“Out of Sight, Out of Mind?”: The Role of Physical Stressors, Cognitive Appraisal, and Positive Emotions in Employees’ Health

This study analyzes the mediating role of the appraisal of environmental stressors in the relationship between physical characteristics in the offices and health symptoms. It also studies the moderating role of positive emotions in the relationship between physical characteristics and the appraisal of environmental stressors using a diary study on 59 office workers ( n = 432 time points) and sensor data. The results show that the appraisal of environmental stressors mediates the relationship between physical office characteristics and health symptoms, emphasizing the important link of stress appraisal in the stressors–strain relationship. The results also show that positive emotions modera…

Decoupling Office Energy Efficiency From Employees' Well-Being and Performance: A Systematic Review

Energy efficiency (i.e., the ratio of output of performance to input of energy) in office buildings can reduce energy costs and CO2 emissions, but there are barriers to widespread adoption of energy efficient solutions in offices because they are often perceived as a potential threat to perceived comfort, well-being, and performance of office users. However, the links between offices' energy efficiency and users' performance and well-being through their moderators are neither necessary nor empirically confirmed. The purpose of this study is to carry out a systematic review to identify the existing empirical evidence regarding the relationships between energy-efficient solutions in sustainab…

The Happy-Productive Worker Model and Beyond: Patterns of Wellbeing and Performance at Work

According to the happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT), &ldquo

Meaningfulness as a Resource to Mitigate Work Stress

Cross‐national outcomes of stress appraisal

PurposeThe present study aims to analyze the role of the appraisal of stressors as harmful and threatening (distress) and/or as opportunities and challenges (eustress) in inducing negative (burnout) and positive (engagement) effects. It compares appraisal of occupational stressors in Poland and Spain and looks for differences between these countries in the associations between different types of appraisals and their positive and negative outcomes.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes the equivalence of relations across cultures by constraining structural equation models to be equivalent across the Spanish (n=603) and Polish (n=147) data sets of social care services employees. Multig…

Mediating role of job satisfaction, affective well-being and health in the relationship between indoor environment and absenteeism: work patterns matter!

BACKGROUND: Office workers spend long hours in their workplace, and these environments impact their well-being and performance. This relationship can involve different mediation chains. The degree of complexity of this relationship can vary depending on different types of office work (work patterns) employees carry out. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the relationship between indoor environment and absenteeism, and the mediating role of job satisfaction, affective well-being, and health, in different work patterns. METHOD: 1306 office workers from different European countries were classified into work patterns depending on: task complexity and interactivity. RESULTS: Job satisfaction, affective well-…

The Role of Employees’ Work Patterns and Office Type Fit (and Misfit) in the Relationships Between Employee Well-Being and Performance

Nearly half of workers agree that their workspace is unsuitable for their work tasks. Furthermore, it is assumed that happy workers often perform better than unhappy ones. Nevertheless, due to the effect of the emotional-cognitive processes, the misfit between employees’ office type and their work patterns (complexity and interactivity) may hamper this relationship between well-being and performance. This diary study on 83 office workers ( n = 603 time points) combines information about work patterns identified by using cluster analysis with Neufert’s office type classification. Results show that the work pattern–office type (mis)fit moderates the relationship between well-being and perfor…

Happy-Productive Teams and Work Units: A Systematic Review of the ‘Happy-Productive Worker Thesis’

The happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT) assumes that happy employees perform better. Given the relevance of teams and work-units in organizations, our aim is to analyze the state of the art on happy-productive work-units (HPWU) through a systematic review and integrate existing research on different collective well-being constructs and collective performance. Research on HPWU (30 studies, 2001-2018) has developed through different constructs of well-being (hedonic: team satisfaction, group affect; and eudaimonic: team engagement) and diverse operationalizations of performance (self-rated team performance, leader-rated team performance, customers' satisfaction, and objective indicators), t…

Benestar i rendiment laboral en empleats d'oficines : el rol dels patrons de treball

L’objectiu d’aquest treball és posar de manifest la importància d’estudiar els patrons de treball que tenen en compte les diferents activitats que els empleats en oficines duen a terme al seu lloc de treball i, per tant, contribuir a un disseny més adequat del context i/o contingut i a assegurar unes condicions més adequades, per a un bon rendiment.

Eustress and distress climates in teams: Patterns and outcomes.

Employees' work patterns-office type fit and the dynamic relationship between flow and performance

Organizations must improve their employees’ performance in order to compete effectively. Evidence shows that flow experiences enhance performance. However, a dynamic approach to this phenomenon is needed. Furthermore, different work patterns (based on task profiles) can have specific environmental requirements (office types). This research aims to analyze the dynamic relationship between office workers’ flow and in‐role and extra‐role performance, considering work pattern–office type fit as a predictor of the initial level of each of these three variables. A total of 83 workers participated in this diary study. Results of the latent growth model showed a positive association between: (1) th…

Discrepancy between individual and organizational values : occupational burnout and work engagement among white-collar workers

Abstract This pilot study aimed to investigate the level of discrepancy between individual and organizational values, and assessed its impact on white-collar workers' job burnout and work engagement. The study examined the hypothesis that the better the fit between individual and organizational values, the higher the work engagement and the lower the risk of professional burnout. The modified Schwartz's typology of values, focusing on work related issues, was used as a framework for the study. Also, organizational level analysis was incorporated into the study questionnaire in order to capture the potential mismatch effect between the person and his or her work environment. A total of 480 w…

The moderating role of meaning in life in the relationship between perceived stress and diurnal cortisol.

Previous studies have suggested that meaning in life may buffer the negative effects of stress. This study is the first to investigate the moderating role of meaning in life in the relationship between the perception of stress and diurnal cortisol in two independent samples of healthy adults. In study 1 (n = 172, men = 82, women = 90, age range = 21-55 years, mean age = 37.58 years), the results of moderated regression analyses revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between overall perceived stress in the past month and both diurnal cortisol levels (area-under-the-curve with respect to the ground; AUCg) and the diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) only in individuals with low l…

From Office Environmental Stressors to Work Performance: The Role of Work Patterns

Background: Different studies have shown a relationship between office environmental stressors and performance. However, studying environmental stress in the workplace requires analyzing more specific patterns to generate knowledge about the type of employees who are more or less vulnerable to environmental stressors. The present study analyzes the mediating role of health symptoms and negative emotions in the relationship between stressors and performance in different work patterns (task complexity and interactivity). Methods: There were 83 office workers (n = 603 time points) that took part in a diary study with multilevel design. Results: The appraisal of the environmental stressors is p…

Revisiting the happy-productive worker thesis from a eudaimonic perspective: a systematic review

The happy-productive worker thesis (HPWT) is considered the Holy Grail of management research, and it proposes caeteris paribus, happy workers show higher performance than their unhappy counterparts. However, eudaimonic well-being in the relationship between happiness and performance has been understudied. This paper provides a systematized review of empirical evidence in order to make a theoretical contribution to the happy-productive worker thesis from a eudaimonic perspective. Our review covers 105 quantitative studies and 188 relationships between eudaimonic well-being and performance. Results reveal that analyzing the eudaimonic facet of well-being provides general support for the HPWT…

Development and validation of the Valencia Eustress-Distress Appraisal Scale.

Hierarchy of Eustress and Distress: Rasch Calibration of the Valencia Eustress-Distress Appraisal Scale

The purpose of the study was to uncover the hierarchy of eustress and distress appraisal and calibrate the Valencia Eustress Distress Appraisal Scale (VEDAS, Rodríguez, Kozusznik, & Peiró, 2013) using the Rasch Analysis (RA). A cross-sectional study was conducted on sample of 603 Spanish social service professionals. The VEDAS included four subscales addressing work demands that can be appraised as sources of eustress and distress. RA was carried out for eustress and distress appraisal scales. A graduation of stressful situations appraised as distress and/or as eustress was revealed. One of the greatest sources of distress and one of the lesser sources of eustress was “switching off at …

Daily eudaimonic well-being as a predictor of daily performance: A dynamic lens.

Sustaining employees' well-being and high performance at work is a challenge for organizations in today's highly competitive environment. This study examines the dynamic reciprocal relationship between the variability in office workers' eudaimonic well-being (i.e., activity worthwhileness) and their extra-role performance. Eighty-three white-collar employees filled in a diary questionnaire twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, on four consecutive working days. The results show that eudaimonic well-being displays clear variability in a short time frame. In addition, Bayesian Multilevel Structural Equation Models (MSEMs) reveal a significant positive relationship between…

From Happiness Orientations to Work Performance: The Mediating Role of Hedonic and Eudaimonic Experiences

In organizations, psychologists have often tried to promote employees&rsquo

The Valencia Eustress-Distress Appraisal Scale (VEDAS): Validation of the Italian Version

© 2018 by the authors. The aim of this study is to validate the Italian version of the Valencia Eustress-Distress Appraisal Scale (VEDAS). Two hundred and thirty-two Italian workers were involved in the study. Dimensionality, reliability, and concurrent validity were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a four-dimensional structure. In addition, the Italian version of the scale showed good internal consistency and validity. The results indicate that the Italian version of the VEDAS is a valid instrument for measuring eustress and distress appraisal in the Italian context. ispartof: SUSTAINABILITY vol:10 issue:11 status: published

Individual, co-active and collective coping and organizational stress: A longitudinal study

This study aims to identify the association between changes in three types of problem-focused coping (individual, organizational co-active and collective) and the change in the appraisal of different facets of employees' stress and the organizational stress climate. These relationships are tested by means of Bayesian Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling and a two-wave panel design. The sample is composed of 525 teachers in 100 schools. Stress experiences and coping behaviors are assessed during the first and third terms of the academic year. The results show that an increase in the use of individual problem-focused coping has little to no effect on the decrease in individual stress appra…