Der Fragebogen zur Gefährdungsbeurteilung psychischer Belastungen (FGBU)

Psychological assessment of AI-based decision support systems: tool development and expected benefits

This study aimed to develop an evaluation tool that assesses the use of AI-based decision support systems (DSSs) in professional practice from a human-centered perspective. Following the International Organization for Standardization, this perspective aims to ensure that the use of interactive technologies improves users' psychological load experience and behavior, e.g., in the form of reduced stress experience or increased performance. Concomitantly, this perspective attempts to proactively prevent or detect and correct the potential negative effects of these technologies on user load, such as impaired satisfaction and engagement, as early as possible. Based on this perspective, we developed and validated a questionnaire instrument, the Psychological Assessment of AI-based DSSs (PAAI), for the user-centered evaluation of the use of AI-based DSSs in practice. In particular, the instrument considers central design characteristics of AI-based DSSs and the corresponding work situation, which have a significant impact on users' psychological load. The instrument was tested in two independent studies. In Study 1, N = 223 individuals were recruited. Based on the results of item and scale analyses and an exploratory factor analysis, the newly developed instrument was refined, and the final version was tested using a confirmatory factor analysis. Findings showed acceptable-to-good fit indices, confirming the factorial validity of the PAAI. This was confirmed in a second study, which had N = 471 participants. Again, the CFA yielded acceptable-to-good fit indices. The validity was further confirmed using convergent and criterion validity analyses.

Facilitating Health-Oriented Leadership from a Leader’s Perspective

Abstract. Health-oriented leadership (HoL) is vital for the improvement of health and an essential part of psychological risk management. However, the relevance of different antecedent factors is unknown. We used data from a Germany-wide online survey with N = 738 leaders. Referring to the JD-R model, we analyzed leaders’ demands and resources that facilitate or impede health-oriented leadership from a leader’s perspective. Moreover, we examined the relevance of contextual factors like branch, company size, and management span. Whereas results show only small differences for contextual factors, we found positive relationships between leaders’ resources, like autonomy and social support, and negative relationships with workplace demands (availability, multitasking) and HoL from a leader’s perspective. At the organizational level, HoL is positively linked to high-performance work practices and health-oriented HRM strategies. From a leader’s perspective, the findings provide evidence for the relevance of favorable working conditions and human resources practices for improving HoL as part of psychological risk management.

Suddenly Telework: Job Crafting as a Way to Promote Employee Well-Being?

COVID-19 confronted many people with an abrupt shift from their usual working environment to telework. This study explores which job characteristics are perceived as most crucial in this exceptional situation and how they differ from people's previous working conditions. Additionally, we focus on job crafting as a response to this situation and how it is related to employees' well-being. We conducted an online survey with N = 599 participants, of which 321 reported that they were telework newcomers. First, we asked participants to indicate the three most important advantages and disadvantages they see in telework. The subsequent questionnaire contained a comprehensive measure of working conditions before and during the pandemic, job crafting behaviors, and indicators of well-being. Based on the qualitative answers, we identified three major advantages and disadvantages. Quantitative results indicate perceived changes in all job characteristics for telework newcomers. Concerning working conditions and well-being, job crafting activities that aim to increase structural and social resources are important mediators. The findings underline the need to design appropriate telework conditions and encourage job crafting activities to foster occupational well-being.

Entwicklung und Validierung eines Fragebogens zur Messung der Qualität indirekter Leistungssteuerung in Organisationen (ILSO)

Zusammenfassung. Die Arbeitsleistung von abhängig Beschäftigten wird in Organisationen häufig ergebnisorientiert gesteuert: Es kommt weniger auf die investierte Arbeitszeit als vielmehr auf das Resultat an. Für diese ergebnisorientierte, indirekte Leistungssteuerung liegen bislang kaum diagnostische Instrumente vor, die im Rahmen quantitativer Studien eingesetzt werden können. Über einen handlungsregulationstheoretischen Zugang zur Theorie der indirekten Steuerung war es möglich, den Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Qualität indirekter Leistungssteuerung in Organisationen (ILSO) zu entwickeln. Der Fragebogen beinhaltet 16 Subskalen, die sich in drei übergeordnete Dimensionen eingruppieren lassen: Regulationsanforderungen, Regulationsmöglichkeiten und Regulationsprobleme. Item- und Skalenanalysen sowie die Überprüfung der konvergenten, diskriminanten und kriterienbezogenen Validität in einer ersten Konstruktionsstudie ( N = 244), einer zweiten Konstruktionsstudie ( N = 513) sowie einer Validierungsstudie (Welle 1: N = 598 / Welle 2: N = 353) bestätigen die Qualität des Instrumentes. Wir empfehlen die Anwendung des Verfahrens unter Anderem zur psychischen Gefährdungsbeurteilung in indirekt gesteuerten Betrieben.

Suddenly Working From Home!

Abstract. The Corona crisis and the lockdown in the spring of 2020 had various effects on working life in Europe. In this three-wave study, we assessed the trajectories of job demands and resources of 302 employees 2 weeks before the lockdown, over 1 week after lockdown start, and 6 weeks following the beginning of the lockdown. We applied a pre-post follow-up design with 129 employees who switched to telecommuting and a control group of 173 employees who remained in their on-site workplace. Results from the repeated-measures MANCOVA indicate that, despite various general changes to job characteristics because of the Corona crisis, telecommuting changes contributed to significant changes only in communication opportunities and – before Bonferroni correction – in physical job demands. These results may imply that the most visible massive switch to telecommuting of many employees during the first phase of the Corona crisis is only one explanatory factor for general changes to job characteristics.

How to Use Questionnaire Results in Psychosocial Risk Assessment: Calculating Risks for Health Impairment in Psychosocial Work Risk Assessment

Psychosocial risk questionnaires are common instruments in occupational safety and health promotion. Organizations use psychosocial risk questionnaires to obtain an economic overview of psychological job stressors and job resources. However, the procedures to assess if a result for a given workplace group is critical and calls for further action differ significantly and are often based on an arbitrary rule of thumb instead of empirically based evaluations. This article presents a method to translate questionnaire results into risk values for the occurrence of health impairment. We test this method on a dataset including the job stressors, job resources, and emotional exhaustion of 4210 employees from different industries. We applied logistic regression analysis to calculate the risks for impaired psychological health, indicated by high values of the burnout indicator emotional exhaustion. The results indicate significantly different health impairment risks (probabilities) for different scores on the job stressors and job resources scales as well as for scale score combinations. The risk values can be used to define cutoff values between high- and low-risk workplaces that are empirically based on stressor–strain relationships and are easily understandable by all stakeholders in the psychosocial risk assessment process, including laypersons.

Der agil-Fragebogen

Zusammenfassung. Die Studie berichtet über die Entwicklung des agil-Fragebogens, ein für Orientierungszwecke konzipierter Kurzfragebogen zur Erfassung psychischer Belastungen am Arbeitsplatz. Insgesamt 29 Items messen die Belastungsdimensionen Aufgabenanforderungen, Sozial- und Organisationsklima, Arbeitsabläufe und Arbeitsumgebung. Faktorielle Struktur und Zuverlässigkeit wurden in einer Stichprobe von 1 006 Beschäftigten aus acht österreichischen Unternehmen geprüft, zur Validierung des Verfahrens wurden vier weitere Stichproben (Gesamt N = 1 041) herangezogen. Die internen Konsistenzen lagen im Bereich von .70 bis .86, die konvergenten Validitäten im Bereich von .65 bis .81 und die diskriminierenden Validitäten unter .40, womit das Instrument die einschlägigen psychometrischen Anforderungen an ein Messverfahren zur Erhebung psychischer Belastungen am Arbeitsplatz erfüllen konnte.