Advancing a Conceptual Model of Evidence-Based Practice Implementation in Public Service Sectors

Implementation science is a quickly growing discipline. Lessons learned from business and medical settings are being applied but it is unclear how well they translate to settings with different historical origins and customs (e.g., public mental health, social service, alcohol/drug sectors). The purpose of this paper is to propose a multi-level, four phase model of the implementation process (i.e., Exploration, Adoption/Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment), derived from extant literature, and apply it to public sector services. We highlight features of the model likely to be particularly important in each phase, while considering the outer and inner contexts (i.e., levels) of public sector service systems

Validating a Safety Climate Model in Metal Processing Industries: A Replication Study

This paper attempts to replicate a safety climate model originally tested in Australia to assess its applicability in a different context: namely, across production workers in 22 medium-sized metal processing organizations in Austria. The model postulates that safety knowledge and safety motivation mediate the relation between safety climate on the one hand and safety compliance and participation on the other. Self-report data from 1075 employees were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of the replication study largely confirmed the original safety climate model. However, in addition to indirect effects, direct links between safety climate and actual safety behavior were found

Are all challenge stressors beneficial for learning?: A meta-Analytical assessment of differential effects of workload and cognitive demands

Previous meta-analyses showed that challenge stressors are, though stressful, also motivating. However, their hypothesised gains related to learning are less well understood. In addition to the lack of meta-analytical assessments, there are conflicting theoretical perspectives on the learning effects of challenge stressors. In contrast to the challenge-hindrance stressor framework, action regulation theory posits that cognitive demands, but not workload, are conducive to learning. Furthermore, job control, the level of a stressor, and the type of occupation may moderate the effects of these two challenge stressors. Based on 417 independent samples collectively including 319,306 individuals, this meta-analysis tested the associations of workload and cognitive demands with learning, motivation, and strain and examined potential moderation effects. Results showed that workload was negatively related to learning and motivation and positively related to strain. Cognitive demands were positively related to learning and motivation and negatively related to strain. The detrimental effects of workload were more pronounced for care and social worker and for measures of overload. No moderations were found for country-level job control. Taken together, the results cast doubts on whether stressors can actually be simultaneously detrimental and beneficial, as neither workload nor cognitive demands were found to have such a pattern

New ways of working : impact on working conditions, work-family balance, and well-being

Organizations have started to redesign their approach to work by integrating technological innovations in their daily practices. Central to this new approach is that employees are asked to organize their work flexibly. Employees are expected to decide for themselves when they work, where they work, and by which communication tool/medium they work. Such a flexible work design, also referred to as "new ways of working" (NWW), has been applauded thus far, as it would lead to more efficient and cost-effective work processes. However, little is known about how NWW influence employees and their families. This chapter will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of NWW and on the question whether NWW help employees to find a better balance between work and nonwork roles. Insight into the possible pitfalls and opportunities of NWW may help employees to use NWW in such a way that they enable them to optimally combine their work and nonwork responsibilities

Technology in the workplace:Opportunities and challenges

Item does not contain fulltextIn the current economic environment, organizations are increasingly relying on technology, resulting in higher efficiency, reduced physical human effort, blurring boundaries between working life and private life, and more flexibility for both employers and employees. In this chapter we focus on the impact of three different technology-related changes in the workplace: (1) telework, (2) automation, and (3) algorithmic management. First, we discuss how telework has gained tremendous popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it impacts performance, work-life balance, and social aspects of work. Second, we focus on the positive and negative sides of automation and digitalization: improvements of working and living conditions on the one hand and anxiety and stress among workers on the other. Third, we discuss how AI-based algorithms are used to direct, evaluate, and discipline workers and how workers respond to these forms of algorithm management. All in all, we provide organizations with suggestions and advice as to how they can successfully implement these new technologies in a human-friendly manner. In doing so, we hope that this chapter will stimulate interesting new avenues of research for understanding challenges and opportunities associated with technology in the workplace