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.     

Operational research, social well-being and the zero growth concept

Operational Research (OR) can be regarded as the use of science and scientific methods to influence decisionsto the benefit of society. In military, industrial and government contexts, overall social objectives have so far been taken for granted: victory, profitability, expansion of production and services, and so on; but now such simple objectives are in question. Management, technology and growth are seen to conflict with humanity, quality of life and prosperity. OR at present puts much more effort into pursuing the former group than the latter. Even the scientific method is under attack as a way of deciding social issues. OR must be able to justify its methods and its application. The old simple minded objectives are still pursued, but less whole-heartedly. There will be less demand for major OR studies of that kind. If OR is to survive, it must re-examine its social role in the new world climate.     

Improving patient and community well-being

There are great gaps in the well-being of patients and communities. But there are numerous practice and community tools and opportunities that can successfully close these gaps. The health care professional is an often overlooked and underutilized resource and leader to positively influence the health of the community and patient. Physicians and health care professionals are in the health care field to maintain and increase the well-being of their patients and communities through disease prevention and health promotion at the practice level. This article argues that combining a community-level public health approach with the traditional practice level approach is more likely to achieve well-being for both individual patients and the community.     

On general threshold and general cascade models of social influence

The information diffusion model is a very important factor in study of the influence maximization problem. This paper contains two notes. The first one is a simplified proof of Kempe–Kleinberg–Tadös conjecture on general threshold mode1 of social influence. The second one is on the verification of a condition in definition of general cascade model.     

On the approximability of positive influence dominating set in social networks

In social networks, there is a tendency for connected users to match each other’s behaviors. Moreover, a user likely adopts a behavior, if a certain fraction of his family and friends follows that behavior. Identifying people who have the most influential effect to the others is of great advantages, especially in politics, marketing, behavior correction, and so on. Under a graph-theoretical framework, we study the positive influence dominating set (PIDS) problem that seeks for a minimal set of nodes $\mathcal{P}$ such that all other nodes in the network have at least a fraction ρ>0 of their neighbors in $\mathcal{P}$ . We also study a different formulation, called total positive influence dominating set (TPIDS), in which even nodes in $\mathcal{P}$ are required to have a fraction ρ of neighbors inside $\mathcal{P}$ . We show that neither of these problems can be approximated within a factor of (1??)lnmax{Δ,|V|^1/2}, where Δ is the maximum degree. Moreover, we provide a simple proof that both problems can be approximated within a factor lnΔ+O(1). In power-law networks, where the degree sequence follows a power-law distribution, both problems admit constant factor approximation algorithms. Finally, we present a linear-time exact algorithms for trees.     

Emotion cycles: On the social influence of emotion in organizations

Human emotion is typically studied as a within-person, one-direction, non-repetitive phenomenon; focus has traditionally been on how one individual feels in reaction to various stimuli at a certain point of time. But people recognize and inevitably react emotionally and otherwise to expressions of emotion of other people. We propose that organizational dyads and groups inhabit emotion cycles: Emotions of an individual influence the emotions, thoughts and behaviors of others; others’ reactions can then influence their future interactions with the individual expressing the original emotion, as well as that individual's future emotions and behaviors. People can mimic the emotions of others, thereby extending the social presence of a specific emotion, but can also respond to others’ emotions, extending the range of emotions present. People can also draw attributions and extract meanings from others’ emotions. Emotion cycles can involve both intended targets of or partners to an original emotion and third parties who were not the intended targets or partners. Emotion cycles are sensitive to various moderating factors, including demographic variables (e.g., gender or race) and situational variables (e.g., relative power of participants). Pertinent organizational and psychological research that supports the idea of emotion cycles is reviewed and shown to suggest a wide arena for future research.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Decision latitude,job demands,and employee well-being

Abstract

Karasek (1979) drew attention to the possibilities that job characteristics may be non-linearly associated with employee well-being, and that they may combine interactively in relation to well-being. This paper examines those issues, and finds that both linear and non-linear components are present in relationships between job features and well-being. However, there is no evidence for a synergistic interaction between decision latitude and job demands. Those job features are differentially predictive of two aspects of well-being: job-related depression-enthusiasm and anxiety-contentment.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Decision latitude, job demands, and employee well-being

Karasek (1979) drew attention to the possibilities that job characteristics may be non-linearly associated with employee well-being, and that they may combine interactively in relation to well-being. This paper examines those issues, and finds that both linear and non-linear components are present in relationships between job features and well-being. However, there is no evidence for a synergistic interaction between decision latitude and job demands. Those job features are differentially predictive of two aspects of well-being: job-related depression-enthusiasm and anxiety-contentment.     

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.     

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.