A Cross-Cultural Study of Psychological Well-being Among British and Malaysian Fire Fighters

Psychological consideration has always been a part of society and it usually relates to values, beliefs, ethnicity and gender. This is the essence of cultural psychology. In recent times, this branch of psychology has developed the new arm of Cross-Cultural Psychology, an extension of psychology covering the influence on behaviour when cultural groups interact. This study is a comparative study of two cultural groups, namely Malaysian and British fire fighters. Sources of occupational stress and their impact on psychological wellbeing were examined in a questionnaire survey of 1053 British and Malaysian fire fighters. The role of coping strategies as moderating factors was also tested. Sources of occupational stress had significant negative correlations with psychological wellbeing. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine the moderating effect of coping strategies on psychological wellbeing and found differences between the British and Malaysian fire fighters. Models of psychological wellbeing for both cultures were produced

Stress and psychological well being in UK and Malaysian firefighters

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship among sources of stress, coping strategy, job satisfaction and psychological well‐being and to examine the roles of coping behaviour as the moderator variable. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a questionnaire survey and area sampling design, with responses of 617 Malaysian fire fighters and 436 UK fire fighters. The questionnaire comprises: the Sources of Occupational Stress in Fire Fighters & Paramedics scale, the Coping Response of Rescue Workers and the Job Satisfaction Scale. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis is used to examine the moderating effect of coping behaviour on job satisfaction and psychological well‐being. Findings – It is found that the sources of occupational stress have significant negative correlations with job satisfaction and psychological well‐being. The results of the regression analysis indicates that overall coping behaviour has a significant influence on overall job satisfaction for UK fire fighters but not for Malaysian fire fighters. However, overall coping behaviour has a significant effect as a moderating variable between sources of stress and psychological health for Malaysian fire fighters. Practical implications – The results suggest that training that focuses on psychological aspects (stress management, coping strategies, etc.), and the use of counsellors should be highlighted. It is suggested that the Malaysian Fire Brigade should establish a Counselling Unit, to deal with psychological problems faced by the fire fighters. Originality/value – This study shows how theories originating in developed countries (USA and Canada) can help explain the psychological health of the fire fighters in a developing country (Malaysia). The analysis of statistical results led to the development of a model to interpret the factors influencing psychological health in Malaysian and UK fire fighters. Beside that, the evidence from the study also highlighted that factors such as culture may influence the ways employees cope up with the situations

Prediction of College Students’ Employment Rate Based on Gray System

College students’ employment is affected by many factors such as economy and policy, which makes the prediction error of college students’ employment rate large. In order to solve this problem, a prediction method of college students’ employment rate based on the gray system is designed. Firstly, it analyzes the current research status of college students’ employment rate prediction, finds out the causes of errors, then collects the historical data of college students’ employment rate, fits the change characteristics of college students’ employment rate through the gray system, and establishes the prediction model of college students’ employment rate. Finally, the simulation test is realized by using the employment rate data of college students. /e results show that the gray system can reflect the change characteristics of college students’ employment rate and obtain high-precision college students’ employment rate prediction results. /e prediction error is less than that of other college students’ employment rate prediction methods. We achieved an average accuracy of 95.22% as compared to 92.3% and 87.7% of other proposed systems. /e prediction results can provide some reference information for the university employment management department

The moderating effect of coping strategies on job satisfaction and psychological wellbeing among fire fighters

Sources of occupational stress and their impact on job satisfaction and psychological health were examined in a questionnaire survey of 617 Malaysian fire fighters. The role of coping strategies as moderating factor was also tested. The results indicated that the overall of sources of stress had a significant negative correlation with job satisfaction The results also indicated that the overall of sources of stress had a significant positive correlation with overall psychological health and there were significant influence of coping strategies as a moderating variable between sources of stress and job satisfaction as well as psychological health (stress, anxiety and depression)

Organizational stressors and job stress among Malaysian managers: the moderating role of personality traits

Job stress is vastly present in today’s organizations, and the costs of these phenomena cut across all levels of society. In recent years, researchers considering job stress in the workplace have made great strides in understanding several aspects of the stress phenomenon in the field of organizational behavior. Thus, it becomes more important that the individual variables of these job stresses are well explored and directly linked to individuals experiencing this situation, in order to ensure the right stressors are well understood and other moderating functions are studied, like the personality variables. This research presents an integration of past research and theory that models the relationship of organizational stressors like conflict, work overload, unfavorable work condition, and the moderating role of personality traits among managers. The scope of this study is limited to managerial positions in electronics firms in Malaysia. A set of demographic factors like gender, marital status and educational background, are also studied as influencing factors to job stress. The final framework in this study includes the organizational stressors as the independent variable and job stress as the dependent variable, with the personality traits moderating that relationship. A proportional sampling plan will be done to cover the surveys to be covering all major locations of electronics firms in Malaysia. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study will be discussed in details. The implication of the study would be extremely beneficial for electronics organizations in not only identifying the organizational sources of job stress, but also to understand the personality behaviors of their management staffs and how that related to job stress. Organizational stressors play a big role in the study, in which understanding its influence to job stress and how to manage and cope would enable the leadership team in the electronics organizations to be able to handle job stress more efficiently

Job Stress among Malaysian Managers: The Moderating Role of Coping Methods

Job stress is vastly present in today’s organizations, and the costs of these phenomena cut across all levels of society. In recent years, researchers considering job stress in the workplace have made great strides in understanding several aspects of the stress phenomenon in the field of organizational behavior. Thus, it becomes more important that the coping methods of these job stresses are well explored and directly linked to individuals experiencing this situation, in order to ensure the right methods can be used for the best benefits in coping with job stresses. This research presents an integration of past research and theory that models the relationship of antecedents of job stress and coping methods among managers. The scope of this case study is limited to managerial positions in electronics firms in Malaysia. A set of demographic factors like gender, marital status and educational background, are also studied as influencing factors to job stress. The final framework in this study includes the coping variables, in which will determine the best and most suitable coping methods for managers under job stress. A proportional sampling plan will be done to cover the surveys to be covering all major locations of electronics firms in Malaysia. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study will be discussed in details. The implication of the study would be extremely beneficial for electronics organizations in not only identifying the organizational sources of job stress, but also to understand the personality behaviors of their management staffs. More importantly, this study will recommend the best coping methods for managers that would enable the leadership team in the electronics organizations to be able to handle job stress more efficiently

Kefungsian keluarga: konsep dan indikator pengukuran dalam penyelidikan

Pengukuran memainkan sangat penting dalam sebuah penyelidikan. Kegagalan seorang penyelidik memahami teori dan konsep dapat menyebabkan kegagalannya dalam merumuskan indikator dan parameter pengukuran yang hendak dilakukannya. Konsep kefungsian keluarga mempunyai dimensi yang luas, sehingga pemahaman teori dan konsep ini dengan benar maka dapat menuntun penyelidik dalam melakukan pengukuran dan pada akhirnya dapat membuahkan hasil penyelidikan yang dapat dipertanggungjawabkan secara ilmiah