People Make the Difference: An Explorative Study on the Relationship between Organizational Practices, Employees’ Resources, and Organizational Behavior Enhancing the Psychology of Sustainability and Sustainable Development

The most recent developments in the field of sustainability science and the emergence of a psychologyofsustainabilityandsustainabledevelopmenthavecontributedtocollectevidencesabout the fact that modern organizations need healthy and motivated employees to survive and to prosper within this fast-moving scenario. In this vein, a confirmation to these evidences came from the abundant research on HEalthy and Resilient Organizations (HERO), showing that when organizations make systematic, planned, and proactive efforts to improve employees’ subjective resources then organizational processes and outcomes benefit in turn. Moving forward from these premises, the presentstudyaimedtoexploretheseassumptionswithinthecontextofsmallandmediumenterprises (SMEs), investigating the relationships among the organizational practices, employees’ subjective resources, and organizational behaviors. Two hundred and thirty-six participants working in SMEs located in the south of Italy took part. They were invited to fill in a questionnaire investigating their perception of organizational resources and practices (autonomy, leadership, communication, organizational mindfulness, and commitment to resilience), of their individual resources (work engagement and psychological capital), and finally, of some organizational outcomes (extra-role behavior). Results showed that psychological capital was a significant mediator of the relationship betweenemployees’perceptionoftheorganizationalresourcesandpracticesandextra-rolebehaviors. Concrete implications of these conclusions in terms of human resource management (HRM) are discussed together with limitations of the study and future developments

“Little things make big things”. A psycholinguistic analysis of immigrants’ life stories of cultural integration in Italy

Within the last decades, the global economical revolution which has invested the labor market has prompted calls for a redefinition of traditional human resource management practices. The rapid growth of ethnic diversity in the workplace has turned managers' attention to the management of difference. Yet, cross cultural management has become a priority for most organizations interested in improving competitiveness and in enhancing their human (multicultural) capital. In view of the above, the present study aimed at investigating the process of cultural integration experienced by a group of 12 immigrants workers employed in different Italian organizations. Moving from an applied psycholinguistics perspective, the study collected narrative interviews as to understand the impact that the new cultural experience may have had on the sense-making procedures used to integrate and reshape their personal and professional identity. The discursive data were processed through Diatextual Analysis as to catch the psychological and linguistic features binding identities to texts and to contexts of experience

A national student survey for the Italian higher education system

Despite the strong criticisms, mass student surveys play an important role in the quality assurance process of national higher education systems. While some national higher education systems have a long history of using student surveys to inform teaching and course quality improvement (e.g. the UK, Australia), in Italy, where the quality assurance system has been put in place at both state and institutional levels, a national student survey has never been implemented. As a consequence, higher education institutions have used, and still use, only student evaluations of teaching. If, on the one hand, these local surveys tend to overlap with the rationale and structure of a national survey, on the other hand, they prevent universities from comparing quality indicators. Given the strong drive to use student surveys as a quality assurance mechanism, the present article reports a study aimed to design and probe a new questionnaire to be used at the national level. A total of 572 final year students enrolled in a public university participated in the study. Data were examined using a principal component analysis. Study results could set the groundwork for a critical debate on changes and improvements in the quality assurance process

La relazione tra commitment verso il cambiamento, strategie di coping ed engagement organizzativo. Un contributo di ricerca people-oriented sul cambiamento organizzativo

Negli ultimi anni, la ricerca e la consulenza professionale hanno dedicato grande attenzione al tema del cambiamento organizzativo. In particolare, adottando una prospettiva d’analisi people-oriented, numerose evidenze empiriche hanno mostrato il ruolo cruciale giocato da atteggiamenti e credenze di individui e gruppi nel processo di ristrutturazione dei comportamenti organizzativi funzionali al cambiamento organizzativo. Il presente studio ha inteso indagare la relazione tra commitment verso il cambiamento ed engagement organizzativo analizzando il ruolo di mediatore svolto dal coping. Hanno partecipato 176 dipendenti impiegati in una media impresa italiana leader nel settore dell’arredo, coinvolta in un processo di ristrutturazione organizzativa. I risultati hanno confermato le ipotesi mostrando la rilevanza della funzione HRM nel sostenere e rinforzare la relazione persona/organizzazione

How communities can react to crisis: social capital as a source of empowerment and well-being

Within the post-modern scenario, largely characterized by a sense of diffused social uncertainty and dominated by the ghost of a wide spreading economical and social crisis, social capital, solidarity and social responsibility might represent concrete and efficacious tools to cope with the implications of such cultural drift. The present paper aims at arguing such position by accounting for a repertoire of “good practices” experienced in the south of Italy, which have been read with theoretical and methodological lenses borrowed from social community psychology as well as sociology. The discussion will take into account two case studies (Diffused Guest House and Urban Laboratories) which are both representative in terms of social participation as well as in terms of social capital enhancement. Indeed, all the accounted experiences have shown how the construction of solid and open communities could concretely contribute to enhance social capital as well as to contrast with the diffusion of narrow and conflicting ghetto-communities based on marginality and social uncertainty, which are source for self-segregation, social fragmentation and increasing powerlessness

Beyond occupational exhaustion: exploring the influence of positive meaningful work on teachers’ psychoemotional well-being in the digital age

This study was conducted in part within the framework R&D grant of the research project PID2021-1287630B-100 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033 and FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa.The teaching profession, intrinsically vocational, bestows upon its practitioners a deep sense of meaning and personal dedication. However, this personal commitment can be affected by the constant evolution of labour demands, exacerbated by the increasing technification of education. Both these needs, at a personal and organisational level, can lead to the devel opment of emotional exhaustion, a psychological state manifesting with increased frequency in the educational sector. In this context, and referencing the job demands-resources model, we propose a model focused on the examination of the role according to the positive meaning in modulating emotional exhaustion. The research was conducted with a sample of 213 secondary school teachers in southern Spain, using a survey methodology. All data were analysed throughout the SPSS and Smart PLS statistical programs. The obtained results indicate that the presence of positive meaningful work has a negative impact on emotional exhaustion, technocomplexity and work-family conflict. Furthermore, the negative effect of positive meaning work on work-family conflict was stronger for teachers with greater experience. This study enhances the understanding of teacher well-being, suggesting the update of theoretical models to reflect current labour complexities, promoting managerial strategies and flexible policies to mitigate emotional exhaustion and foster a healthy working environment.MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 PID2021-1287630B-100FEDER Una manera de hacer Europ

Wellbeing Costs of Technology Use during Covid-19 Remote Working: An Investigation Using the Italian Translation of the Technostress Creators Scale

During the first months of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has affected several countries all over the world, including Italy. To prevent the spread of the virus, governments instructed employers and self-employed workers to close their offices and work from home. Thus, the use of remote working increased during the pandemic and is expected to maintain high levels of application even after the emergency. Despite its benefits for both organizations and workers, remote working entails negative consequences, such as technostress. The present study had a double aim: to test the psychometric characteristics of the Italian translation of the brief version of the technostress creators scale and to apply the scale to investigate technostress during the Covid-19 emergency. The research involved 878 participants for the first study and 749 participants for the second one; they completed a self-report online questionnaire. Results confirmed the three-factor structure of the Italian technostress creators scale and highlighted positive relationships between workload, techno-stressors, work–family conflict and behavioural stress. The role of remote working conditions has been analysed as well. The study provided a useful tool for the investigation of technostress in the Italian context. Moreover, it provided indications for practice in the field of remote working and workers’ wellbein