Job characteristics as predictors of ill-health and sickness absenteeism in different occupational types--a multigroup structural equation modelling approach

The objective of the present study was to test for multigroup invariance in measurement models and structural models between job characteristics, psychosocial intervening variables, health outcomes and sickness absenteeism. Four types of occupation were represented in the study: blue-collar workers ( n = 241), white-collar workers ( n = 209), elderly-care workers ( n = 338) and child-care workers ( n = 336). A first-order, six-factor multigroup confirmatory factor analysis model (i.e. measurement model) composed of two perceived job characteristics ( job autonomy and skill discretion), appraised workload, job satisfaction, stress-related ill-health and sickness absenteeism provided a good model fit. Invariance tests showed that the six-factor model fits well for all occupations. A partially recursive mediated multigroup structural model showed both similarities and differences across occupations as regards the relationships between independent latent variables ( job autonomy, skill discretion), intervening latent variables (appraised workload, job satisfaction) and dependent latent variables (stressrelated ill-health, sickness absenteeism). By comparing a generic model with occupation-specific models across occupations, this study showed that occupation-specific models were more plausible. The results indicate that it is important to examine different occupational contexts in detail to better understand how certain psychosocial factors at work influence strain in different occupations. Since job characteristics can potentially be amended, the findings have important implications for the differentiation of prevention and intervention in different occupations.     

Job characteristics as predictors of ill-health and sickness absenteeism in different occupational types--a multigroup structural equation modelling approach

The objective of the present study was to test for multigroup invariance in measurement models and structural models between job characteristics, psychosocial intervening variables, health outcomes and sickness absenteeism. Four types of occupation were represented in the study: blue-collar workers ( n = 241), white-collar workers ( n = 209), elderly-care workers ( n = 338) and child-care workers ( n = 336). A first-order, six-factor multigroup confirmatory factor analysis model (i.e. measurement model) composed of two perceived job characteristics ( job autonomy and skill discretion), appraised workload, job satisfaction, stress-related ill-health and sickness absenteeism provided a good model fit. Invariance tests showed that the six-factor model fits well for all occupations. A partially recursive mediated multigroup structural model showed both similarities and differences across occupations as regards the relationships between independent latent variables ( job autonomy, skill discretion), intervening latent variables (appraised workload, job satisfaction) and dependent latent variables (stressrelated ill-health, sickness absenteeism). By comparing a generic model with occupation-specific models across occupations, this study showed that occupation-specific models were more plausible. The results indicate that it is important to examine different occupational contexts in detail to better understand how certain psychosocial factors at work influence strain in different occupations. Since job characteristics can potentially be amended, the findings have important implications for the differentiation of prevention and intervention in different occupations.     

A systematic literature review of the relationship between work hours and sickness absence

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between work hours and sickness absence: is a higher number of work hours associated with better or with adverse health? A systematic literature review was performed by searching Medline, PsychInfo, and Web of Science. All abstracts were screened to identify papers that empirically investigated the relationship between work hours and sickness absence in a working population. A total of 1072 papers were identified, and 70 papers were included in this review. A simple measure of the strength of effects was applied, and the findings are summarised in narrative form. Evidence supporting a relationship between sickness absence and working part-time or work hours as a continuous variable was inconclusive. These inconclusive findings might be due to heterogeneity in the operationalisation of key variables or to publication bias. Support for a negative relationship between long work hours and sickness absence was moderately strong. Possible explanations for this include the healthy worker selection effect, differences in job characteristics, and differences in job motivation. Empirical testing of these explanations, however, has been limited. Our findings indicate that employers should monitor employee health in times of high work pressure, even if sickness absence is low.     

Job demands and work-related psychological responses among Malaysian technical workers: The moderating effects of self-efficacy

Abstract

Job design has long been found to affect the work-related psychological responses of employees, such as psychological strain, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions, but scholars have begun to question whether established theoretical relations regarding job design continue to hold given the enormous changes in the nature of work during the past two decades. It is also increasingly recognized that individual differences affect work behaviours in substantial ways, but few studies on work design have investigated these differences. We addressed these concerns with a two-wave longitudinal study among 245 technical workers at a telecommunications company in Malaysia, a country that has a collectivist culture and a high power distance between managers and subordinates. We examined the moderating effects of job control and self-efficacy on the relationships between job demands and employee responses. The results failed to support the job demands-control model, as job control variables did not moderate the impact of demands on employee work-related psychological responses. However, self-efficacy moderated their impact on psychological strain (although not on job satisfaction or turnover intentions). Our findings provide insight into the moderating effect of self-efficacy, and suggest that practitioners interested in reducing psychological strain should consider making efforts to increase self-efficacy among employees.     

The Moderating Effects of National Age Stereotyping on the Relationships between Job Satisfaction and its Determinants: A Study of Older Workers across 26 Countries

This research explores how national age stereotypes impact older workers' job‐related perceptions by examining probability based samples across 26 countries taken from the European Social Survey. Multilevel data analysis was undertaken. Results show that, at the individual level, both extrinsic rewards and intrinsic rewards directly impact older workers' job satisfaction. At the country level, significant variations are found in the relationships between job satisfaction and related rewards for older workers across the 26 countries. Society's stereotypical views towards older people explained some of these cross‐country variations. This study contributes to extant literature by explicating the process by which society's age stereotypes and the meta‐stereotypes held by older workers affect how these workers make sense and take meaning out of their job‐related circumstances leading to enhanced or diminished job satisfaction. Implications highlight the need for management to be vigilant in identifying and dealing with age stereotypes in the workplace. Furthermore, managers need to be more aware of the potential harmful consequences arising from negative meta‐stereotypes and should implement strategies to tackle workplace stereotypes that would lead to negative meta‐stereotypes held by older workers.     

The Public–Private Job Satisfaction Differential in Italy

Abstract. This paper uses Italian survey data for 1995 to study the differences in satisfaction for six non‐pecuniary job attributes between public and private sector workers. Results indicate that public employees differ from private employees in the way they evaluate satisfaction with job security, consideration by colleagues, and safety and health job features, whereas there are no differences in their assessment of satisfaction with effort levels and interest for the job. In particular, we find that the premium for public employees is quantitatively higher, especially in the case of satisfaction with employment losses. Moreover, there are significant differences in the determinants of satisfaction across sectors.     

Job satisfaction and mental health of temporary agency workers in Europe: a systematic review and research agenda

ABSTRACT

The current systematic literature review aimed to analyse the associations between temporary agency work (TAW), job satisfaction, and mental health in Europe, as well as to outline a future research agenda. Twenty-eight scientific articles were identified by searching different data bases (i.e. PSYNDEX, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science) for the time span from January 2000 to December 2016. Our review reveals first that TAW is not consistently negatively related to job satisfaction. However, job insecurity and working conditions are important mediators in the relation of TAW and lowered job satisfaction. Second, TAW is not consistently related to all investigated types of mental health impairments. However, when focusing on specific outcomes and comparing temporary agency workers to permanent employees, we still find consistent evidence regarding higher levels of depression and fatigue among temporary agency workers. Inconsistent associations between TAW, job satisfaction and mental health can partly be attributed to unfavourable methodological aspects of the included primary studies. To address these aspects, future research should consider applying a standard measurement of TAW, including a minimum of meaningful confounding variables, improving the operationalisation of outcome variables and the study design.     

Childcare involvement, job characteristics, gender and work attitudes as predictors of emotional exhaustion and sickness absence

Reports in the literature vary regarding the existence of gender differences in relation to burnout and sickness absence. To investigate this, the present study was aimed at investigating the role of several gender-relevant variables, particularly childcare obligations, job characteristics, and work attitudes in emotional exhaustion and sickness absence in 404 male and female nurses in an institution for people with learning difficulties. Questionnaires were administered reflecting demographic and job characteristics, work and non-work attitudes, and emotional exhaustion (as measured by the Emotional Exhaustion Scale of the Maslach Burnout Inventory). Female nurses were expected to report higher levels of emotional exhaustion and to be absent through sickness more often than men. Also, childcare investment, job characteristics, and (non) work attitudes were expected—via emotional exhaustion—to predict gender differences in sickness absence. It was found that women did not have higher sickness absence rates, and although a gender difference appeared in emotional exhaustion it was in the opposite direction from that predicted. For both genders, emotional exhaustion had a significant positive effect on sickness absence, and especially childcare investment and number of work hours appeared to contribute to both outcomes. These results are of interest because, despite current stereotypes, sickness absence was not higher in women, and neither were women more at risk for emotional exhaustion. In particular, load—workload as well as care load—appeared to predict emotional exhaustion and thus sickness absence.     

Job insecurity in temporary versus permanent workers: Associations with attitudes, well-being, and behaviour

Recent research suggests that the relationship between job insecurity and psychological outcomes is more negative among permanent compared with temporary workers. We investigate possible interaction effects between job insecurity and type of contract (temporary versus permanent) for various psychological outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and self-rated performance), some of which have received little attention. We aim to explain these interaction effects, while taking into account the heterogeneous nature of temporary workers in terms of tenure, employment prospects, and wish to do temporary employment. We argue that permanent workers expect higher levels of job security; job insecurity breaches permanent workers' but not temporary workers' expectations. This may relate to unfavourable outcomes. Similarly, the heterogeneous nature of temporary workers may relate to job security expectations and thus to reactions to job insecurity. This study was conducted on a sample of 477 temporary and permanent workers from various occupational sectors in Belgium. The results suggested that the interaction effect between job insecurity and contract type may be limited to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Furthermore, permanent workers had higher expectations about job security. Breach of these expectations furthermore mediated the relationship between job insecurity and all outcomes, except for self-rated performance. However, the heterogeneity indicators were found to be unrelated to job security expectations.     

The Role of Firm Size and Performance Pay in Determining Employee Job Satisfaction Brief: Firm Size,Performance Pay,and Job Satisfaction

Abstract. Job satisfaction reflects the on‐the‐job utility of workers and has been found to influence both the behavior of workers and the productivity of firms. Performance pay remains popular and widely used to increase worker productivity and more generally align the objectives of workers and firms. Yet, its impact on job satisfaction is ambiguous. Whereas the increased earnings increase job satisfaction, the increased effort and risk decreases job satisfaction. This paper finds empirical evidence that on net performance pay increases job satisfaction but does so largely among union workers and males in larger firms.     

Job stress, satisfaction and mental health of factory workers in Bangladesh

The present study examined the relationship between job stress, job satisfaction and mental health, and attempted to assess the effects of job stress on different parameters of satisfaction and mental health in the context of two groups of Bangladeshi factory workers. There were 26 subjects in a 'high stress' group and 33 in a 'low stress' group. Individual data were collected by using the Stress and Arousal Checklist, the Job Satisfaction Scale, the General Health Questionnaire, absenteeism by sick leave, a self-esteem at work scale and heart rate monitor. Chi-square and t-tests were applied in the analyses of these data by group. The results, quite expectedly, showed that a greater number of high stress subjects were dissatisfied and had poorer mental health than low stress subjects. The results also showed that low stress subjects were significantly more satisfied and possessed better mental health than the high stress subjects. It would appear that the experience of stress plays an important role in determining the quality of working life of Bangladeshi factory workers having similar consequences in terms of health and well-being to those observed in developed countries. The dynamics of absenteeism in Bangladesh are discussed.     

Assessing the Effect of Job Satisfaction on Managers

The purpose of this study is to measure and analyze the job satisfaction of managers in the oil industry. One hundred and fifty three full-time managers from Saudi ARAMCO participated in the study. T-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to analyze the data. The results indicate that there were significant differences in job satisfaction across age, years of experience, education, and management rank. Suggestions for future research are provided.     

Exploring turnover intentions among three professional groups of employees

Abstract

Although considerable research effort has been devoted to understanding work attitudes, behaviours and outcomes regarding turnover intentions, little has been done to explore it across different professions. This study takes a step in this direction and examines the effect of affective commitment, job satisfaction and job performance on turnover intentions across three professions. To this end, we surveyed three professional groups of employees and managers: financial officers and social workers employed in the public sector and lawyers employed in the private sector. The results of these three studies show that turnover intentions vary across these professions. Social workers exhibit lower turnover intentions than financial officers and lawyers, who tend to exhibit high turnover intentions. In addition, we found that job satisfaction and affective commitment are negatively associated with turnover intentions, while no significant relationship was found to exist between job performance and turnover intentions. The implications of this study suggest that both researchers and practitioners should take into consideration not only the organizational context, but also the occupational context while exploring the process of voluntary turnover.     

Longitudinal influences of managerial support on employee well-being

A three-wave longitudinal survey of managers working for a food retailer (n = 148) assessed both job characteristics and individual well-being during a period of organizational restructuring. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed significant changes in both job characteristics and well-being across the three surveys. In addition, longitudinal structural equation models were developed to model the relationships between job characteristics and two indices of strain (job satisfaction and mental health) over time, including the assessment of the relative fit of competing causal process models. After controlling for the temporal stability of all variables, both types of strain were predicted by a combination of prior strain, prior job characteristics and current job characteristics. More specifically, managerial support was found to influence job satisfaction both directly and through perceptions of role ambiguity and control. Mental health was consistently predicted by low current and prior work demands, and in addition was associated with high managerial support. These results suggest that interventions to enhance employee well-being might usefully focus on increasing managerial support. Recommendations for research intending to examine the direction of causal associations between job characteristics and strain are made.     

Exploring the Michigan model: The relationship of personality, managerial support and organizational structure with health outcomes in entrants to the healthcare environment

Few studies have examined the role of managerial support in the adaptation of entrants to healthcare. The purpose of this study was to identify the job characteristic and role-related variables that mediate the effects of managerial support and personality on the mental and physical health and sickness absence in two independent groups of new recruits to a healthcare organization. Entrants to a healthcare environment (student nurses) were surveyed 25 weeks after entry. Latent variables represented neuroticism, demand, control, role clarity and affective outcome variables in a simplified version of the Michigan model of work stress (House, 1981). This study used a two-stage approach to structural equation modelling, exploring hypothesized structural models on an initial data set (N=195) prior to confirmation on an independent replication data set (N=239) using multi-sample methods. Finally the confirmed model of choice was evaluated using the combined data (N=434). Emotional distress reported at 6 months was found to be associated with dispositional characteristics of the entrant and indirectly, via job satisfaction, with managerial support from academic and clinical sources. Managerial support from academic and clinical sources had an indirect influence on job satisfaction, but by differing mechanisms involving role clarity and control. The demands perceived by the entrants arose from neuroticism and were independent of any other variable. Emotional distress had its deleterious association with sickness absence via somatic health. This study details a series of mechanisms that will subsequently be tested longitudinally.     

Interactive effects of perceived control and job stressors on affective reactions and health outcomes for clerical workers

Karasek's (1979) hypothesis that perceived control interacts with various job stressors in affecting employee satisfaction and health was tested. It was proposed that high levels of perceived stress would only be associated with poor health and negative affect in the presence of low control. One hundred and thirty-six clerical workers at a major US university completed questionnaries containing the measures of interest. The results of regression analyses failed to support the interaction hypothesis. However, measures related to both control and job stressors were found to correlate with satisfaction and health outcomes, as has been found in prior research. Limitations of the self-report and correlational methodology are discussed.     

Testing the Vitamin Model of job stress in Dutch health care workers

Three central hypotheses of Warr's Vitamin Model concerning the relationship between job characteristics and well-being and health outcomes were tested: (1) differential effects of job characteristics on the various well-being and health outcomes; (2) predominance of curvilinear associations; and (3) moderate influence of negative and positive affectivity on these relationships. The study participants were 162 employees from a health care organization (aged 19-54 years, 95% women) who completed questionnaires on job demands and job autonomy, as well as on the outcome variables depression, anxiety, job satisfaction, and health complaints. In addition, data on short-term sickness absence were collected. A higher level of job demands was significantly associated with a lower level of well-being and self-reported health. Job autonomy showed weaker relationships with the outcome variables. The effects of job demands were still large after controlling for negative and positive affectivity, while the effects of job autonomy in most cases became non-significant. The predicted curvilinear relationship between job characteristics and outcome variables did not have an additional value over a linear model in predicting the data. It is concluded that the present data from a homogeneous sample of mostly female nurses support Warr's Vitamin Model to a limited extent.     

Testing the Vitamin Model of job stress in Dutch health care workers

Three central hypotheses of Warr's Vitamin Model concerning the relationship between job characteristics and well-being and health outcomes were tested: (1) differential effects of job characteristics on the various well-being and health outcomes; (2) predominance of curvilinear associations; and (3) moderate influence of negative and positive affectivity on these relationships. The study participants were 162 employees from a health care organization (aged 19–54 years, 95% women) who completed questionnaires on job demands and job autonomy, as well as on the outcome variables depression, anxiety, job satisfaction, and health complaints. In addition, data on short-term sickness absence were collected. A higher level of job demands was significantly associated with a lower level of well-being and self-reported health. Job autonomy showed weaker relationships with the outcome variables. The effects of job demands were still large after controlling for negative and positive affectivity, while the effects of job autonomy in most cases became non-significant. The predicted curvilinear relationship between job characteristics and outcome variables did not have an additional value over a linear model in predicting the data. It is concluded that the present data from a homogeneous sample of mostly female nurses support Warr's Vitamin Model to a limited extent.     

Testing Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation in the Public Sector: Is it Applicable to Public Managers?

Given the limitations in providing monetary rewards as an incentive in the public sector, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation can be promising if it is applicable to public employees. This study identifies the effects of motivators and hygiene factors on public managers’ job satisfaction, and finds out if there is difference, compared to how private-sector employees are motivated. According to the findings, a majority of identified motivators in the previous research showed positive effects on job satisfaction among public managers, and public managers’ job satisfaction was not affected by hygiene factor as predicted in Herzberg’s study. Managerial implications are discussed.     

Job stress in managers, professionals, and clerical workers

The intensity and frequency of occurrence of 30 job stressors as measured by the job stress survey (JSS) were examined in white-collar employees of a large manufacturing firm, consisting of 68 managers, 171 professional (mostly engineers), and 69 clerical personnel. The highest levels of stress intensity were attributed to 'lack of opportunity for advancement' and 'poor or inadequate supervision'. Individual stressors rated as occurring most often during the past six months were 'frequent interruptions', 'meeting deadlines', and 'dealing with crisis situations'. Factor analyses of the ratings of individual job stressors identified two job-stress factors, job pressure and lack of support, which were differentially related to age, gender, occupational level, locus of control, and job tenure and satisfaction. All three occupational groups attributed greater intensity to stressors that reflected lack of organizational support than to job pressures. Managers reported experiencing job pressures more often than professionals/engineers, but attributed less stress intensity to these pressures. 'Lack of opportunity for advancement' and 'inadequate salary' were the most salient stressors for the clerical workers. Implications of the findings for the design of stress management and organizational change programmes were discussed.