Work-home interaction from a work psychological perspective: Development and validation of a new questionnaire,the SWING

Abstract

This paper reports upon an investigative study of stress in the Ambulance Service. The aims of the research were in part methodological and in part substantive. Methodologically, the study sought to validate as measurable constructs the perceptions of sources of stress reported by ambulance staff in response to questionnaire items. Substantively, it sought to identify these possible sources of stress and to measure the relationship between their perceived importance and such moderating variables as personality characteristics, length of service, and urban or rural location of operation and rank. Both aspects of the study are reported.     

A Double‐edged Sword: Transformational Leadership and Individual Creativity

Leadership research has focused on the positive effects of transformational and charismatic leadership but has neglected the negative side effects. Addressing this gap, we analysed followers' dependency on the leader as a relevant negative side effect in the relationship between transformational leadership and followers' creativity and developed an integrative framework on parallel positive and negative effects of transformational leadership. As expected, results from a study with 416 R&D employees showed that transformational leadership promotes followers' creativity but at the same time increases followers' dependency which in turn reduces their creativity. This negative indirect effect attenuates the positive influence of transformational leadership on followers' creativity.     

The Role of Child Characteristics and Peer Experiences in the Development of Peer Cooperation

Cooperation with peers is challenging for young children, and there are large individual differences in the development of cooperation. The roles of child characteristics and peer experiences for peer interaction during free play have been studied extensively, but it is unclear which factors predict young children's successful cooperation at different points in development. In this study, 2‐, 3‐, and 4‐year‐old children were observed during a peer cooperation task. Both their interactive behavior and cooperation success were examined, and the association of these variables with child characteristics and peer experiences was explored. Results showed that successful peer cooperation increased with age. Moreover, early individual differences in peer cooperation were related to temperamental characteristics, and, among older children, the rate of cooperation was related to prior peer experience.     

Effektive Führung heterogener Teams

This article in the journal “Gruppe. Organisation. Interaktion. (GIO)” analyzes theoretical and empirical findings of international research on the role of leadership in diverse teams. While practitioners often tend to expect primarily positive effects of team diversity, research has revealed both positive and negative consequences on team performance. Thereby, realizing positive outcomes of diversity appears to depend on additional boundary conditions; among these, leadership is often considered to be crucial. According to our analysis of the literature, established leadership styles (e.?g., transformational leadership, LMX, leader consideration) may contribute to increased performance of diverse teams. In addition, they will be most effective when leaders perceive and treat their followers as individuals rather than as members of a (sub-)group and when they carefully adjust their behavior to the most critical diversity attribute in the team. Based on these results, we provide practical implications for leadership in diverse teams and discuss how adequate leadership skills can be systematically developed in organizations.     

Jobless or Working Poor in the Kyrgyz Labour Market: What Role for Social Policies?

This paper attempts to identify the multiple aspects of vulnerability in the Kyrgyz labour market. Particular attention is devoted to the working poor and precarious workers. This analysis is undertaken using the Kyrgyz Poverty Monitoring Survey, which is the only survey to date that allows a comprehensive analysis of poverty and labour market outcomes in the Kyrgyz Republic. The period under investigation covers the years 1997 to 1998, for which data are available. The results point to the extreme vulnerability of individuals with less education and women, who cumulated a high risk of being unemployed, of remaining longer in unemployment, of being discouraged unemployed and, if employed, of being low‐paid or working in precarious jobs. Other groups facing a high risk of exclusion, both from and within employment, were people with disabilities, individuals living in rural or depressed areas, young people and internal migrants. The multiple aspects of vulnerability in the Kyrgyz labour market, in particular the large overlap between work and poverty, have important implications for the design of effective social policies.     

Tagungsbericht der Veranstalter

Tagungsbericht

Tagungsbericht der Veranstalter     

Ethische Kompetenz

From the author??s point of view, the term ??Ethical Competence?? is often used rather vaguely in the field. In a qualitative study of bank managers, preliminary definitions of ??Ethical Competence?? are related to the ??Theory of Planned Behavior?? (Fishbein and Ajzen). This enables the authors to analyze ??Ethical Competence?? more precisely??taking the concept of ??Moral Obligation?? (Kurland) into consideration as well. Factors such as behavioral beliefs (attitude towards the behavior), normative beliefs (subjective norms) and control beliefs (perceived behavioral control) are seen as significant in behavior in morally relevant situations. In addition, the authors formulate a hypothesis concerning the correlation of Ethical Competence and job satisfaction.     

Daily recovery from work: The role of activities,effort and pleasure

Abstract

Knowledge of the cycle of work and recovery is crucial for protecting employee health and well-being and preserving working capabilities. However, the daily process of effort and recovery is not well understood. This study investigated how the time spent on activities in the work and off-job domains, and the pleasure and effort experienced while engaging in these activities, affect the daily recovery process. We expected higher levels of effort at work and during off-job time to be negatively related to recovery, and higher levels of pleasure at work and during off-job time to be positively related to recovery. We also hypothesized that pleasure would act as a buffer against the negative effects of effort. Data were collected by means of a five-day diary study (three measurements daily, before and immediately after work, and at bedtime) among 120 university academic staff. Fatigue and (low) vigour were used as indicators of (lack of) recovery. Multilevel analyses showed that pleasure in the work and off-job domains had beneficial effects on recovery. An adverse association between effort expenditure and recovery was lacking. However, in the work domain, a combination of unpleasant and effortful work activities was negatively related to recovery. These findings stress the importance of engaging in pleasant activities during work and off-job time.     

Long-term patterns of effort-reward imbalance and over-commitment: Investigating occupational well-being and recovery experiences as outcomes

The aim of this study was, first, to identify long-term patterns of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and over-commitment (OVC), and, second, to examine how occupational well-being (burnout, work engagement) and recovery experiences (psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery and control) differ in these patterns. The study was based on follow-up data with three measurement points (2006, 2008, 2010) collected from Finnish managers (N=298). Latent Profile Analysis resulted in five long-term ERI-OVC patterns: a high-risk pattern (high ERI, high OVC), found in 20% of the participants; a low-risk pattern (low ERI, low OVC), found in 24% of participants; a relatively low-risk pattern (low ERI, moderate OVC), found in 47% of participants; a favourable change pattern (decreasing ERI and OVC), in 7%; and an unfavourable change pattern (high ERI with increasing linear trend, OVC with curvilinear trend) in 2%. The results showed, in line with the ERI model, that managers in the high-risk pattern showed higher burnout scores and poorer recovery experiences compared to those in the low-risk patterns. However, no differences were found in work engagement between the high and low-risk patterns. Thus, the ERI model seemed better to explain stress-related indicators of occupational well-being than motivational indicators.     

Von der Kundenintegration 1.0 zur Kundenintegration 2.0 – Implikationen für Praxis und Forschung

Customer integration has become an established topic in management research with specific attention given by marketing researchers. The term refers to a new definition of a customer’s role in market exchange. While previously the customer was considered a merely passive recipient of goods and services only he now takes over the function of active supplier of input before, while and after a market transaction. Currently, four different research lines on the topic can be identified: Each of these research lines also mirrors a distinct manifestation of practical application: (1) the business of solutions, (2) mass customization, (3) service co-creation and (4) value co-creation. For the future we expect more stimulation for both the practical and the conceptual advancement of customer integration particularly to stem from new technologies to be summarized under the label of web 2.0. For web 2.0 we distinguish between moderator centered approaches such as crowdsourcing, swarm creativity and open innovation on the one hand and community centered approaches such as social network sites on the other hand. In order to advance and substantiate our understanding of the new implications from web 2.0 on customer integration we propose to resort to the theory of social capital and the concept of the borderless organization.