Long-Term Development of Employee Well-Being: A Latent Transition Approach

The long-term development of employee well-being is still poorly understood. Consequently, in this three-wave 10-year longitudinal study among Finnish managers (n = 402) the development of employee well-being was examined in in detail. Specifically, the long-term development of job-related affective well-being was investigated at the intra-individual level, simultaneously taking into account positive and negative indicators of well-being, the level of well-being, and the direction of change. Further, the issue how (changes in) job resources and employee well-being were related across time was examined. By applying a novel person-centered methodology, factor mixture modeling and latent transition analysis, the results revealed that the development of favorable job-related affective well-being was eight times more probable than that of unfavorable development across the 10-year study period. Job resources predicted a high level of job-related well-being and, also, job resources increased along with favorable changes in well-being. Overall, the findings contribute to knowledge in the area of positive occupational health psychology by offering a detailed picture of the level of job-related affective well-being and its development over time

Engaged managers are not workaholics: Evidence from a longitudinal person-centered analysis

The aims of this two-year follow-up study among Finnish managers (n = 463) were twofold: first, to investigate the relation between work engagement and workaholism by utilizing both variable- and person-centered approaches and second, to explore whether and how experiences of work engagement and workaholism relate to job change during the study period. The variable-centered analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling revealed that the latent factors of work engagement and workaholism did not correlate with each other, thereby suggesting that they are independent constructs. The personcentered inspection with Growth Mixture Modelling indicated four work engagement-workaholism classes: 1) “high decreasing WE-low stable WH” (18%), 2) “low increasing WE-average decreasing WH” (7%), 3) “low decreasing WE-low stable WH” (6%), and 4) “high stable WE-average stable WH” (68%). Overall, these results suggest first that also at the intra-individual level work engagement and workaholism were largely independent psychological states (changes in work engagement and workaholism were related only in the class “low increasing WE-average decreasing WH”, 7%); second, job conditions had an impact on the levels of both work engagement and workaholism as, typically, the participants in the class “low increasing WE-average decreasing WH” had typically changed their job during the study period. The fact that work engagement and workaholism are sensitive to job changes suggests that both psychological conditions depend – at least partly – on the individual's work situation

What predicts flow at work?:theoretical and empirical perspectives

This chapter focuses on the experience of flow at work. It exemplifies the nature of the subjective experience of work-related flow. Most of the research on flow has focused on voluntary leisure and sporting activities. However, research has also shown that the experience of flow occurs in work-related activities. Csikszentmihalyi has defined flow as a state in which people are so deeply involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. Both qualitative and quantitative research on flow across a diversity of work and leisure activities has indicated that optimal experience consists of six core components. In the work context, Bakker has operationalized the flow experience with three dimensions: absorption, enjoyment, and intrinsic motivation. Work-related flow, particularly as operationalized by the WOrk-reLated Flow inventory (WOLF), has many conceptual similarities with the concept of work engagement. Work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption

Engaged managers are not workaholics: Evidence from a longitudinal person-centered analysis

The aims of this two-year follow-up study among Finnish managers (n = 463) were twofold: first, to investigate the relation between work engagement and workaholism by utilizing both variable- and person-centered approaches and second, to explore whether and how experiences of work engagement and workaholism relate to job change during the study period. The variable-centered analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling revealed that the latent factors of work engagement and workaholism did not correlate with each other, thereby suggesting that they are independent constructs. The personcentered inspection with Growth Mixture Modelling indicated four work engagement-workaholism classes: 1) “high decreasing WE-low stable WH” (18%), 2) “low increasing WE-average decreasing WH” (7%), 3) “low decreasing WE-low stable WH” (6%), and 4) “high stable WE-average stable WH” (68%). Overall, these results suggest first that also at the intra-individual level work engagement and workaholism were largely independent psychological states (changes in work engagement and workaholism were related only in the class “low increasing WE-average decreasing WH”, 7%); second, job conditions had an impact on the levels of both work engagement and workaholism as, typically, the participants in the class “low increasing WE-average decreasing WH” had typically changed their job during the study period. The fact that work engagement and workaholism are sensitive to job changes suggests that both psychological conditions depend – at least partly – on the individual's work situation

Engaged managers are not workaholics: Evidence from a longitudinal person-centered analysis

The aims of this two-year follow-up study among Finnish managers (n = 463) were twofold: first, to investigate the relation between work engagement and workaholism by utilizing both variable- and person-centered approaches and second, to explore whether and how experiences of work engagement and workaholism relate to job change during the study period. The variable-centered analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling revealed that the latent factors of work engagement and workaholism did not correlate with each other, thereby suggesting that they are independent constructs. The personcentered inspection with Growth Mixture Modelling indicated four work engagement-workaholism classes: 1) "high decreasing WE - low stable WH" (18%), 2) "low increasing WE - average decreasing WH" (7%), 3) "low decreasing WE - low stable WH" (6%), and 4) "high stable WE - average stable WH" (68%). Overall, these results suggest first that also at the intra-individual level work engagement and workaholism were largely independent psychological states (changes in work engagement and workaholism were related only in the class "low increasing WE - average decreasing WH", 7%); second, job conditions had an impact on the levels of both work engagement and workaholism as, typically, the participants in the class "low increasing WE - average decreasing WH" had typically changed their job during the study period. The fact that work engagement and workaholism are sensitive to job changes suggests that both psychological conditions depend - at least partly - on the individual's work situation. © 2013 Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid. All rights reserved.status: publishe