A reduced form of the Workplace Bullying Scale – the EAPA-T-R: A useful instrument for daily diary and experience sampling studies

The need for more longitudinal studies (i.e. daily diary and experience sampling studies) focused on counterproductive work behaviours such as bullying requires shorter scales that at the same time do not compromise their content validity. Our main objective is to develop and validate a reduced version of the Workplace Bullying Scale (Escala de Abuso Psicológico Aplicado en el Lugar de Trabajo): the EAPA-T-R. Two studies (Study 1: 1506 and Study 2: 932 employees, respectively) were conducted to evaluate its psychometric properties and to ensure the external validity of the EAPA-T-R. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to reduce the current 12-item scale to a more parsimonious 4-item scale. Moreover, the psychometric properties of potential models were compared. Subsequently, the new scale was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Likewise, statistically significant relationships were found between the EAPA-T-R and other dimensions evaluated, such as job characteristics, transformational leadership, engagement, job satisfaction, and subjective performance. Moreover, bullying mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and burnout. To sum up, the EAPA-T-R showed good reliability and validity across studies, supporting its use in future research. The benefits of this short scale for daily diary and experience sampling studies and when using large surveys are discussed.     

Open innovation and quality management: the moderating role of interorganisational IT infrastructure and complementary learning styles

This study seeks to explain the influence of quality management on the relationship between open innovation and performance. We propose that, to contribute to open innovation performance, an organisation’s commitment to quality improvement must rely on the combination of its own resources and capabilities and its open innovation partners’ resources and capabilities. Specifically, we examine the moderating role of an interorganisational IT infrastructure and the complementarity of learning styles among an organisation committed to quality improvement and its supply network. Using data from 270 managers of European firms, our results show that the negative effects of quality management on open innovation performance can be overcome by complementing the organisation’s learning style with that of its open innovation partner, particularly, its supply network, and, most importantly, obtaining information technologies compatible with those of its supply network members.     

Understanding the High Rates of Employment among Low‐educated Women in Portugal: A Comparatively Oriented Case Study

This article addresses the question of why Portugal is an exception among southern European countries in having a high rate of female employment. Cross‐national data show an even greater gap between Portugal and its southern European neighbours in the employment rates for low‐educated women. This article presents case‐based evidence on the work orientations, gender relations and reconciliation strategies of low‐educated women working in the clothing industry in Portugal. The analysis reveals that while economic need plays an important role in their attachment to employment, their work decisions are forged by a complex set of attitudes regarding employment and the family. Traditional values regarding the role of women in the family co‐exist with more modern values regarding their employment participation. Moreover, the institutional arrangements of childcare and reconciliation also appear to be more supportive than might be expected in a southern Europe welfare state. By focusing on a particular group of low‐educated women, the findings suggest that the same welfare policies may have different impacts on the reconciliation strategies of women of different socioeconomic groups.     

Seniors and technology, ergonomic needs and design considerations

This work is based on the ergonomic approach and the principles of universal design, with the aim of establishing the cognitive design features that interfaces must comply, for older adults achieve a good performance during their interaction with technological aids. Describes the analysis of exploratory experiences with a group of 17 older adults was aimed first to establish the main barriers to implementation that arise during these activities, and secondly to set the variables to be addressed and the procedure required to develop depth study, where the relationship establish between the quality of the stimuli and the level of performance achieved in the implementation of older adults with interfaces, observing each of the cognitive functions that promote independence, attention, motivation, memory these processes. The study in depth, looking for describe gaps and mismatches encountered during execution, which hamper the harmonious interaction processes through participatory methodological approach that allows to specify requirements for the creation of stimulating interfaces for cognitive skills and committed with the levels of autonomy of the elderly.     

The nexus between OSH and subcontracting

Subcontracting of specialized functions to external companies (e.g. cleaning or maintenance) is actually very common within several industries. These external companies' are called contractors and their contracting is often designated as outsourcing. Frequently contractors involve other companies (the sub-contractors) to assist them in fulfilling the contract, resulting in a complex chain of organizations focused on interchange of work - the contracting chain. Therefore in the same work site can coexist workers form the client-company and workers from the contractors and/or subcontractors. Since contractors perform their job in client's facilities, they can be exposed to hazards that are unknown to them. On other hand, workers of the client company can also be exposed to hazardous situations derived from the work performed by the contractors. The paper discusses how adequate occupational safety and health conditions can be assured when dealing with this kind of dynamic labor networks. Two case-studies and several examples coming from international literature will be presented.     

Designing the safety of healthcare. Participation of ergonomics to the design of cooperative systems in radiotherapy

This communication deals with the involvement of ergonomists in a research-action design process of a software platform in radiotherapy. The goal of the design project is to enhance patient safety by designing a workflow software that supports cooperation between professionals producing treatment in radiotherapy. The general framework of our approach is the ergonomics management of a design process, which is based in activity analysis and grounded in participatory design. Two fields are concerned by the present action: a design environment which is a participatory design process that involves software designers, caregivers as future users and ergonomists; and a reference real work setting in radiotherapy. Observations, semi-structured interviews and participatory workshops allow the characterization of activity in radiotherapy dealing with uses of cooperative tools, sources of variability and non-ruled strategies to manage the variability of the situations. This production of knowledge about work searches to enhance the articulation between technocentric and anthropocentric approaches, and helps in clarifying design requirements. An issue of this research-action is to develop a framework to define the parameters of the workflow tool, and the conditions of its deployment.     

Socialization into single‐parent‐by‐choice family life

This paper examines family interactions between mothers and children in single‐parent‐by‐choice (SPBC) families in Spain. The data is part of a larger multi‐sited ethnographic study focused on emergent family structures that examined families formed by women who began their family projects through adoption or assisted reproduction. Single‐mothers‐by‐choice formulate various socialization goals that are tied to the complexities of their non‐conventional family project. These goals are also realized in daily conversation, particularly when families talk about future events in their lives. Our findings expand existing family language socialization research in Western contexts, which has primarily focused on conventional two‐parent families, and invite developing a stronger dialogue between family language socialization research and current debates on changing kinship structures in post‐industrial societies. Este trabajo examina interacciones entre madres e hijos/as en familias de madres solteras por elección (MSPE) en España. Los datos provienen de una investigación etnográfica multi‐lugar más amplia centrada en modelo familiares emergentes que estudió a familias formadas por mujeres solas que han comenzado su proyecto familiar a través de la reproducción asistida o la adopción. La madres solteras por elección formulan varias metas de socialización que están ligadas a las complejidades y demandas de su proyecto familiar no convencional. Estos objetivos también se plasman en conversaciones cotidianas, especialmente cuando las familias hablan sobre eventos futuros en su vidas. Nuestros resultados amplían la investigación sobre socialización lingüística familiar en contextos occidentales, que se ha centrado principalmente en familias bi‐parentales convencionales, e invitan a desarrollar un diálogo más fructífero entre la investigación sobre socialización lingüística familiar y los debates actuales en torno a cambios en los patrones de parentesco en sociedades post‐industriales. [Spanish]     

The Structured Interview of Family Assessment Risk: Convergent Validity,Inter-rater Reliability and Structural Relations

The quality of parenting, composition and socio-economic status are family risk or protective factors on juvenile delinquency, however, there is not an instrument to help psychologists and social workers to specifically assess the adolescent offender’s family. This study set out to accomplish an additional validation study of the structured interview of family assessment risk (SIFAR), a structured professional judgment tool for the assessment of family risk and protective factors of juvenile delinquents. The statistical analyses included inter-rater reliability, convergent validity with YLS/CMI, the Partial Least Squares approach to structural equation modeling and receiving operator characteristics (ROC) analysis. A sample of 130 male adolescent delinquents detained in Portuguese forensic facilities and their parents, were paired analyzed. The YLS/CMI was used to analyze the convergent validity with SIFAR. SIFAR shows a strong correlation with the YLS/CMI family context, moderate to high values of inter-rater reliability; SIFAR factors show that they are predictive determinants of the Moderate Four risk factors. ROC analysis shows adequate accuracy power. The findings show that SIFAR it is useful as an additional assessment tool for structured risk assessment instruments since it allows understanding the vulnerabilities and strengths of the delinquent’s family.     

Isn’t that why you were hired?

Human service organizations seek bilingual professionals to meet the social and linguistic needs of their increasingly limited English proficient (LEP) clientele. As a result, bilingual professionals often find themselves having to meet overwhelming service delivery expectations. This paper reports on a qualitative study about the work experiences of 27 court employees within a judicial system in the Eastern United States. The study found that bilingual professionals encounter challenges because of their language skills. At the intersection of these challenges are microaggressions that manifest in the judicial system, adversely affecting them professionally and personally.     

The eigenstructure of block-structured correlation matrices and its implications for principal component analysis

Block-structured correlation matrices are correlation matrices in which the p variables are subdivided into homogeneous groups, with equal correlations for variables within each group, and equal correlations between any given pair of variables from different groups. Block-structured correlation matrices arise as approximations for certain data sets’ true correlation matrices. A block structure in a correlation matrix entails a certain number of properties regarding its eigendecomposition and, therefore, a principal component analysis of the underlying data. This paper explores these properties, both from an algebraic and a geometric perspective, and discusses their robustness. Suggestions are also made regarding the choice of variables to be subjected to a principal component analysis, when in the presence of (approximately) block-structured variables.