Showing papers on "Job attitude published in 2008"

The Job Demands-Resources model: A three-year cross-lagged study of burnout, depression, commitment, and work engagement

Abstract: By using a full panel design in a representative sample of Finnish dentists (N=2555), the present study aimed to test longitudinally the motivational and health impairment processes as proposed in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model. The second aim was to investigate whether home resources and home demands have an additional influence on both processes over time. The hypotheses were tested with cross-lagged analyses based on two waves over a three-year period. The results supported both the motivational process and the health impairment process. Job resources influenced future work engagement, which, in turn, predicted organizational commitment, whereas job demands predicted burnout over time, which, in turn, predicted future depression. In addition, job resources had a weak negative impact on burnout. Home demands and home resources did not influence the motivational or health impairment process over time. The results support the central role of work characteristics for health and well-being....

Explaining the relationships between job characteristics, burnout, and engagement: The role of basic psychological need satisfaction

Abstract: Within the Job Demands-Resources model, the presence of job demands (e.g., work pressure) and the absence of job resources (e.g., social support) relate to burnout through a psychological energetic process, whereas the presence of job resources associates with work engagement through a motivational process. Although various mechanisms have been suggested to understand these processes, empirical evidence for these mechanisms is scarce within the JD-R framework. This study examines the role of basic need satisfaction, as defined within Self-Determination Theory, in the relationships between job demands, job resources, and employees’ exhaustion and vigour, the main components of burnout and engagement, respectively. Structural equation modelling in a heterogeneous sample of 745 employees of the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium confirmed that satisfaction of basic psychological needs partially explained the relationships from job demands to exhaustion and from job resources to vigour. It fully accounted for the relationship between job resources and exhaustion. We conclude that the current study adds to the research pointing at need satisfaction as a promising underlying mechanism for employees’ thriving at work.

The significance of task significance: Job performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions.

Abstract: Does task significance increase job performance? Correlational designs and confounded manipulations have prevented researchers from assessing the causal impact of task significance on job performance. To address this gap, 3 field experiments examined the performance effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions of task significance. In Experiment 1, fundraising callers who received a task significance intervention increased their levels of job performance relative to callers in 2 other conditions and to their own prior performance. In Experiment 2, task significance increased the job dedication and helping behavior of lifeguards, and these effects were mediated by increases in perceptions of social impact and social worth. In Experiment 3, conscientiousness and prosocial values moderated the effects of task significance on the performance of new fundraising callers. The results provide fresh insights into the effects, relational mechanisms, and boundary conditions of task significance, offering noteworthy implications for theory, research, and practice on job design, social information processing, and work motivation and performance.

A cross-national study of work engagement as a mediator between job resources and proactive behaviour

Abstract: This study investigates the mediating role of work engagement (i.e. vigour and dedication) among job resources (i.e. job control, feedback and variety) and proactive behaviour at work. This mediating role was investigated, using Structural Equation Modelling in two independent samples from Spain (n = 386 technology employees) and the Netherlands (n = 338 telecom managers). Results in both samples confirmed that work engagement fully mediates the impact of job resources on proactive behaviour. Subsequent multigroup analyses revealed that the strengths of the structural paths of the mediation model were invariant across both national samples, underscoring the cross-national validity of the model

The Development and Validation of the Workplace Ostracism Scale

Abstract: This article outlines the development of a 10-item measure of workplace ostracism. Using 6 samples (including multisource and multiwave data), the authors developed a reliable scale with a unidimensional factor structure that replicated across 4 separate samples. The scale possessed both convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity was demonstrated through the scale's relation with basic needs, well-being, job attitudes, job performance, and withdrawal. Overall, the present study suggests that the Workplace Ostracism Scale is a reliable and valid measure and that the workplace ostracism construct has important implications for both individuals and organizations.

Burnout and Turnover Intention Among Social Workers: Effects of Role Stress, Job Autonomy and Social Support

Abstract: This study examines the main and interactive effects of role stress, job autonomy, and social support in predicting burnout and turnover intention among social workers. This study included a subsample of 346 social workers identified from a cross-sectional random survey of 1,500 California state-registered social workers. Adjusted for age, gender, organizational tenure, and annual salary, structural equation analyses revealed that role stress had a positive direct effect on burnout. The variables of social support and job autonomy had a negative direct effect on turnover intention, but not on burnout. Results showed that job autonomy interacted with role stress in predicting burnout, while social support interacted with role stress in predicting turnover intention. Study results suggest that creating decentralized job conditions is essential for preventing burnout, and that building supportive job conditions is needed to retain social workers who are experiencing high role stress.

Toward a Further Understanding of the Relationships Between Perceptions of Support and Work Attitudes A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: This study (a) compared the effect of perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived coworker support (PCS) on work attitudes; (b) examined the moderating role of gender, tenure, and job type in the support–attitude relationship; and (c) tested a theoretical model hypothesizing relationships among PCS, PSS, perceived organizational support, and work attitudes. In a meta-analysis, PSS was found to be more strongly related to job satisfaction (.52 vs. .37), affective commitment (.48 vs. .28), and turnover intention (–.36 vs. –.19) than was PCS. Further, job type (customer-contact vs. non-customer-contact jobs) was found to be a significant moderator. Finally, the proposed model received empirical support. Different forms of support were closely related to work attitudes and to each other. Implications for research on social support are discussed.

The causal relation between job attitudes and performance: a meta-analysis of panel studies.

Abstract: Do job attitudes cause performance, or is it the other way around? To answer this perennial question, the author conducted meta-analytic regression analyses on 16 studies that had repeatedly measured performance and job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction or organizational commitment). The effect of job attitudes on subsequent performance, with baseline performance controlled, was weak but statistically significant (beta = .06). The effect was slightly stronger for commitment than for satisfaction and depended negatively on time lag. Effects of performance on subsequent job attitudes were elusive (beta = .00 across all studies), which suggests that job attitudes are more likely to influence performance than vice versa.

Talent management, work‐life balance and retention strategies

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature relating to retention of good employees and the role that work‐life balance (WLB) issues have in an employee's decision to stay or leave an organisation. The paper begins with a brief overview of the seminal material in the more generic management literature and then tailors the discussion to the hospitality and tourism industry using literature from the hospitality and tourism journals. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an overview of the key employee turnover literature within the hospitality and tourism industry for those academics researching in this area, with specific attention given to the role of WLB issues in the turnover decision‐making process. The paper also provides a theoretical and practical framework for industry to develop strategies for reduced employee turnover, with a focus on the role that balancing work and family plays in these strategies. Findings – The key findings emerging from this literature review focus on job attitudes such as job satisfaction and organisational commitment, personal attributes such as positive and negative affectivity, the role of WLB in employee turnover and, finally, the strategies provided to alleviate high turnover rates. Originality/value – Recommendations to management are presented for both government and organisational consideration. These recommendations include the need for legislation on maximum, as well as minimum working hours, good role models at the workplace, flexible working hours and arrangements, sound recruitment and training opportunities and company family friendly work policies.

Designing volunteers' tasks to maximize motivation, satisfaction and performance: The impact of job characteristics on volunteer engagement

Abstract: We conducted a field study to test the applicability of the job characteristics model (JCM) in volunteer organizations and examine the impact of job characteristics on volunteer motivation, satisfaction and intent to quit, as well as test a measure of volunteer performance. One hundred and twenty-four volunteers completed measures of job characteristics, motivation, satisfaction, and intent to quit. Supervisors rated volunteer task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). Results showed that job characteristics were related to volunteers’ autonomous motivation, satisfaction and performance. Autonomous motivation acted as a mediator in the relationship between job characteristics and satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Job Satisfaction and Family Happiness: The Part-Time Work Puzzle*

Abstract: Using fixed effects ordered logit estimation, we investigate the relationship between part-time work and working hours satisfaction; job satisfaction; and life satisfaction. We account for interdependence within the family using data on partnered men and women from the British Household Panel Survey. We find that men have the highest hours-of-work satisfaction if they work full-time without overtime hours but neither their job satisfaction nor their life satisfaction are affected by how many hours they work. Life satisfaction is influenced only by whether or not they have a job. For women we are confronted with a puzzle. Hours satisfaction and job satisfaction indicate that women prefer part-time jobs irrespective of whether these are small or large. In contrast, female life satisfaction is virtually unaffected by hours of work. Women without children do not care about their hours of work at all, while women with children are significantly happier if they have a job regardless of how many hours it entails.

Perceptions of Organizational Politics: A Meta-analysis of Outcomes

Abstract: Organizational researchers during the past few decades have increasingly focused on the role of subjective work issues and their impact on important worker-related outcomes. One of the most prominently studied factors, perceptions of organizational politics, has received much recent conceptual and empirical attention. In an effort to better understand the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and key outcomes, we apply meta-analysis on 79 independent samples from 59 published and unpublished studies involving 25,059 individual participants. Results indicate strong negative relationships between POP and job satisfaction and between POP and organizational commitment, moderately positive relationships between POP and the outcomes of job stress and turnover intentions, and a non-significant relationship between POP and in-role job performance. Moderator tests show that age, work setting (i.e., public sector or private sector), and cultural differences (i.e., domestic sample or international sample), have contingent effects on certain POP relationships.

Should I stay or should I go? Examining longitudinal relations among job resources and work engagement for stayers versus movers

Abstract: This two-wave (16-month lag) Belgian panel study is one of the first to test theory-driven hypotheses on the relations between job resources, work engagement, and actual turnover across time. The study focuses on three groups: stayers, workers who have obtained promotions (“promotion makers”), and external job movers. In line with the Job Demands-Resources model, we hypothesized normal cross-lagged effects of job resources on work engagement for stayers. Based on broaden-and-build theory, a reversed causal effect of work engagement on job resources was predicted for the job changers. Additionally, we examined whether the changes in the job change groups matched the refuge hypothesis (that less engaged workers change to jobs providing more resources) or the positive gain hypothesis (that engaged workers get promoted to jobs having even more resources). The results partially supported our hypotheses. We found that low work engagement, low job autonomy, and low departmental resources predicted actua...

The Relationship among Ethical Climate Types, Facets of Job Satisfaction, and the Three Components of Organizational Commitment : A Study of Nurses in Taiwan

Abstract: The high turnover of nurses has become a global problem. Several studies have proposed that nurses’ perceptions of the ethical climate of their organization are related to higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and thus lead to lower turnover. However, there is limited empirical evidence supporting a relationship between different types of ethical climate within organizations and facets of job satisfaction. Furthermore, no published studies have investigated the impact of different types of ethical climate on the three components of organizational commitment. This study attempts to explore the different types of ethical climate that exist in hospitals, and the degree of job satisfaction and organizational commitment of nurses in Taiwan. It uses path analysis to understand which types of ethical climate influence different facets of job satisfaction. The study also examines the impact of different types of ethical climate and facets of job satisfaction on the three components of organizational commitment. Questionnaires were distributed to 352 nurses. The relationships among variables were assessed by factor analysis, reliability, descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression. The important conclusion is that hospitals can increase job satisfaction and organizational commitment by influencing an organization’s ethical climate. Hospital administrators can foster within organizations the climate types of caring, independent, and rules climate that increase satisfaction, while preventing organizations from developing the type of instrumental climate that decreases it.

Impact of relational coordination on job satisfaction and quality outcomes: a study of nursing homes

Abstract: This article develops a relational perspective on the coordination of work. Existing theory suggests that relational forms of coordination should improve performance in settings that are highly interdependent, uncertain and time-constrained. Going beyond previous work, we argue that relational coordination should also improve job satisfaction by helping employees to accomplish their work more effectively and by serving as a source of positive connection at work. Using a cross-sectional sample of nursing aides and residents in 15 nursing homes, we investigate the impact of relational coordination on quality outcomes and job satisfaction.

How job demands, resources, and burnout predict objective performance: A constructive replication

Abstract: The present study uses the Job Demands-Resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007) to examine how job characteristics and burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) contribute to explaining variance in objective team performance. A central assumption in the model is that working characteristics evoke two psychologically different processes. In the first process, job demands lead to constant psychological overtaxing and in the long run to exhaustion. In the second process, a lack of job resources precludes actual goal accomplishment, leading to cynicism. In the present study these two processes were used to predict objective team performance. A total of 176 employees from a temporary employment agency completed questionnaires on job characteristics and burnout. These self-reports were linked to information from the company’s management information system about teams’ (N71) objective sales performance (actual sales divided by the stated objectives) during the 3 months after the questionnaire data collection period. The results of structural equation modeling analyses did not support the hypothesis that exhaustion mediates the relationship between job demands and performance, but confirmed that cynicism mediates the relationship between job resources and performance suggesting that work conditions influence performance particularly through the attitudinal component of burnout.

The impact of locus of control on job stress, job performance and job satisfaction in Taiwan

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between locus of control and the work‐related behavioral measures of job stress, job satisfaction and job performance in Taiwan.Design/methodology/approach – Subjects were drawn from a pool of accounting professionals who completed a questionnaire made up of valid and reliable instruments that measured each of the variables studied.Findings – The findings indicate that one aspect of an accountants' personality, as measured by locus of control, plays an important role in predicting in the level of job satisfaction, stress and performance in CPA firms in Taiwan. Individuals with a higher internal locus of control are more likely to have lower levels of job stress and higher levels of job performance and satisfaction.Practical implications – The results indicate that locus of control plays an important role in the overall effectiveness of accountants, even in a non‐western culture like Taiwan.Originality/value – This was a study of a non‐Wes...

Happiness and health: Well-being among the self-employed

Abstract: Is well-being greater among the self-employed than among wage-earners? In order to investigate this question, data from the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey for the 2 years 1991 and 2000 are used and six indicators of well-being are considered: (1) job satisfaction, (2) life satisfaction, (3) whether the job is stressful, (4) whether the job is mentally straining, (5) mental health problems, and (6) poor general health. Six logit models are estimated and to handle the possible selection of more satisfied individuals and individuals more able to handle stress into self-employment, conditional fixed-effects logit models are estimated for each of the outcomes. We find that self-employment leads to an increase in job satisfaction. We also find a positive correlation between self-employment and life satisfaction. There is some evidence that self-employment leads to more mental health problems, and that the self-employed are less likely to perceive their job as mentally straining.

Why Do They Stay? Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of Job Satisfaction and Retention

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify intrinsic and extrinsic variables that influence teacher job satisfaction and retention. A survey was sent to 300 randomly selected Missouri public elementary schoolteachers in grades K–5 having 5 or more years of teaching experience. The results from 201 respondents suggest that three intrinsic motivators (personal teaching efficacy, working with students, and job satisfaction) were perceived to significantly influence satisfaction and retention, while two extrinsic motivators (low salary and role overload) did not have any effect. Using multiple linear regression and qualitative analysis, the findings show that teachers who experienced satisfaction at their school and/or satisfaction with the profession of teaching were more likely to remain. No relationship was found between satisfaction with the job of teaching, suggesting that retention was determined by teacher satisfaction with the profession and not with work-related duties.

Human resource management practices and workers' job satisfaction

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and workers' overall job satisfaction and their satisfaction with pay.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses British data from two different cross‐sectional datasets. It estimates probit models with overall job satisfaction and satisfaction with pay as subjective dependent variables.Findings – After controlling for personal, job and firm characteristics, it is found that several HRM practices raise workers' overall job satisfaction and their satisfaction with pay. However, these effects are only significant for non‐union members. Satisfaction with pay is higher where performance‐related pay and seniority‐based reward systems are in place. A pay structure that is perceived to be unequal is associated with a substantial reduction in both non‐union members' overall job satisfaction and their satisfaction with pay. Although HRM practices can raise workers' job satisfaction, if workpla...

A study of the relationship between job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention among hospital employees

Abstract: The purpose of this descriptive, co-relational and cross-sectional study was to gain a better understanding of the relationships between job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees, and their impact on turnover intention at Isfahan Hospitals, Isfahan, Iran, in 2005. Data were collected by the distribution of two questionnaires among 629 employees of these hospitals through a stratified random sampling method. The results of the paper indicate that hospital employees are moderately satisfied with their jobs and committed to their organization. Employees’ job satisfaction and organizational commitment were closely inter-related and correlated with turnover intention (P , 0.001). The positive correlation between the two was expected, but there was also unexpected correlation with turnover intention. This may be due to external factors, such as job market conditions, which may influence perceived opportunities for career advancement elsewhere. The impact of such external factors is outside the scope of this study, but will have to be investigated in further research. As job satisfaction and organizational commitment have strong correlation with turnover, it is very important to reinforce them by applying the right human resource policies.

Exploring the role of hope in job performance: Results from four studies.

Abstract: According to Snyder's hope theory, high hope individuals possess more goal-related strategies and are more motivated to achieve their goals than their low hope counterparts. Therefore, we examined the relationship between hope and job performance using three different samples of employees of different job levels and industries. We found that more hopeful sales employees, mortgage brokers, and management executives had higher job performance, as measured a year later, even after controlling for their self-efficacy and cognitive ability. In a fourth study, we examined if more hopeful employees attempt to solve problems differently than do those with less hope. Higher hope management executives produced more and better quality solutions to a work-related problem, suggesting that hopefulness may help employees when they are confronted with problems and encounter obstacles at work. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of job embeddedness on employee performance: the interactive effects with leader–member exchange and organization‐based self‐esteem

Abstract: Although job embeddedness was originally conceptualized to explain job stability or “why people stay” in their organizations, this investigation examines the role of job embeddedness as a hypothesized moderator of relationships among leader–member exchange (LMX), organization-based self-esteem (OBSE), organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs), and task performance Findings from 2 studies involving 367 employees and 41 supervisors, 1 in a telecommunications company and another in a manufacturing setting, support hypotheses concerning job embeddedness as a moderator of the relationship between (a) LMX and task performance within a telecommunication sample and LMX and OCBs in a sample of manufacturing employees, and (b) OBSE and OCBs in a manufacturing sample Further, a hypothesized 3-way interaction involving job embeddedness, LMX, and OBSE on task performance was found in a sample of manufacturing employees The implications of these findings for studying and managing job embeddedness in relation to employee performance are discussed

Been There, Bottled That: Are State and Behavioral Work Engagement New and Useful Construct “Wines”?

Abstract: DANIEL A. NEWMANTexas A&M UniversityDAVID A. HARRISONPennsylvania State UniversityMacey and Schneider (2008) have providedan informative treatise on the psychologicalconstruct of employee engagement. Webelieve their conceptual work is a thought-provoking exemplar of how intuitive con-structs (such as engagement) can begin tobe legitimized for the academic audience,hopefully strengthening communicationbetween scientists and practitioners. Theyattempt to specify the meaning of the popu-lar concept vis-a`-vis more long-standingconstructsofjobsatisfaction,organizationalcommitment, job involvement, positiveaffect and affectivity, and proactive and cit-izenship behavior. The engagement label issummarily applied to describe psychologi-cal states, traits, and behaviors. Much effortis spent parsing among established con-structswithregardtotheirpartialconceptualoverlap with the newer label.We offer three reactions to Macey andSchneider’s paper. First, because employeeengagement comprises no new conceptualcontent,butratherablendofoldcontent,itismost appropriately specified as a higherorder latent construct. Second, the utility ofa state engagement construct depends uponevidence for its discriminant validity fromrelated higherorderconstructs,namelyover-alljobattitude.Third,thetermengagement—even as typically used by practitioners andlaypersons—canbeparsimoniouslyconcep-tualized as a second-order factor of widelystudied work behaviors, including focal jobperformance, withdrawal behavior, and citi-zenship behavior. That term and constructhave already been forwarded and expli-catedinpriorwork,includingameta-analyticsummary of attitude–behavior relationshipsinvolving more than 500 original studies(Harrison, Newman, & Roth, 2006). Thisprevious work supported a broad attitude–engagementmodelthat unifiedseveralindi-vidual-level constructs in both the predictorand the criterion spaces and offered analternative view on employee engagement,suggesting that (a) engagement should bedistinguished from job attitudes and (b)engagement can be both intuitivelyand par-simoniously modeled as a higher orderbehavioral construct.Is Engagement a New Construct?Welaudthegeneralgoalofcoalescingideasand evidence into abstractions that can

Does Performance Pay Increase Job Satisfaction

Abstract: This paper investigates the influence of performance-related pay on several dimensions of job satisfaction. In cross-sectional estimates performance-related pay is associated with increased overall satisfaction, satisfaction with pay, satisfaction with job security and satisfaction with hours. It appears to be negatively associated with satisfaction with the work itself; yet, after accounting for worker fixed effects the positive associations remain and the negative association vanishes. These results appear robust to a variety of alternative specifications and support the notion that performance-related pay allows increased opportunities for worker optimization and does not generally demotivate workers or crowd out intrinsic motivation.