Work–family conflict: The importance of differentiating between different facets of job characteristics

This review study clarifies the relationships between job characteristics and work–family conflict (WFC) by differentiating among three facets of job characteristics: latent, perceived, and enacted. To date, research linking job characteristics to WFC has not distinguished the facets of job demands and job resources in this way. Such distinctions are important as a means of understanding the affective, behavioural, and cognitive processes involved in determining how and when job characteristics relate to WFC. Our review of 115 studies showed that perceived job characteristics have been most commonly explored in relation to WFC, whereas latent and enacted job characteristics have been hardly examined. While these findings may not be surprising, our contribution lies in reviewing the literature through the lens of these categories. Based on the findings, and through highlighting examples in the extant literature, we argue that understanding job characteristics in terms of both how they are perceived and enacted by workers will provide a deeper insight into the mechanisms underlying the relationship between job characteristics and WFC. In order to inform evidence-based interventions, future research must uncover the dynamic mechanisms underpinning the connection between job characteristics and WFC through a focus on enacted job facets and the cognitive, affective, and behavioural processes involved.     

Investigating effort–reward imbalance and work–family conflict in relation to morningness–eveningness and shift work

Abstract

An increasingly older workforce and a growing emphasis on jobs involving interaction with computers have resulted in a need to more carefully examine the relationship between ageing and computer-based work. In this study, a sample of 394 subjects ranging in age from 20-75 years performed a computer task across a 3-day period. Three different types of computer-based jobs (data entry, information retrieval, and accounts balancing) performed at three large US companies were simulated. Age differences in the subjective experience of stress, workload, and bodily discomfort were evaluated. The results indicated that age effects for these measures varied according to task. The older subjects perceived greater workload for the more mentally challenging problem-solving oriented accounts balancing task (Which involved a graphical user interface) than the younger participants, even with increased exposure to the task. However, the older subjects generally experienced less stress than the younger subjects on an information retrieval task that involved a more socially interactive telephone component. A positive relationship between the frustration component of workload and the measure of stress was also found, suggesting an important link between the constructs of stress and workload. Overall, the outcomes of this study provide important insights into design interventions intended to accommodate older as well as younger persons in the workforce.     

The mediating role of work-to-family conflict in the relationship between shiftwork and depression

Abstract

With significant segments of the working population involved in shiftwork, there is the possibility of serious health outcomes. There are two possible pathways to ill health. In the biological pathway the body's circadian rhythms are affected, leading to physiological disturbances and the inability to cope. By contrast, the aim of this study is to elucidate a social pathway by which shiftwork may lead to mental ill health. It examines the mediating influence of work-to-family conflict in the association between shiftwork and depression. Gender differences are also investigated. The sample included 2,931 Canadian respondents with a spouse and at least one child living at home. Close to 28% of respondents were involved in some form of shiftwork. Structural equation modelling supported partial mediation through work-to-family conflict. Further analyses found that mediation was supported in sub-samples of male and female respondents. The results, however, suggest that the experience of shiftwork is quite similar for men and women as no significant differences were found between mediating models. Overall, the findings support the social explanation of the effect of shiftwork on mental health, but they do not rule out other social or biological pathways.     

Universal equation for the relative change in profit of manufacturing company

In contemporary conditions of the company's business operations, where high dynamics of costs, sales volume and change of production programme is present, it is of crucial importance to investigate their effects on the change of profit. Starting from cost–volume–profit equation, the aim is to arrive at a universal equation that will simultaneously measure a relative change in profit for a number of products, not only under the influence of change in sales volume but also of other relevant variables, such as sales price, fixed and variable costs. The basic hypothesis is that it is possible to establish in a form of universal equation the dependence between the change in profit and change in influential variables. In this investigation, first it was observed the partial influence of some variables on the change in profit and their dependence was determined for a single product, and then for more than one product. Finally, by summing up all those effects, a universal equation of profit change was obtained. The derived universal equation for the relative change in profit along with simultaneous effects of several variables makes possible for the company management to more simply determine the profit for diverse conditions of business operations. The universal equation for the relative change in profit was applied in one company and the results obtained confirm its significance.     

What does the pursuit of a high quality of life entail?: Grounding a theoretical model in lived experience

In response to calls for a better understanding of quality of life, we draw upon working professionals’ perspectives and experiences to introduce a theoretical model that emerged from an inductive analysis of respondents’ language. A key element of this model includes a collective picture of factors representing quality of life. Further, this model suggests interrelatedness among these factors with pursuit of a high quality of life emerging as a dynamic process with a tensional nature. Our proposed model extends existing research by more fully capturing the complex ways in which people from the United States describe quality of life and its pursuit.     

Censored Kullback-Leibler Information and Goodness-of-Fit Test with Type II Censored Data

The Kulback-Leibler information has been considered for establishing goodness-of-fit test statistics, which have been shown to perform very well (Arizono & Ohta, 1989; Ebrahimi et al., 1992, etc). In this paper, we propose censored Kullback-Leibler information to generalize the discussion of the Kullback-Leibler information to the censored case. Then we establish a goodness-of-fit test statistic based on the censored Kullback-Leibler information with the type 2 censored data, and compare the test statistics with some existing test statistics for the exponential and normal distributions.     

甘蓝型油菜品种区试资料的非参数度量

应用秩次变量nij 和nij',非参数统计量Pi、Pi'、Si 和Dj 描述 1999年长江上游油菜品种区域试验资料。结果表明 :94 0 7N丰产性、稳产性最好 ,94杂 - 3、黔杂 97- 2次之。油 2 71丰产性最差 ,绵阳92 - 4 592稳产性最差。除曲靖、昆明点之外 ,其余试验点具有较好的代表性     

Taub-NUT黑洞的统计熵

避开求解波动方程的困难,利用量子统计的方法,直接计算轴对称Taub-NUT黑洞背景下玻色场和费米场的配分函数.然后利用改进的砖墙方法——膜模型,计算黑洞背景下的玻色场和费米场的熵.计算表明,黑洞的熵与视界面积成正比的结论只有在薄膜的厚度远小于截断因子或两者为同阶无穷小时成立,当无穷小薄膜的厚度远大于无穷小截断因子时,黑洞的熵有一个对数发散项,黑洞熵不再与视界面积成正比.     

Theory & Methods: Krige,Smooth, Both or Neither?

Both kriging and non-parametric regression smoothing can model a non-stationary regression function with spatially correlated errors. However comparisons have mainly been based on ordinary kriging and smoothing with uncorrelated errors. Ordinary kriging attributes smoothness of the response to spatial autocorrelation whereas non-parametric regression attributes trends to a smooth regression function. For spatial processes it is reasonable to suppose that the response is due to both trend and autocorrelation. This paper reviews methodology for non-parametric regression with autocorrelated errors which is a natural compromise between the two methods. Re-analysis of the one-dimensional stationary spatial data of Laslett (1994) and a clearly non-stationary time series demonstrates the rather surprising result that for these data, ordinary kriging outperforms more computationally intensive models including both universal kriging and correlated splines for spatial prediction. For estimating the regression function, non-parametric regression provides adaptive estimation, but the autocorrelation must be accounted for in selecting the smoothing parameter.     

Regression Modelling of Disease Risk in Relation to Point Sources

We describe a class of models for the investigation of possible raised risk of disease around putative sources of environmental pollution. An adaptation of the point process method suggested by Diggle and Rowlingson is presented, allowing the use of routinely available aggregated data and incorporating the more general distance–risk model suggested by Elliott and co-workers. An application to data on cancers of the stomach around municipal solid waste incinerators is presented.