Psychological Workplace Research Articles

Employee Engagement and Well-Being

Poor workforce engagement can be detrimental to organizations because of the ensuing decrease in employee well-being and productivity. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the degree to which psychological workplace climate was associated with personal accomplishment, depersonalization, emotional exhaustion, and psychological well-being, and whether employee engagement moderated these relations. A sample of 216 health care employees from the United States, Canada, and Japan completed an online survey. Regression results suggested that psychological workplace climate was significantly related to each outcome variable; engagement moderated relations between workplace climate and each of the four dependent variables. ANOVA results revealed that high engagement group employees demonstrated higher psychological well-being and personal accomplishment, whereas low engagement group employees exhibited higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.

Psychological Violence in the Workplace Among Jordanian Hospital Nurses

The purposes of the study are to (a) assess the incidence and frequency of psychological violence (verbal abuse) among Jordanian hospital nurses, (b) explore the complaints and the reactions of nurses to such violence, and (c) identify the factors that contribute to workplace violence and the management modalities from the Jordanian nurses' point of view. A descriptive survey was used to investigate verbal abuse among a convenience sample of 422 Jordanian nurses. The Questionnaire of Workplace Violence, which was developed in 2003 by the International Labor office, International Council of Nurses, World Health Organization, and Public Services International, was used to collect the data. The findings indicated that almost 70% of participants was exposed to verbal abuse in the workplace. Patients' families were the main perpetrators of these incidents. The contributing factors to psychological violence as perceived by participants were related to administration, staff, patients and their families, workplace setting, and security. The majority of participants indicated that their employers had no polices against psychological workplace violence. Helpful strategies for reducing psychological violence include implementing security measures, restricting public access, and maintaining adequate staffing.

EXISTENTIAL DAMAGES: The Injury of Precarity Goes to Court

Psychological workplace harassment, called “mobbing,” can include vicious bullying but also practices normative within neoliberal labor regimes. It has become an urgent problem in Italy and led to the creation of a judicial category: “existential damages.” Why acknowledge workers’ existential injury during a period marked by the precipitous loss of their safeguards and value? Awarding existential damages displaces the locus of agency from the cause of economic conditions to their effects: from labor policy and norms to the disordered social relations among workers. Obscured are frictions within Italy's uncoordinated political apparatus and how workers’ injury is enacted and maintained. [labor, law, injury, Italy, state, existential, suffering, neoliberalism, precarity]

Effect of Breach of Psychological Contract on Workplace Deviant Behaviour

The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of breach of psychological contract on workplace deviant behavior of Information Technology Professionals of Pakistan.There is a need for this study as it was seen that IT industry of Pakistan could not flourish as much as IT industries of India and other regional countries. One of the major problems regarding IT industry in Pakistan is that there is lack of organizational commitment. So we have tried to find out the reasons behind this problem. From preliminary research it was found that two key factors affecting commitment in IT industry are compensation and psychological contract.Breach of psychological contract and workplace deviant behavior were measured with the help of questionnaire. Statistical analysis was conducted to find the relationship. The study shows that if there is a breach of psychological contract on part of employer then the employee tends to show negative behaviors and attitudes. This can result in reduced loyalty, decrease in organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior and it increases workplace deviant behavior. The performance of employee is affected and hence it affects overall productivity of the organization. The implications are discussed and further study is proposed.

Workplace Psychological Health: Current Research and PracticePaulaBrough, MichaelO'Driscoll, ThomasKalliath, Cary L.Cooper, and Steven A.Y.Poelmans, 2009 Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA, USA ISBN: 978 1 84720 765 4207 pages Price: $59.95 USD

Workplace Psychological Health: Current Research and PracticePaulaBrough, MichaelO'Driscoll, ThomasKalliath, Cary L.Cooper, and Steven A.Y.Poelmans, 2009 Published by Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. Cheltenham, UK; Northampton, MA, USA ISBN: 978 1 84720 765 4207 pages Price: $59.95 USD

Patterns of Violence Against Women: A Latent Class Analysis.

This study examined patterns of nine types of violence against women (VAW) and associated mental health problems. The following self-reported, lifetime violence victimization was examined among 1424 employed women: (1) childhood physical abuse, (2) childhood sexual abuse, (3) physical abuse between parents/guardians during childhood, (4) psychological intimate partner violence (IPV), (5) physical IPV, (6) sexual IPV, (7) adult physical or sexual assault by a non-intimate partner, (8) physical workplace violence, and (9) psychological workplace violence. Latent class analysis was used to identify homogenous patterns, called "classes," of women's "yes/no" responses to experiencing these types of violence. The best model consisted of 4-classes characterized by the following probabilities: low violence (class 1: 63.1%), high psychological and physical IPV (class 2: 15.6%), high physical and psychological workplace violence (class 3: 12.4%), and moderate to high childhood abuse (class 4: 9.0%). When compared to class 1 (low violence), membership in classes 2 (IPV) and 4 (childhood abuse) was associated with screening positive for depression in the past week at baseline after controlling for the influence of demographic characteristics on class membership. Also, when compared to class 1 (low all), membership in class 2 (IPV) was associated with greater odds of screening positive for posttraumatic stress disorder in the past month at the six month follow-up assessment. Findings document distinct patterns of VAW and associated proximal and distal mental health outcomes. Implications for interventions aimed to improve employed women's health are discussed.

Safety climate and verbal abuse among public hospital-based workers in Costa Rica

Low levels of safety climate and training have been associated with higher occurrence of occupational-related health outcomes; workplace violence and verbal abuse could be considered an early indicator of escalating psychological workplace violence. We examined whether low level of safety factors were associated with a higher prevalence of verbal abuse at the workplace. We used data from a cross-sectional survey administered among a stratified random sample of 1,000 employees from 10 of the 29 public hospitals in Costa Rica. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated using survey logistic regression models to estimate the association between safety factors and verbal abuse from the following sources: administrators, supervisors, patients, patients' relatives and coworkers. There was a high prevalence of verbal abuse among the healthcare workforce from both external (i.e., patients and patients' relatives) and internal workplace sources (i.e., coworkers, supervisors and administrators). A low level of safety climate was associated with verbal abuse from all sources with associations ranging from verbal abuse from administrators (OR=6.07; 95%CI: 2.05-17.92) to verbal abuse from patients (OR=2.24; 95%CI: 1.23-4.09). These results highlight the need to address organizational characteristics of the workplace that may increase the risk of verbal abuse for the future development of prevention interventions in this setting.

Moral harassment of public schools teachers

Programs geared towards the occupational health of public workers, that include the prevention of moral harassment, have been created in Santa Catarina. Any institution identified for its poor records in regards to moral harassment will end up having its image tainted before society at large. This is due to its use of arbitrary and embarrassing means for accomplishing everyday tasks. This article aims to consider Workplace Psychological Harassment (WPH), its risks and implications for the health of public workers. The methodology chosen was a teacher's case study, which consisted of document research, interviews, anamnesis and observation, all in order to relate both theory and practice. The results indicate that WPH is a complex phenomenon, which can be studied in a variety of ways. WPH risks the biopsychosocial health of the worker, causing the deterioration in social-professional relations, illness, and incapacity, as well as higher costs and certain degradation in production. It is difficult to prove incidents and their impact. Nevertheless, this research concluded that WPH has harmful consequences for the physical and mental health of workers, and is in the ergonomic field, since part of this profession's role is to seek understanding of work in order to reorganize it.

Exploiting the exploited: The psychological contract, workplace domination and symbolic violence

In this paper, we argue that the concept of the psychological contract can be understood as a discourse that reflects dominant managerial ideologies regarding the nature of the employment relationship. Using qualitative case study data collected from employers and employees working in small businesses in the private care sector, we illustrate how participation in the discourse of the psychological contract is related to social category membership. For those occupying higher status roles, the discourse has resonance and appeal and participation can yield symbolic and material profit. Conversely, for other categories of employees, specifically those occupying lower status roles, the discourse of the psychological contract lacks resonance and meaning. We further illustrate that because this discourse corresponds with the ideology that employment relationships should be reciprocal and based upon social bonds, it enables employers to legitimise their exploitation of low-paid, low-status workers with the active (and passive) consent of the latter. We theorise this example of workplace domination by drawing on Bourdieu's ideas of symbolic power and symbolic violence.

Interpersonal Targets and Types of Workplace Aggression as a Function of Perpetrator Sex

We investigated the relationship between biological sex of the perpetrator and enactment of two forms of psychological workplace aggression (i.e., overt and covert) against two different interpersonal targets (i.e., supervisors and co-workers). Based on theories of power, we tested hypotheses using two samples (n 1 = 155, 57% females; n 2 = 152, 54% females). In comparison to women, results showed that men enacted greater levels of overt aggression against both supervisors and co-workers. Men and women reported enacting equal levels of covert aggression against both supervisors and co-workers. Taken together, these findings suggest that although biological sex of the perpetrator distinguishes levels of enacted overt aggression in the workplace, there are no differences between the sexes on levels of enacted covert aggression in the workplace.

Workplace exposures and male infertility — A case-control study

This study examined the association between male infertility and certain occupational exposures. A case-control study was carried out from January 2008 to February 2009; on 255 infertile men and 267 fertile men controls. Occupational exposure to certain chemical, physical and psychological workplace hazards was assessed by self-report questionnaire. General and andrological examination was conducted for all participants, however, semen analysis was done only for the infertile men cases, because the fertile men controls refused to give semen samples. After adjustment of confounders, the results revealed that the following workplace exposure factors significantly increased the risk of male infertility: solvents and painting materials (OR: 3.88, 95% CI: 1.50-10.03), lead (OR: 5.43, 95% CI: 1.28-23.13), VDTs and computers (OR: 8.01, 95% CI: 4.03-15.87), shift work (OR: 3.60, 95% CI: 1.12-11.57) and work-related stress (fairly present: OR: 3.11, 95% CI: 1.85-5.24; often present: OR: 3.76, 95% CI: 1.96-7.52). In spite of the limitations of this study, it supports other studies that raise the attention to minimize the exposure to the workplace hazards that may affect the fertility of male workers.

The psychology of injured workers: Health and cost of vocational rehabilitation

In the vocational rehabilitation of injured workers the influence of the worker's personality has been neglected. This is despite there being substantial evidence that in chronic pain certain personality factors are significantly related to poorer outcomes. This is a preliminary study that has examined the relationship between personality factors, personality psychopathology and rehabilitation outcomes in injured workers. Data from structured clinical interviews, self report and rehabilitation outcome (cost) were gathered from 36 injured workers with recognized compensation claims for physical and/or psychological workplace injury. Personality factors were associated with poorer outcome, particularly cost and health. Individuals with extreme personality traits experienced poorer health and vocational rehabilitation outcomes. The combination of high Neuroticism and low Extraversion which is a pattern often characterized as anxious and socially avoidant was found to be consistently related to poor health outcomes. The results indicate that considering the type of personality characteristics of injured workers may have important theoretical and practical implications.

ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WORKPLACE STRAIN DURING EXPATRIATION: A CROSS‐SECTIONAL AND LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION

In this study, we examined nonlinear/interaction effects associated with the antecedents and consequences of psychological workplace strain, using cross‐sectional (N= 165) and longitudinal (N= 133) data collected from Western expatriates in China. The results of this study indicate that family characteristics interact to affect the level of psychological workplace strain experienced by expatriates. In addition, we find an inverse u‐curve relationship between psychological workplace strain and supervisory rated job performance for both cross‐sectional and longitudinal analyses. Finally, the empirical results lend support to the hypothesized positive relationship between work adjustment measured at Time 1 and job performance measured at Time 2. Implications for expatriate adjustment research and practice are discussed.

Occupational psychological factors increase the risk for back pain: a systematic review.

The purpose of this review was to summarize current knowledge concerning the role of psychological workplace variables in back pain. To this end the literature on psychological factors and back pain was systematically searched and analyzed. Psychological and medical databases and cross-referencing were used to locate 975 studies. To be included in this review, studies had to have a prospective design, include a psychological predictor variable, report on back pain, and be published in English. Twenty-one studies fulfilled the criteria for psychological workplace factors. The results showed a clear association between psychological variables and future back pain. There was strong evidence that job satisfaction, monotonous tasks, work relations, demands, stress, and perceived ability to work were related to future back pain problems. Further, moderate evidence was established for work pace, control, emotional effort at work, and the belief that work is dangerous. There was inconclusive evidence about work content. The attributable fraction indicated that substantial reductions in the number of cases of back pain could be achieved if the exposure to the psychological risk factor was eliminated. Although the methodological quality of the studies varied, they were deemed to provide "best evidence," and the consistency of the findings suggests that they are relatively robust. It is concluded that psychological work factors play a significant role in future back pain problems. However, there is still a lack of knowledge concerning the mechanisms by which these operate. These results suggest that a change in the way we view and deal with back pain is needed. Applying knowledge about psychological factors at work might enhance prevention as well as rehabilitation.

Prevalence and predictors of early traumatic stress reactions in assaulted psychiatric nurses

The effects of workplace violence were investigated in a group of 39 psychiatric nurses. Comparisons were made between assaulted nurses and a control group matched for age and occupational grade. The dependent variables were traumatic stress responses, general psychological distress, concurrent stressors and workplace danger. Most assaults were physically minor but two participants (5%) met the criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Assaulted staff reported poorer mental health than controls and poorer anger control than at baseline. Psychological distress was higher following assaults resulting in physical injury and staff who were repeatedly assaulted reported either significantly higher or significantly lower distress than those assaulted once. This may indicate early differentiation into violence-distressed and violence-habituated groups.

Compensation for mental‐mental claims under Canadian law

AbstractCanadian Workers Compensation Boards have recently been confronted with claims for compensation for disability related to workplace stress. Rules of adjudication applied to such claims are currently evolving in the 11 Canadian jurisdictions studied. This article describes the Canadian Workers' Compensation schemes and then proceeds to analyse the approach of the various provincial Boards to mental‐mental claims. It explores some of the differences between the Canadian and American approaches to the issue of compensation for psychological workplace stress, offers hypotheses as to the reasons for the disparities, and looks at the future of such claims.