Attitudes to training and their relation to the wellbeing of workers

Background: This study aimed to investigate the influence of attitudes towards training on individuals’ level of well-being, after controlling for other variables (demographics and psychosocial characteristics). Attitudes towards training consist of motivation to learn, learning, transfer intention and cognitive dissonance. Methodology: In total, 210 workers who had undergone various training programs completed an online survey measuring various psychosocial characteristics, four training attitudes and level of well-being. Results: The results showed that positive psychosocial characteristics (positive personality, positive coping, positive work characteristics, organisational citizenship behaviours and commitment) had significant associations with positive attitudes towards training (motivation to learn, learning and transfer intention) and positive well-being. Similarly, negative psychosocial characteristics (negative coping and negative work characteristics) were correlated with negative training attitudes (cognitive dissonance) and negative well-being. The training attitudes also had a moderate to high correlation with well-being. However, after controlling for other variables (age, gender, education and psychosocial characteristics), only cognitive dissonance was found to influence negative well-being. Cognitive dissonance theory was used to explain these findings. Conclusion: This study gives a new perspective in the field of both training and well-being. It not only provides new knowledge but may also be beneficial to practitioners. More research is required in the future to confirm the link between training attitudes and well-being and examine in more depth the relationship between them

Social stressors, social support, and well-being in ethnically diverse retail teams

Betriebe werden immer vielfältiger. Diskussionen über dessen Vor- und Nachteile konzentrieren sich oft auf Leistungsaspekte, aber selten auf Gesundheit und Wohlbefinden. Da Arbeit das Wohlbefinden beeinflusst, betrachtet diese Dissertation in zwei Artikeln, wie Zusammenhänge zwischen sozialen Stressoren, sozialer Unterstützung und Wohlbefinden mit der Angehörigkeit zu einer ethnischen Minderheit und ethnischer Diversität in Arbeitsteams assoziiert sind. Um darüber hinaus Forschungsergebnisse anhand von Arbeit und Gesellschaft zu diskutieren, wurde das Arbeits-Gesellschafts-Widerspieglungsmodell entwickelt. Artikel 1 untersuchte, inwiefern sich Zusammenhänge zwischen Beschäftigten, die einer ethnischen Minderheit angehörten, und Beschäftigten, die der Mehrheit angehörten, unterschieden. In beiden Gruppen gab es einen negativen indirekten Zusammenhang zwischen verbaler Aggression durch Kund:innen und arbeitsbezogenem positivem Affekt über emotionale Dissonanz. Unerwarteterweise war bei Beschäftigten, die einer ethnischen Minderheit angehörten, die negative indirekte Beziehung zwischen verbaler Aggression durch Kund:innen und arbeitsbezogenem positivem Affekt dann besonders stark ausgeprägt, wenn ihre Vorgesetzten sie in hohem Maße unterstützten. Artikel 2 untersuchte, ob ethnische Diversität mit emotionalen Konflikten zusammenhängt und ob diese wiederum mit emotionaler Irritation korrelieren. Um Team- und Personenebene zu vergleichen, wurde ethnische Diversität auf beiden Ebenen in einem Mehrebenenmodell kombiniert. Die Ergebnisse wiesen auf einen Unterschied zwischen beiden Ebenen hin: Auf Teamebene gab es einen positiven Zusammenhang zwischen ethnischer Diversität und emotionaler Irritation, der durch emotionale Konflikte vermittelt wurde. Jedoch war dieser Zusammenhang auf Personenebene negativ, was die Komplexität ethnischer Diversität verdeutlicht. Abschließend diskutiere ich diese Forschungsergebnisse mithilfe des Arbeits-Gesellschafts-Widerspieglungsmodells.Increased ethnic diversity in workplaces has fueled discussions on whether this diversity is an asset or a liability. These discussions often focused on performance but paid limited attention to well-being and health. As work represents an important determinant of well-being, this dissertation aimed to understand how associations between social stressors, social support, and well-being relate to ethnic minority status and ethnic diversity at work. Two papers addressed this aim. To discuss their research findings in the broader contexts of work and society, I introduced the work-society reflection model. Paper 1 examined ethnic minority status as a moderator in a multi-group path model. The analysis showed that the negative indirect association between customer verbal aggression and work-related positive affect via emotional dissonance did not vary between ethnic minority and ethnic majority workers. However, supervisor support moderated this indirect association only among ethnic minority workers. Unexpectedly, the negative indirect relationship between customer verbal aggression and work-related positive affect via emotional dissonance was stronger in ethnic minority workers with high levels of supervisor support. Paper 2 examined the association between ethnic diversity and emotional strain via emotional conflicts. To investigate whether this association varied between the team and individual levels, this paper combined ethnic diversity at both levels in a multilevel path model. In fact, the results indicated a difference between the team and individual levels: At the team level, ethnic diversity related positively to emotional strain via emotional conflicts. However, this association was negative at the individual level. This difference highlights the complexity of ethnic diversity. Finally, I integrated these research findings in the work-society reflection model to broaden the view on this topic and outlined implications for research and practice