Why resilient workers perform better : the roles of job satisfaction and work engagement

Previous studies have confirmed correlations between resilience and job performance, but surprisingly little is known about the nature of this relationship. This study sheds light on the roles of two important positive dimensions of work-related well-being: job satisfaction and work engagement. Data were collected from 360 Czech workers in helping professions using an online survey. Levels of resilience and perceived job performance were indeed positively associated. Using structural equation modeling, the best-fitting model showed partial mediation by work engagement; conversely, job satisfaction was not found to be a mediator of this relationship. Additionally, the finding that job performance is related more strongly to work engagement than to job satisfaction contributes to the debate about the concurrent validity of job attitudes

Multivariate classification of echellograms: a new perspective in Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy analysis

In this work, we proposed a new data acquisition approach that significantly improves the repetition rates of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) experiments, where high-end echelle spectrometers and intensified detectors are commonly used. The moderate repetition rates of recent LIBS systems are caused by the utilization of intensified detectors and their slow full frame (i.e. echellogram) readout speeds with consequent necessity for echellogram-to-1D spectrum conversion (intensity vs. wavelength). Therefore, we investigated a new methodology where only the most effective pixels of the echellogram were selected and directly used in the LIBS experiments. Such data processing resulted in significant variable down-selection (more than four orders of magnitude). Samples of 50 sedimentary ores samples (distributed in 13 ore types) were analyzed by LIBS system and then classified by linear and non-linear Multivariate Data Analysis algorithms. The utilization of selected pixels from an echellogram yielded increased classification accuracy compared to the utilization of common 1D spectra

Relationship between Self-Efficacy, Transformational Leadership and Leader Effectiveness

Abstract-The aim of this research is to empirically investigate the relationship between a leader's self-efficacy, transformational leadership and leader effectiveness. On the basis of the literature and current leadership research review, the theoretical model, in which transformational leadership mediates the relationship between a leader's selfefficacy and effectiveness, is proposed. The research was conducted within a three-month-long management simulation game at two Czech universities. A total of 32 leaders participated together with 604 subordinates. The criteria of leader effectiveness included leadership emergence and perceived leader effectiveness, both assessed by the leaders' subordinates, and objectively measured by group performance. For the assessment of the transformational leadership approach of leaders, we administered a questionnaire based on the transformational leadership theory to their subordinates. The self-efficacy of leaders was measured by a self-report questionnaire filled by leaders. The relationship of self-efficacy to transformational leadership was not supported, as well as the association between leader's self-efficacy and criteria of leader effectiveness. Therefore, the mediation model with transformational leadership in the role of the mediator was not accepted

Causality of the Satisfaction–Performance Relationship: A Task Experiment

Despite the common belief among practitioners that a happy worker is a productive worker, researchers have been struggling to understand the causality between satisfaction and performance for decades. This study attempts to bring clarity to current understanding through an experiment with repeated measures of satisfaction and performance. A total of 143 participants repeatedly performed a task based on the Stroop test, with their objective performance and task satisfaction measured each time. Two different types of feedback (high/low performance) were randomly assigned to participants in order to manipulate perceived performance. The data were analyzed using a path analysis. The results support the hypothesized influence of task satisfaction on task performance and of perceived task performance on task satisfaction