Co-worker Relationships Research Articles

When Does (Mis)Fit in Customer Orientation Matter for Frontline Employees’ Job Satisfaction and Performance?

The role of coworkers’ customer orientation (CO) in influencing an employee's CO has received sparse attention in the literature. This research serves two purposes. First, the study draws on person–group fit theory to develop and test a model of a frontline employee's CO relative to that of his or her coworkers as well as the effects of CO (mis)fit on job satisfaction and service performance through coworker relationship quality. Second, the authors propose three work-group characteristics—group size, service climate strength, and leader‒member exchange differentiation—that they expect to mitigate the (negative) positive effect of employee‒coworker CO (mis)fit on coworker relationship quality. Data collected in a multirespondent (i.e., frontline employees and supervisors) longitudinal research design indicate that as group size increases, service climate becomes stronger, and group leaders develop different exchange relationships with employees, the inherently (negative) positive role of employee–coworker CO (mis)fit in influencing coworker relationship quality diminishes. Furthermore, coworker relationship quality fully mediates the associations of employee–coworker CO (mis)fit with job satisfaction and service performance. The authors close with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the boundary conditions of CO (mis)fit.

Peer Evaluation: Incentives and Coworker Relations

In many workplaces, coworkers have the best information about each other's efforts. This paper studies a principal who only observes the joint output by two limitedly liable agents, while agents receive signals about each other's effort levels. The principal attempts to exploit this information through peer evaluation; agents are asked to report their signal and may receive a bonus for being evaluated positively. Lying aversion ascertains that truthful evaluation is possible, while interpersonal relations between colleagues give an incentive to misreport. This paper shows that peer evaluation gives an incentive for effort, even when the evaluations are not truthful. The peer evaluation bonus is constrained by more intensive coworker relations. Still, the optimal contract always includes a peer evaluation bonus, sometimes complemented with a team bonus. Coworker relations have nonmonotonic effects on profits in the optimal contract.

Antecedents of employee job satisfaction: Do they matter?

This research investigates the collective effect of (1) the employee–organization relationship, (2) the employee–supervisor relationship, and (3) the employee–coworker relationship on employee job satisfaction. The empirical application considers a data sample comprising 374 valid observations and uses qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) in its fuzzy set variant to test the model. A second-stage analysis compares the results with the results of alternative methodologies. The findings reveal that three different paths explain job satisfaction: (1) teamwork, identification with the strategy, and the absence of employee work–family balance; (2) employee work–family balance, autonomy, and identification with the strategy; and (3) supervisor support and identification with the strategy. The study concludes with a discussion of managerial applications.

Employee Engagement in the Public Sector: A Case Study of Western Africa

Employee engagement and its relationship with organizational performance have recently gained immense attention amongst the scholars of organizational studies and human resource development. However, this relationship has widely been examined in the private sector organizations operating in the Western developed countries and its application in the African public sector still remains a major gap in the engagement literature. In order to address this gap, we investigate the different factors of employee engagement and their impact on organizational performance in the public sector of West Africa while taking the case of Gambia Ports Authority, one of the biggest public sector employers in Gambia. A case study approach was adopted with questionnaires designed and distributed to 327employees of the Gambia Ports Authority, one of the largest public sector employer in the Gambia. The survey included employees at different levels including senior managers, directors, and junior level staff. Findings suggest that various factors have significant impact on employee engagement with the exception of team and co-worker relation. Amongst other factors, leadership had the strongest influence employee engagement in African public sector. Overall, a positive relationship was found between employee engagement and organizational performance. Findings also indicate that employees who feel engaged and connected with the organization attempt to reciprocate and show greater enthusiasm towards work (work engagement) and to the organization (organizational engagement), which could lead to improved performance.

Job Stress and Job Satisfaction Among Jail Staff: Exploring Gendered Effects

Despite increased representation in correctional work settings, women still encounter obstacles in this male-dominated occupation—obstacles that have the potential to affect their levels of job stress and job satisfaction. Although gender-based differences in job stress and job satisfaction have been analyzed in several prison settings, much less work has been conducted in the often neglected correctional arena of jails. The current study fills this empirical void by examining jail staff at a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida. Ordinary least squares regression analysis indicated that different facets of the work environment differentially affected the job stress and job satisfaction of 419 women and 493 men working in a large urban jail system. Specifically, role ambiguity, perceived dangerousness, coworker relations, input into decision making, and administrative support had larger effects on job stress for women compared to men. For job satisfaction, the only workplace variable to have a gendered effect was administrative support, which also had a greater effect for women than men. The findings reveal gender-related differences, especially in terms of job stress.

English

The study investigates the relations between secondary school teachers’ work-role fit, job enrichment, supervisor relationships, co-worker relationships, psychological meaningfulness of work and intention to leave. A cross-sectional survey was used. The participants were 502 secondary school teachers in Namibia. The following measuring instruments were used: Work-role Fit Scale, Job Enrichment Scale, Co-worker and Supervisor Relationships Scales, Psychological Meaningfulness Scale and Turnover Intention Scale. Work-role fit and job enrichment both had direct positive effect on experiences of psychological meaningfulness at work, while poor work-role fit and low psychological meaningfulness both had a direct effect on teachers’ intentions to leave. An analysis of the indirect effects showed that poor work-role fit and poor job enrichment affected intention to leave due to the concomitant experience of low psychological meaningfulness. These findings have implications for the retention of teachers in secondary schools. Keywords : co-worker relationships; intention to leave; job crafting; job enrichment; Namibia; psychological meaningfulness; secondary schools; supervisor relationships; turnover; work-role fit

Gender Influences on Return to Work After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

ObjectiveTo examine the influence of gender on the return to work experience of workers who sustained a work-related mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). DesignQualitative study using in-depth telephone interviews. SettingCommunity. ParticipantsPurposive sampling was used to recruit participants. Participants were adults (N=12; males, n=6, females, n=6) with a diagnosis of mild TBI sustained through a workplace injury. InterventionsNot applicable. Main Outcome MeasuresNot applicable. ResultsOur findings suggest that gender impacts return to work experiences in multiple ways. Occupational and breadwinner roles were significant for both men and women after work-related mild TBI. Women in this study were more proactive than men in seeking and requesting medical and rehabilitation services; however, the workplace culture may contribute to whether and how health issues are discussed. Among our participants, those who worked in supportive, nurturing (eg, feminine) workplaces reported more positive return to work (RTW) experiences than participants employed in traditionally masculine work environments. For all participants, employer and coworker relations were critical elements in RTW outcomes. ConclusionsThe application of a gender analysis in this preliminary exploratory study revealed that gender is implicated in the RTW process on many levels for men and women alike. Further examination of the work reintegration processes that takes gender into account is necessary for the development of successful policy and practice for RTW after work-related MTBI.

What Challenges Manual Workers' Ability to Cope with Back Pain at Work, and What Influences Their Decision to Call in Sick?

Although back pain (BP) is a very common cause for sickness absence, most people stay at work during BP episodes. Existing knowledge on the factors influencing the decision to stay at work despite pain is limited. The aim of this study was to explore challenges for coping with BP at work and decisive factors for work attendance among workers with high physical work demands. Three focus groups (n = 20) were conducted using an explorative inductive method. Participants were public-employed manual workers with high physical work demands. All had personal BP experience. Thematic analysis was used for interpretation. Results were matched with the Flags system framework to guide future recommendations. Workers with BP were challenged by poor physical work conditions and a lack of supervisor support/trust (i.e. lack of adjustment latitude). Organization of workers into teams created close co-worker relationships, which positively affected BP coping. Workers responded to BP by applying helpful individual adjustments to reduce or prevent pain. Traditional ergonomics was considered inconvenient, but nonetheless ideal. When pain was not decisive, the decision to call in sick was mainly governed by workplace factors (i.e. sick absence policies, job strain, and close co-workers relationships) and to a less degree by personal factors. Factors influencing BP coping at work and the decision to report sick was mainly governed by factors concerning general working conditions. Creating a flexible and inclusive working environment guided by the senior management and overall work environment regulations seems favourable.

Assessing the Effect of Some Selected Demographic Factors on the Level of Job Satisfaction of Senior University Staff

The study was aimed at assessing the relationship that exist between some demographic factors and the job satisfaction level of Senior University Staff. A modified version of the Job Diagnostic Survey developed by Hackman and Oldham (1980) was distributed to 1535 Senior University staff in a descriptive corelational design study. The information gathered from 1243 respondents from Olabisi Onabanjo University and Osun State University in Nigeria was analysed using SPSS 13 showed some level of significant relationships between the job satisfaction constructs and the age and gender among the assessed demographic factors. The current position of the respondents was found to have a significant difference. There was difference in the response of Academic and professional & Technical Staff regarding how each group rated satisfaction with co-worker relations. Significant relationships were determined at the p < .05 level.

A Quantitative Exploration of Health Care Workers’ Opinions and Attitudes towards HIV-Infected Co-Workers and Patients in Beijing, China

This study examines underlying stigmatizing opinions and attitudes of health care workers (HCWs) that may drive discrimination towards HIV-infected co-workers and patients in the workplace. Socio-demographics, opinions regarding managing HIV-infected co-workers, and attitudes regarding working with HIV-infected patients were measured using a self-administered anonymous questionnaire in a sample of 392 HCWs (113 doctors, 236 nurses and 43 technicians) in Beijing. Participants perceived a high risk of HIV transmission in both co-worker and HCW-patient relationships. Half of participants agreed that HCWs should routinely and mandatorily receive HIV-tests, HIV-infected co-workers should disclose their diagnosis to relevant parties, and should be restricted from performing invasive procedures. Most of participants feel disgusted by patients infected through sexual contact, and believed that HCWs have the right to refuse to care for infected patients, and that those patients should be treated only in designated hospitals. Almost all participants intended to avoid performing invasive clinical procedures or nursing services for HIV-infected patients. Nurses had significantly more stigmatizing attitudes towards HIV-infected patients than doctors and technicians. The identified rigid opinions on managing HIV-infected co-workers, together with stigmatizing attitudes towards HIV-infected persons, underscores an urgent need for interventions to prevent discriminatory practices in health care settings.

Keeping the Peace: Enhancing Peacekeeping Behavior in Organizations

Peacekeeping is an understudied organizational citizenship behavior that helps prevent, resolve or mitigate unproductive interpersonal conflict. This study examines two aspects of the manager co-worker relationship that lead individuals to engage in to peacekeeping behavior, supervisory trust and perceptions of organizational justice. The study also examines an aspect of the coworker-coworker relationship, team member exchange (TMX), which is predicted to impact an individual’s tendency to engage in peacekeeping behavior. To examine these relationships, a study was conducted with more than 200 employees from six different industries. Results find support for the relationship between supervisory trust, TMX, and interactional justice on the enactment of peacekeeping behaviors.

Quality of life among Thai workers in textile dyeing factories.

The purpose of a cross-sectional study was to investigate factors influencing the quality of life among Thai workers in textile dyeing factories. Samples included 205 Thai workers from five textile dyeing factories located in the suburban area of Bangkok in Thailand. Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire. Scales of the questionnaire had reliability coefficients ranging from 0.70–0.91. The results revealed that the overall quality of life among workers was most likely between good and moderate levels, and the percentage-mean score was 74.77. The seven factors associated with the overall quality of life were co-worker relationships, safety at work in the dimension of accident prevention, job characteristics, supervisory relationships, welfares, marital status, and physical environment. Furthermore, co-worker relationships, accident prevention, and marital status were three considerable predictors accounted for 23% of the variance in the overall quality of life among workers in textile dyeing factories.

The psychological conditions that predict work engagement among tertiary education employees

This study investigated the extent to which the psychological conditions and job characteristics predicted work engagement amongst higher education employees (n = 149, females = 60%) from a South African University. The participants completed a variety of instruments on psychological conditions of work, job characteristics and work engagement viz; the Work Engagement Scale (WES), Psychological Meaningfulness Scale (PMS), Job Enrichment Scale (JES), Work-Role Fit Scale (W-RFS), Co-Worker Relations Scale (C-WRS), Psychological Availability Scale (PAS), Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS), Job Resources Scale (JRS), Outside Activities Scale (OAS), Psychological Safety Scale (PSS), Supervisory Relations Scale (SRS) and the Co-Worker Norms Scale (CWNS). Data analysis applied multiple regression to predict work engagement from psychological meaningfulness, psychological availability and job characteristics and also to determine the mediation effect of psychological condition of availability on the relationship between work engagement and job characteristics (resources). Findings suggest psychological meaningfulness to predict work engagement and to mediate the relationship between job characteristics and work engagement. Psychological resources for work engagement should emphasise a sense of meaningfulness as a resource for work participation.

Peer Coworker Relationships: Influences on the Expression of Lateral Dissent

Peer coworkers exchange a variety of messages in their organizational experiences. However, little is known about how peer coworker relationship quality affects expression of organizational dissent. This study utilized Kram and Isabella's (1985) typology of peer coworker relationships to examine their impact on lateral dissent expression and dissent messages. The results revealed that special and collegial peers engage in greater amounts of lateral dissent expression than information peers. No differences emerged between the types of peer coworkers relationships in their use of dissent messages. The study lends support to the notion that organizational dissent is influenced by peer coworker relationships.

Using single items to measure job stressors

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether single-item measures of job stressor facets were as valid as multiple-item measures in predicting psychological strain. Single-item measures are more time and cost efficient than multiple-item measures and may also have psychometric benefits. Design/methodology/approach – Data from 3,166 hospital employees were used to evaluate the validity of 11 single-item job stressor facet measures by applying five criteria for content and criterion validity. Findings – Based on this data, six single-item measures of job stressors met all criteria, supporting their use as single-item facet measures. Research limitations/implications – The use of a sample of employees from one female-dominated industry may limit the generalizability of the results to other industries. Future research should replicate the results of the current study in other industries and use longitudinal designs to examine the predictive validity of the single-item measures. Future studies may also develop single-item measures of each facet a priori and examine their validity. Practical implications – Results support the use of single-item measures for the assessment of significance, recognition, workload, work-family conflict, skill use, and coworker relations, which can be included in research where a shorter survey is necessary. These six measures may facilitate more frequent assessment of job stressors, the assessment of job stressors as control variables, and the assessment of multiple job stressors simultaneously, while still minimizing survey space and cost. Originality/value – This is the first study to examine the validity of single-item measures of job stressors, which is a construct that is frequently assessed in organizations.

Immigrants and host nationals at work: Associations of co-worker relations with employee well-being

The aim of this study was to investigate how co-worker relations are associated with psychological well-being and job satisfaction among immigrants and host nationals working at the same workplace. Among immigrants, we examined co-worker relations with co-culturals, host nationals, and foreign immigrants, whereas among host nationals, we focused on co-worker relations with co-nationals (i.e. co-culturals) and immigrants. The study was conducted as a survey, of which the response rate was 45%. The participants consisted of immigrant (n=164) and host national employees (n=186) in a transport company (in Finland), the majority (90%) of whom were men. Co-worker relations were measured with a composite score, tapping broadly positively experienced relations and their frequency as well as the desire to interact with a defined group of co-workers. The results showed that all kinds of co-worker relations were positively associated with psychological well-being and job satisfaction. However, the co-worker relations between host nationals and immigrants were more strongly associated with job satisfaction than relations between these and other co-workers. Thus, attention should be paid to fostering the development of positive intercultural co-worker relations, as this may positively impact immigrant as well as host national employee well-being; job satisfaction in particular.

Burnout, compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress in trauma nurses.

The relationship of burnout (BO), compassion fatigue (CF), compassion satisfaction (CS), and secondary traumatic stress (STS) to personal/environmental characteristics, coping mechanisms, and exposure to traumatic events was explored in 128 trauma nurses. Of this sample, 35.9% had scores consistent with BO, 27.3% reported CF, 7% reported STS, and 78.9% had high CS scores. High BO and high CF scores predicted STS. Common characteristics correlating with BO, CF, and STS were negative coworker relationships, use of medicinals, and higher number of hours worked per shift. High CS correlated with greater strength of supports, higher participation in exercise, use of meditation, and positive coworker relationships. Caring for trauma patients may lead to BO, CF, and STS; identifying predictors of these can inform the development of interventions to mitigate or minimize BO, CF, and STS in trauma nurses.

Situated Coworker Familiarity: How Site Visits Transform Relationships Among Distributed Workers

Previous research describes significant benefits from coworker familiarity but has largely assumed proximity and that familiarity accrues simply with the passage of time. Based on a qualitative study of 164 workers on globally distributed teams, we propose that relationships transform as a result of situated coworker familiarity established when people are collocated in a shared space for an extended period of time. Site visits play a pivotal role in enabling coworkers to become more familiar with one another’s communication and work styles, capabilities and interests, personalities, work and social roles, and the cultural context in which they are embedded, thus transforming their relationships. After returning home, situated familiarity fosters behaviors reflecting closer ties, which then reinforce those bonds, suggesting that the situated nature of site visits transforms work relationships between distant coworkers in enduring ways. We contribute grounded theory about how situated coworker familiarity comes about and how coworker relationships transform as a result, particularly when workers spend most of their time apart.

Employee social cognition and performance evaluation process reactions

Purpose – The paper uses social cognitive theory to explore reactions to performance evaluation processes as situated cognitions by examining the relationship between key elements of employees’ schemas about an organizational environment, preparation for evaluation, and these reactions. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Survey of 260 employees of eight organizations in a Midwestern US city. Findings – Job resource adequacy, communication adequacy, coworker relationships, and preparation time are significantly and positively associated with employee reactions to performance evaluation processes. Preparation time moderates the association between organizational context and employee reactions. Research limitations/implications – A social cognitive perspective on performance evaluation broadens the scope of extant research. This study is limited by cross-sectional design but opens the door to future experimental and longitudinal research. Practical implications – Performance evaluation processes are situated in an organizational context. Organizational interventions to improve perceptions of this key process could focus on better communication and encouraging preparation, especially if job resources are less adequate. Originality/value – This research contributes to the performance evaluation literature by applying social cognitive theory to performance evaluation reactions as situated cognitions, calling attention to the broader organizational context in which these processes occur.

The negative effects of delays in information exchange: Looking at workplace relationships from an affective events perspective

Although timely exchange of information is critical to organizations, it often fails to happen. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for understanding how delays in information exchange negatively impact employee outcomes. Using affective events theory, delays are conceptualized as workplace events. In contrast to prior delay research, we adopt a temporal perspective for studying employees' experiences during a delay and how these experiences influence interpersonal behavior. We suggest that how employees appraise and experience delays depends, critically, upon the coworker and his or her behavior during the delay. We also identify a set of situational and dispositional factors that are important for predicting when delays in information exchange are likely to undermine coworker relationships and when they are not. Throughout the paper, we develop propositions to guide research and human resource management practice.