Job Challenge Research Articles

Dying and the Virtues by Matthew Levering

Reviewed by: Dying and the Virtues by Matthew Levering Craig Steven Titus Dying and the Virtues. By Matthew Levering. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2018. Pp. xi + 260. $45.00 (cloth). ISBN: 978-0-80287548-8. In Dying and the Virtues, Matthew Levering affirms that dying leaves indifferent neither nihilists, who see death as a disaster, nor optimists, who expect the afterlife to be familiar. Levering's approach is a thoroughly Christian response to the tragedy of death and its meaning. He draws from Hans Urs von Balthasar (2-4), who offers three essential ways to find sense in dying. First, there is the incomprehensibility and absurdity of death. It insults meaning, undermines the whole of life, and unsettles the very permanence of love. Second, there is the New Testament affirmation that believers need not worry about death. They have already died with Christ in baptism and will also be resurrected and live forever with Christ (John 6:58). Third, union with Christ and his redemptive suffering is the source of new life. For Levering, these three angles—death as absurd, death as conquered, and union with Christ's death as the source of becoming a new creation—combine to illuminate the Christian call to a virtue-informed preparation for dying. Levering provides a compelling approach that pairs the virtues with themes and exemplars: (1) love and Job's challenge to God, (2) hope and meditation on the nature of dying, (3) faith in Jesus and the fulfillment of desire, (4) penitence and the witness of the protomartyr St. Stephen, (5) gratitude and St. Macrina, (6) solidarity through divine mercy and redemptive suffering, (7) humility as evidenced in Jesus' dying and in our own, (8) surrender and the sacrament of the sick, and (9) courage to say goodbye to the world as we know it. His matching of the virtues with such themes and models, practices and goals becomes enriched as throughout the book he draws out insights through careful study of its sources. [End Page 339] In the first five chapters, Levering addresses the three theological virtues and their effects in a unique way. Chapter 1 employs the Book of Job to reveal the urgency of the question about whether God loves Job, which is especially pertinent in the face of Job's loss of family and his anguish about the annihilation of his personal existence. Levering's interpretation of the narrative of Job identifies the pattern of the encounter between God and Job: God's definitive response to the painful course of events opens up a silence through which God responds with divine love to queries about life after death (27). Chapter 2 offers narratives that demonstrate how to bolster hope by meditating on dying (meditatio mortis) as a preparation for death. Christian examples include Josef Pieper, Robert Bellarmine, Francis de Sales, and Jean-Pierre de Caussade, who contribute to a philosophy and theology of death, the spiritual soul, and the existence of God. There is a vivid contrast to the Christian approach in the way philosophical materialists, such as Susan Sonntag and Oliver Sacks, suffer despair due to their denial of meaning in life and in death (31). They suffer from an expectation that their desire for eternal interpersonal communion will be met with everlasting nothingness. However, the believer's imagination is marked by the ultimate end of life (37). Christ offers a way to die well, to be patient in suffering (Rom 12:12), and to hope on one's deathbed. Chapter 3 addresses the questions of what the greatest and most persistent desire of people is when they are dying, and whether Jesus responds to this desire. Levering compares a Christian perspective with interreligious and New-Age perspectives on the experience of dying. In particular, Kathleen Dowling Singh (The Grace in Dying) and David Kuhl (What Dying Persons Want) identify the main human desires in the face of death: eternal "existence, communion, and unity" (59). Beyond these three desires, however, Levering rightly recognizes the need for reconciliation with God. Although expressed through self-giving love, reconciliation is not usually included in such non-Christian approaches. Nonetheless in basic human experience, we do find that...

Expansion of job demands-resources model by applying the circumplex model of affect

The purpose of this study is to verify the effect of challenge and hindrance job demands on two-dimensional view of work-related subjective well-being and the role of employee’s dominant promotion-focus and LMX based on Russell's circumplex model(1980). A sample of 361 employees were participated voluntarily in this study and data were analyzed. The results and implications of this study are as follows. First, challenge stressor had a positive effect on the positive factors of work-related subjective well-being, while hindrance stressor had a negative effect. The effect of challenge stressor on work engagement was relatively large than the effect on job satisfaction. Second, both challenge and hindrance stressor had a positive effect on the negative factors of work-related subjective well-being. In comparison of the effect size considering activation level, the effect of challenge stressor on workaholic and hindrance stressor on burnout was relatively large compare to each other. Third, employee’s dominant promotion-focus showed the role of enhancing effect of challenge demands on the positive factors of work-related subjective well-being. The LMX has been shown to mitigate the effects of hindrance stressor on workaholic. Finally, theoretical and practical implications of these findings, along with this study limitations and future research directions were discussed.

Experiencing career plateau on a committed career journey: a boundary condition of career stages

PurposeCareer plateau is a major concern for many seasoned employees because they often stay in the same position longer than expected and over time begin to lack job challenges. This phenomenon is now considered a normal stage in career development. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of two types of career plateau: hierarchical and job content on career commitment (career identity, career insight and career resilience), along with the mediating effect of perceived external employability. We also determined in the moderated mediation model if Super's (1957) three career stages amplify and attenuate the indirect effect of hierarchical/job content plateau on career commitment (career identity, career insight, career resilience) via perceived external employability.Design/methodology/approachWe tested the hypotheses with survey data collected from a convenience sample of 472 white-collar full-time employees who also studied in the MBA and continuing education program in five large universities in Taiwan (77% return rate).FindingsThe mediation model result showed that perceived external employability partially and negatively mediated the influence of hierarchical plateaus on career commitment (career identity, career insight and career resilience). Perceived external employability partially and negatively mediated the influence of job content plateaus on career identity and career insight but fully and negatively mediated on career resilience. The result of the moderated mediation model also demonstrated that only employees in the trial stage had influences on the mediation relationships among the hierarchical plateau, perceived external employability and career commitment with its two dimensions of career identity and career insight only other than those in the stabilization and maintenance stages.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study can benefit career management scholars and practitioners since they promote a better understanding of the career management practices that are relevant for seasoned employees who are valued for their knowledge, experience and expertise when encountering the three career stages.Originality/valueDrawing on the conservation of resources (COR) theoretical perspective, we fill the gap in the literature by proposing perceived external employability as a mediator in the link between career plateau and career commitment and generalize the results to plateaued employees at the different career stages.

Linking Challenge-Hindrance Stressors to Safety Outcomes and Performance: A Dual Mediation Model for Construction Workers.

Occupational stressors have long been recognized as an important risk factor for injury accidents. The mechanisms underlying the relationships among challenge stressors, hindrance stressors, safety outcomes (occupational injuries), emotional experiences (attentiveness), and job performance (task performance) were investigated from the perspectives of the challenge–hindrance stress model and the conservation of resources theory. This study collected multi-source data over two timepoints for 105 safety supervisors and 379 construction workers in China. Results revealed that both challenge and hindrance stressors were positively related to occupational injuries, but only challenge stressors were positively associated with attentiveness. In addition, occupational injuries mediated the relationship between both challenge and hindrance stressors and task performance, while attentiveness mediated only the relationship between challenge stressors and task performance. These findings contribute to our knowledge of stress management in the construction project context and provide recommendations for stress management for front-line workers at construction sites.

The Mediating Role of Self‐efficacy between Job Challenges and Work Engagement: Evidence from Indian Power Sector Employees

The study involves testing a mediation model wherein self‐efficacy is proposed as a mediator between challenging job demands and work engagement. The respondents (n = 107) were executives employed in the Indian public sector power major. The hypothesized model was tested using the Structural Equation Modeling techniques. The first three hypotheses proposing the positive relationship among the study constructs (i.e., job challenge and work engagement; job challenge and self‐efficacy; self‐efficacy and work engagement) were confirmed through results. Further, the mediation hypothesis proposing self‐efficacy as a mediator between job challenge and work engagement was established. The findings signify that addressing job challenges helps individuals to build confidence and facilitate their engagement with work.

Digitalization of Financial Services in Albania Under Restricted Measures Covid-19

Under the restricted measures due to the global pandemic Covid-19, like all other services, financial services had difficulties in performing their financial activities. These difficulties are stronger at countries where financial services are denied for a long time. Financial services denial is an issue that has affected not only Albania but small Balkan countries as well. The reasons for this denial are many, but among them we can distinguish the lack of credit experience, as one of the common reasons to be excluded in these countries from the development of the financial sector. Currently, one of the reasons for the financial denial is the emergency created by Covid-19, where physical distancing and other measures taken by governments to restrict movement and services make financial service impossible. Thus, one of the most effective ways to perform financial services remotely is financial technology. Financial technology refers to the possibilities of financial innovation through technology that can result in new business models, applications, processes, or products with an effectiveness related to financial markets and institutions and the provision of financial services. This paper aims to present the challenges of the legal framework and regulatory institutions, to provide recommendations for its improvement, to enable the development of financial technology in the financial market in Albania. The paper address issues such as the Bank of Albania's consideration on the Directive (EU) 2015/2366 On Payment Services (PSD II). What benefits or challenges would its implementation bring? How is the financial industry projected after the implementation of PSD II? What are the biggest job challenges with payment institutions that have not been to the market before or that bring technology innovations? The paper addresses the issue of money laundering through online digital transactions as well.

호텔 직원이 지각한 조직권력이 도전적, 방해적 스트레스 및 직무소진에 미치는 영향

호텔 직원이 지각한 조직권력이 도전적, 방해적 스트레스 및 직무소진에 미치는 영향

Media Literacy Levels of Archivists in Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS)

Media literacy is a concept that describes a person's ability to utilize media, analyze information, and communicate it. This concept is used by researchers to see a person's ability to relate to information media. This study discusses the level of media literacy of archivists in the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS). The archivist has a strategic position in information management of the university. In this respect, it needs to be reviewed related to the competence of the media literacy of archivists. In this era of information, archivists are faced with various job challenges due to the development of information technology, including the fast in disseminating information and the emergence of false or misleading information (hoaxes). This condition causes archivists not only to be required to have competence in utilizing information technology but also to be able to analyze and communicate information correctly to provide a fast, accurate, and reliable service. This competency will be reflected in the level of media literacy of archivists. This research uses the descriptive quantitative method by focusing on the aspects of a phenomenon and the reality of media literacy by archivists in ITS. The level of media literacy can be seen from the Individual competence framework presented by the European Commission (2009). The result of the study showed that the media literacy of archivists in ITS is at a medium level, which indicated the competence is more focused on the ability of technical skill and critical understanding. While in the social competence aspect are classified as passive users.

How to foster nurses' well-being and performance in the face of work pressure? The role of mindfulness as personal resource.

The aim of this study was to study the simultaneous relationships of work pressure with the performance and well-being of nurses and to explore whether mindfulness moderates these relationships. A cross-sectional survey design. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 1,021 nurses from 103 Belgian care homes for older people, in 2017. Data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and simple slope analyses. Work pressure was positively associated with empathetic care, job performance and emotional exhaustion and negatively associated with work engagement. Mindfulness was positively related to empathetic care, job performance and work engagement and negatively related to emotional exhaustion. Regarding the moderations, mindfulness moderated the relationships between work pressure and both performance outcomes, as well as between work pressure and work engagement. Contrary to what we expected: (a) mindfulness showed no significant buffering effect of work pressure on emotional exhaustion; (b) the relationship between work pressure and both empathic care and job performance was stronger when mindfulness was low (vs. high); and (c) mindfulness strengthened instead of weakened the negative relationship between work pressure and work engagement. However, in high work pressure settings, more mindful individuals still had better job performance and work engagement outcomes than less mindful individuals. Our findings explain conflicting outcomes on the effects of work pressure by suggesting that work pressure can function both as a hindrance and a challenge job demand depending on the outcome. Furthermore, by exploring the role of mindfulness as a personal resource, we add to the literature on the role of personal resources in the job demands-resources (JD-R)-model which is particularly relevant in the context of increasing work pressure. Nurses are confronted with increasing work pressure. The present findings indicate that the implementation of mindfulness strategies can be beneficial for nurses dealing with work pressure, contributing to nursing practice and JD-R theory.

Seeing into the future: The role of future-oriented coping and daily stress appraisal in relation to a future stressor.

Recent research has identified the value of distinguishing between employee's appraisals of their work-based challenge, hindrance, and threat job demands, and of how employee's future-oriented coping is associated with key occupational outcomes. The current study extends this research by assessing the extent to which employee's proactive and preventive coping techniques each directly and indirectly predicted challenge, hindrance and threat appraisals. Utilizing a daily diary design, 89 undergraduate students completed five daily surveys focused on a common future stressor. Results suggested daily appraisals do not change as much as expected, with only challenge appraisals reducing across the 5-day period. However, both proactive and preventive coping moderated daily stress appraisals, such that when proactive coping was high, challenge appraisals increased and hindrance appraisals decreased. Similarly, preventive coping appeared to reduce both hindrance and threat appraisals. Theoretical and practical implications of the multi-level and dynamic nature of appraisals and future-oriented coping are discussed.

Job demands amid work intensity: British Columbia school administrators’ perceptions

Job demands overburden school administrators’ personal and professional capacity and affect their performance and well-being. However, studies on principals and vice-principals’ work intensification fail to highlight how their work demands and challenges are manifested, and how work demands contribute to the changing nature of their work. This qualitative study explores in what ways job demands are manifested in school administers’ intensified work conditions and how their perceptions of job demands help them create a sense of control. The study utilizes the job demands model as a framework to help closely examine two types of job demands: job challenges; and job hindrances though principals’ accounts. The results show that job challenges tend to be transitory and are more likely to be overcome; job hindrances however tend to be more institutional and less temporary and harder to overcome. Attempting to deal with job challenges the same as dealing with job hindrances may become challenging itself and build up rather than alleviate work-related stress among school principals.

Factors Affecting Employee Engagement at Not-For-Profit Organizations: A Case in Vietnam

The paper examines the determinants of employee engagement in the not-for-profit organization (NFPO) sector. A structured questionnaire survey of 205 NFPO employees in Vietnam was employed, preceded by in-depth interviews with NFPO associates and managers. After a multiple regression analysis to study the impact of five independent variables on one dependent variable, the study reveals that Work design and Work-life balance are positively and significantly associated with employee engagement. Of which, Work design is measured by the level of job fit, job autonomy, job challenge, and job meaningfulness. On the other hand, Work-life balance involves measurement aspects consisting of how reasonable the workload is and organizational support. Meanwhile, different from the business world, Leadership, Learning and Development, and Recognition do not show statistically positive impacts on employee engagement in NFPOs. Still, they are crucial back-supporting factors to ensure employee experience at work. Further, the study finds that personal growth contributes a great part to keep employees in the sector motivated. This paper brings the area of study to the forefront in an effort to benefit the practice of human resources management in NFPOs as well as support employees in the sector with a higher quality working experience.

Challenge-Hindrance Stressors and Job Attitudes: Moderating Role of Leader-Member Exchange

The study aims to comprehend the framework of challenge-hindrance stressors and examine the role of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) between challenge-hindrance stressors and its outcomes (job satisfaction and turnover intention) in Pakistan. Data was collected from a sample of 253 employees working in Pakistani organizations. The model was tested by employing regression and correlation analysis. The findings show a positive association of challenge stressors with job satisfaction and LMX (whereas the insignificant relationship with turnover intention. On the other side showed a positive association of hindrance stressors with TI and an insignificant relationship with JS and LMX. Most importantly, the results supported the moderating role of LMX between challenge stressors and job satisfaction. The dissertation was a cross-sectional study; in the future different time lags or longitudinal analyses should be done to avoid ambiguity in results. Further, the uni dimensional scale was used for LMX; in future studies, the multidimensional scale can be used. This study provides the basis for further research in exploring the moderating role of LMX between challenge-hindrance stressors with different outcomes. The study can be used for leaders to better understand the relationship of the leader with its members and how to handle challenge and hindrance stressors facing employees at the workplace.

Organizational culture for training transfer: the mediating role of motivation

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of motivation to transfer training in between five dimensions of organizational culture and training transfer.Design/methodology/approachThis paper followed a positivist epistemology to understand the factors associated with training transfer. The descriptive and causal research design was used for data analysis. A proportionate stratified random sample of 150 faculties responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that motivation to transfer training partially mediates the relationship between the four dimensions of organizational culture (i.e. job challenge, communication, innovation and social cohesion) and training transfer. Further, the results also show the relation between trust and training transfer is fully mediated by the motivation to transfer training.Practical implicationsFor better training transfer higher education sector ought to consider organizational related factors such as organizational culture, rather than only focusing on individual-related factors. The education sector would have strengthened each dimension of organizational culture to motivate the faculties for training transfer.Originality/valueOrganizational culture dimensions (job challenge, communication, trust, innovation and social cohesion) are the essential dimensions for training transfer which are less prioritized despite their importance.

A Committed Journey Towards Your Career: the Mediating Effect of Perceived External Employability

Career plateau has been a major concern for many seasoned employees because they often stay in the same position longer than expected and lack job challenges over time. This phenomenon is now considered a normal career development stage in life. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of career plateau (hierarchical and job content) on career commitment, along with the mediating effect of perceived external employability. We test the hypotheses with survey data collected from a convenience sample of 472 white-collar employees who had full-time jobs and were enrolled as Executive MBA and continuing education students in five large universities in Taiwan (77% return rate). Based on structural equation modeling analysis, the results showed that both hierarchical and job content plateau had significant negative effects on career commitment. Also, perceived external employability partially mediated the negative relationship between hierarchical and job-content plateau and career commitment. The findings of this study provide insight for career management scholars and practitioners by promoting a better understanding of suitable career management practices for more ‘seasoned’ employees who are valued for their knowledge, experience and expertise. Drawing from career motivation theory, we fill the gap of testing the mediating effect of perceived external employability to link hierarchical and job content career plateau to career commitment as career-related outcomes.

Structural Relationships among Job Challenge, Learning Agility, Work Engagement and Innovative Work Behavior: Focusing on K Enterprise

Structural Relationships among Job Challenge, Learning Agility, Work Engagement and Innovative Work Behavior: Focusing on K Enterprise

Job Ethics Status and Challenges of Employers

Job Ethics Status and Challenges of Employers

Measuring the influence of hospitality organizational climate on employee turnover tendency

PurposeThis study aims to identify the underlying dimensions of hospitality organizational climate and then measure the influence of it on employee turnover tendency.Design/methodology/approachData were obtained from 504 employees across 18 upscale hotels in India. Factor analysis was adopted to identify the organizational climate dimensions and its influence on turnover tendency was measured by SEM. One-way ANOVA tested the hypothesis related to the perceived differences among the employees regarding turnover intention.FindingsResult supports the hypothesized relationship between the constructs that the identified organizational climate structure have strong inverse relationship with employee turnover tendency and its dimension “leaders facilitation and support” was found to influence turnover intention the most, followed by “cohesion, clarity and objectivity of system,” “esprit of profession, organization and workgroup” and “job challenge, variety and feedback.” Results also determined differences among the hotel employees of different job levels and gender regarding turnover tendency.Practical implicationsStudy reveals that employee turnover tendency is predominantly influenced by the identified factors of organizational climate and more among the male frontline employees and attrition reduces with age and position. This knowledge will help the hotel's management in designing strategic HRM to control attrition.Originality/valueThis study is the first to establish an organizational climate measure of hotel industry in India and opens scope for future research. It also draws attention to the relationship of organizational climate with turnover tendency.

Incorporating Job Demand Variability Into Job Demands Theory: A Meta-Analysis

A rich history of research on job demands suggests that employees’ demands at work are related to their strain and engagement. This research often considers job demands to be fixed and stable over the course of workers’ experiences, despite the existing research showing that some employees experience high levels of job demands one day and low levels the next. We seek to extend research on job demands by introducing the idea that different employees experience different levels of job demand variability (i.e., variability in job demands over workers’ daily experiences). Relying on arousal theory, we posit that job demand variability moderates the between-person effects of overall job demand levels on employee strain and engagement. To test our theory, we conduct a meta-analytic path analysis of the existing experience sampling methodology research on challenge and hindrance job demands. Results show that the between-person effects of challenge (on strain and engagement) and hindrance demands (on engagement only) are stronger in studies where those demands have higher levels of daily within-person variability. Unexpectedly, the relationship between hindrance demands and strain was similarly strong across lower and higher degrees of variability. Our study suggests a need for more nuanced theory that explains how job demand variability plays a role in employee outcomes. Further, we conducted a simulation study to validate our methodology, offering utility to the broader management literature applying meta-analysis to study within-person variability. We discuss theoretical and practical implications as well as several directions for theory in this new line of reasoning.

An Action Unit co-occurrence constraint 3DCNN based Action Unit recognition approach

The facial expression is diverse and various among persons due to the impact of the psychology factor. Whilst the facial action is comparatively steady because of the fixedness of the anatomic structure. Therefore, to improve performance of the action unit recognition will facilitate the facial expression recognition and provide profound basis for the mental state analysis, etc. However, it still a challenge job and recognition accuracy rate is limited, because the muscle movements around the face are tiny and the facial actions are not obvious accordingly. Taking account of the moving of muscles impact each other when person express their emotion, we propose to make full use of co-occurrence relationship among action units (AUs) in this paper. Considering the dynamic characteristic of AUs as well, we adopt the 3D Convolutional Neural Network(3DCNN) as base framework and proposed to recognize multiple action units around brows, nose and mouth specially contributing in the emotion expression with putting their co-occurrence relationships as constrain. The experiments have been conducted on a typical public dataset CASME and its variant CASME2 dataset. The experiment results show that our proposed AU co-occurrence constraint 3DCNN based AU recognition approach outperforms current approaches and demonstrate the effectiveness of taking use of AUs relationship in AU recognition.