Too Good for Your Job? Disentangling the Relationships Between Objective Overqualification, Perceived Overqualification, and Job Dissatisfaction

In the present study, we investigated the relationships between objective overqualification, perceived overqualification, and job satisfaction based on the tenets of P-E fit theory, a commonly-used theoretical framework in the overqualification literature. Specifically, we tested whether employee perceptions of overqualification mediate the relationship between objective overqualification and job dissatisfaction. Results across two studies indicated that objective overqualification and job satisfaction independently predicted perceived overqualification, which contradicts the prevailing view in the literature of unidirectional effects between overqualification and strain outcomes. Study 1 used a cross-sectional survey of recent college graduates to test the overall mediation model. Although the model was supported, the relationship between objective overqualification and job satisfaction was not significant, raising the question of whether the hypothesized predictive relationship between perceived overqualification and job satisfaction is reversed. Study 2 tested directionality in the relationship between perceived overqualification and job satisfaction using a three-wave longitudinal panel design in a sample of full-time university staff employees. Results indicated that job dissatisfaction predicts subsequent perceived overqualification rather than the reverse

Being Called to Safety: Occupational Callings and Safety Climate in the Emergency Medical Services

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of safety climate in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and to assess occupational callings as a boundary condition for the effect of safety climate on safety behaviors. Methods: EMS professionals (n = 132) participated in a three-wave survey study. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to test the moderating effects of occupational callings. Results: Safety climate was significantly related to safety behavior, and occupational callings moderated this direct relationship (ΔR2 = 0.02 to 0.03, P < 0.05). Specifically, when occupational callings were high, the relationship between safety climate and safety behaviors was stronger, and when occupational callings were low, the relationship was weaker. Conclusion: In this EMS sample, safety climate was an important predictor of safety behavior. Further, occupational callings moderated this relationship, suggesting that callings may serve as a boundary condition

When antecedent becomes consequent: An examination of the temporal order of job dissatisfaction and verbal aggression exposure in a longitudinal study

Past research has traditionally examined stressors as predictors and strains as outcomes. However, some recent research has found evidence of reverse causality between various stressors and strains, demonstrating that the relationship between these types of variables may extend beyond the traditional stressor-strain framework. The current study builds upon this past research by examining the temporal direction of the relationship between verbal aggression exposure and job satisfaction. Specifically, through the lens of emotional contagion theory, we suggest that low levels of job satisfaction in employees are detectable by others, which in turn leads them to engage in verbal aggression directed toward those employees. To test this postulation, 309 emergency medical professionals completed surveys that assessed verbal aggression exposure and job satisfaction across three time points. Results of cross-lagged structural equation model tests showed a significant job satisfaction to verbal aggression path over time, but a nonsignificant verbal aggression to job satisfaction path over time. Additionally, results support the postulation that job satisfaction leads to physical strain outcomes through verbal aggression exposure. Overall, results suggest that job satisfaction may serve as a predictor of verbal aggression exposure rather than a result within high stakes environments such as the emergency medical services

Examining temporal precedence between customer mistreatment and customer-directed counterproductive work behavior

© 2019 American Psychological Association. Customer-directed counterproductive work behavior or CWB (harmful acts directed toward customers), a significant concern for service organizations, has become a topic of increasing interest in recent years. Although the predominant view in the literature is that customer-directed CWB represents a retaliatory response to customer mistreatment, temporal precedence between the two variables has not yet been adequately established. In the present study, we tested reciprocal effects between customer mistreatment and customer-directed CWB using a 2-wave survey in a sample of call center employees. We found that customer-directed CWB predicted customer mistreatment but customer mistreatment did not predict subsequent customer-directed CWB, suggesting that the relationship is neither reciprocal nor in the direction typically assumed. These findings challenge the prevailing unidirectional view in the literature, suggesting instead that customers mistreat employees who frequently engage in customer-directed CWB. Further, our results indicate that at the between-person level, customer-directed CWB may be driven by factors other than customer mistreatment

Is Cyberloafing More Complex Than We Originally Thought? Cyberloafing as a Coping Response to Workplace Aggression Exposure

Employees spend approximately 2 h per day engaging in cyberloafing (i.e., using the internet at work for nonwork purposes) behaviors, costing organizations almost $85 billion dollars per year. As a result, cyberloafing is often considered a counterproductive type of withdrawal behavior. However, recent research suggests that cyberloafing may have some unexpected positive workplace outcomes. Therefore, we argue that the role of workplace cyberloafing is more complex than previously assumed and posit that cyberloafing may provide employees with a way to cope with workplace stress such as exposure to workplace aggression. To examine this proposition, we used a heterogeneous sample of 258 employees to test whether cyberloafing buffers the detrimental effects of workplace aggression exposure on two outcome variables: employees’ turnover intentions and job satisfaction. Overall, results supported the notion that employees use cyberloafing as a workplace coping mechanism, which runs counter to the majority of research that conceptualizes cyberloafing as a counterproductive workplace behavior. These findings suggest that managers may consider allowing some degree of cyberloafing so that employees can better cope with work stress. Moreover, managers should directly target stressful workplace conditions (e.g., aggression) that serve as the impetus for cyberloafing behaviors

Workdays are not created equal: Job satisfaction and job stressors across the workweek

Are your workdays created equal? Common wisdom suggests that employees experience Mondays differently from Fridays. However, few studies distinguish among workdays, inherently assuming that the employee experience is uniform across the workweek. In the current study, we examined the trajectories of employees’ experiences of job satisfaction and job stressors across the workweek. We proposed two competing theoretical perspectives that result in opposite predictions as to whether job dissatisfaction and perceived job stressors will be higher (“Monday blues”) or lower (“rested and recharged”) at the beginning of the workweek rather than later in the week. Employing a daily diary design with 139 employees (681 matched daily observations) working the traditional workweek, we found that employees reported experiencing lower levels of job satisfaction and perceived more job stressors (i.e., incivility and organizational constraints) at the beginning of the workweek as opposed to later in the week. Additionally, the relationship between perceived incivility and job satisfaction was stronger at the beginning of the workweek. Our findings were consistent with the “Monday blues” perspective and suggest that workdays are not created equal

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

Is Cyberloafing More Complex than we Originally Thought? Cyberloafing as a Coping Response to Workplace Aggression Exposure

Employees spend approximately 2 h per day engaging in cyberloafing (i.e., using the internet at work for nonwork purposes) behaviors, costing organizations almost $85 billion dollars per year. As a result, cyberloafing is often considered a counterproductive type of withdrawal behavior. However, recent research suggests that cyberloafing may have some unexpected positive workplace outcomes. Therefore, we argue that the role of workplace cyberloafing is more complex than previously assumed and posit that cyberloafing may provide employees with a way to cope with workplace stress such as exposure to workplace aggression. To examine this proposition, we used a heterogeneous sample of 258 employees to test whether cyberloafing buffers the detrimental effects of workplace aggression exposure on two outcome variables: employees’ turnover intentions and job satisfaction. Overall, results supported the notion that employees use cyberloafing as a workplace coping mechanism, which runs counter to the majority of research that conceptualizes cyberloafing as a counterproductive workplace behavior. These findings suggest that managers may consider allowing some degree of cyberloafing so that employees can better cope with work stress. Moreover, managers should directly target stressful workplace conditions (e.g., aggression) that serve as the impetus for cyberloafing behaviors