The psychological benefits of exercise in work settings: A review, critique, and dispositional model

Evidence on the psychological effects of exercise on employees is considered. Studies which examined the effect of company-sponsored exercise programmes as well as those examining the more general effect of exercise in work settings are reviewed. It is concluded that the evidence for psychological benefits is equivocal. Due to methodological problems, it is difficult to determine whether exercise is responsible for the positive effects reported. Four personality characteristics which may be responsible for both exercise and psychological reactions to work are considered, and a model is then presented. It was concluded that future studies examining the impact of exercise should consider this dispositional model.     

Stress, social support and psychological well-being in British accountants

This paper reports an exploratory study of stress, social support and psychological well-being in British chartered accountants, using data from 399 self-report questionnaires. The results suggest that the underlying structure of stress in British accountancy can be explained by three dimensions; quantitative overload stressors, professional/administrative interface stressors and nuisance stressors. The underlying structure of social support for the sample can be represented by three dimensions of help support, social dependability and esteem support. Intensity of quantitative overload stressors, intensity of professional/administrative interface stressors and all three dimensions of support were found to be related to psychological well-being in the sample. Differences between these variables, types of organization and organizational position were examined. The results are discussed with reference to stress management interventions for accountants. Possible generalizations to other professional groups are discussed.     

Stress,social support and psychological well-being in British accountants

Abstract

This paper reports an exploratory study of stress, social support and psychological well-being in British chartered accountants, using data from 399 self-report questionnaires. The results suggest that the underlying structure of stress in British accountancy can be explained by three dimensions; quantitative overload stressors, professional/administrative interface stressors and nuisance stressors. The underlying structure of social support for the sample can be represented by three dimensions of help support, social dependability and esteem support. Intensity of quantitative overload stressors, intensity of professional/administrative interface stressors and all three dimensions of support were found to be related to psychological well-being in the sample. Differences between these variables, types of organization and organizational position were examined. The results are discussed with reference to stress management interventions for accountants. Possible generalizations to other professional groups are discussed.     

Job stress, social support, job satisfaction and absenteeism among offshore oil personnel

The major aim of this study was to examine how job stress in the offshore working environment may affect workers experience of strain. This study also analyses both the main and moderator effect of social support on the association between job stress and strain. The association between strain and absenteeism is also analysed. The analyses are based on a self-completion questionnaire survey among employees on offshore oil installations in the Norwegian part of the North Sea (n = 1137). The data collection was carried out in 1994. A similar study was conducted in 1990. Job stress was found to be associated with job dissatisfaction, as well as experience of strain. Social support from a supervisor had a main effect on strain. Some evidence of the moderating effects of social support were found. The employees who had been absent from work experienced most strain. It is concluded that job stress predicted job dissatisfaction and strain. In turn, strain and absenteeism were associated with each other. These results suggest that improving organizational and social factors should be the focal area in health promotion in the offshore oil industry.     

Hassles,hardiness and absenteeism: Results of a 3-year longitudinal study

Abstract

In this 3-year longitudinal study of 229 full-time employees, the authors investigated the association between hassles, two measures of personality hardiness, and absenteeism verified from medical personnel records and self-reported hospitalization owing to injury and illness. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, hassles, but neither of the hardiness measures, significantly predicted absenteeism when controlling for psychological well-being and relevent demographic variables over the 3-year period. The alternative measure of hardiness, but not any of the original Kobasa personality hardiness scales, predicted self-reported hospitalization for injury and illness. Little evidence for the predicitve validity of the Kobasa personality hardiness components, or composite hardiness score, existed for either absenteeism or self-reported hospitalization in this study. These findings support the concept that the current conceptualization, measurement and use of the original Kobasa hardiness scales should be re-evaluated.     

Hassles, hardiness and absenteeism: Results of a 3-year longitudinal study

In this 3-year longitudinal study of 229 full-time employees, the authors investigated the association between hassles, two measures of personality hardiness, and absenteeism verified from medical personnel records and self-reported hospitalization owing to injury and illness. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, hassles, but neither of the hardiness measures, significantly predicted absenteeism when controlling for psychological well-being and relevent demographic variables over the 3-year period. The alternative measure of hardiness, but not any of the original Kobasa personality hardiness scales, predicted self-reported hospitalization for injury and illness. Little evidence for the predicitve validity of the Kobasa personality hardiness components, or composite hardiness score, existed for either absenteeism or self-reported hospitalization in this study. These findings support the concept that the current conceptualization, measurement and use of the original Kobasa hardiness scales should be re-evaluated.     

Pregnancy, work and women's well-being: A review

Pregnancy is potentially a stressful period for working women for ergonomic, psychological and organizational reasons, yet the well-being of women is seldom the focus of research on working during pregnancy. This paper reviews the literature on women's experience of being pregnant at work. It concludes that, while working conditions are usually not well suited to pregnant women, the majority of women encounter only minor difficulties and regard working in a positive way. However, for a minority of women working during pregnancy adversely affects their well-being. These are likely to be women working during pregnancy adversely affects their well-being. These are likely to be women who are most at risk from work-related stress at other times. The literature suggests that working during pregnancy has still to be accepted and accommodated by employers and colleagues.     

Pregnancy,work and women's well-being: A review

Abstract

Pregnancy is potentially a stressful period for working women for ergonomic, psychological and organizational reasons, yet the well-being of women is seldom the focus of research on working during pregnancy. This paper reviews the literature on women's experience of being pregnant at work. It concludes that, while working conditions are usually not well suited to pregnant women, the majority of women encounter only minor difficulties and regard working in a positive way. However, for a minority of women working during pregnancy adversely affects their well-being. These are likely to be women working during pregnancy adversely affects their well-being. These are likely to be women who are most at risk from work-related stress at other times. The literature suggests that working during pregnancy has still to be accepted and accommodated by employers and colleagues.     

Employee absence,age and tenure: A study of nonlinear effects and trivariate models

Multiple regression techniques were used to explore the nature of the relationships between age, tenure and absence in 2417 British local government workers drawn from three work groups. The data were collected from organizational records and included measures of both non-certified absence and medically certified absence. Linear and curvilinear associations among age, tenure and absence were examined. The possible moderating or mediating role of tenure in the relationship between age and absence was subsequently analysed. The data revealed linear relationships between age and absence that were negative for non-certified absence and positive for certified absence. In contrast, curvilinear relationships were found between tenure and absence that were U-shaped for noncertified absence and inverse U-shaped for certified absence. Tenure was found to moderate but not to mediate the relationship between age and absence. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the changing age and career paths of the workforce, and of methodological issues in absence research.     

The downside of organizational identification: Relations between identification,workaholism and well-being

Abstract

Employee organizational identification has been proposed and found to be positively related to employee health and well-being. The empirical evidence, however, is not unequivocal, and some authors have suggested possible downsides of identification with the organization as a whole or with a group within it. The potential negative effect of over-identification was tested empirically for the first time in the present paper. Two studies were conducted; Study 1 was cross-sectional and used a sample of Italian law court clerks (N=195) and Study 2 was longitudinal and employed a sample of Italian teachers (N=140 at T2). We proposed a curvilinear mediation model with identification curvilinearly predicting workaholism, and workaholism, in turn, negatively affecting employee well-being. This curvilinear link between organizational identification and workaholism means that workaholism at first decreases with growing identification, but when identification becomes too strong, workaholism increases. The results confirmed our hypotheses, and we discuss theoretical and practical implications.     

Employee absence, age and tenure: a study of nonlinear effects and trivariate models

Multiple regression techniques were used to explore the nature of the relationships between age, tenure and absence in 2417 British local government workers drawn from three work groups. The data were collected from organizational records and included measures of both non-certified absence and medically certified absence. Linear and curvilinear associations among age, tenure and absence were examined. The possible moderating or mediating role of tenure in the relationship between age and absence was subsequently analysed. The data revealed linear relationships between age and absence that were negative for non-certified absence and positive for certified absence. In contrast, curvilinear relationships were found between tenure and absence that were U-shaped for noncertified absence and inverse U-shaped for certified absence. Tenure was found to moderate but not to mediate the relationship between age and absence. The implications of the results are discussed in the context of the changing age and career paths of the workforce, and of methodological issues in absence research.     

Leadership behaviour and leader self-reported well-being: A review,integration and meta-analytic examination

ABSTRACT

While the link between leadership and follower well-being is well established, less is known about the relation between leaders’ leadership behaviour and their own well-being. Particularly, a systematic integration of existing studies is missing. Based on an integrated framework summarising major theories on the leader well-being–leadership link, we quantitatively synthesised findings on the relations between different leadership behaviours and leader well-being indicators. The meta-analytical results (95 effect sizes; N?=?12,617) confirmed significant relationships of constructive and destructive leadership with leader well-being in the expected directions. Relative weight analyses on the constructive leadership behaviours showed that change-oriented and relational-oriented leadership (e.g. transformational, participative) accounted for more variance in leader well-being than task-oriented leadership (e.g. transactional). Regarding destructive leadership, active destructive leadership (e.g. abusive supervision) showed stronger negative associations with leader well-being than passive leadership (e.g. laissez-faire). Based on our integrated framework, we proposed and found support for divergent patterns of associations for different forms of well-being (positive vs. negative, short-term vs. long-term, job-related vs. general). Our study demonstrates a considerable linkage between leader well-being and leadership, supporting the adoption of leadership development programmes and organisational health interventions for leaders given their impact on employees, teams and organisations.     

Effects of vacation from work on health and well-being: Lots of fun,quickly gone

Abstract

Although vacation from work provides a valuable opportunity for recovery, few studies have met the requirements for assessing its effects. These include taking measurements well ahead of the vacation, during the vacation and at several points in time afterwards. Our study on vacation (after-) effects focused on two related questions: (1) Do health and well-being of working individuals improve during a vacation? and (2) How long does a vacation effect last after resumption of work? In a longitudinal study covering seven weeks, 96 Dutch workers reported their health and well-being levels two weeks before a winter sports vacation, during vacation and one week, two weeks and four weeks after vacation on seven indicators. Participants' health and well-being improved during vacation on five indicators: health status, mood, tension, energy level and satisfaction. However, during the first week of work resumption, health and well-being had generally returned to pre-vacation levels. In conclusion, a winter sports vacation is associated with improvements in self-reported health and well-being among working individuals. However, these effects fade out rapidly after work resumption. We propose a framework for future vacation research and suggest investigating the role of vacation type, duration and means to prolong vacation relief.     

The relationships between incivility,team climate for incivility and job-related employee well-being: a multilevel analysis

Adopting a multilevel approach, this study extends the current understanding of workplace incivility by examining the cross-level associations between team climate for incivility, team size and team norms with regard to competitiveness on employees’ well-being associated with incivility at work. Using a sample of 637 employees nested in 50 work teams, the results revealed a direct negative effect of uncivil team climates on employee job-related affective well-being, over and above employees’ personal experience of uncivil behaviour. As hypothesized, competitive norms significantly moderated the negative effect of experienced incivility on affective well-being, suggesting that competitive team environments may buffer the negative consequences of workplace incivility through a team sensemaking process. Utilizing Social Comparison Theory (comparing how they are treated) and climate strength literature, this study also found team size to be a significant moderator of the incivility–well-being relationship, with members of smaller work teams experiencing more detrimental effects of uncivil acts. Together, these findings suggest that the magnitude of the negative effect of uncivil behaviour is dependent on the composition and incivility climate of work teams. The results of this study have important implications for designing individual- and team-level interventions aimed at addressing uncivil behaviour and climates in the workplace.     

Physical exercise,employee fitness and the management of health at work

Abstract

This paper presents some recent data on why organizations invest in exercise and physical fitness programmes for their stiff. These data suggest that, owing to a lack of evaluation studies, organizations act mainly on the basis of assumption and belief. However, from a subsequent review of the available literature on the personal and organizational effects of such programmes, it appears that these assumptions and beliefs are not altogether unfounded. The paper concludes by discussing the ways in which exercise and employee fitness programmes might help die individual and their organization in terms of the management of health at work.     

Organizational changes at a postal sorting terminal—their effects upon work satisfaction, psychosomatic complaints and sick leave

This paper describes a longitudinal study evaluating organizational changes at a postal sorting terminal in Sweden. One hundred postal workers were followed up for 1 year after the changes were put in place. Information about psychosocial factors, sleep disturbances and gastrointestinal complaints were collected by questionnaires administered at the onset of the changes and at 8 and 12 months later. Sick leave during the 1-year follow up was compared with that during the year before the changes were introduced. A significant increase in skill discretion and in authority over decisions occurred during the study period. The reported increase in skill discretion and authority over decisions correlated with a reduction in difficulties with sleep and with gastrointestinal complaints. Changes in reported contact with team mates and superiors also correlated with changes in the reporting of sleep difficulties and gastrointestinal complaints. There was a significant reduction in sick leave. The results indicate that the organizational changes improved the quality of work and at the same time reduced sick leave and psychosomatic complaints.     

Self-reported mood and running under natural conditions

This paper reports the results of two field studies which examined possible changes in self-reported psychological mood with running. The participants in both studies were regularly exercising male and female university students. In the first study, mood was monitored pre- and post-running sessions during a 7-week course designed to improve individual levels of physical fitness. In a follow-up study, mood was measured pre- and post-running and subjects also made a number of colour choices as an indication of arousal preference, as they ran. In addition, subjects' times over a fixed distance were recorded and in both studies subjects were further subdivided into two groups: 'fast' and 'slow' runners. The results from the first study indicated that, in spite of the increasing demands ofthe running programme, subjects' mood experience was generally pleasant, characterized by high arousal and low stress. In both studies, significant increases in male and female self-reported arousal scores pre- to post-running were obtained, along with non-significant increases in preferred arousal levels. When the mood response of fast runners was compared with that of slow runners, some significant findings with respect to self-reported arousal were observed. Indicators of stress and arousal discrepancy pre- to post-running were low and mostly did not change significantly. Where significant changes did occur, scores decreased significantly with running. The implications of the findings for modulating arousal levels at work are discussed.     

层级、态度和心理契约--基于一个中国企业的实证研究

日趋动态的环境需要企业在制定人力资源政策时更多地运用心理契约.心理契约有交易型心理契约和关系型心理契约之分.本文通过问卷调查和回归分析,研究不同类型的心理契约对企业中不同层级个体的态度如何产生影响的问题.本文发现,对于企业中高层级个体的态度改善,关系型心理契约能够起到更大的作用;而对于企业中低层级个体的态度改善,交易型心理契约能够起到更大的作用.本文还对本研究的应用前景和局限性进行了讨论.     

Work motivation, organisational identification, and well-being in call centre work

Previous work has not considered the interplay of motivational forces linked to the task with those linked to the social identity of employees. The aim of the present study is to combine these approaches. Two studies with call centre agents (N=211, N=161) were conducted in which the relationships of objective working conditions (e.g., inbound vs. outbound work), subjective measures of motivating potential of work, and organisational identification were analysed. Job satisfaction, turnover intentions, organisational citizenship behavior (OCB), health complaints, and burnout were assessed as indicators of the agents' work motivation and well-being. In both studies it was found that objective working conditions substantially correlated with subjective measures of work motivation. Moreover, employees experiencing a high motivating potential at work reported more OCB, higher job satisfaction, and less turnover intentions. As hypothesized, organisational identification was a further independent predictor of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, OCB, and well-being. Highly organisationally identified employees report higher work motivation and more well-being. Additionally, interactions between the motivating potential and organisational identification were found. However, all the results indicate that interventions seeking to enhance work motivation and well-being in call centres should improve both the motivating potential of the job and organisational identification. These two factors combined in an additive way across both studies.     

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.