Psychosocial Safety Climate as a Factor in Organisational Resilience: Implications for Worker Psychological Health, Resilience, and Engagement

Organisations are undergoing unprecedented changes in order to survive in a global and fiercely competitive capitalist market. Resilience is the capacity to endure challenges and is an attribute highly sought after in organisations, but is a construct typically theorised at the individual level. We argue that the notion of resilience can be applied at a systems level to the organisational context, and that organisational resilience presages individual resilience. Organisational resilience is defined as the capacity of the organization to cope with challenges through flexible, adaptable, humane, and interactive systems, whilst maintaining the health, individual resilience, and engagement of …

Parental role models and the decision to become self-employed: The moderating effect of personality

This paper uses social learning theory to examine the influence of parental role models in entrepreneurial families. We distinguish between paternal and maternal role models and investigate how their influence on offsprings’ decision to become self-employed is moderated by personality, specifically the offsprings’ openness. We use data on 461 alumni from eight German universities. Our results show not only that the presence of a parental role model increases the likelihood that individuals become self-employed, but that the influence of role models also depends on the individual’s openness. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on entrepreneurial families, role models, an…

"Take a break?!" : off-job recovery, job demands, and job resources as predictors of health, active learning, and creativity

The aim of this study is to investigate the moderating effect of matching job resources as well as matching off-job recovery (i.e., detachment from work) on the relation between corresponding job demands and psychological outcomes. Using the Demand-Induced Strain Compensation (DISC) Model as a theoretical framework, we conducted a cross-sectional survey study with 399 employees from three Dutch organizations. Results showed that (1) cognitive demands, resources, and lack of detachment are predictors of cognitive outcomes (i.e., active learning and creativity), (2) emotional demands and lack of detachment are predictors of emotional outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion), and (3) physical dem…

Disentangling the Process of Work–Family Conflict

Abstract. The purpose of this conceptual article is to deliver a new framework model for research on work–family conflict (WFC), which overcomes existing limitations. By adopting an organizational stress perspective on WFC we show that WFC should be conceptualized as a process. By disentangling its components we point out several problems of WFC research and how our new approach can help to avoid them. Research on WFC often does not comply with the current standards of organizational stress research. Common WFC measures bear the potential of content that overlaps with determinants and outcomes, which might spuriously inflate correlations. To avoid measurement overlap, we propose to operati…

Predicting new major depression symptoms from long working hours, psychosocial safety climate and work engagement: a population-based cohort study

ObjectivesThis study sought to assess the association between long working hours, psychosocial safety climate (PSC), work engagement (WE) and new major depression symptoms emerging over the next 12 months. PSC is the work climate supporting workplace psychological health.SettingAustralian prospective cohort population data from the states of New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia.ParticipantsAt Time 1, there were 3921 respondents in the sample. Self-employed, casual temporary, unclassified, those with working hours <35 (37% of 2850) and participants with major depression symptoms at Time 1 (6.7% of 1782) were removed. The final sample was a population-based cohort of 1084…

Psychosocial Safety Climate and PSC Ideal; Direct and Interaction Effects on JD-R for Mental Health, Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement (Iran)

In this chapter the PSC model is investigated from composition and dispersion perspectives. PSC refers to the shared perception of managerial activities to support employees’ psychological health and safety. Theoretically, PSC extends the Job Demand-Resources (JD-R) theory. Consistent with composition and dispersion theories, both PSC compositions (average levels) and PSC dispersion (standard deviation (SD)) are investigated. PSC Ideal \( \left( {\frac{PSC\;Level}{PSC\, SD}} \right) \) is a new concept being introduced for the first time here, and includes both mean and dispersion roles. We expected that PSC at the team level determined job design (JD-Rs; psychological and emotional demands…

Psychosocial safety climate: Conceptual distinctiveness and effect on job demands and worker psychological health

Abstract Psychosocial safety climate is an emerging construct that refers to shared perceptions regarding policies, practices, and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety. The purpose of the research was to: (1) demonstrate that psychosocial safety climate is a construct distinct from related climate measures (i.e., physical safety climate, team psychological safety, and perceived organizational support); and (2) test the proposition that organizational psychosocial safety climate determines work conditions (i.e., job demands) and subsequently worker psychological health. We used samples from two different cultures; an Australian sample (N = 126 workers in 16…

The role of partners and children for employees' daily recovery

Abstract This multi-source diary study examined the role of partners for employees' daily recovery in a sample of dual-earner couples. We hypothesized that employees' daily psychological detachment from work during the evening should be positively associated with their partners' daily psychological detachment during the evening. Employees' affective well-being (serenity and negative activation) at bedtime should be influenced not only by their own psychological detachment, but also by their partners' psychological detachment. Moreover, we hypothesized that the presence of children in a couple's household should moderate the relations between partners' psychological detachment on the one han…

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and enacted PSC for workplace bullying and psychological health problem reduction

Bullying at work has profound effects on both the individual and organization. We aimed to determine if organizational psychosocial safety climate (PSC; a climate specific to worker psychological health) could reduce workplace bullying and associated psychological health problems (i.e., distress, emotional exhaustion, depression) if specific procedures were implemented (PSC enactment). We theorized that the PSC enactment mechanism works via psychosocial processes such as bullying mistreatment climate (anti-bullying procedures), work design (procedures reduce stress through work redesign), and conflict resolution (procedures to resolve conflict). We used two-wave national longitudinal interv…

Successful and Positive Learning Through Study Crafting: A Self-Control Perspective

Using social media and other Internet-based sources could distract students from decent academic learning and lead to negative learning, and self-control is required to foster self-regulated learning. Self-control involves the trait-like capacity for self-control and the state-like level of self-control strength, which could be used for performing self-control tasks. Capacity for self-control can be increased by regularly practicing self-control similar to a muscle that needs training for strengthening. We encourage creating study environments in which self-control is reasonably demanded. In particular, we propose that students should be enabled to engage in study crafting behavior. Study c…

The daily motivators

Organisational climate and employee health outcomes: a systematic review

Organisational climate, particularly safety climate, has been documented as a crucial element in promoting occupational health and safety. However, most previous studies have focused more on safety issues (e.g., injuries and accidents) rather than health outcomes (e.g., illnesses, stress, etc). A comprehensive review is also lacking in relation to understanding the organisational climate–health relationship between different levels of analysis, different data sources and different analytical procedures. We conducted a systematic review to investigate previous scholarly contributions to organisational climate and health. The reviewed articles were obtained from three databases: ISI Web of Kn…

Customer-Related Social Stressors

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to replicate the dimensions of the customer-related social stressors (CSS) concept across service jobs, to investigate their consequences for service providers’ well-being, and to examine emotional dissonance as mediator. Data of 20 studies comprising of different service jobs (N = 4,199) were integrated into a single data set and meta-analyzed. Confirmatory factor analyses and explorative principal component analysis confirmed four CSS scales: disproportionate expectations, verbal aggression, ambiguous expectations, disliked customers. These CSS scales were associated with burnout and job satisfaction. Most of the effects were partially mediated by …

Increasing the probability of finding an interaction in work stress research: A two-wave longitudinal test of the triple-match principle

Research into work stress has attempted to identify job resources that can moderate the effects of job demands on strain. The recently developed triple-match principle (TMP) proposes that job demands, resources, and strain can be conceptualized as being composed of cognitive, emotional, and physical dimensions. When a psychological imbalance is induced by job demands, individuals activate corresponding resources to reduce the effects of the demands. A closer match occurs when the resources are processed in the same psychological domain as the demands. The further away from a match, the less likely an interactive effect will become. Put simply, the likelihood of finding an interactive effect…

A Model of Positive and Negative Learning

This chapter proposes a model of positive and negative learning (PNL model). We use the term negative learning when stress among students occurs, and when knowledge and abilities are not properly developed. We use the term positive learning if motivation is high and active learning occurs. The PNL model proposes that (a) learning-related demands and resources contribute to learning engagement and burnout, (b) that learning engagement improves critical thinking, which (c) should enhance students’ abilities to detect fake news. Two studies demonstrate the validity of the learning engagement and burnout constructs, and learning-related demands and resources as possible antecedents. Also, criti…

The impact of state affect on job satisfaction

Affective events theory proposes affective experiences at work to cause job satisfaction. Using multiple measurements obtained in a diary study, affective experiences in terms of state positive and state negative affect (PA, NA) were related to state job satisfaction (N = 91). Trait measures were also collected. Results confirmed our hypothesis. First, aggregated state job satisfaction is strongly correlated with trait job satisfaction. Second, the relationship between state affect and state job satisfaction is not spurious: State affect impacts on state job satisfaction even if trait affect and trait job satisfaction are controlled. Third, the effect of state affect on job satisfaction mea…

PSC; Current Status and Implications for Future Research

The present chapter reviews all previous chapters of this book. Overall, the chapters offered many new perspectives on PSC research and practice. The validity and usefulness of the PSC concept was applied in Malaysia, Australia, and Iran, and for the first time in Canada and Germany, and in occupations (humanitarian work, university personnel) not investigated previously. This has been demonstrated in a series of qualitative studies (Biron et al., 2019, Chap. 15; Ertel & Formazin, 2019, Chap. 13; Loh et al., 2019, Chap. 9; Potter et al., 2019, Chap. 10). Several chapters introduced new conceptual or measurement related ideas, including the PSC as part of the broader concept of organisationa…

Commentaries

On the positive aspects of customers: Customer-initiated support and affective crossover in employee-customer dyads

This study examines psychological resources for service employees and their customers, which enhance the service experiences of both parties during service conversations. We investigate whether customer behaviour (customer-initiated support) positively impacts on employees' affect. We also examine the crossover of employees' affect on customers' affect. State positive affect (PA) was assessed in 82 employees of car dealerships and 421 customers on 2 occasions (before and after the conversation). Multi-level analyses showed the hypothesized positive impact of customer behaviour on employees' PA and in turn of employees' PA on customers' PA. Results are integrated in an overall process model …

Translating cross-lagged effects into incidence rates and risk ratios: The case of psychosocial safety climate and depression

Longitudinal studies are the gold standard of empirical work and stress research whenever experiments are not plausible. Frequently, scales are used to assess risk factors and their consequences, and cross-lagged effects are estimated to determine possible risks. Methods to translate cross-lagged effects into risk ratios to facilitate risk assessment do not yet exist, which creates a divide between psychological and epidemiological work stress research. The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate how cross-lagged effects can be used to assess the risk ratio of different levels of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) in organisations, an important psychosocial risk for the development of dep…

Objective work–nonwork conflict: From incompatible demands to decreased work role performance

Research on work–nonwork conflict (WNC) is based on the assumption that incompatible demands from the work and the nonwork domain hamper role performance. This assumption implies that role demands from both domains interact in predicting role performance, but research has been largely limited to main effects. In this multi-source study, we analyze the incompatibility of demands by testing the interaction of work and nonwork demands on task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The sample consisted of 61 employees of a German hospital and we used three independent sources of data: self-ratings of work demands, partner-ratings of nonwork demands, and colleague-ratings of …

Timing in methods for studying psychosocial factors at work

In the present chapter we focus on time lags in panel studies investigating psychosocial factors and stressor-strain relationships. First, a framework of theoretical reasons for choosing specific time lags is provided, which is based on the work by Frese and Zapf (Methodological issues in the study of work stress: objective vs. subjective measurement of work stress and the question of longitudinal studies. In: Cooper CL, Payne R (eds) Causes, coping and consequences of stress at work. Wiley, Chichester, pp 375–411, 1988). Although this theoretical framework provides a clear rationale for time intervals, researchers are frequently mistaken using it to derive appropriate time lags. Second, an…

Psychosocial Safety Climate: A New Work Stress Theory and Implications for Method

This book responds to a public health priority (Whiteford et al., 2013) and a call from the WHO (2016), ILO (2016) and OECD (2012) to prevent and manage mental ill-health and promote health and well-being by drawing attention to the connection between work and mental health. By demonstrating a link between work factors and mental health-related issues, this book will provide public policy makers with evidence needed to shift policy attention to create mentally healthy workplaces and move investment of health, compensation, and insurance funding into proactive prevention strategies rather than costly treatments, medications, therapy, and hospitalisation. Ensuring workplaces globally have the…

Online_Supplement_S-3 - Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Online_Supplement_S-3 for Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA) by Christian Dormann, Christina Guthier and Jose M. Cortina in Organizational Research Methods

Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Meta-analysis of panel data is uniquely suited to uncovering phenomena that develop over time, but extant approaches are limited. There is no straightforward means of aggregating findings of primary panel studies that use different time lags and different numbers of waves. We introduce continuous time meta-analysis (CoTiMA) as a parameter-based approach to meta-analysis of cross-lagged panel correlation matrices. CoTiMA enables aggregation of studies using two or more waves even if there are varying time lags within and between studies. CoTiMA thus provides meta-analytic estimates of cross-lagged effects for a given time lag regardless of the frequency with which that time lag is used in p…

Supervisors’ relational transparency moderates effects among employees’ illegitimate tasks and job dissatisfaction: a four-wave panel study

Despite repeated calls for the inclusion of leadership in research on illegitimate tasks, little is known about what supervisors can actually do to mitigate negative effects of illegitimate tasks. ...

Psychosocial safety climate as a lead indicator of workplace bullying and harassment, job resources, psychological health and employee engagement

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is defined as shared perceptions of organizational policies, practices and procedures for the protection of worker psychological health and safety, that stem largely from management practices. PSC theory extends the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework and proposes that organizational level PSC determines work conditions and subsequently, psychological health problems and work engagement. Our sample was derived from the Australian Workplace Barometer project and comprised 30 organizations, and 220 employees. As expected, hierarchical linear modeling showed that organizational PSC was negatively associated with workplace bullying and harassment (demands) a…

The Impact of Psychosocial Safety Climate on Health Impairment and Motivation Pathways: A Diary Study on Illegitimate Tasks, Appreciation, Worries, and Engagement Among German Nurses

Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC) describes an organisation’s policies, practices, and procedures that aim at protecting employees’ psychological health and safety. In line with the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, we proposed PSC to be a cause of the causes, that is, an upstream organisational resource that decreases perceived demands and increases perceived resources in the form of illegitimate tasks and appreciation. In turn, this should lead to reduced work-related worries and enhanced work engagement. Based on a diary study across six weeks and a sample of N = 354 nurses, results from multilevel analyses were largely in line with our propositions: On the within level, worries and wo…

Customer-related social stressors and service providers' affective reactions

Summary Previous research has shown that customer-related social stressors (CSS) have negative effects on service providers' long-term well-being. Little is known, however, about short-term and mid-term affective stress reactions and reciprocal effects between service providers' affect and CSS. The aim of this study was to expand extant research (i) by analyzing service providers' short-term (across a day) and mid-term (across 2 weeks) affective reactions to perceived CSS; (ii) by analyzing intraindividual as well as interindividual effects; and (iii) by investigating reciprocal effects of affective reactions and CSS that may eventually lead to psychosocial cycles. Our study employed a diar…

Online_Supplement_S-4 - Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Online_Supplement_S-4 for Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA) by Christian Dormann, Christina Guthier and Jose M. Cortina in Organizational Research Methods

Moderating effects of appreciation on relationships between illegitimate tasks and intrinsic motivation: a two-wave shortitudinal study

This study investigated possible reciprocal relationships between illegitimate tasks and intrinsic motivation and whether appreciation moderated these relationships. Based on a two-wave panel study...

Online_Supplement_S-5 - Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Online_Supplement_S-5 for Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA) by Christian Dormann, Christina Guthier and Jose M. Cortina in Organizational Research Methods

Online_Supplement_S-6 - Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Online_Supplement_S-6 for Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA) by Christian Dormann, Christina Guthier and Jose M. Cortina in Organizational Research Methods

Online_Supplement_S-1_CoTiMA_V1.1_edit - Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Online_Supplement_S-1_CoTiMA_V1.1_edit for Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA) by Christian Dormann, Christina Guthier and Jose M. Cortina in Organizational Research Methods

Online_Supplement_S-2_CoTiMA_V1.1_noedit - Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA)

Online_Supplement_S-2_CoTiMA_V1.1_noedit for Introducing Continuous Time Meta-Analysis (CoTiMA) by Christian Dormann, Christina Guthier and Jose M. Cortina in Organizational Research Methods