The state version of the recovery experience questionnaire: A multilevel confirmatory factor analysis

Validation and psychometric evaluation of the French version of the recovery experience questionnaire: internal consistency and validity assessment

Background

Entrepreneurs often experience high levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout due to the demanding nature of their professional activities. Therefore, recovery from work-related stress is a relevant activity for entrepreneurs. The Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ) is a widely used 16-item self-reported measure covering four recovery factors: psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery, and control. The present study addresses the validation of a French version of the REQ.

Methods

A total of 1,043 French entrepreneurs from various sectors participated in this study. Internal consistency and correlations were examined to assess the psychometric properties of the French version of the REQ. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to validate the four-factor structure of the REQ, with seven error covariances added to improve model fit.

Results

The French version of the REQ demonstrated good internal consistency (psychological detachment: α = 0.88, relaxation: α = 0.91, mastery: α = 0.90, control: α = 0.91). CFA supported that the four-factor structure was confirmed based on the following data: RMSEA = 0.071 (95% CI [0.066, 0.077]), CFI/TLI = 0.955/0.950, SRMR = 0.050, and χ2 (108) = 593.861, p < 0.001. Significant correlations were found between REQ scores and health indicators such as stress, loneliness, physical health, mental health, and sleep quality. The results confirm that the REQ is a valid and reliable measure for assessing recovery experiences among French entrepreneurs.

Conclusion

We conclude that the REQ is a valid measure and a useful tool for research on entrepreneurs' general health. Additionally, the validated French version of the REQ can be applied to other working populations, making it a versatile instrument for evaluating health and recovery in diverse occupational settings. To support this claim, we conducted the same validation analysis on a sample of 1,231 French agricultural employees, again showing that REQ is a valid and reliable measure for assessing recovery experiences.

How Transformational Leadership Affects the Off-work Recovery of Daily Personal Energy Resources via Work Engagement: Resource and Demand-based Pathways

This study focuses on the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship by investigating resource and demand pathways for daily off-work recovery and employee wellbeing (EWB). While previous research highlighted how transformational leadership energizes employees to engage at work, energy is a finite resource requiring daily restoration for EWB. Yet, how the leader's energizing effect relates to daily employees' recovery remains unknown. Following job demands-resource-recovery theory, we test two pathways that relate the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship to daily employee recovery: (a) Resource-based via resource-building, (b) demand-based via increased demands. Utilizing a 10-day, two daily measurement (N = 88) study, multilevel path analyses revealed: transformational leadership predicted via work engagement (b = .17, p < .05) role clarity (b = .56, p < .01), then positive (b = .39, p < .01), and negative work-nonwork spillover (b = -.38, p < .01). Positive work-nonwork spillover predicted recovery positively (b = .25, p < .01), negative work-nonwork spillover negatively (b = -.40, p < .01). Recovery predicted EWB for positive (b = .38, p < .01) and for negative (b = -.43, p < .01) affect. Work engagement predicted workload (b = .35, p < .01), further negative (b = .33, p < .01) and positive work-nonwork spillover (b = -.16, p < .01), hampering EWB. As one pathway effect might cancel the other, the main effect of transformational leadership on EWB was not significant in the integrative model (p > .05). Results highlight dark and bright sides of the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship regarding daily recovery.

Recovery Experience Questionnaire: validity evidence of the Brazilian-Portuguese version

The aim is to present validity evidence of the Brazilian-Portuguese Recovery Experience Questionnaire (REQ-PB) by applying a procedure to decentering cross-cultural scales translation and adaptation. First, we had a phase with bilingual experts, which assessed different criteria of translation quality. In sequence, we conducted the replication of the original research to achieve validity indicators in the Brazilian context. We carried out both Confirmatory Factor Analysis (to find structural validity indicators) and correlations with various external variables (to find convergent validity indicators). Step 1 showed promising results of decentering translation. In step 2 participated 164 workers and the CFA confirmed the four-factor model: psychological detachment from work, relaxation, mastery experience, and control over leisure time. The convergent validity showed a significant correlation with external variables. The REQ-PB showed adequate psychometric properties and may explain and compare empirical evidence of the recovery topic. We concluded that we have a good quality scale to be used in future research and integrated with other constructs to support interventions.

Antecedents, outcomes and measurement of work related-cognition in non-work time: A multistudy report using the work-related rumination questionnaire in two languages

According to the perseverative cognition hypothesis, prolonged activation for example, via work-related rumination impairs recovery and thereby poses a risk to employee health. The extent to which gender, age, occupation or longitudinal stress exposure may alter work-related rumination is an ongoing debate. Whether group or longitudinal comparisons of work-related rumination are valid, however, has never been tested. In this multistudy report, we therefore investigated measurement invariance of the widely used Work-Related Rumination Questionnaire (WRRQ) across gender, age, occupation, and longitudinal measurements by performing secondary analyses of preexisting data on work-related rumination. We examined the psychometric properties of WRRQ measurements in two languages and expand knowledge about the nomological network of affective rumination, problem-solving pondering and detachment in relation to individual employee characteristics (e.g., personality, work engagement, commitment), job stressors (e.g., work intensity, decision latitude, social relations with colleagues and supervisors) and employee health outcomes (e.g., wellbeing, irritation, somatic symptoms). Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses showed partial scalar invariance of English and German WRRQ measurements and full scalar invariance across gender, age, occupation and over the period of 1 week (Study 1, n = 2,207). Correlation analyses supported criterion, convergent and discriminant validity of WRRQ measurements (Study 2, n = 4,002). These findings represent a prerequisite for comparisons of work-related cognition across groups and further the understanding of the antecedents and outcomes of different types of work-related cognition.

Drammatic breaks: Break recovery experiences as mediators between job demands and affect in the afternoon and evening

The present study focused on within-workday recovery, which has received less scholarly attention than has recovery outside work. We examined six break recovery experiences (detachment, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning and affiliation) as possible mediators between daily emotional job demands, positive and negative affect both in the afternoon and in the evening. We conducted a one-work week diary study (N = 107) among Finnish schoolteachers with three daily measurements per workday. Most participants (88%) were women, and the average age was 50 years. The data were analysed with multilevel path modelling. Regarding daily afternoon affect, both low break detachment and low break meaning mediated the relationship between high daily emotional demands and low afternoon positive affect and high afternoon negative affect. Regarding daily evening affect, only low break meaning mediated the relationship between high daily emotional demands and low evening positive affect. In addition, afternoon positive and negative affect did mediate the relationships between break detachment and meaning and positive and negative evening affect. Our findings offer new insights into the interplay of daily job demands, break recovery experiences and affective well-being. Despite detachment, meaning, which has received limited research attention as a recovery experience, seems to play an important role in within-workday recovery. Our study also suggests that successful break recovery can benefit employees' affective well-being in the evening.

Always on, never done? How the mind recovers after a stressful workday?

Many workers experience their jobs as effortful or even stressful, which can result in strain. Although recovery from work would be an adaptive strategy to prevent the adverse effects of work-related strain, many workers face problems finding enough time to rest and to mentally disconnect from work during nonwork time. What goes on in workers’ minds after a stressful workday? What is it about their jobs that makes them think about their work? This special issue aims to bridge the gap between research on recovery processes mainly examined in Occupational Health Psychology, and research on work stress and working hours, often investigated in the field of Human Resource Management. We first summarize conceptual and theoretical streams from both fields of research. In the following, we discuss the contributions of the five special issue papers and conclude with key messages and directions for further research.

Far Away, So Close? The Role of Destructive Leadership in the Job Demands–Resources and Recovery Model in Emergency Telework

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people started teleworking intensively, which has led to some benefits in terms of economic continuity, but also some complaints. International teams of scholars have pointed out the new work-related challenges, underlining leaders’ role in successfully managing them. This study aimed at investigating the role of destructive leadership in the job demands–resources and recovery model during the Covid-19 pandemic. In detail, this study intended to assess (1) whether destructive leadership is positively associated with off-work-hours technology-assisted job demand (off-TAJD) and cognitive demands, as well as whether it decreases autonomy, (2) whether two demands—off-TAJD and cognitive demands—and two resources—social support and autonomy—are respectively negatively and positively related to recovery, and (3) whether recovery mediates the relationship between demands, resources, and exhaustion. A total of 716 French remote workers (61% were women) took part in this study. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. A multi-group structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses. The findings confirmed a significant association between destructive leadership, the two job demands, and autonomy; furthermore, all three variables mediated the relationship between destructive leadership and recovery. The findings showed the key role played by recovery as a mediator between, on one hand, off-TAJD, cognitive demands, autonomy, and social support, and, on the other hand, exhaustion. This study highlighted the role of destructive leadership, job resources, job demands, and recovery as determinants of exhaustion, illustrating their relationships in a sample of remote workers. Practical implications are discussed.

Relating Measurement Invariance, Cross-Level Invariance, and Multilevel Reliability

Data often have a nested, multilevel structure, for example when data are collected from children in classrooms. This kind of data complicate the evaluation of reliability and measurement invariance, because several properties can be evaluated at both the individual level and the cluster level, as well as across levels. For example, cross-level invariance implies equal factor loadings across levels, which is needed to give latent variables at the two levels a similar interpretation. Reliability at a specific level refers to the ratio of true score variance over total variance at that level. This paper aims to shine light on the relation between reliability, cross-level invariance, and strong factorial invariance across clusters in multilevel data. Specifically, we will illustrate how strong factorial invariance across clusters implies cross-level invariance and perfect reliability at the between level in multilevel factor models.

Task-level work engagement of self-employed and organizationally employed high-skilled workers

Purpose

Self-employed workers typically report higher well-being levels than employees. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanisms that lead to differences in work engagement between self-employed and organizationally employed high-skilled workers.

Design/methodology/approach

Self-employed and organizationally employed high-skilled workers (N=167) were compared using a multigroup multilevel analysis. Participants assessed their job control (general level) and reported their work engagement during work tasks (task level) by means of the Day Reconstruction Method. Aspects of job control (autonomy, creativity, and learning opportunities) and task characteristics (social tasks and core work tasks) were contrasted for the two groups as predictors of work engagement.

Findings

Self-employed workers reported higher levels of job control and work engagement than organizationally employed workers. In both groups, job control predicted work engagement. Employees with more opportunities to be creative and autonomous were more engaged at work. Self-employed workers were more engaged when they had more learning opportunities. On the task level, the self-employed were more engaged during core work tasks and social tasks.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that self-employment is an effective way for high-skilled workers to increase the amount of job control available to them, and to improve their work engagement. From an intervention perspective, self-employed workers may benefit most from more learning opportunities, more social tasks, and more core work tasks. Organizationally employed workers may appreciate more autonomy and opportunities for creativity.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a better understanding of the role that job control and task characteristics play in predicting the work engagement of high-skilled self-employed and organizationally employed workers.