The contribution of supervisor behaviour to employee psychological well-being

Many employees affirm that supervisors affect employee well-being, and research has demonstrated associations between supervisor behaviour and employee psychological well-being. However, what hasn't been clear is the extent to which the association with supervisor behaviour compares with that of other variables known to affect well-being. This exploratory study addresses that issue. Our hypothesis was that supervisor behaviour can contribute to the prediction of psychiatric disturbance beyond the contribution of other influential variables. We created a new, questionnaire-based instrument to measure supervisor behaviour. We tested our hypothesis using stepwise regression with a convenience sample of 167 men and women working in a variety of organizations, occupations, and industries in the USA. Results supported our hypothesis: supervisor behaviour made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction of psychiatric disturbance beyond a step-one variate comprised of age, health practices, support from other people at work, support from home, stressful life events, and stressful work events. This provides additional evidence that supervisor behaviour can affect employee well-being and suggests that those seeking to create healthier workplaces should not neglect supervision. We believe that there is now ample justification for those concerned with psychosocial working conditions to consider supervisor behaviour as a potentially influential variable.

Furthermore, we believe that we have presented a new instrument for assessing supervisor behaviour that has the potential to be of value in future studies.     

The longitudinal development of employee well-being: a systematic review

This article reports a systematic review of findings on the long-term development of employee well-being, taking into account the effects of time lag, age, and job change. High-quality quantitative empirical studies focusing on employee affective well-being based on the circumplex model and utilizing measurements at more than two points in time were searched from eight databases. The systematic analysis of the 40 studies revealed that the level of employee well-being was generally high but not fixed – instead changes in mean levels over time were typical. In addition, the stability of well-being was found to be relatively low, as the explained variances were below 50%. Age and change of job were the major factors influencing stability: younger employees and job changers tended to display larger across time changes in well-being than older employees and job stayers, both at the mean level and in terms of their position relative to others. The findings of this review suggest that the indicators of employee affective well-being studied here (i.e. burnout, engagement, and job satisfaction) can meaningfully be applied in future research in measuring changes in employees’ well-being. In conclusion, based on the designs, methodologies, and main findings of the reviewed studies, seven avenues for future longitudinal research on employee well-being are proposed.     

Consequences of work-family conflict on employee well-being over time

The effects of work-family conflict on the well-being of a diverse sample of 342 non-professional employees from the greater Los Angeles area were examined. Data were collected at two points in time, and a rigorous research design was employed. The effects of self-report bias were considered by controlling for social desirability bias, and by collecting two sources of data (i.e. self-reports and co-workers reports). The results revealed that work-family conflict predicted employee well-being over and above social desirability bias. In addition, analyses were consistent when both self-reports and co-workers reports were utilized. Finally, work-family conflict was a longitudinal predictor of employee's positive well-being. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were consistent across self-reports and co-worker reports.     

Beyond demand and control: The contribution of organizational risk factors in assessing the psychological well-being of health care employees

Abstract

The job demand–control(–support) model is frequently used as a theoretical framework in studies on determinants of psychological well-being. Consequently, these studies are confined to the impact of job characteristics on worker outcomes. In the present study the relation between work conditions and outcomes (job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, psychological distress, and somatic complaints) is examined from a broader organizational perspective. This paper reports on an analysis that examines both the unique and the additional contribution of organizational characteristics to well-being indicators, beyond those attributed to job characteristics. A total of 706 care staff from three public residential institutions for people with mental or physical disabilities in the Netherlands took part in this research. To assess organizational risk factors a measurement instrument was developed, the organizational Risk Factors Questionnaire (ORFQ), based on the safety-critical factors of the Tripod accident causation model. Factor analyses and reliability testing resulted in a 52-item scale consisting of six reliable sub-scales: staffing resources, communication, social hindrance, training opportunities, job skills, and material resources. These organizational risk factors explained important parts of the variance in each of the outcome measures, beyond that accounted for by demographic variables and job demand–control–support (JDCS) measures. Communication and training opportunities were of central importance to carers’ job satisfaction. Social hindrance, job skills, and material resources explained a substantial amount of unique variance on the negative outcomes investigated.     

Consequences of work-family conflict on employee well-being over time

The effects of work-family conflict on the well-being of a diverse sample of 342 non-professional employees from the greater Los Angeles area were examined. Data were collected at two points in time, and a rigorous research design was employed. The effects of self-report bias were considered by controlling for social desirability bias, and by collecting two sources of data (i.e. self-reports and co-workers reports). The results revealed that work-family conflict predicted employee well-being over and above social desirability bias. In addition, analyses were consistent when both self-reports and co-workers reports were utilized. Finally, work-family conflict was a longitudinal predictor of employee's positive well-being. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were consistent across self-reports and co-worker reports.     

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.     

Psychosocial factors and safety behaviour as predictors of accidental work injuries in farming

Farming is one of the most hazardous occupations in terms of the incidence and seriousness of accidental injuries. Research with other occupational groups has drawn attention to the role of psychosocial factors and stress. Such research needs to be extended to agriculture. Since stress may be a problem faced by farmers, there is a particular need to investigate the associations between farm accidents and work stressors and stress reactions. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, this study aimed to uncover the best psychosocial predictors of injury, while controlling for exposure-related confounders. From a randomly selected sample of 794 farms, 10% of all farms in Ringkoebing County, Denmark, 393 farmers completed completed weekly accident registration over 12 months. The study sample consisted of 310 farmers who also completed questionnaires on psychosocial factors. Results indicated that farm stressors (including perceived economic problems), stress symptoms, and safety behaviour were predictors of occupational farm accidents. Higher levels of stressors and stress symptoms and poor safety behaviour were all associated with an elevated risk of injury. In the case of stress symptoms, the relation with accidents occurred via an interaction with safety behaviour. The combination of high levels of stress symptoms and poor safety behaviour was associated with a particularly high accident risk.     

Workplace resources to improve both employee well-being and performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of employees in gaining and maintaining competitive advantage. The happy worker–productive worker thesis suggests that workers who experience high levels of well-being also perform well and vice versa; however, organisations need to know how to ensure such happy and productive workers. The present review and meta-analysis identifies workplace resources at the individual, the group, the leader, and the organisational levels that are related to both employee well-being and organisational performance. We examine which types of resources are most important in predicting both employee well-being and performance. We identified 84 quantitative studies published in print and online from 2003 to November 2015. Resources at either of the four levels were related to both employee well-being and performance. We found no significant differences in employee well-being and organisational performance between the four levels of workplace resources, suggesting that interventions may focus on any of these levels. Cross-sectional studies showed stronger relationships with well-being and performance than longitudinal studies. Studies using objective performance ratings provided weaker relationships between resources and performance than self-rated and leader/third-party-rated studies.     

Psychosocial factors and safety behaviour as predictors of accidental work injuries in farming

Abstract

Farming is one of the most hazardous occupations in terms of the incidence and seriousness of accidental injuries. Research with other occupational groups has drawn attention to the role of psychosocial factors and stress. Such research needs to be extended to agriculture. Since stress may be a problem faced by farmers, there is a particular need to investigate the associations between farm accidents and work stressors and stress reactions. Using multivariate logistic regression analyses, this study aimed to uncover the best psychosocial predictors of injury, while controlling for exposure-related confounders. From a randomly selected sample of 794 farms, 10% of all farms in Ringkoebing County, Denmark, 393 farmers completed completed weekly accident registration over 12 months. The study sample consisted of 310 farmers who also completed questionnaires on psychosocial factors. Results indicated that farm stressors (including perceived economic problems), stress symptoms, and safety behaviour were predictors of occupational farm accidents. Higher levels of stressors and stress symptoms and poor safety behaviour were all associated with an elevated risk of injury. In the case of stress symptoms, the relation with accidents occurred via an interaction with safety behaviour. The combination of high levels of stress symptoms and poor safety behaviour was associated with a particularly high accident risk.     

The impact of restructuring on employee well-being: a systematic review of longitudinal studies

This is a review of published longitudinal empirical research on the impact of restructuring on employee well-being. We investigated whether restructuring accompanied by staff reductions impacts differently on worker well-being than restructuring without staff reductions, and the differences between short- and long-term effects of restructuring. Furthermore, we investigated the mechanisms that explain these effects. We conducted a literature search on longitudinal, peer-reviewed, English-written studies from the period 2000–2012. Thirty-nine papers fulfilled the inclusion criteria. We found that restructuring events, with and without staff reductions, mainly have a negative impact on the well-being of employees. The majority of studies showed negative changes over time, in the short and the long term. Some groups of workers reacted less negatively: for example, workers with a high organizational status before a merger and workers who underwent a change in workgroup. Variables that intervened in the relationship between restructuring and well-being were physical demands, job control, communication, provision of information, training, procedural justice, job insecurity and change acceptance. Further high-quality longitudinal research is needed to get more insight into the impact of restructuring over time and into the part played by intervening variables.     

The effect of capacity management strategies on employees' well-being: A quantitative investigation into the long-term healthcare industry

The aim of this study is to understand the effects of different capacity management strategies on the well-being of employees in long-term healthcare organizations. Such strategies may produce psychological effects in terms of job satisfaction and well-being among employees, namely frontline employees, thus affecting service quality. We collected 2158 observations from 42 nursing homes in Italy. Our results show that all capacity management strategies addressed in this study can influence the perceived degree of fatigue or of job hazard, and some of them can influence both. Moreover, a better perception of job hazard and fatigue leads to a higher degree of reported well-being from employees, although with the former, it is only through the mediation of job satisfaction. We conclude our paper by discussing theoretical contributions and policy implications.     

Employee fitness programmes, absenteeism and general well-being

Increasingly, European organizations are developing employee fitness programmes (EFPs) on the assumption that doing so will improve the health, well-being and work performance of employees. Although rigorous evaluation is not common practice among these organizations, this study represents an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of an EFP at the headquarters of the ING bank in Amsterdam. The study focused on possible changes in absenteeism, general well-being, self-confidence and perceived physical condition among EFP participants and non-participants over a 12-month period. Data were collected from 152 white-collar employees subdivided into four groups on the basis of participation or non-participation in the bank's EFP. The results indicated that taking part in an EFP could lead to a significant decrease in absenteeism amongst both regular and irregular participants. With respect to employee general well-being, scores on the factor 'worn out' did not differ significantly among the four groups. Differences between a non-exercising group and both EFP and non-EFP exercising groups' scores on the general well-being factor 'up-tight' approached significance. No significant differences in self-confidence between the groups were obtained, but significant differences in perceived physical fitness were apparent.     

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.     

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.     

The relationship of organizational and social coping resources to employee coping behaviour: A longitudinal analysis

Research on the determinants of coping behaviour has focused primarily on stressor-specific influences and on personal attributes and skills that serve as coping resources. However, coping resources can also include aspects of the organizational and social environment. This study investigates the role of supportive work relationships and of participation and influence in decision-making in determining the coping behaviour of employees in a manufacturing plant. Since the relationships between worksite coping resources and employee coping behaviours may be causally reciprocal, longitudinal models were analysed to sort out causal priorities. Results showed that organizational and social coping resources did influence subsequent coping behaviour. Perceiving oneself to have influence over decision-making at work predicted increases in active, problem-solving coping attempts and decreases in resignation in response to worksite stressors. Also, employees who perceived their co-workers and supervisors to be supportive were more likely to increase their mobilization of that support when faced with worksite stress. In addition, the use of certain employee coping behaviours influenced subsequent levels of participation in decision-making, as well as the quality of relationships with co-workers and supervisors.     

The relationship of organizational and social coping resources to employee coping behaviour: A longitudinal analysis

Abstract

Research on the determinants of coping behaviour has focused primarily on stressor-specific influences and on personal attributes and skills that serve as coping resources. However, coping resources can also include aspects of the organizational and social environment. This study investigates the role of supportive work relationships and of participation and influence in decision-making in determining the coping behaviour of employees in a manufacturing plant. Since the relationships between worksite coping resources and employee coping behaviours may be causally reciprocal, longitudinal models were analysed to sort out causal priorities. Results showed that organizational and social coping resources did influence subsequent coping behaviour. Perceiving oneself to have influence over decision-making at work predicted increases in active, problem-solving coping attempts and decreases in resignation in response to worksite stressors. Also, employees who perceived their co-workers and supervisors to be supportive were more likely to increase their mobilization of that support when faced with worksite stress. In addition, the use of certain employee coping behaviours influenced subsequent levels of participation in decision-making, as well as the quality of relationships with co-workers and supervisors.     

Ethical leadership and employee success: Examining the roles of psychological empowerment and emotional exhaustion

The current study aims to advance ethical leadership theory and research in two ways. First, we propose that psychological empowerment is a comprehensive motivational mechanism linking ethical leadership with employee current in-role success and future success potential. Second, we propose that employee emotional exhaustion is a disruptive psychological state that dampens the empowering effects of ethical leaders. Findings from two field studies illustrate that emotional exhaustion impairs the motivational efforts of ethical leaders by attenuating the direct effects on psychological empowerment and the indirect effects on employees' current success and success potential. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The effects of transformational leadership on followers' perceived work characteristics and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study

Transformational leaders employ a visionary and creative style of leadership that inspires employees to broaden their interest in their work and to be innovative and creative. There is some evidence that transformational leadership style is linked to employee psychological well-being. However, it is not clear whether this is due to (1) a direct relationship between leadership behaviour and affective well-being outcomes, or (2) a relationship between leadership behaviour and well-being that is mediated by followers' perceived work characteristics. (Such characteristics include role clarity, meaningfulness, and opportunities for development.) This study aims to extend previous work by examining the validity of these two mechanisms in a longitudinal questionnaire study. The study was carried out within the elderly care sector in a Danish local governmental department. A theory-driven model of the relationships between leadership, work characteristics, and psychological well-being was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. The results indicated that followers' perceptions of their work characteristics did mediate the relationship between transformational leadership style and psychological well-being. However, there was only limited evidence of the existence of a direct path between leadership behaviour and employee well-being. These findings have implications for design, implementation, and management of efforts to improve employee well-being.     

Unravelling the relationship between role overload and organizational citizenship behaviour: A test of mediating and moderating effects

Building on the conservation of resources theory and self-determination theory, the present study develops and tests a moderated mediation model of organizational citizenship behaviour, in which a) emotional exhaustion serves as a mediating mechanism linking role overload with organizational citizenship behaviour, and b) supervisor autonomy support moderates the relationship between role overload and organizational citizenship behaviour through emotional exhaustion. Results of a time-lagged study of 144 workers from various Canadian organizations provided support for the hypothesized model: supervisor autonomy support buffered a negative effect of role overload on emotional exhaustion and, indirectly, organizational citizenship behaviour. This research sheds light on the intervening variables that may explain the relationship between challenge stressors and extra-role behaviours. It also provides information on managerial practices that may protect employees’ optimal functioning against an excessive workload.