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.     

Muscle pain and coping with working life in Norway: A review

ABSTRACT

Talking about work during leisure time is an important part of employees’ daily life and represents a behavioural pathway connecting work and home. However, past research has not paid much attention to this phenomenon of sharing work experiences during after-work hours, its possible antecedents and consequences. In the present study, we examine how interpersonal work experiences (i.e. social conflicts and perceived prosocial impact) are associated with work-related conversations during after-work hours, and how work-related conversations, in turn, are associated with affect at bedtime and in the next morning. A daily diary study with three measurement occasions per day over five consecutive workdays (N?=?144 employees) showed that negative work-related conversations during after-work hours were directly related to negative affect at bedtime and indirectly related to negative affect in the next morning. Positive work-related conversations were directly related to positive affect in the next morning. Moreover, perceived prosocial impact and positive work-related conversations during after work hours were negatively related to negative affect at bedtime. Our results suggest that employees actively shape their work-home boundaries by talking about work during after-work hours which show both beneficial and harmful associations with subsequent affective states.     

Perfect simulation of positive Gaussian distributions

We provide an exact simulation algorithm that produces variables from truncated Gaussian distributions on ( ₊) ^p via a perfect sampling scheme, based on stochastic ordering and slice sampling, since accept-reject algorithms like the one of Geweke (1991) and Robert (1995) are difficult to extend to higher dimensions.     

The dual strategy: Motherhood and the work contract in Scandinavia

Mothers' employment in the Scandinavian countries is generally characterised by high employment rates. At the same time the fertility level is higher than in most European countries. Scandinavian women have to a large extent developed a dual strategy towards employment and children: Most women choose to have at least two children and they continue their employment after and between births. In this paper we discuss how this dual strategy can be explained, taking the case of Norway. We argue that the strategy of Norwegian mothers is based on arrangements in working life which enable employed mothers to pursue motherhood within the work contract.     

Towards renewed fears of population and family decline?

This paper examines the extent to which governments have been concerned by the demographic changes which have taken place since the 1960s. The comparative analysis, based on a review of selected demographic-related state initiatives, reveals major differences across countries in the attitudes of governments to population and family issues. The paper also contrasts the differences between the post-1960s situation and the 1930s one when the low fertility levels and the transformations undergone by the family had also captured the attention of governments. The paper then concludes by looking at the role played by non-governmental social actors in the discussion surrounding population and family issues.     

中国妇女的口头文化与仪式文化——南汇的哭嫁

在中国的礼仪文化中,妇女只有在男人举行祭祖仪式时,才会作为最微不足道的角色参与.妇女一生中只有两个场合可以在公共场所进行仪式上的自我表现,即由妇女表演给她们的家庭成员及当地居民看的哭嫁与哭丧,因此非常重要.在整套仪式不同阶段中,分析了四个主要的歌唱部分.     

Weaving new retail and consumer landscapes in the Scottish Borders

New retail locations and formats and changing consumer capabilities and behaviours (including “switching”) have encouraged “outshopping” from rural to urban areas. Rural areas have been suffering from a decline in the provision of services, including retailing. One “solution” has been the strengthening of market towns in rural areas by the development of new major retail stores. The effects of this are perhaps not fully understood, particularly where the rural area comprises a network of towns rather than a single centre. Three comparable consumer surveys (1988, 1998, 2004) of shopping behaviour in the Scottish Borders are analysed. Consumer place and store switching data are used to examine the impact of new retail opportunities on shopping patterns. Two different switching strands are identified: clawback and redistribution. Redistribution within the rural network is a new finding.