Important Work Outcomes Research Articles

Differences among a satisfied, a meaningful, and a psychologically rich working life

ABSTRACT This investigation elucidates what makes a good working life. A sample of 678 employees from diverse jobs rated their job satisfaction, work meaningfulness, and work psychological richness, as well as several key work characteristics (both stressors and resources) and important work and life outcomes. We explored the unique contributions of satisfaction, meaningfulness, and psychological richness by controlling each measure for the other two. Job satisfaction correlates were consistent with previous work, namely stressors and negative outcomes correlated negatively, whereas resources and positive outcomes correlated positively. More surprisingly, psychological richness was positively correlated with both stressors and resources, as well as with high rates of feeling exhausted after work and with thoughts of changing jobs. Meaningfulness, meanwhile, had relatively weak correlates after controlling for psychological richness and satisfaction. The strongest were with being proficient at the job, being highly engaged with it, and coping well with changes affecting the work role.

Leading with Trust: Strategies for Cultivating Authentic Connections that Last

Abstract: This article discusses research-backed strategies for leaders to authentically generate and maintain organizational trust. It explores how trust is defined as the willingness to ascribe good intentions to others and have confidence in their words and actions. Studies show trust in leadership positively correlates with important work outcomes like job satisfaction, commitment, and performance. The article outlines approaches leaders can take to build trust, including demonstrating competence through expertise and reliability, communicating openly and honestly while sharing both positive and negative information, displaying care and concern for employees, distributing appropriate authority and decision-making, and rewarding risk-taking and accepting failures. When leaders employ these trust-building behaviors consistently, it empowers employees to contribute at higher levels. In turn, organizations benefit from increased motivation, innovation and resilience among intrinsically aligned teams.

Pet your cat, walk your dog: The spillover effects of morning quality time with pets on outcomes during and after the workday.

For decades, psychologists have explored dynamics within the realm of human-animal interaction. Organizational psychologists are no different; research has found that exchanges with pets and other animals have the potential to influence important work outcomes, such as performance, well-being, and satisfaction. Relatively little is understood, however, regarding the potential spillover effects of human-animal interaction from the non-work to work context. To address this gap in the literature, the present research-synthesising Broaden and Build Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory-explores the daily spillover effects of morning quality time with pets on affective, behavioural, and cognitive outcomes for employees, both during and after the workday. It is also suggested that openness to experience may act as a cross-level moderator for these daily relationships. An occupationally heterogenous daily diary sample of employed pet owners from the United Kingdom (NLevel 1=405, NLevel 2=81) was used to test these relationships. Using a mixed effects modelling approach, it was revealed that morning quality time with pets was associated with reduced Negative Affect (NA) during the workday, and reduced incivility and withdrawal upon returning home from work. Moreover, higher levels of trait openness to experience strengthened the negative relationships between daily morning quality time with pets and daily workday NA and afterwork incivility. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Thriving from work questionnaire: German translation and validation

BackgroundThe Thriving from Work questionnaire is a comprehensive indicator of positive well-being for employees, applicable in both research and practical contexts. Current discussions underline the crucial impact that employment should have in enriching workers’ lives positively and meaningfully, along with the necessity for accurate and dependable tools to assess employee well-being. This study investigated the reliability, validity, and dimensionality of the translated German adaptation of the Thriving from Work questionnaire developed by Peters and colleagues [1, 2]. The questionnaire assesses work-related well-being with 30 items clustered in six domains: emotional and psychological well-being, social well-being, work-life integration, physical and mental well-being, basic needs for thriving, and experiences of work.MethodsThis study aimed to convert the Thriving at Work Questionnaire from English into German. We assessed the psychometric characteristics of the German version of the questionnaire by using item response theory with a sample of 567 German employees and examined its criterion validity.ResultsWe found that the long and short German Thriving from Work questionnaire versions are reliable with good construct validity. Criterion validity was demonstrated by relationships with important work and life outcomes, such as life satisfaction, trust in the organizations’ management, general well-being, work-related fatigue, and work stress.ConclusionsThe current study demonstrated that the German language version of the questionnaire is both a reliable and valid measure of employee well-being. We discuss recommendations for further adaptation and future research.

The development and validation of a Multidimensional Perceived Work Ability Scale.

Research on the concept of existing unidimensional Perceived Work Ability scale (PWA) in organizational science has recently increased due to its prediction of important work, individual, and labor force outcomes. To date, PWA has been measured as a unidimensional construct. The present study outlines the need for the multidimensional conceptualization of PWA and its measurement. We describe the development and validation of the Multidimensional Perceived Work Ability Scale (M-PWAS), comprising four dimensions: physical, cognitive, interpersonal, and emotional. In line with Hinkin's (1998) approach to scale validation, we use four samples (total N = 1,152) to establish the M-PWAS as a reliable and valid measure of PWA. Through an iterative item generation and review process, we found evidence for content validity. Furthermore, each subscale demonstrated high internal consistency and factorial validity, and analysis of the PWA nomological network demonstrated evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, we found that the M-PWAS showed incremental validity over an existing unidimensional PWA measure in the prediction of perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and turnover. We discuss implications for theory, research, and workplace interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal associations between the rates of change in family to work enrichment, leader-member exchange, and job satisfaction

By integrating the work-home resource model with the leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we adopt a change perspective to examine the effects of the change rate in family-to-work enrichment (FWE) on that in job satisfaction through the change rate in LMX. Using a longitudinal, multilevel sample of 360 employees in 71 teams, the results of three waves of data over eight months reveal the FWE change rate is associated positively with the LMX change rate, which, in turn, is associated positively with the job satisfaction change rate. Furthermore, we show that LMX differentiation at Time 1 moderates the FWE change rate's effect on the LMX change rate over time, such that the relation is stronger when the LMX differentiation is high at Time 1. Moreover, the LMX change rate mediates the interactive effects of the FWE change rate and Time 1 LMX differentiation on the job satisfaction change rate over time. The results also show that the initial level of FWE is related positively with the LMX change rate, but not with the job satisfaction change rate. These findings emphasize the importance of studying changes in family-work research and providing new insights into the processes of the FWE change rate's effects on the change rates of important work outcomes over time.

Inclusive leadership, employee performance and well-being: an empirical study

PurposeThis study examines the impact of inclusive leadership on two important work outcomes, i.e., employee performance and well-being. In order to better understand the above relationships, this study theorizes that employee psychological capital is a mediating mechanism and family motivation is a moderating mechanism.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected 370 responses in three different time waves with an interval of one week. All the constructs of the study were rated by employees except for the supervisor’s family motivation, which was rated by their supervisors. Given the predictive nature of the study, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis.FindingsThe authors' findings confirm the mediating role of employee psychological capital in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee performance and in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee well-being. The moderating effects of supervisor family motivation in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee performance were also significant; however, the authors did not find empirical support for the moderating effects of family motivation in the relationship between inclusive leadership and employee well-being.Originality/valueDrawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, the present study extends the authors' understanding of the unique ways in which inclusive leadership improves employee performance and benefits their well-being.

DYADIC EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY AND SEXUAL BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULTHOOD

Abstract Personality traits are associated with important life, work, and relational outcomes across the lifespan. Although personality has been implicated in models of relationship functioning, there has been relatively little research matching individual and partner personality characteristics to the frequency, quality, and variety of sexual experiences, particularly in older adulthood. The current study examined individual and spousal effects of the Big Five personality traits on sexual outcomes among 953 older opposite-sex couples followed from 2010/2011 to 2015/2016 as part of the National Social Life, Heath, and Aging Project (NSHAP; Mage = 70.60, SD = 7.92; 74.2% White, 12.2% Hispanic, 11.1% Black, and 2.5% other). Individual and spousal conscientiousness was associated with more frequent dyadic and solitary sexual activity and being part of a physically pleasurable and emotionally satisfying relationship. Those with higher levels of neuroticism and those married to spouses high in neuroticism expressed a lower preference for physical/sexual touch and cuddling, were less likely to report having a physically pleasurable and emotionally satisfying relationship, and were more likely to avoid having sex because of physical problems (and report more pain during sex). Longitudinal analyses suggested that most of these associations wavered in strength over time. The findings are discussed in the context of how relationship processes might mediate the link between personality characteristics and sexual outcomes or whether sexual outcomes promote relationship-enhancing characteristics depending on people’s personalities.

Does Healthy Living Matter to Work Outcomes? Effects of Exercise and Health Conscious Identity on Employee Job Performance and Life Satisfaction

Organizational behavior and human resource management scholarship and practice is interested in positive employee outcomes. Even though research has examined a host of work factors ranging from personality and emotions to leadership and culture, it is not clear how factors outside of work such as lifestyle influence employee performance and satisfaction. We develop theory on health conscious identity as it affect important work outcomes. We draw on emerging societal trends to outline how exercise affect employee job performance and life satisfaction. We also contend that health conscious identity has positive effect on employee job performance and life satisfaction. Our study integrates facets such as media influence, pandemic effect, and recommendations from health authorities with conventional issues of employee attitude, behavior, and well-being. Data from 280 employees and 58 supervisors supported the hypothesized relationships. We discuss implications on organizational practices in the emerging work order and suggest future research directions.

The resurrection of vocational interests in human resources research and practice: Evidence, challenges, and a working model

AbstractA large number of studies conducted over the past two decades reconsidered and supported the validity of vocational interests for predicting a range of important work outcomes. Yet to date, interests remain relatively underused in professional settings, in part because discussions of why, how, and where to use interest assessment tools in an evidence‐based manner are lacking and often incomplete. In this article, we briefly review and summarize the available evidence to then further discuss ways in which interest assessment can support various stages of the human resources (HR) cycle, including recruiting, selecting, retaining, and developing employees. From this overview, a number of challenges and apparent paradoxes are derived when working with interests, which may hinder the effective application of these assessments. Therefore, we propose a new working model that treats interest assessments both as “select‐out” and “select‐in” tools, to identify personal attributes that can either be “must‐haves” for an organization in the short term, but at the same time can represent “unique potential” for that organization in the long term. Throughout the text, we also discuss where additional research is needed to further substantiate the use of interests in the HR cycle.

Profiles in time: Understanding the nature and outcomes of profiles of temporal focus.

Individuals chronically vary in the extent to which they think about the past, present, and future. This individual difference-temporal focus-relates to a variety of work and life outcomes including affective well-being, job performance, and career success. Although it has been proposed that people can simultaneously focus on the past, present, and future (Lewin, 1943), tests of this idea within the organizational sciences remain scarce, with scholars instead focusing on the independent predictions of each aspect of temporal focus. As such, contradictory findings exist regarding the benefits of each dimension. In an effort to advance the discussion of temporal focus in the organizational literature, we present two studies that utilize latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine how people think about time holistically, uncovering initial profiles of past, present, and future temporal focus (Study 1) and demonstrating their effect on important work outcomes related to affect (e.g., job satisfaction, affective commitment) and withdrawal at work (e.g., turnover intentions, absenteeism, lateness; Study 2). Combined, our findings offer theoretical and practical implications that clarify conclusions about temporal focus in organizations and suggest directions for future work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Alternative Work Arrangements: Understanding the Experience of the Modern Worker

In recent years, technological advancements have fundamentally changed how, when, and where individuals work. An increasing number of modern workers have jobs outside of the 9-to-5 traditional work arrangement and instead seek work through alternative work arrangements, such as gig work or multiple jobholding. This trend has accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic and will likely continue due to the benefits inherent in these alternative work arrangements such as increased income and flexibility. This symposium focuses on both the benefits and challenges of alternative work arrangements. Throughout this proposed symposium, we elaborate on the experiences of workers with alternative work arrangements face. More specifically, the papers in the symposium focus on the work identities and relational strategies of the modern worker, the status inconsistencies between the types of work they perform, the freedom they receive from the alternative work arrangements, and whether or not they disclose their alternative forms of work and how their alternative work arrangements impact important work outcomes. Thus, each paper offers insights into what the future of work will look like and what organizations and managers should consider to successfully retain talent and cooperate with new types of workers. With this symposium, we see the potential to bridge the perspectives of organizations and individual workers so that both parties can benefit from these new types of work arrangements. A Comparison of the Relational Challenges of Organizational Workers Versus Gig Workers. Presenter: Elizabeth Nguyen Trinh; U. of Michigan, Ross School of Business Presenter: Brittany Lambert; Indiana U. - Kelley School of Business Presenter: Brianna Barker Caza; U. of North Carolina at Greensboro Presenter: Susan J. Ashford; U. of Michigan Is Multiple Jobholding Depleting or Enriching? Presenter: Sherry E. Moss; Wake Forest U. Presenter: Brianna Barker Caza; U. of North Carolina at Greensboro Presenter: Arran Caza; U. of North Carolina, Greensboro The Effects of Psychological Reactance on Side-hustlers’ Daily Hostility and Initiative Presenter: Hudson Sessions; Southern Methodist U. Presenter: Michael Baer; Arizona State U. Presenter: Jennifer Nahrgang; U. of Iowa A Self-Regulation Perspective on How Adult Content Creators Achieve Multiple Job Coherence Presenter: Emily D. Campion; U. of Iowa Presenter: Kathleen Keeler; Ohio State U. Do You Want to Know a Secret? Disclosure and Concealment of Multiple Job Holding Presenter: Sujin Jeong; U. of Iowa Presenter: Jennifer Nahrgang; U. of Iowa

Diversity Climate Affords Unequal Protection Against COVID-19 Workplace Incivility for Asian Workers

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked significant anti-Asian prejudice and discrimination in North America. Integrating event system theory and selective incivility theory with research on diversity climate, we theorize that the typical protective effects of diversity climate against workplace mistreatment and discrimination may be disrupted by the pandemic. Specifically, given the particular animus directed toward the Chinese due to the discovery of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China paired with the fact that workers tend to share more personal information about themselves or may be more likely to adopt more visible displays of their ethnic identification at work when diversity climate is more positive, we predict that more positive diversity climates may not protect Chinese workers from selective incivility during the pandemic, whereas it may for Asian workers of other ethnic backgrounds. Downstream, workplace incivility attributed to prejudice due to COVID-19 should be related to a range of important work outcomes and social relations at and with work, including turnover intentions, job performance (including counterproductive work behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors), and emotional exhaustion. In a 3-wave, time-separated study of Asian workers (N = 248) in North America during the first wave of the pandemic, we found support for our predictions.

Can Activity Worthwhileness Explain OCB-I Change? The Mediating Role of Positive Emotions

The competitiveness of today’s markets requires employees to do more than is formally expected from them by collaborating with others to benefit the organization (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior focused on individuals, OCB-I). Based on the idea that eudaimonic wellbeing positively influences OCB-I, and considering that positive emotions lead to optimal functioning and important work outcomes, this study analyzes the mediating role of positive emotions in the relationship between activity worthwhileness and OCB-I. Results of hierarchical regressions in a two-wave longitudinal study with a sample of 108 white collar employees show that activity worthwhileness indirectly (but not directly) explains change in OCB-I through positive emotions. Therefore, when it comes to improving performance in the workplace, investment in both hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing contributes to more effectively benefitting both employees and organizations.

Reciprocal relationships between subjective age and retirement intentions

ABSTRACT Organizational researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in how subjective age – employees’ perceived age – is related to important work and career outcomes. However, the direction of the relationship between employees’ subjective age and retirement intentions remains unclear, thus preventing theoretical advances and effective interventions to potentially delay retirement. We contribute to the literature on work and ageing by investigating the relationship between subjective age and retirement intentions longitudinally, using a sample of n = 337 workers who participated in a study with six measurement waves across 15 months. Results of a random intercept cross-lagged panel model show unique between-person and within-person relationships linking subjective age and retirement intentions. As expected, we found a positive relationship between subjective age and retirement intentions at the between-person level of analysis. At the within-person level of analysis, results suggest that retirement intentions positively predicted subjective age, but not vice versa. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of subjective age in the context of work and retirement.

Cross-task Motivation - A Review of the Literature Using a Meta-Narrative Approach

Substantial research on work motivation over the years has identified motivation to be essential to important work outcomes such as employee wellbeing and performance. Yet, research on work motivation at the task level has been sparse, and even less research has investigated how motivation for one task affect motivation in a subsequent task. The aim of the current systematic review is to identify and analyze research conducted on cross-task motivation and synthesize findings into a meta-theory of underlying processes. Using a predetermined search strategy, a systematic search was carried out in Web of Science, API/Inform, and Emerald Insight, yielding 1501 documents of which 15 were selected. Selected papers were analyzed using the meta-narrative approach. The included papers came from traditions of psychology, organization, neuroscience, and educational research. Four key meta-narratives were identified, all of which contributed information from different research traditions. Synthesizing findings from these four meta-narratives, a meta-theoretical framework for understanding cross-task motivation was proposed. Implications for practitioners include the possibility of designing sequences of tasks that maximize positive motivational outcomes. Limitations and possibilities of future research are discussed.

Examining police officers’ perceptions of stress: the role of Person−environment fit

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between officer perceptions of fit in their organization and stress (organizational and operational), overall job satisfaction and turnover contemplation (within the last 6 months).Design/methodology/approachThe authors used cross-sectional survey data from a sample of 832 officers from two Midwest police departments to examine the relationships between fit, stress and work-related attitudes.FindingsPerceived stress and organizational fit were strong predictors of overall job satisfaction and turnover contemplation; organizational fit accounted for the most variation in stress, satisfaction and turnover contemplation. Organizational stress partially mediated the relationship between organizational fit and job satisfaction and organizational fit and turnover contemplation.Research ImplicationsMore research is needed to identify predictors of organizational fit perceptions among police officers.Practical implicationsFindings indicate that agencies should pay close attention to the organizational culture and structure when trying to address issues of officer well-being and retention. Further, the person−environment framework can be a useful tool in examining police occupational outcomes.Originality/valueThe authors findings contribute to research on officer stress by exploring perceptions of organizational fit as a predictor of stress and unpackinghowofficer stress matters to important work outcomes, including job satisfaction and thoughts of turnover, by considering stress as a mediator between organizational fit and these work outcomes.

Development and validation of film stimuli to assess empathy in the work context

A growing body of research suggests that empathy predicts important work outcomes, yet limitations in existing measures to assess empathy have been noted. Extending past work on the assessment of empathy, this study introduces a newly developed set of emotion-eliciting film clips that can be used to assess both cognitive (emotion perception) and affective (emotional congruence and sympathy) facets of empathy in vivo. Using the relived emotions paradigm, film protagonists were instructed to think aloud about an autobiographical, emotional event from working life and relive their emotions while being videotaped. Subsequently, protagonists were asked to provide self-reports of the intensity of their emotions during retelling their event. In a first study with 128 employees, who watched the film clips and rated their own as well as the protagonists’ emotions, we found that the film clips are effective in eliciting moderate levels of emotions as well as sympathy in the test taker and can be used to calculate reliable convergence scores of emotion perception and emotional congruence. Using a selected subset of six film clips, a second two-wave study with 99 employees revealed that all facet-specific measures of empathy had moderate-to-high internal consistencies and test–retest reliabilities, and correlated in expected ways with other self-report and test-based empathy tests, cognition, and demographic variables. With these films, we expand the choice of testing materials for empathy in organizational research to cover a larger array of research questions.

Meaning, Purpose, and Job Satisfaction

Abstract. Finding meaning and purpose in one's life facilitates several important work outcomes. A global pandemic that changes both the lives of employees and the way they work likely affects the relationships between workers' meaning in life and work. Making meaning salient to employees, despite the circumstances, may strengthen and preserve these relationships. To examine this, 71 employed adults completed a photo-taking task that either focused on objects of meaning ( n = 36) or objects that were blue (i.e., the control; n = 35). The results suggested that meaning salience increased job satisfaction. In addition, it moderated the relationship between purpose (but not meaning) and job satisfaction. In all, this highlights the challenges of new working circumstances and the importance of continuously making meaning salient to employees.

Life stage, lifespan, and life course perspectives on vocational behavior and development: A theoretical framework, review, and research agenda

This article for the 50th anniversary issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior theoretically integrates, reviews, and critically discusses research that investigates vocational behavior and development based on life stage, lifespan, and life course perspectives. First, we describe key tenets of these perspectives and associated theories of vocational behavior and development. Second, we present a theoretical framework that integrates the lifespan and life course perspectives by addressing (a) relationships between age and important work and career outcomes (i.e., career decisions and success, job search and turnover, work motivation and behavior, attitudes, occupational health and well-being), (b) age-related person and contextual mechanisms of these relationships, and (c) interactive effects of age with person characteristics, contextual characteristics, and/or work and career outcomes. Third, based on the theoretical framework, we summarize cumulative empirical evidence for these age-related associations and effects for the various work and career outcomes. Moreover, we review conceptual and empirical articles on aging, life stage, lifespan, and life course development published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior over the past 50 years. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of theoretical implications and directions for future research that adopts an integrated lifespan and life course perspective on vocational behavior and development.