A two-wave quasi-experimental intervention study of a participatory visual art intervention: unexpected effects on job resources and work engagement

The effects of an intervention program on psychosocial factors and consequences during the COVID-19 pandemic in a Chilean technology services company: A quasiexperimental study

Background and Aims

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health became a relevant factor in people's performance within organizations. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of an organizational intervention program on the psychosocial factors of demands, resources, and the consequences of psychosocial risks in a technology services company during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A quasiexperimental study was carried out with 105 employees who took part in an 8-week intervention program divided into two large stages. Pre- and postmeasurements were collected using the UNIPSICO Questionnaire, considering its factors of demands, resources, and consequences of psychosocial risks. The Spanish Burnout Inventory (SBI) was also included.

Results

The results showed significant improvements in the perception of the following psychosocial demand factors: Role conflict (p < 0.001), Role ambiguity, workload, interpersonal conflicts (p < 0.05). In the resource factors: autonomy, work social support, feedback (p < 0.001) Resources at work, transformational leadership, and self-efficacy (p < 0.05). In addition, all the consequences of psychosocial risks have improvements: Indolence, emotional exhaustion, and job satisfaction (p < 0.001), Burnout syndrome, enthusiasm toward the job, and psychosomatic problems (p < 0.05), except the Guilt dimension of the SBI.

Conclusion

We can conclude that the program was effective and that the study limitations should be improved in future studies.

Bottom-Up Interventions Effective in Promoting Work Engagement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Promoting work engagement is of interest to organizations across sectors due to the associated positive outcomes. This interest warrants research on the evidence of work engagement interventions. Intervention research increasingly advocates a bottom-up approach, highlighting the role of employees themselves. These workplace interventions often encourage employees to identify, develop, and make use of workplace resources. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to investigate the effectiveness and potential underlying mechanisms of these bottom-up, resource-developing interventions. Method: Systematic searches were conducted in the online databases Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, Business Source Ultimate, PsycInfo, PsycArticles, SCOPUS, and Google Scholar. Publication year range was 2000-2020. Eligibility criteria were defined using PICOS. To be eligible for the systematic review, the intervention study identified had to aim at promoting working individuals' work engagement by developing workplace resources from bottom-up. Work engagement had to be measured using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. The systematic review included one-, two-, or multiple-armed - randomized or non-randomized - intervention studies with various study designs. Further, a meta-analysis was conducted on a sub-set of the studies included in the systematic review. To be eligible for the meta-analysis, the studies had to be two- or multiple-armed and provide the information necessary to compute effect sizes. Results: Thirty-one studies were included in the systematic review. The majority reported that overall work engagement increased as an effect of the intervention. The evidence regarding the sub-components of work engagement was scattered. Potential underlying mechanisms explored were intervention foci, approach, and format. Dimensions of satisfaction and performance were identified as secondary outcomes. Participant experiences were generally described as positive in most of the studies applying mixed methods. The meta-analysis showed a small but promising intervention effect on work engagement (24 studies, SMD: -0.22, 95% CI: -0.34 to -0.11, with I 2=53%, indicating moderate inconsistency in the evidence). Conclusion: The synthesized evidence suggests that bottom-up, resource-developing interventions are effective in the promotion of work engagement. The meta-analysis suggests that focusing on strengths use or mobilizing ego resources and adopting a universal approach increase intervention effectiveness.

Working with the potential of arts-based learning: Making sense and leaving ‘business as usual’ behind in an art seminar

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the interest in arts-based learning as part of the growing literature on artistic initiatives in business contexts, by advancing the understanding of the potential of arts-based business learning that people can yet fail to benefit from. We draw on Weick’s framework for how people construct meaning in organized situations and on a qualitative study of an art seminar in business education to consider arts-based learning in the face of pitfalls that can prevent people from engaging in approaches that differ from their usual ones and from which they can learn. We show that people can benefit from the potential of arts-based business learning when collective meaning-construction processes such as sensemaking or sensegiving can unfold and work in an iterative, active and intense way, to take people towards new experiences. Our study also highlights the usefulness of taking a perspective centred on ongoing collective meaning-construction processes and of focusing on both learning activities and learning situations when studying business learning.

Decent Work as Determinant of Work Engagement on Dependent Self-Employed

This article analyzes with a holistic and systematic approach the state of working conditions in self-dependent workers, as well as their effects on workers’ work engagement. For this, a distinction was made between the self-employed, non-dependent self-employed, and wage earners. The sample integrated 42,963 workers who were surveyed, of which 0.03% were dependent self-employed, 13.73% were non-dependent self-employed, and 82.32% were wage earners. The results have broadly confirmed the research purposes and they established that ensuring work engagement is the key to sustainability, growth, and success for workers.