Affective commitment as a moderator of the adverse relationships between day-specific self-control demands and psychological well-being

Burning bright or burning out: a qualitative investigation of leader vitality

Introduction

Leaders of organizations have incessant demands placed on them, including cultivating teams, building culture, and increasing the bottom line, in addition to caring for followers' well-being and thriving. Numerous resources are required to meet these continuous demands, and vitality is one of the most valuable.

Methods

Through interviewing 20 of the most influential and pressured leaders of Fortune 1,000 companies, this qualitative study answers three important questions: what drains vitality, what fosters it, and how do leaders most effectively utilize vitality for followers?

Results

The results shed light on psychological mechanisms that drain leaders' vitality, including emotional labor, self-control, loss of job control, the unproductive mindsets of others, and isolation created from the role. In terms of fostering vitality, several of the pathways of the PERMA+4 model of well-being were highlighted, including fostering relationships, physical health, accomplishment, mindset, meaning, environment, and engagement. Two additional themes that foster vitality included job autonomy and time away from work. Themes emerged that underscore how leaders utilize their vitality for followers, and the potentially detrimental impacts to leadership when leaders are drained.

Discussion

Overall, results highlight the importance of vitality and self-care as critical for leaders' ability to maximize their leadership performance.

Teacher Support Matters: The Effect of Self-Control Demands on Safety Behavior of Vocational High School Students in China

The safety behavior of vocational school students is worth noting. The current study is aimed to examine the effect of self-control demands on safety behavior. Drawing on the Self-Control Resource Model, we predict that self-control demands have a negative effect on safety behavior through ego depletion and perceived teacher support moderates the link among self-control demands, ego depletion, and safety behavior. A two-wave survey was conducted and 285 vocational students participated in our study. Mediation and moderated mediation modeling analyses were carried out. Results showed that ego depletion fully mediated the link between self-control demands and safety behavior. Moreover, perceived teacher support moderated the relationship between self-control demands, ego depletion and safety behavior; for students who perceived high levels of teacher support, the negative effect of self-control demands on safety behavior via ego depletion was insignificant, while for students who perceived low levels of teacher support, their negative effect was significant. The present study clarifies the effects of self-control demands on safety behavior through the resource depletion process and highlights the importance of teacher support in buffering the negative effect of self-control demands on workplace safety. Enhancing safety management, engaging in a resource recovery activity, and providing teacher support training are effective ways to maintain high levels of workplace safety.

Not My Job, I Do Not Want to Do It: The Effect of Illegitimate Tasks on Work Disengagement

As a prevalent source of work stress, illegitimate tasks (IT) offend employees’ professional identity and threaten individual self-view, then create many negative organizational outcomes. However, current studies have paid inadequate attention to the impact of IT on work disengagement (WD) and its influencing path, failing to comprehensively identify the negative effects of illegitimate tasks. Based on stress-as-offense-to-self (SOS) theory and ego depletion (ED) theory, the influencing path of illegitimate tasks on WD is explored, and coworker emotional support (CES) and leisure crafting (LC) are introduced to explore the intervention conditions on the impact of illegitimate tasks. By analyzing data from a survey of 260 employees, this study reveals the following findings: illegitimate tasks have a significantly positive impact on work disengagement; ED fully transmits the positive impact of illegitimate tasks on work disengagement; CES and LC not only attenuate the effect of illegitimate tasks on ego depletion, but also negatively moderate the indirect effect of illegitimate tasks on work disengagement through ego depletion.

Perceived Employability, Academic Commitment, and Competency of University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Exploratory Study of Student Well-Being

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has led to the closure of schools and universities, which forced students to reorganize their daily and academic lives. The pandemic has thus impacted the well-being of students in various ways. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the perceived employability, self-efficacy, ambition, organizational commitment, and career planning of students, as well as mental well-being, student engagement, and academic burnout during the pandemic. A total of 269 Italian university students participated in an online questionnaire. Our results highlight that students experienced high levels of uncertainty about their employability and career planning. In contrast, however, they reported healthy levels of mental well-being and student engagement, high career ambitions, and strong self-efficacy, despite the impact of COVID-19. We suggested that intervention and supportive programs should be offered to students over the long term in order to minimize the negative impact of the pandemic.

Unbalanced, Unfair, Unhappy, or Unable? Theoretical Integration of Multiple Processes Underlying the Leader Mistreatment-Employee CWB Relationship with Meta-Analytic Methods

Although a litany of theoretical accounts exists to explain why mistreated employees engage in counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), little is known about whether these mechanisms are complementary or mutually exclusive, or the effect of context on their explanatory strength. To address these gaps, this meta-analytic investigation tests four theoretically-derived mechanisms simultaneously to explain the robust relationship between leader mistreatment and employee CWB: (1) a social exchange perspective, which argues that mistreated employees engage in negative reciprocal behaviors to counterbalance experienced mistreatment; (2) a justice perspective, whereby mistreated employees experience moral outrage and engage in retributive behaviors against the organization and its members; (3) a stressor-emotion perspective, which suggests that mistreated employees engage in CWBs to cope with their negative affect; and (4) a self-regulatory perspective, which proposes that mistreated employees are simply unable to inhibit undesirable behaviors. Moreover, we also examine whether the above model holds across cultures that vary on power distance. Our meta-analytic structural equation model demonstrated that all but the justice mechanism significantly mediated the relationship between leader mistreatment and employee CWBs, with negative affect emerging as the strongest explanatory mechanism in both high and low power distance cultures. Given these surprising results, as the stressor-emotion perspective is less frequently invoked in the literature, this paper highlights not only the importance of investigating multiple mechanisms together when examining the leader mistreatment-employee CWB relationship, but also the need to develop more nuanced theorizing about these mechanisms, particularly for negative affect.

Job crafting promotes internal recovery state, especially in jobs that demand self-control: a daily diary design

Background

Research on how employees recover from work has focused primarily on recovery during non-work hours (external recovery) rather than recovery during work hours (internal recovery). Using the conservation of resources theory as a conceptual framework, we tested whether job crafting promotes an internal recovery state, and examined the processes that explain this association.

Methods

Using the daily diary method, 120 full-time employees provided information before and after work for 5 days by rating job crafting, ego depletion, self-control demands at work, fatigue and vigor.

Results

The results of multilevel modeling showed that after controlling for employees’ fatigue and vigor before work, daily job crafting predicted significantly better internal recovery (greater vigor and lower fatigue at the end of workday), and this association was mediated by lower ego depletion. The links between job crafting and internal recovery were stronger for employees with high self-control demands at work.

Conclusions

This study extends recovery research by examining internal recovery as well as job crafting as its antecedent. Further, the present study suggests that managers may consider encouraging and offering job crafting interventions for employees to achieve internal recovery state.

Capturing Interactive Work for Nurses-First Validation of the German IWDS-N as a Multidimensional Measure

The theoretical framework of interactive work provides a multi-dimensional perspective on the interpersonal demands of nurses in nurse-patient interactions. It is defined by four dimensions: emotional labor directed to the self and others, cooperative work, and subjective acting. While the framework stems from qualitative research, the aim of the current study is to translate it into a quantitative scale to enable measurement of the high interpersonal demands that so often remain implicit. For this reason, we conducted an online survey study (N = 157; 130 women, 25 men, 2 divers) among professional nurses in Germany (spring 2021) to test the derived items and subscales concerning interactive work, which resulted in a 4-factor model that was verified with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The survey further captured additional information on established constructs concerning job-related well-being (e.g., burn out, meaningfulness), job characteristics (e.g., work interruptions, time pressure) and individual resources (coping strategies) that are supposed to correlate with interactive work demand scales for nurses (IWDS-N), to determine the quantitative nature of their relations. The results show that the subscales of the IWDS-N have adverse effects on indicators of work-related well-being. Moreover, negative job characteristics, such as time pressure, are positively correlated with subscales of the IWDS-N and are therefore problem-focused coping strategies as an individual resource. The results emphasize that a multidimensional consideration of self-regulatory processes is useful to capture the subtle and complex nature of the interactive work demands of nurses. The current study is the first that developed a quantitative, multi-dimensional measure for interactive work demands, which can help make implicit demands in service work explicit.

Effects of leader-member exchange ambivalence on work attitudes: a moderated mediation model

Purpose

This study examines whether the relationship between ambivalence in leader-member exchange (LMX) and career commitment is influenced by organizational embeddedness as a mediating variable. There is also an investigation of when and to what extent job strain influences the conditional indirect effect between LMX ambivalence on career commitment via the mediator.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 1,134 accountants working in various disciplines. The PROCESS macro and a bootstrapping procedure were used to test and analyze the hypothesized relationships.

Findings

The results revealed that the direct relationship between LMX ambivalence and career commitment was partially mediated by organizational embeddedness. In addition, high levels of job strain through organizational embeddedness conditionally make the effects of ambivalence on career commitment stronger.

Practical implications

Organizations should motivate employees to tolerate uncertain situations at work and practice ways of maintaining a positive attitude. Training programs for employees to appreciate ambivalence and for leaders to be more behaviorally consistent and more effective in team communication should be considered.

Originality/value

This research is among the initial attempts to extend relevant knowledge in the fields of LMX quality and organizational embeddedness by identifying an important moderator that amplifies the structural relationship.

Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention Among People With Disabilities Working in Special Employment Centers: The Moderation Effect of Organizational Commitment

With the goal of contributing to the growth of research on people with disabilities in employment, in particular in relation to their job satisfaction (JS), organizational commitment (OC), and turnover intention (TI), this study explores the effect of JS on TI among employees with disabilities and the moderation effect of OC and its four dimensions on this main relationship. A total of 245 Special Employment Center (SEC) employees in Spain answered a questionnaire. To analyze the results, a descriptive analysis with bivariate correlations across the variables was performed, and the moderation model was tested subsequently using macro PROCESS for SPSS by Hayes. For the significant effects, a pick-a-point approximation was used to interpret the results. The results show that OC and its dimensions have no significant effect on the direct relationship. However, some components of JS, such as the relationship with co-workers and with supervisors, play a significant role in the relationship with TI when moderated by affective and value commitment. Our results show that it is important that human resources departments create conditions favoring a work environment with positive interpersonal relationships between employees and managers in order to minimize TI at SECs.

Die 5-Item-Skala zur Messung der momentan verfügbaren Selbstkontrollkapazität (SMS-5) im Lern- und Leistungskontext

Zusammenfassung. In Leistungssituationen sind Personen angehalten Selbstkontrolle aufzuwenden, um ihre Aufmerksamkeit, Gedanken und Emotionen zielgerichtet zu regulieren. Selbstkontrolle wird als begrenzte mentale Kapazität betrachtet, die situativen Fluktuationen unterliegt und sich kurzfristig erschöpfen kann. In dieser Validierungsstudie stellen wir eine 5-Item-Skala zur Messung der momentan verfügbaren Selbstkontrollkapazität (SMS-5) basierend auf der State Self-Control Capacity Scale (SSCCS) vor, mit dem Ziel auch in kurzen zeitlichen Abständen intra- und interindividuelle Variabilitäten der momentan verfügbaren Selbstkontrollkapazität (d. h. die Ausprägung der empfundenen mentalen Erschöpfung) ökonomisch abzubilden und externe Kriterien im Lern- und Leistungskontext valide vorherzusagen. Die interne Struktur der SMS-5 erwies sich in Stichproben von Auszubildenden ( N = 2 395), Zehntklässlerinnen und Zehntklässlern ( N = 129) und Studierenden ( N = 95; N = 140) als eindimensional. Zusammenfassend zeichnete sich die SMS-5 als valides, reliables, über Ausbildungsgruppen, Geschlecht und Zeit invariantes und änderungssensitives Instrument zur ökonomischen Messung der momentan verfügbaren Selbstkontrollkapazität im Lern- und Leistungskontext ab, das gegenüber der SSCCS in der Vorhersage externer Kriterien vergleichbar gut abschnitt. Die SMS-5 empfiehlt sich besonders, um durch kurzfristig wiederholte Messungen, Veränderungen der Selbstkontrollkapazität im zeitlichen Verlauf von Lern- und Leistungshandlungen abzubilden.

The impact of a spiritual environment on performance mediated by job resourcefulness

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore and present the process of management as viewed through the lens of spirituality at work, and to identify the influence of a spiritual environment on individual performance, mediated by job resourcefulness and moderate by affective commitment. Structural equation modeling was used.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample size consisted of 273 individuals from Portugal. The methodological design is quantitative. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess construct validity based on AMOS 21.

Findings

The results show that with the implementation of a spirituality culture, this fact increases the presence of spirituality at work and the individual performance, mediated by job resourcefulness.

Research limitations/implications

There are methodological limitations, because the work is based on “perceptions.” Another limitation is about spirituality at work conceptualization, considering it is still subject to different perspectives and definitions.

Originality/value

The findings can provide fundamental guidance for managers and academics to implement a set of practices that promote the presence of spirituality at work as a new management tool to run a company.

Protect Your Sleep When Work is Calling: How Work-Related Smartphone Use During Non-Work Time and Sleep Quality Impact Next-Day Self-Control Processes at Work

In view of the rapid development of information and communication technologies, the present study sheds light on how work-related smartphone use during non-work time affects employees' subsequent working day. Specifically, we examine work-related smartphone use and sleep quality as moderators of next-day self-control processes at work. Theorizing that work-related smartphone use and self-control demands deplete a common limited regulatory resource, we suggest a strengthening two-way interaction between work-related smartphone use during non-work time and next-day self-control demands at work in predicting employees' ego depletion at work. Moreover, in a three-way interaction, we analyze whether this interaction depends on employees' sleep quality, assuming that when intensive work-related smartphone use is followed by high-quality sleep, the taxed regulatory resource can replenish overnight. Results from our diary study covering 10 working days (n = 63) indicate that after evenings with high work-related smartphone use, employees experience disproportionate levels of ego depletion when dealing with self-control demands at work. Sleep quality, however, attenuates this interaction. In cases of high sleep quality, next-day self-control processes at work are no longer affected by work-related smartphone use. Based on these findings, we discuss implications for employees and employers regarding work-related smartphone use and the relevance of sleep in replenishing drained resources.