Illegitimate Tasks as an Impediment to Job Satisfaction and Intrinsic Motivation: Moderated Mediation Effects of Gender and Effort-Reward Imbalance

The current work examines a contemporary workplace stressor that has only recently been introduced into the literature: illegitimate tasks. Illegitimate tasks are work tasks that violate identity role norms about what can reasonably be expected from an employee in a given position. Although illegitimate tasks have been linked to employee well-being in past work, we know little about the potential explanatory mechanisms linking illegitimate tasks to work-relevant negative psychological states. Using a sample of 213 US-based employees of mixed occupations and a cross-sectional design, the present study examines job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation as outcomes of illegitimate tasks. Additionally, we examine perception of effort-reward imbalance (ERI) as a potential mediating mechanism through which illegitimate tasks relate to job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation, highlighting a possible pathway by which these relationships are functioning. Finally, we explore gender as a socially constructed variable that could contribute to variation in responses to illegitimate tasks and moderate the mediated link between illegitimate tasks and outcomes. Results indicated that illegitimate tasks were significantly related to job satisfaction and intrinsic motivation both directly and indirectly through perceptions of ERI in the predicted directions. Moreover, a moderated-mediation effect was found such that male workers reacted more than female workers to illegitimate tasks through the mechanism of perceived ERI

Understanding the Relationships between Interpersonal Conflict at Work, Perceived Control, Coping, and Employee Well-being

Stressors resulting from one\u27s work life including work conditions, job characteristics, and relationships with others at work have been shown to impact employee health outcomes at both psychological and physical levels (Le Blanc, Jonge, & Schaufeli, 2008; Spector, Dwyer, & Jex, 1988). Interpersonal conflict is one prevalent workplace stressor that has been associated with poor work-related outcomes and psychological states. A cross-sectional design with multi-source data collection methods was used to measure conflict, perceptions of control, coping strategies, and both psychological and physical well-being. Overall, findings suggested that the success of coping efforts hinges on the combination of the nature of the stressor (conflict with supervisors vs. with a co-worker), perceptions of control over that stressor (high or low control), and coping strategy used (problem-focused or emotion-focused coping). This may explain at least to a certain extent why previous efforts to document the moderating effects of coping have been inconsistent, especially pertaining to emotion-focused coping

Quantitative Self-Report Methods in Occupational Health Psychology Research

Self-report is the dominant method of data collection for research in occupational health psychology (OHP), as it is for many domains of psychology. With self-reports, the subjects of a study provide data about themselves and their experiences. Such reports can be qualitative (e.g., relating details of a stressful incident at work, Keenan & Newton, 1985) or they can be quantitative in which subjects make ratings of items along a continuum to refl ect their standing on one or more theoretical constructs. Th e quantifi cation of variables by subjects themselves, which can be done cheaply and easily, allows for the use of a large variety of inferential statistics to assess simple and complex relationships. Since most studies are concerned with establishing relationships among variables, the quantitative self-report study has become the method of choice for many, if not most, OHP researchers

The Role of Workplace Control in Positive Health and Wellbeing

The focus on job control in the workplace has largely rested on how its absence can contribute to negative outcomes, such as disease and impaired wellbeing. The role of job control also acts as a buffer between stressful job conditions and such outcomes have received considerable attention. However, job control may also directly contribute to positive employee health and wellbeing beyond the mere absence of physical or psychological disorder or illness. This chapter examines the potential role of job control in positive happiness, health, and wellbeing, as well as occupational adjustment and success

Relationships of role stressors with organizational citizenship behavior: a meta-analysis

Several quantitative reviews have documented the negative relationships that role stressors have with task performance. Surprisingly, much less attention has been directed at the impact of role stressors on other aspects of job performance, such as organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The goal of this study was to therefore estimate the overall relationships of role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity, conflict, and overload) with OCB. A meta-analysis of 42 existing studies indicated that role ambiguity and role conflict were negatively related to OCB and that these relationships were moderated by the target of OCB, type of organization, OCB rating source, and publication status. As expected, role conflict had a stronger negative relationship with OCB than it did with task performance. Finally, we found support for a path model in which job satisfaction mediated relationships of role stressors with OCB and for a positive direct relationship between role overload and OCB

Illegitimate tasks are not created equal: Examining the effects of attributions on unreasonable and unnecessary tasks

Illegitimate tasks are tasks that violate norms for what the employee should do as part of the job, and have been found to harm employees' well-being. The current research uses a mixed methods design to examine the role of attributions on the two types of illegitimate tasks: unreasonable and unnecessary tasks. A sample of 432 engineers described a specific illegitimate task that was assigned to them, the attributions they made and their response. They also completed a quantitative questionnaire. Results from both the qualitative (event level) and quantitative (person level) portions of our study portray differences in the attributions made to unreasonable and unnecessary tasks, as well as differential negative effects on employees' emotions. In addition, hostile attribution bias was found to moderate the relationship between illegitimate tasks and negative emotions, particularly for unreasonable tasks. This supports the theoretical basis for illegitimate tasks because unreasonable tasks pose a potentially greater risk to the employee's self-worth than unnecessary tasks that are more often assigned at random

Home is Where the Mind Is: Family Interference with Work and Safety Performance in Two High Risk Industries

This study examines the process through which family interference with work (FIW) negatively relates to safety performance in two unique samples from high-risk industries. Using a sample from the construction industry, Study 1 finds that FIW is related to employees\u27 workplace cognitive failures, which in turn, were a significant predictor of safety-related behaviors. Using a sample from a utility company, Study 2 replicates these results and demonstrates that psychological strain further explains the complex relationship between FIW and safety. Furthermore, in Study 2, the mediation pathways linking FIW with safety behaviors were moderated by employees\u27 commitment to safety. The idea that family life can predict safety in the workplace through interference and distraction is important to the collective effort to protect worker health and critical to effective intervention design

You want me to do what? Two daily diary studies of illegitimate tasks and employee well-being

Illegitimate tasks, a recently introduced occupational stressor, are tasks that violate norms about what an employee can reasonably be expected to do. Because they are considered a threat to one's professional identity, we expected that the daily experience of illegitimate tasks would be linked to a drop in self-esteem and to impaired well-being. We report results of two daily diary studies, one in which 57 Swiss employees were assessed twice/day and one in which 90 Americans were assessed three times/day. Both studies showed that illegitimate tasks were associated with lowered state self-esteem. Study 1 demonstrated that high trait self-esteem mitigated that relationship. Study 2 showed that illegitimate tasks were associated with not only lowered state self-esteem but also lower job satisfaction and higher anger and depressive mood, but not anger or job satisfaction remained elevated until the following mornin