Co-worker Relationships Research Articles

Longitudinal effects of engagement with workplace health programs on employee outcomes

Employers increasingly adopt organizational health and wellbeing programs (HWPs), yet little is known about the underlying processes or boundary conditions that may influence the effectiveness of these initiatives on employee outcomes such as wellbeing and job satisfaction. In a 3-year study, we adopted a social exchange approach to examine: 1) the role of relational context in mediating the links between employee engagement with HWPs and wellbeing and job satisfaction over time, and 2) whether organizational prioritization of HWPs moderates the relationship between engagement with HWPs and quality of relationships at work. The results of our multilevel and longitudinal structural equation model (N=7,785 UK employees, nested within 64 organizations) showed that the more employees engage with HWPs the better the quality of co-worker relationships, the less they experience bullying over time, and the better their longer-term wellbeing and job satisfaction. Against expectations, organizational prioritization of HWPs did not moderate the link between HWPs engagement and perceived co-worker relationship quality. Theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Follower Thriving and Job Performance Despite Leader Incivility? Dual Effects of Coworkers’ Support

This study examines the mechanisms through which uncivil leader behavior can still lead to followers thriving and performing well in their jobs. We combine tenets of the conservation of resources, job demands-resources, broaden-and-build, and threat to self-esteem theories to develop the hypotheses. Leader incivility behaviors were expected to reduce follower positive affect and, in turn, to thwart thriving and job performance. To counteract those negative leader effects we derived two other, paradoxical hypotheses about the role of coworkers’ support: such support was expected to both intensify and reduce the negative follower effects of leader incivility. On invoking a survey design, we collected data from Indonesian employees (n = 226), in three waves (separated by three weeks), and tested the mediated moderation hypotheses with structural equation modeling. The relationship between leader incivility behaviors and job performance was indeed mediated by employee positive affect and thriving in a series. Moreover, we established the intensifying effect of coworkers’ support to leader incivility behaviors, and coworkers’ support also compensated for the negative leader effect by providing solace to the victimized peer. In the future, similar models need to be examined in actual work settings where coworker relations are outright competitive or otherwise dissimilar.

The Feeling of Recovery as a Predictor of Work Engagement through Positive Coworker Relationships

In this study, we aim to examine the effect of feeling recovered before the end of the day on work engagement through the positive relationships between coworkers in the team. Despite intensive research on recovery, empirical evidence extending an individual’s intrinsic process for recovery remains relatively insufficient. Emerging literature indicates that relationships that experience positive affect among individuals have a critical role in organizational life, as individuals’ roles and tasks within an organization do not exist independently. Therefore, this study expands the discussion that individual recovery accumulates as an internal resource and has a positive impact on individuals; individual recovery helps team members to view their relationships more favorably and consequently has a positive effect on individual work engagement. Data collected from 170 participants within 37 teams and analyzed using the multilevel structural equation model. The results supported the hypotheses, and especially the indirect effect of recovery through positive coworker relationships on work engagement was revealed by the Bayesian approach. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Registered Nurses' Experiences With Incivility During the Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a Multi-State Survey.

Background:Incivility among workers in the health sector is recognized as an occupational hazard. The COVID-19 outbreak brought sudden and profound changes to many health care settings, many of which have been identified as antecedents to workplace incivility. The purpose of this retrospective study was to explore the experiences of registered nurses with workplace incivility, cyber-incivility, and incivility outside of work during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:This mixed-methods study used convenience sampling. Data were collected from June to September 2020 via an online survey, which consisted of both closed- and open-ended questions. Participants were recruited from national nursing organizations and unions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis for open-ended responses.Findings:A total of 526 nurses’ responses were included in the analysis. More than one third experienced greater incivility at work during the COVID-19 outbreak than before the pandemic (37.4%), and almost half (45.7%) said they witnessed more incivility than before the pandemic. Cyber-incivility and incivility outside of work were also issues. Qualitative results indicated that respondents felt they were on edge during this period. Other themes included leadership failure, fractured co-worker relationships, heightened incivility from patients and families, and hostility and ostracism from the general publicConclusion/Application to practice:Occupational health nurses, nursing leaders, and staff nurses need to work to restore relations that were fractured by incivility during the pandemic. In the future, improved preparedness, including establishing clear channels of communication, may lessen incivility by decreasing role stress and organizational chaos.

I am not worthy: How interpersonal experiences influence perceived value and worth of full- and part-time faculty

Positive interpersonal relationships between college administration and faculty are necessary as they contribute to organizational climate measures, such as a sense of belonging and perceived organizational worth. Furthermore, such relationships may combat against faculty cynicism. Interpersonal experiences are particularly relevant in a post-coronavirus disease 2019 workplace in which interactions with colleagues are infrequent. Little is known about the effects of interpersonal experiences on part-time faculty specifically, as compared with full-time faculty. This study investigates teamwork experiences and interpersonal constraints as predictors of the attitudes and perceptions of full- and part-time faculty at a four-year public teaching college in the southwestern United States. After controlling for years working at the college, teamwork was a consistent predictor of higher sense of belonging, perceived organizational worth, and lower cynicism among full- and part-time faculty. Furthermore, the presence of negative coworker relationships was a significant predictor of lower sense of belonging and perceived organizational worth among full-time faculty. Inadequate help or lack of contact with co-workers was not a significant predictor of faculty attitudes and perceptions. The results of this study suggest the need for fostering teamwork and positive relationships among full- and part-time faculty in a meaningful and systemic manner within institutions of higher education. Additionally, this study provides support for institutionalizing a team-based approach to working among all faculty to foster perceived belonging and worth, while limiting cynicism.

Delivering behavior analytic services in an inclusive job setting for a young adult with autism spectrum disorder: A case example

BACKGROUND: The rate of employment for adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is low. This may be due in part to repetitive or disruptive behaviors associated with the ASD diagnosis and challenges to delivering services in the workplace. OBJECTIVE: This paper outlines a behavior analytic approach to providing job coaching supports in collaboration with employers in an inclusive setting. METHODS: A case example for a 26-year-old male (22 at the time of this project) diagnosed with ASD, employed as a data entry specialist, is highlighted. An A-B design was used to evaluate the impact of behavior analytic interventions on the rate of disruptive vocalizations. Behavior analysts and job coaches from a university-based team worked with employers to identify feasible and effective strategies. RESULTS: Rates of vocalizations decreased and maintained for 5 months following intervention fading. Social acceptability ratings from key office personnel reflected improved coworker relations and a high degree of acceptability for procedures used by the team. CONCLUSIONS: Employer collaboration was necessary for intervention design and decision making. Service providers should consider response effort for employers, the degree of normalization of strategies, how to limit disruption to productivity and the work setting, and methods for fading interventions or components of interventions.

Multilayer Graph Association Rules for Link Prediction

Multiplex networks allow us to study a variety of complex systems where nodes connect to each other in multiple ways, for example friend, family, and co-worker relations in social networks. Link prediction is the branch of network analysis allowing us to forecast the future status of a network: which new connections are the most likely to appear in the future? In multilayer link prediction we also ask: in which layer? Because this last question is unanswerable with classical link prediction, here we investigate the use of graph association rules to inform multilayer link prediction. We derive such rules by identifying all frequent patterns in a network via multilayer graph mining, and then score each unobserved link's likelihood by finding the occurrences of each rule in the original network. Association rules add new abilities to multilayer link prediction: to predict new node arrivals, to consider higher order structures with four or more nodes, and to be memory efficient. In our experiments, we show that, exploiting graph association rules, we are able to achieve a prediction performance close to an ideal ensemble classifier. Further, we perform a case study on a signed multilayer network, showing how graph association rules can provide valuable insights to extend social balance theory.

Job Satisfaction and Gender: A Global Comparison of Job Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry

ABSTRACT Research has been inconclusive in determining if men or women experience more job satisfaction. A global comparison examining extrinsic and intrinsic factors, work relations, and work–life balance determinants found few differences; however, work relations and work–life balance factors were more significant for male than female workers across occupations. The current study uses International Social Survey Program data representing 37 countries to explore differences in job satisfaction in the hospitality industry. Findings demonstrate that mean job-satisfaction scores for females are lower across hospitality occupations except for hotel receptionists, housekeeping supervisors, and hotel cleaners. Regression results revealed additional differences such as the significance of coworker relations, the negative impact of being discriminated against and harassed at work, working weekends, marital status, and supervisory status for women with autonomy, work stress, education, and employment relationship being more salient for men. Interesting work, work being useful to society, job security, pay, relations with management, and work interfering with family were significant for both males and females.

How Outward Bound co-instructor relationships create a context for emotional support during stressful course situations.

Youth program leaders may experience considerable stress when they encounter emotionally demanding situations in their work. This stress can negatively affect their well-being or interfere with their ability to provide meaningful experiences for youth. Using Outward Bound (OB) youth expedition courses as a context, this study examined how co-instructors provided emotional support to instructors during stressful situations. Qualitative analysis of 31 OB instructor interviews showed co-instructors used three strategies: allowing instructors to momentarily exit the situation, validating instructors' emotions, and reframing negative situations. In addition, certain relationship factors facilitated the provision of support: building holistic relationships, establishing open communication patterns, and conveying commitment. The findings suggest that these factors increased instructors' perception of support availability, which facilitated them receiving support. This study makes a strong case for the value of co-worker relationships as a source of support for individuals in occupations where they experience emotionally stressful work situations.

Factors That Influence Millennial Generation Nurses' Intention to Stay: An Integrated Literature Review.

To synthesize literature exploring the expectations of millennial nurses and factors that influence their retention. Long-anticipated nursing shortages are happening nationwide in part from boomer retirements. These supply issues are expected to worsen because of an aging population who will require complex healthcare going forward. Millennial nurse turnovers, however, represent the biggest threat to supply. This extensive literature review was conducted following published guidelines. Thirteen publications regarding millennials' expectations of work were analyzed. Millennials expect strong leadership, advancement opportunities, alignment of organizational and personal values, good coworker relationships, healthy work-life balance, recognition, and cutting-edge technology. Millennials have specific expectations for work, and they will leave if these go unmet. Findings from this review provide valuable insight into this generation of nurses to help leaders create appropriate retention strategies. The limited literature on this topic highlights the need for more research.

Harnessing the Power Within: The Consequences of Salesperson Moral Identity and the Moderating Role of Internal Competitive Climate

The purpose of this research is to examine the notion of salesperson moral identity as a prosocial individual trait and its associated effects on customer and coworker relationships. In addition, this study examines the underlying processes in which these effects occur as well as the moderating role of internal competitive climate. Our empirical investigation of business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals reveals that moral identity has both direct and indirect effects on a salesperson’s customer- and team-directed outcomes. Specifically, our results demonstrate that salesperson moral identity positively affects both salesperson-customer identification and organizational identification, which, in turn, impact customer service provision and teamwork. Our findings also indicate that internal competitive climate exacerbates the positive effects of salesperson moral identity on customer service provision and teamwork.

Impact of Job Satisfaction on Employee Turnover Intention at Bank Al-Habib

This study aims to examine the impact of job satisfaction on employee turnover intention in Bank Al Habib in Pakistan. This research is quantitative in nature and has utilized the double linear regression analysis and the data was collected through self-administrated structured questionnaire. A sample of 375 employees in the Bank Al Habib was selected randomly. The collected data was analyzed through partial least square technique using the Smart PLS software. The findings and results demonstrated that job satisfaction has a significant relationship with turnover intention. Five job-satisfaction dimensions as prescribed by the job descriptive index were employed to measure the job satisfaction variable, which include salary satisfaction, promotion satisfaction, work environment satisfaction, task satisfaction, and supervision satisfaction. The first-dimension salary satisfaction was found to have a significant relationship with turnover intention, which validates that if more salaries are offered to the employees, the job satisfaction level increases and turnover intention decreases. Similarly, the second dimension, promotion satisfaction was to also be found to have a significantly relationship with turnover intention which asserts that higher promotion and career development opportunities reduce the employee turnover intention. Correspondingly, the third variable, work environment satisfaction has a significant relationship with turnover intention which demonstrates that the better co-worker relationships and better physical work environment characteristics reduces employees’ turnover intention. Likewise, the fourth and fifth variables task satisfaction and supervision satisfaction, respectively, also validate a significant relationship with job satisfaction and a significant relationship with turnover intention. The purpose of this study was to provide a valid framework to the managers and decision makers at bank Al-Habib which would help them devise appropriate job motivational strategies to increase job satisfaction, reduce turnover intention and overall promote organizational productivity and efficiency.

The Mediating Effect of the Organizational Commitment between the Coworker Relations and the Burnout of the Professionals in Community Rehabilitation Facilities

The Mediating Effect of the Organizational Commitment between the Coworker Relations and the Burnout of the Professionals in Community Rehabilitation Facilities

Stress and Peer Support among Nonprofit Workers

Stress among nonprofit workers is well documented. Methods for reducing that stress are not well understood. Specifically, little research examines the value of peer support in reducing stress among those engaged in compassionate care work. In this study, 93 workers from 15 nonprofit organizations completed a Qualtrics survey about their work-related stress, personal relationships with coworkers, perceptions about the value of coworker relationships in mitigating work stress, and efforts by their workplaces to promote positive relationships among their employees. Results indicate that most experience work-related stress, have close and important relationships with coworkers, are likely to confide in coworkers about work stressors, and believe that feeling close to coworkers helps to relieve stress at work. The implications of these findings are explored.

Job satisfaction factors for housekeepers in the hotel industry: a global comparative analysis

PurposeThis study offers a global comparative analysis of variables associated with job satisfaction, specifically work-life balance, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and work relations on job satisfaction for hotel housekeepers.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes these variants across 29 countries using International Social Survey Program data.FindingsFindings indicate significant differences in job satisfaction for hotel housekeepers across countries, lower job satisfaction for hospitality occupations compared to all other occupational categories, lower job satisfaction for hotel housekeepers than employees in other hospitality occupations, and a statistically significant positive impact of some elements of work-life balance, intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, and coworker relations on job satisfaction.Originality/valueThe hospitality industry is characterized by poor work-life balance, high turnover rates and limited rewards. Hotel housekeepers report lower levels of satisfaction than other hospitality workers in terms of work-life balance, pay, relationships with managers, useful work and interesting work. Housekeepers play an important role in hotel quality and guest satisfaction. As such, understanding and addressing factors contributing to job satisfaction for hotel housekeepers is critical for managers

Flexible Work Arrangements and Health in White-Collar Urban Professionals.

Although some research has examined health implications of flexible work arrangements, little is known about job flexibility and health in the context of modern working life, characterized by intensification. Grounded on the Job Demand-Resource model, this article explores access to flexible work arrangements and organizational climate on the health and well-being of white-collar, urban professionals in downtown Toronto. A qualitative content analysis of eight semistructured interviews with white-collar, urban professionals between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-two revealed three domains-intensity of work life and demands, coworker and managerial relations, and the boundaries between work and home-where demands outweighed resources to limit workers' ability to practice flexibility. Thus, an emerging trend where workers need to be flexible within flexible work arrangements emerged. Findings point to the need for organizational commitment and activities to address unhealthy behaviors in the context of modern working life.

Employees' emotional intelligence and innovative behavior in China: Organizational political climate as a moderator

We used conservation of resources theory to explore the moderated mediation effect of employees' emotional intelligence on their innovative behavior in an organization context. Data were collected from 237 employees and their supervisors in two innovative Chinese enterprises, with a dual time point pairing design. The results show that emotional intelligence positively influenced innovative behavior via innovative process engagement, a strongly negative organizational political climate negatively moderated the effect of emotional intelligence on innovative process engagement, and innovative process engagement mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and innovative behavior. These results support the need to strengthen the management of employees' emotions; to build a new ecology of organizational politics in China (e.g., offering fair pay and promotions); and to promote coworker relationships that are characterized by openness, transparency, and integrity, to promote innovation among employees.

Linking work-related and non-work-related supervisor–subordinate relationships to knowledge hiding: a psychological safety lens

Recent research on knowledge hiding has focused on its interpersonal antecedents, such as co-worker relationships. However, few research has investigated the role of vertical relationships on reducing knowledge hiding behaviors. Extending this line of research, we examined the impacts of work-related (i.e., leader–member exchange, LMX) and non-work-related (i.e., supervisor–subordinate guanxi, SSG) supervisor–subordinate relationships on knowledge hiding. Drawing from social exchange and social cognitive theories, we proposed that both LMX and SSG negatively influence subordinates’ knowledge hiding through psychological safety. With a three-wave time-lagged design and data collected from 223 employees in China, our results show that (a) both LMX and SSG are negatively related to knowledge hiding; (b) psychological safety fully mediates the impact of LMX on knowledge hiding, whereas it partially mediates the impact of SSG on knowledge hiding. Theoretical and practical implications, research limitations, and promising avenues for future research are discussed.

A Perspective on Work-Life Balance and Its Determinants

With a changing demography and social structure, the work life balance (WLB) is a major concern felt by employees of most organizations. This study has attempted to have relook at the constructs of work-life balance from the perspectives of banking and information technology employees with various household structures. The present study develops a multidimensional work-life balance scale to measure existing levels of work-life balance. The scale considers work-life balance as a multidimensional second order construct comprising workplace inclusion, family support, employee benefit, time management, coworker relationship, and supervisor-subordinate relationship. The study reveals not only indicators of organizational family work culture, but also personal characteristics such as time management and familial support determine work-life balance. However, no significant difference was perceived in the work life balance was found between employees with different family structures and between the two sectors considered under the study. Also, there was no significant difference in perception of work life- balance between knowledge workers from IT and banking sectors.

Defending the frontier: examining the impact of internal salesperson evasive knowledge hiding on perceptions of external customer outcomes

PurposeSalespeople frequently face the predicament of wanting to protect their market knowledge from coworkers while not appearing recalcitrant. Considering the choice of disclosing information or refusing to disclose, they may choose a third option: appearing to share knowledge while concealing substantive information, which this study calls evasive knowledge hiding. This study surmises that the consequences of these choices impact perceptions of customer outcomes. Using social exchange theory, the purpose of this article is to examine the internal relational antecedents and perceptions of external customer outcomes of evasive knowledge hiding, as well as the moderating effects of pushover manager and environmental dynamism.Design/methodology/approachA moderated mediation model was used to analyze survey data from 234 business-to-business salespeople.FindingsInternal competition and coworkers’ past opportunistic behavior increase evasive knowledge hiding. These effects are attenuated if the manager is not a pushover. Evasive knowledge hiding decreases perceptions of external customer outcomes, particularly at low levels of environmental dynamism.Research limitations/implicationsData was collected from salespeople, which presents a look from perpetrators themselves. While directly observing salespeople was the goal, sourcing and matching customer and manager data would only strengthen the results.Practical implicationsSalespeople evasively hide their knowledge if it is in their best interest, which may unwittingly hurt perceptions of customer outcomes.Originality/valueThis study formally introduces salesperson evasive knowledge hiding into the marketing and sales literature. The research highlights the dark side of social exchange theory by demonstrating how internal coworker relationships affect perceptions of external customer relationships via evasive knowledge hiding. This study also introduces pushover manager as an enabling moderating variable.