on supervisory ratings was several times stronger than the effect of job sample performance, confirming the findings of J. E. Hunter (1983). When job experience was held constant, the direct impact of ability on the acquisition of job knowledge increased substantially, and this, in turn, increased the indirect effect of ability on job sample performance. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The prediction of job performance.

A battery of noncognitive tests was developed to improve prediction of Navy enlisted men's performance evaluations. Reported are the results of 1 concurrent validity study and 2 follow-up studies with intervals of 14 and 30 months between testing and performance evaluations. Ss were 125 aviation machinist mates, 128 radiomen, and 117 nuclear power personnel. The study revealed: (a) the experimental tests were independent of the Navy's Basic Test Battery, with the exception of the speeded clerical coding test; (b) the tests were most efficient in identifying men categorized as Below Average in performance; (c) tests attempting to measure persistence beyond minimum standards, decisiveness, and lack of insolence yielded significant prediction of performance. Composite validities about .40 were obtained in the 2 followup studies. From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5LD50K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational determinants of job performance.

Studied V. Vroom's expectancy theory model in relation to work performance. 138 incentive workers employed in a steel fabricating plant participated in the study. The data indicate that the total expectancy model is a valid indicator of job performance, although the variances explained by the various parts of the theory were low. Several operational problems in defining the basic measures used in testing Vroom's theory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between role stress and job performance in salespeople employed by travel agents in Taiwan.

This study investigated the relationship between role stress, service capability, and job performance in 318 salespeople employed by travel agents in Taiwan. There was a negative relationship between role ambiguity and job performance, and a positive relationship between role conflict and performance outcomes. Moreover, the relation between role stress and job performance varied with the service capability of the salesperson. Service capability moderated the relationship between role ambiguity, performance behavior, and performance outcomes. This sends an important message to the Taiwan travel-agent industry: that resources should be directed at improving the service skills of salespeople. The results of this study constitute useful reference information for optimizing the application of organizational management and human resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leader group prototypicality and job satisfaction: The moderating role of job stress and team identification.

The authors examined the relationship between leader group prototypicality (the extent to which a leader is representative of the collective identity) and job satisfaction as an indicator of leadership effectiveness. Leader group prototypicality was expected to interact with job stress and team identification, such that leader group protototypicality is more strongly related to job satisfaction for followers with higher job stress and team identification. Two cross-sectional surveys (N = 329 and N = 89) conducted with the employees of 4 Italian organizations provided support for this hypothesis. The authors discuss how these findings extend our understanding of leadership effectiveness within the social identity model of leadership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)