Not Extent of Telecommuting, But Job Characteristics as Proximal Predictors of Work-Related Well-Being

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to investigate the curvilinear relationship between extent of telecommuting and work-related well-being (ie, burnout, work engagement, and cognitive stress complaints), as well as to test whether job characteristics act as explanatory mechanisms underlying this relationship. METHODS: A sample of 878 employees from an international telecommunication company with a long history of telecommuting participated in a survey on psychosocial risk factors and well-being at work. Mediation path analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses. RESULTS: Social support from colleagues, participation in decision-making, task autonomy, and work-to-family conflict, but not extent of telecommuting, were directly related to work-related well-being. Extent of telecommuting was indirectly related to well-being via social support. CONCLUSION: Employers should invest in creating good work environments in general, among both telecommuters and nontelecommuters.status: publishe

Who is more susceptible to job stressors and resources? Sensory-processing sensitivity as a personal resource and vulnerability factor.

This study aimed to investigate whether people scoring higher (compared to lower) on sensory-processing sensitivity respond differently to the work environment. Specifically, based on the literature on sensory-processing sensitivity and the Job Demands-Resources model, we predicted that the three components of sensory-processing sensitivity (i.e. ease of excitation, aesthetic sensitivity and low sensory threshold) amplify the relationship between job demands (i.e. workload and emotional demands) and emotional exhaustion as well as the relationship between job resources (i.e. task autonomy and social support) and helping behaviour. Survey data from 1019 Belgian employees were analysed using structural equation modelling analysis. The results showed that ease of excitation and low sensory threshold amplified the relationship between job demands and emotional exhaustion. Low sensory threshold also strengthened the job resources-helping behaviour relationship. This study offered first evidence on the greater susceptibility among highly sensitive persons to the work environment and demonstrated that the moderating role might differ for the three components of sensory-processing sensitivity. Additionally, it adds sensory-processing sensitivity to the Job Demands-Resources model and highlights the idea that personal factors may act both as a personal vulnerability factor and a personal resource, depending on the nature of the perceived work environment

An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind: Conflict Escalation into Workplace Bullying and the Role of Distributive Conflict Behavior

The current study investigated how work-related disagreements—coined as conflicts—relate to workplace bullying, from the perspective of the target as well as the perpetrator. We hypothesized a positive indirect association between task conflicts and bullying through relationship conflicts. This process accounted for both for targets and perpetrators of bullying. Targets are distinguished from perpetrators in our assumption that this indirect effect is boosted by distributive conflict behavior, being yielding for targets and forcing for perpetrators. Results in a large representative sample of the Flemish working population (N = 2,029) confirmed our hypotheses. Additionally, our study also revealed a direct effect from task conflicts to bullying in the analyses regarding the indirect as well as the conditional indirect effects. For perpetrators, both the indirect and direct relationships are moderated by forcing, underlining the importance of distributive conflict behavior particularly for the enactment of bullying behaviorsstatus: publishe

Job Demands, Job Resources, Burnout, Work Engagement and Their Relationships: An Analysis Across Sectors

Objective: To gain insight in the importance of job demands and resources and the validity of the Job Demands Resources Model across sectors. Methods: Across the healthcare, industry, service and public sector, we used One-way Analyses of Variance to examine mean differences, and multi-group Structural Equation Modeling analyses to test the strength of the relationships among job demands, resources, burnout and work engagement in the. Results: The four sectors differed in the experience of job demands, resources, burnout and work engagement, but they did not vary in how (strongly) job demands and resources associated with burnout and work engagement. Conclusion: More attention is needed to decrease burnout and increase work engagement, particularly in industry, service and the public sector. The Job Demands-Resources model may be helpful in this regard as it is valid across sectors.status: publishe