Measurement of the subjective work environment

Abstract

This paper considers the various issues that frame the development and use of measures of the subjective work environment. It begins by questioning the role of the work environment in determining occupational health, and explores the possible mechanisms by which that environment might exert its influence. It concludes that one of the important final common pathways is psycho-physiological in nature, and is rooted in individual perception and cognition and the experience of stress. Important for this model are the concepts of mediation and moderation. The measurement of the subjective work environment has often been idiosyncratic to the study in hand, and there are few well-established measures in common use. It is argued that researchers should be careful when deciding not to use established measures and effectively ‘invent’ their own. In developing new measures, decisions have to be made concerning the nature of the measure along with its ‘granularity’ and complexity. It is also argued that it is important that researchers should follow good psychometric practice in the development of those measures. Suggestions for ‘good practice’ are discussed. Attention is drawn to the issues of reliability and validity, and this paper discusses the role of triangulation in the planning and execution of data collection and analysis. The paper ends by reviewing the recommendations made towards the development and use of measures of the subjective work environment.     

Methods to assess measurement error in questionnaires of sedentary behavior

Sedentary behavior has already been associated with mortality, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Questionnaires are an affordable tool for measuring sedentary behavior in large epidemiological studies. Here, we introduce and evaluate two statistical methods for quantifying measurement error in questionnaires. Accurate estimates are needed for assessing questionnaire quality. The two methods would be applied to validation studies that measure a sedentary behavior by both questionnaire and accelerometer on multiple days. The first method fits a reduced model by assuming the accelerometer is without error, while the second method fits a more complete model that allows both measures to have error. Because accelerometers tend to be highly accurate, we show that ignoring the accelerometer's measurement error, can result in more accurate estimates of measurement error in some scenarios. In this article, we derive asymptotic approximations for the mean-squared error of the estimated parameters from both methods, evaluate their dependence on study design and behavior characteristics, and offer an R package so investigators can make an informed choice between the two methods. We demonstrate the difference between the two methods in a recent validation study comparing previous day recalls to an accelerometer-based ActivPal.     

Measuring longevity achievements under welfare interdependencies: a case for joint life expectancy indicators

Whereas period life expectancy constitutes an intuitive indicator of the survival conditions prevailing at a particular period, this paper argues that, given the existence of welfare interdependencies, that widespread indicator is nonetheless an incomplete measure of the longevity achievements relevant for human well-being. The central importance of coexistence for human-beings implies that usual life expectancy measures should be complemented by joint life expectancy indicators, which measure the average coexistence time under particular survival conditions. After a study of the theoretical foundations of ‘single’ and ‘joint’ life expectancy indicators, it is shown that joint life expectancy measures tend to enrich significantly the comparison of longevity achievements across countries and periods. Moreover, the introduction of joint life expectancy indicators—as a complement to conventional life expectancy measures—into multi-variable indexes such as the United Nations’ HDI is also shown to affect international rankings of standards of living to a non negligible extent.

Generalized estimator of population mean by using conventional and non-conventional measures in the presence of measurement errors

In survey research, it is assumed that reported response by the individual is correct. However, given the issues of prestige bias, self-respect, respondent's reported data often produces estimated values which are highly deviated from the true values. This causes measurement error (ME) to be present in the sample estimates. In this article, the estimation of population mean in the presence of measurement error using information on a single auxiliary variable is studied. A generalized estimator of population mean is proposed. The class of estimators is obtained by using some conventional and non-conventional measures. Simulation and numerical study is also conducted to assess the performance of estimators in the presence and absence of measurement error.     

Model selection in high-dimensional noisy data: a simulation study

In many practical applications, high-dimensional regression analyses have to take into account measurement error in the covariates. It is thus necessary to extend regularization methods, that can handle the situation where the number of covariates p largely exceed the sample size n, to the case in which covariates are also mismeasured. A variety of methods are available in this context, but many of them rely on knowledge about the measurement error and the structure of its covariance matrix. In this paper, we set the goal to compare some of these methods, focusing on situations relevant for practical applications. In particular, we will evaluate these methods in setups in which the measurement error distribution and dependence structure are not known and have to be estimated from data. Our focus is on variable selection, and the evaluation is based on extensive simulations.     

The relationship between reputation,employer branding and corporate social responsibility

Reputation management requires coordination between internal understanding and external expectations (Cornelissen, 2011). The focus of this study were external expectations of potential employees. The main goal of the study was to contribute to the understanding of corporate reputation and its connections with perceived corporate social responsibility and employer brands. All three concepts were investigated amongst 550 senior college business students. The units of analysis were top twenty national organizations, rated according to a syndicated study on employer attractiveness. The results show that students assign good reputation to those organizations that are perceived as socially responsible and with a good employer brand. Reputation, at least according to our results, seems to be the umbrella concept that encompasses both perceived corporate social responsibility and perceived employer brands. Organizations that develop different strategies, policies and practices with regards to socially responsible behavior and nurturing employer brands have higher levels of perceived reputation among students. Additionally, students' perceptions and position on the list of the most attractive employers is consistent.     

Leadership,creativity, and innovation: A critical review and practical recommendations

Leadership is a key predictor of employee, team, and organizational creativity and innovation. Research in this area holds great promise for the development of intriguing theory and impactful policy implications, but only if empirical studies are conducted rigorously. In the current paper, we report a comprehensive review of a large number of empirical studies (N?=?195) exploring leadership and workplace creativity and innovation. Using this article cache, we conducted a number of systematic analyses and built narrative arguments documenting observed trends in five areas. First, we review and offer improved definitions of creativity and innovation. Second, we conduct a systematic review of the main effects of leadership upon creativity and innovation and the variables assumed to moderate these effects. Third, we conduct a systematic review of mediating variables. Fourth, we examine whether the study designs commonly employed are suitable to estimate the causal models central to the field. Fifth, we conduct a critical review of the creativity and innovation measures used, noting that most are sub-optimal. Within these sections, we present a number of taxonomies that organize extant research, highlight understudied areas, and serve as a guide for future variable selection. We conclude by highlighting key suggestions for future research that we hope will reorient the field and improve the rigour of future research such that we can build more reliable and useful theories and policy recommendations.     

Nominal comparability is not enough: (In-)equivalence of construct validity of cross-national measures of educational attainment in the European Social Survey

Educational attainment is a core social background variable covered in each and every survey of individuals. Since educational institutions and qualifications are difficult to compare across countries, cross-national surveys pose a particular challenge to the measurement of educational attainment. This study performs a comparative construct validation of a number of cross-national measures of education using the European Social Survey. The measures comprise two versions of the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), the education scheme developed in the project ‘Comparative Analysis of Social Mobility in Industrial Nations’ (CASMIN) and hypothetical as well as actual years of education. The first ISCED measure corresponds to the well-known main ISCED levels. The second one, the European Survey Version of ISCED (ES-ISCED) developed for this study, represents an effort to reflect different types of education within levels of education by considering ISCED sub-dimensions, most importantly ‘programme orientation’. Using linear regression models, it is shown how much explanatory power educational attainment loses when different cross-national variables are used, as compared to country-specific educational attainment variables (CSEVs), and how these losses vary across measures and countries. The dependent variable used for the construct validation is social status as measured by the International Socio-Economic Index (ISEI). Results suggest that harmonisation always entails some loss of explanatory power for at least a few countries. However, there are clear performance differences between the comparable measures in terms of both the average amount of losses as well as the distribution of losses across countries. The use of actual years of education as well as the levels-only ISCED strongly attenuates the education-social status association on average, but also to very different degrees across countries. CASMIN and ES-ISCED fare considerably better: they show the lowest losses of explanatory power and the lowest variation of losses across countries. Hypothetical years of education lie in between. Some practical implications are then proposed, e.g. on how to implement cross-national measures of educational attainment in international surveys.     

Examining the interplay of an organization's prior reputation,CEO's visibility,and immediate response to a crisis

In one of only a few crisis communication research studies taking a relational approach, examining the effects of a company's prior reputation in publics’ responses to a given crisis situation, Lyons and Cameron (2004) found that both reputation and response profoundly affected publics’ attitude and behavioral intentions toward an organization involved in a crisis situation, using hypothetical, fictitious organizations and crises. Using actual organizations and crises, our research team designed a 2 (reputation: good vs. bad) × 2 (crisis response: apologetic vs. defensive) × 2 (CEO visibility in immediate crisis response: visible vs. invisible) within-subjects experiment (N = 102) to examine the variances in stakeholders’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a company after being exposed to online video that delivered a corporate crisis response. Findings were counter-intuitive: a defensive response to a crisis is as acceptable to crisis stakeholders as an apologetic response if the CEO is visible (or audible) in the response and if the pre-crisis company-stakeholder reputation is positive. Good reputation, defensive crisis response and CEO visibility in immediate response to a crisis resulted in the best stakeholder attitudes and purchase intentions.     

Revisiting the gap between stylized and diary estimates of market work time

Previous studies find that workers of longer work weeks report more market hours in stylized measure than in time diary, while those of shorter work weeks report fewer hours. Using data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) 2003-2007, this paper attempts to explain this dilemma. I argue that market work time is composed of activity time, committed time, and constrained time. Thus, part of the difference found between the two estimates is due to the calculation of the diary estimate. I also argue that the wording of the stylized question is consequential. Some stylized questions (e.g., How many hours per week do you usually work?) might capture the mode, instead of the mean, of work time. Thus, when the distribution of work time is skewed, the mismatch between the two estimates is expected. A sequence-based identification for diary estimate and a non-parametric adjustment for stylized estimate are proposed and empirically examined. The result indicates that both methods significantly reduce the observed gap between the two estimates. I discuss the implications for future time use survey design in the concluding section.