Spanish validation of the Shorter Version of the Workplace Incivility Scale: An employment status invariant measure

Workplace Incivility (WI) occurs worldwide and has negative consequences on individuals and organizations. Valid and comprehensive instruments have been used, specifically in English speaking countries, to measure sucadverse process at work, but it is not available a validated instrument for research carried out in Spanish speaking countries. In this study we aim to test the psychometric properties of the Matthews and Ritter’s four-item Workplace Incivility Scale (2016) with Spanish workers (N = 407) from different sectors. Participants’ mean age was 38.73 (SD = 10.45) years old and the percentage of female employees was 59.2%. Confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 19.0 was carried out, presenting a good fit. The internal consistency, convergent and concurrent validity of the scale were examined. Results show good scale reliability and expected high correlations with social undermining. Moreover, the scale related to propensity to leave a job, job satisfaction, and psychological well-being in the expected way. After configural invariance across groups was established, testing for metric invariance and scalar invariance was performed. Considering Δχ2 and ΔCFI tests for two nested models, the 4-item scale was invariant when the employment status is considered (permanent vs. temporal, full-time vs. part-time, and supervisor vs. non-supervisors). Overall, our findings showed good psychometric properties of the shorter version of the WIS in Spain. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España PSI2015-64894-PFundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Portugal SFRH/BPD/121748/201

Differential impact of stay-at-home orders on mental health in adults who are homeschooling or “childless at home” in time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the confinement of most populations worldwide, through stay-at-home orders. Children have continued their education process at home, supervised by parents, who, in most cases, have adopted the role of prime drivers of their learning processes. In this study, the psychological impact of confinement was explored, as well as the relationship of the forced homeschooling situation with psychological well-being. During their confinement, 400 individuals residing in Spain—165 without children at home (Group 1), 104 parents who dedicated little time to homeschooling (Group 2), and 131 who dedicated more time to homeschooling (Group 3)—responded to an online questionnaire. The results show that confinement threatened the mental health of all the participants but especially Group 3 individuals, who had the highest loneliness, anxiety, and stress levels. Moreover, loneliness, perception of discomfort due to homeschooling, and anxiety exacerbated the stress experienced during confinement. Discomfort due to the homeschooling situation was especially relevant in explaining anxiety and stress for Group 3 individuals. These results suggest that forced homeschooling could be associated with the negative consequences that confinement has on individuals’ mental health. Moreover, the results suggest that parents who dedicate more time to homeschooling feel more unprotected and more stressed due to the homeschooling in comparison to Group 2 individuals. Health professionals must pay special attention to parents who dedicate more time to homeschooling, and governments and schools must emphasize social support provision to families during homeschooling situations

Metas de aprendizaje y contextos evaluativos en la cultura educativa

El contexto educativo actual y el alto índice de fracaso escolar muestran la necesidad de acometer reformas educativas inmediatas desde diferentes frentes. El presente artículo presenta los efectos positivos de sostener una concepción adquirible de la prop1a capacidad y mantener metas con una orientación hacia el aprendizaje al enfrentarse a tareas nuevas y complejas sobre el desempeño de los estudiantes. Atendiendo a los efectos logrados sobre la motivación, las actitudes y las expectativas de todos los agentes implicados, presentamos algunas directrices para lograr una educación de calidad como son incluir habilidades de pensamiento crítico o un manejo eficaz de los errores dentro de las prácticas educativasPresent educative context and high level of school failure show that inmediate educative changes are necessary. This paper shows evidences of positive effects over academic performance if students have incremental conception of ability and learning goal orientation when they confront new and complex tasks. Critical thought skills and effective error management as part of educativa practices are key aspects for quality education, because of their impact on motivation, attitudes and expectations of every implicated agent

Uncertainty and orientation towards errors in times of crisis: The importance of building confidence, encouraging collective efficacy

The current economic crisis is triggering a new scenario of uncertainty, which is affecting the organizational behavior of individuals and working teams. In contexts of uncertainty, organizational performance suffers a significant decline—workers are faced with the perceived threat of job loss, individuals distrust their organization and perceive that they must compete with their peers. This paper analyzes the effect of uncertainty on both performance and the affective states of workers, as well as the cognitive, affective and personality strategies (goals and error orientation) to cope with uncertainty as either learning opportunities or as situations to be avoided. Moreover, this paper explores gender differences in both coping styles in situations of uncertainty and the results of a training program based on error affect inoculation in which positive emotional responses were emphasized. Finally, we discuss the relevance of generating practices and experiences of team cooperation that build trust and promote collective efficacy in work teams.La crisis económica desencadena un nuevo escenario de incertidumbre que incide sobre el comportamiento organizacional de individuos y equipos de trabajo. El rendimiento organizacional se deteriora en contextos de incertidumbre—ante la amenaza percibida de mantener el trabajo, los individuos muestran desconfianza con la organización y competitividad con sus iguales. El presente artículo analiza el efecto de la incertidumbre sobre el rendimiento y los estados afectivos de los trabajadores, así como las estrategias cognitivas, afectivas y de personalidad (orientación hacia los errores) para afrontar contextos de incertidumbre, bien como oportunidades para aprender o como situaciones a evitar. Igualmente se analizan las diferencias de género en los estilos de afrontamiento y los resultados de un programa de inoculación de afecto hacia los errores en el que se enfatizan las reacciones afectivas positivas. Por último, se discute la importancia de crear experiencias de cooperación en los equipos de trabajo que generen confianza y eficacia colectiva

Be friendly, stay well: The effects of job resources on well-being in a discriminatory work environment

Many studies have focused on the negative effects of discrimination on workers’ well-being. However, discrimination does not affect just victims but also those people who witness discriminatory acts or who perceived they are working in a discriminatory work environment. Although perceiving a discriminatory work environment might be a stressor, the presence of job resources might counteract its negative effects, as suggested by the Job Demand-Resources model. The goal of this study is to test the effect of perceiving a discriminatory work environment on workers’ psychological well-being when job autonomy and co-workers and supervisor support act as mediator and moderators respectively. To test the moderated mediation model data were gathered with a sample of Italian 114 truckers. Results demonstrated that job autonomy partially mediates the relationship between perceiving a discriminatory work environment and workers’ well-being. Main interactional effects have been observed when co-workers support is introduced in the model as moderator, while no main interactional effects exist when supervisor support is introduced. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) SFRH/BPD/121748/2016Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España PSI2015-64894-

Linear and non-linear relationships between job demands-resources and psychological and physical symptoms of service sector employees. When is the midpoint a good choice?

Related to the research of working conditions, the link between organizational factors and health was traditionally analyzed using linear models. However, the literature analysis suggests inconsistencies in linear models predicting workers’ health levels. To clarify this issue, this exploratory research compares the linear and non-linear relationships between job demands-resources (task complexity, time pressure, contact with users, and job autonomy), and the psychological and physical symptoms of employees working in the main five service subsectors: commerce, horeca (hotels, restaurants, and cafés), public administration, education, and healthcare. With a final sample of 4,047 participants, our study data were extracted from the II Andalusian Working Conditions Survey. Following the theoretical framework of JD-R Model and considering the Vitamin Model theoretical approach for non-linear relationships, our results showed that there were significant differences among the five subsectors analyzed regarding the linear and non-linear relationships between job demands-resources and psychological and physical symptoms of employees. Furthermore, task complexity generated non-linear relationships in higher proportion than time pressure and contact with users. Likewise, non-linear relationships found showed a U-shape. Moreover, the findings of non-linear relationships suggested that medium levels of task complexity should not be exceeded to avoid further negative impact on psychological and physical symptoms for service sector employees, preserving their health. Finally, some general practical implications of work environment interventions are suggested.Ministerio de Universidades PID2019-110093GB-I0

Approaching the discriminatory work environment as stressor: The protective role of job satisfaction on health

Discrimination is a complex phenomenon with adverse consequences at personal and organizational levels. Past studies have demonstrated that workers who are victims of discrimination might show less job satisfaction, less organizational commitment and worse levels of health and productivity. Although most research has focused on the effects of discrimination on victims, less is known about the extent to which discrimination produces consequences on workers who perceive the existence of a discriminatory work environment. The goal of this article is to analyze the consequences of the perception of a discriminatory work environment on employees' health. The importance of this relationship is studied taking into account the mediating effect of job satisfaction. In order to reach this goal a cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 1633 Italian workers (male = 826, female = 764), employed in private and public sectors, and in different hierarchical positions. Results suggest that the perception of a discriminatory work environment is negatively associated with employees' health. This relationship is partially mediated by job satisfaction (R (2) = 0.17). This study demonstrates that perceiving a discriminatory work environment might have a negative impact on workers' health. A higher level of job satisfaction might buffer this effect. These findings have several practical implications. On the one hand, Human Resource Managers need to intervene in order to recognize and diminish implicit biases, creating a healthy and inclusive environment (e.g., through training, diversity policies, etc.). On the other hand, promoting job satisfaction (e.g., providing mechanisms of voice) might help workers to preserve their well-being, coping with the negative effects of a discriminatory work environment

What Determines job Performance in Decision Making by

Resumen. El presente trabajo pretende analizar el efecto del sexo sobre el desempeño en una tarea compleja de toma de decisiones. El rendimiento en tareas de logro está ligado a las dinámicas autorreguladoras, como la autoeficacia, las metas personales y el compromiso con la tarea, determinadas por variables disposicionales como la orientación de las metas o, estudiada más recientemente, la orientación hacia los errores. Concretamente, tratamos de comparar los procesos de autorregulación y factores disposicionales entre chicos y chicas estudiantes universitarios ante la realización de una tarea que simula la implementación de la innovación y el cambio en una organización. Los resultados muestran que son las mujeres quienes manifiestan una clara tendencia a comunicar los errores y se muestran menos preocupadas por demostrar competencia ante los demás. Sin embargo, ante las dificultades mostrarían sentirse menos capaces de afrontarlas, más angustiadas y se plantearían metas más bajas para su desempeño, lo que les llevaría finalmente a alcanzar un rendimiento inferior.Abstract. This study attempts to analyse the effect of gender on performance in a complex decisionmaking task. Performance in achievement tasks is linked to self-regulatory processes such as self-efficacy, self-set goals, and task commitment, determined by dispositional factors such as goal orientation or, as recently discovered, error orientation. Specifically, we try to compare self-regulation processes and dispositional factors of male and female university students in a complex task that simulates innovation and change implementation in a fictitious organization. Results show that women display a clear tendency to communicate errors and they are less worried about proving their own competence in front of others. Women, however, feel less able to cope with difficulties, are more distressed, and choose easier goals for their performance, which leads them ultimately to achieve worse performance.Este artículo se ha realizado en parte gracias al proyecto de investigación financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología PSI2009- 07423

Propuesta para evaluar estrategias de prevención del acoso psicológico en el trabajo : El programa Gestión Eficaz de Conflictos en Organizaciones Andaluzas (GECOA)

El acoso psicológico en el trabajo es un fenómeno complejo que afecta a un gran número de organizaciones y empleados en nuestro país. Como sabemos, los últimos datos de carácter científico informan de una prevalencia en torno al 4%. Todo ello, unido a las potenciales consecuencias negativas a nivel individual, grupal, organizacional y social del acoso psicológico, justifican la necesidad de llevar a cabo intervenciones eficaces frente a este riesgo psicosocial. Sin embargo, aunque muchos investigadores y profesionales abogan por el uso de la formación y la introducción de políticas anti-acoso como una forma de reducir su incidencia, pocos estudios han examinado la eficacia de estas intervenciones. En este artículo, los autores, por un lado, describen las medidas más extendidas para afrontar el acoso psicológico y, por otro lado, siguiendo una perspectiva del acoso como un conflicto escalado, ofrecen un ejemplo de evaluación de la eficacia de una intervención dirigida a capacitar a los trabajadores para una gestión adecuada de los conflictos en el trabajo.Workplace bullying is a complex phenomenon that affects a large number of organizations and employees in our country. As we know, the latest scientific data reported a prevalence of around 4%. This data, coupled with the potential negative consequences at individual, group, organizational and social levels of workplace bullying, justifies the need for effective interventions against this psychosocial risk. However, although many researchers and practitioners advocate the use of training and the introduction of anti-bullying policies as a way to reduce its incidence, few studies have examined the effectiveness of these interventions. In this article, the authors, on one hand, describe the most widespread measures to deal with bullying and, on the other hand, following an overview of workplace bullying as an escalated conflict, provide an example of evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention designed to train workers for the proper management of conflicts at work

Guía sobre la diversidad sexual y la identidad de género en la Universidad de Sevilla

Esta guía va dirigida a la comunidad universitaria y personas dedicadas a la gestión de la diversidd en la educación superior pretendiendo servir como recurso de orientación en asuntos de diversidad sexual y de género. Comienza clarificando los conceptos de sexo, género, expresión de género y orientación sexual para dar a conocer al/la lector/a qué son, cómo interactúan entre sí, en qué se diferencian y cuál es su relación con la manera en la que las personas se sienten y en la que se relacionan. En segundo lugar, hace una breve descripción de algunas de las situaciones que puede vivir el alumnado como consecuencia de su identidad de género y/o orientación sexual y las limitaciones con las que se pueden encontrar en la Universidad, así como las preocupaciones y experiencias del PAS y PDI. Esta sección incluye algunas citas para ilustrar la experiencia del alumnado que, aunque no pertenecen a la Universidad de Sevilla, sus experiencias pueden ser parecidas en cualquier ámbito educativo. Después se describen iniciativas que se pueden promover, desde el trato entre personal y alumnado hasta las acciones por parte de la institución para crear un entorno más inclusivo, introduciendo previamente el marco legal de referencia. La guía concluye llamando a la necesidad de promover buenas prácticas capaces de prevenir situaciones negativas y discriminatorias en la Universidad