Self-efficacy and work engagement: Test of a chain model

Purpose – This study investigates the mediating roles of work and family demands and work–life balance on the relationship between self-efficacy (to regulate work and life) and work engagement. Specifically, it seeks to explain how self-efficacy influences employees’ thought patterns and emotional reactions, which in turn enable them to cope with work and family demands, and ultimately achieve work–life balance and work engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modelling (SEM) of survey data obtained from a heterogeneous sample of 1,010 Australian employees is used to test the hypothesised chain mediation model. Findings – The SEM results support the hypothesised model. Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively related to work and family demands, which in turn were negatively associated with work–life balance. Work–life balance, in turn, enabled employees to be engaged in their work. Research limitations/implications – The findings support the key tenets of social cognitive theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory and demonstrate how self-efficacy can lead to work–life balance and engagement despite the presence of role demands. Study limitations (e.g., cross-sectional research design) and future research directions are discussed. Originality/value – This study incorporates COR theory with social cognitive theory to improve understanding of how self-efficacy enhances work–life balance and work engagement through a self-fulfilling cycle in which employees achieve what they believe they can accomplish, and in the process, build other skills and personal resources to manage work and family challenges.Data collection for this research was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project under Grant DP0770109

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

A contextual account for worker engagement and burnout

Worker engagement is an emergent area of organisational psychology and is thought to contribute to worker well being as well as organisational productivity. Previous research has demonstrated that worker burnout has more to do with the workplace environment than the characteristics of individual workers. It was therefore extrapolated that the same would apply to worker engagement. The current research sought to expand previous findings and tease out some commonalities in respondent experiences of engagement and burnout in the workplace. The workplace context for respondent experience was defined by the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWS) which includes the areas of workload, control, reward, community, fairness and values. It was thought that matches or mismatches on the AWS would provide a sense of respondents’ understandings of their psychological contract. Further information about the workplace was provided by responses in regard to the factors of management trustworthiness and procedural justice. A model of projected relationships of the variables predicted that favourable responses on those variables describing work context would be predictive of worker engagement, as defined by the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and unfavourable responses would predict worker burnout, as defined by the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI). It was also predicted that management trustworthiness, procedural justice and fairness (AWS) measures would demonstrate a great deal of overlap. The research plan involved three stages. Firstly, as most previous research had been conducted within larger organisational settings, small group interviews were conducted for people working within small and micro business settings. The second stage of the research included two phases of the same workplace survey, a pen and paper edition that surveyed teachers working in independent schools; and an online version that surveyed people representing 28 different occupational groups. Telephone interviews with 20 respondents to the survey comprised the third stage of the research. Data analysis found that the interviews from small and micro business fitted AWS parameters well, with participants indicating that their businesses operated within very fine lines in terms of economics and staffing, yet they were rewarded in terms of control, community, and a sense of achievement. The inclusion of small and micro business categories within the subsequent survey instrument found that there were no significant differences between categories of business in regard to any of the study variables. Statistical analyses of the data included a K-means cluster analysis of a subgroup ofthe combined survey respondents. This identified five groups of survey respondentsbased on their levels of response to burnout and engagement. The groups were: TheEmpowered Group; the Under Pressure Group; The Unengaged Group; The Burnout Experience 1 Group and The Severe Burnout Group. As well as demonstrating distinctive profiles in regard to the burnout and engagement measures, subsequent analyses involving the workplace context variables provided support for the research model. A three factor confirmatory analysis of the management trustworthiness, procedural justice and fairness (AWS) variables that confirmed these measures covered considerable common ground. In addition, path analyses found that the AWS variables worked as predictors for engagement and burnout for three of the cluster groups, but other factors must be sought for an explanation of engagement in The Under Pressure Group and the Unengaged Group. In addition, The Unengaged Group, members of which reported ambivalence on the UWES and were not experiencing burnout, was found to consist of two subgroups: one of which reported matches on the AWS variables and the other reported mismatches. Data from participant interviews were also organised within the cluster groups. These supported the previous findings within this research and provided a great deal of insight into particular patterns of participant response, leading to refinement of the research model. The current research found that AWS variables are important predictors of burnout and engagement and emphasises the substantial role played by management in promoting employee well being. The original contribution made by this research lay in the definition and detailed description of a middle group which represented 30% of respondents. Some of these people reported experiencing disillusionment with their chosen career paths. Others of this group were experiencing some discomfort within their work environments that had not translated into a burnout experience for them. This would indicate that further research might investigate the experiences of those that fall between the two extremes of burnout and engagement in order to better differentiate these variables in the interest of providing organisations with skills for promoting the engagement of employees

Australian chaplains and their professional quality of life

Chaplains often express a sense of satisfaction in helping others. But their work renders them vulnerable to secondary traumatic stress and burnout. We investigated mindful self-care, comparing the experiences of chaplains and other workers. Measures used included mindful selfcare, social support, and professional quality of life. We found self-care practices did not predict the professional quality of life. Lack of supportive structures and mindful awareness predicted burnout. Compassion satisfaction might arise from other sources

"I like being a teacher": career satisfaction, the work environment and work engagement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare the explanatory power of two theoretical frameworks in regard to the work engagement of 312 Queensland teachers from non-government schools. The first theoretical model is the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory which suggests that work engagement will be evident if people report an abundance of resources in their work environment. The second perspective is self-determination theory (SDT) which suggests that work engagement will be evident if people are able to satisfy their personal psychological needs within the work environment.\ud \ud Design/methodology/approach – The current research collected data from the same participants on two occasions with a six-month interval. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the research hypotheses both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.\ud \ud Findings – It was found that the SDT provided the more compelling explanation for work engagement, in that career satisfaction (rather than job satisfaction) was a robust predictor of work engagement, although some evidence was also found for a contribution of the psycho-social work environment (supporting the JD-R model) in teachers' work engagement or burnout. It was concluded that these two theoretical perspectives are compatible.\ud \ud Practical implications – It is recommended that future studies of work engagement include some measurement of people's satisfaction that the career they have chosen fulfils their personal aspirations.\ud \ud Social implications – The theories of SDT (work engagement as a fulfilment of psychological needs) and JD-R (work engagement as a balance of job demands and resources), while coming from different directions appear to be compatible, with each perspective enriching the other and affording administrators a more complete understanding of dynamics affecting the psychological health of teaching staff.\ud \ud Originality/value – Previous work involving the JD-R and work engagement has focused on the immediate psycho-social environment of the workplace. The current research finds that career satisfaction predicts all dimensions of work engagement in cross-sectional analysis and over time. This supports insights from SDT and suggests that a more complete understanding of the dynamics of work engagement must include people's opportunity to redress psychological needs within the workplace

Relevance of organisational support on academics affective commitment and turnover intentions

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an indication as to the motivation of people to remain in academic positions where substantial economic inequity is present and more favourable alternative employment is possible. This is important for the retention of qualified academic staff in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and for the supply of well-educated workers in this developing country. Design/methodology/approach: The authors surveyed 94 National (Indigenous) academic staff at a prominent PNG university for their perceptions of organisational justice and management support, with an aim determining if these variables were related to workers' affective commitment and intentions to turnover. The surveyed staff members are all employed on an inequitable basis in that their salaries and living conditions are inferior to those of equally qualified expatriate academic staff. Findings: The research found that staff members' emotional connection (affective commitment) to their work was predicted by organisational support, whereas lack of organisational support predicted academic staff turnover. Practical implications: Universities must provide supportive environments to enable staff to remain focused and committed in order to maintain high morale and reduce turnover in academic staff Originality/value: Previous research on this topic has emphasised the economic inequity faced by National academic staff members in PNG's high education institutions. The current research applies motivation theory to people experiencing this obvious inequity. It finds that an environment where workers experience management support and a sense of intrinsic reward can effectively influence their intention to remain at their place of work as well as their emotional connection to their institution and their students

Gender Implications of Perceptions of Trustworthiness of School Administration and Teacher Burnout/Job Stress

Background:\ud The current study is part of a broader study which explored relationships between teacher perceptions of School Administration Trustworthiness and teacher burnout and trust. Gender issues were of apparent importance due to increasing feminisation of the teaching workforce in Australia.\ud \ud Aim:\ud This study sought to explore possible differences in teachers regarding perceptions of school administration trustworthiness, which may well pertain to gender.\ud \ud Sample:\ud Participants were 90 currently serving teachers in Queensland Independent Schools. \ud \ud Method:\ud Survey instruments included measures for perceptions of administration trustworthiness (ability, benevolence and integrity), morale, participative decision making, trust, burnout and job stress. \ud \ud Results:\ud There were significant effects for gender and school, with female primary teachers experiencing more burnout job stress than male primary teachers, and secondary teachers (male and female). Female primary and secondary teachers reported less confidence in school administration trustworthiness when compared to male primary and secondary teachers, although this differentiation was more pronounced in the primary school. \ud \ud Conclusion: \ud It is proposed that further study using empirical measures of work overload, a more useful measure of burnout and a qualitative survey instrument be undertaken to further differentiate dissatisfactions of female primary teachers. Current practices which contribute to emotional exhaustion and inefficacy among female teachers require scrutiny. Possible inequity in primary schools is worthy of more sustained investigation

"If you want to advance in the ICT industry, you have to work harder than your male peers." Women in ICT Industry Survey: preliminary findings

This paper provides early findings from the ‘Women in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Industry’ survey, which is the final stage of a large research project into low participation rates of girls in ICT. Preliminary results from 289 women in ICT industries, Australia-wide, suggest that ICT career women are extremely satisfied with their career choice overall. However, further findings, and comparisons with a study conducted in the United Kingdom (UK), suggest that subtle discrimination, a ‘glass ceiling’ effect, in the ICT workplace continues to provide a source of job dissatisfaction for women in this industry

I'm just a cog in the wheel: worker engagement and burnout in relation to workplace justice, management trustworthiness and areas of worklife

Previous studies have indicated that burnout and engagement are more associated with the work milieu than individual characteristics of employees. The current study extended this theme and addressed perspectives of 561 respondents to a workplace dynamics survey. It was hypothesized that burnout, as measured by the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI) and engagement with work, as ascertained by the Utrecht Work Engagement Survey (UWES) could be predicted by respondents’ perceptions of their work environments. These were measured by responses to the Areas of Worklife Survey (AWLS) and Procedural Justice measures, and also by Management Trustworthiness and Trust scales. Observed consistencies between two phases of the research, a pen and paper survey for teachers in non government schools in\ud Queensland (n =297) and an online national (Australian)\ud survey targeting workers in a range of industries (n =264)\ud supported their amalgamation in the current study. Kmeans\ud cluster analysis identified five distinct respondent\ud profiles on the OLBI and the UWES. Subsequent Kruskal-Wallis analyses found significant differences between cluster groups on all other study variables. Patterns of variable distribution indicated clear support for all hypothesized relationships. In addition, support was found for Schaufeli and Bakkers’ (2004) premise that Burnout and Engagement are not opposite poles of one construct