Human capital sustainability leadership: From personality traits to positive relational management

Introduction

Constructing positive and supportive relationships is fundamental for healthy workers and healthy organizations and to cope with the current challenging work scenario. Organizations need to acknowledge the relevance of the relationships for workers and organizational well-being and adopt managing practices that enhance healthy relationships for sustainability and sustainable development.

Methods

The current research sought to investigate the associations between positive relational management (PRM) and human capital sustainability leadership (HCSL), taking into account personality traits. The big five questionnaire (BFQ), the PRM Scale (PRMS), and the HCSL Scale (HCSLS) were administered to 191 Italian workers.

Results

Findings displayed that PRM was able to add incremental variance over personality traits referring to HCSL.

Discussion

In terms of strength-based prevention perspectives for healthy organizations, PRM may be a favorable construct linked to HCSL.

Relationships between Humor Styles and the Big Five Personality Traits in Workers: A Network Analysis

In this study, we investigated the relationship between the four humor styles (Affiliative, Self-enhancing, Aggressive, and Self-defeating) assessed via the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and the ten facets of the Big Five Questionnaire (BFQ) through network analysis. Four hundred and sixty-two Italian workers (61.3% women; Mage = 48.59; SD = 10.75) participated in the study and filled out the HSQ and the BFQ. Both centrality indexes (Expected Influence [EI]) and bridge nodes were calculated. In addition, the stability and accuracy of the network were checked. The network analysis revealed that HSQ Self-enhancing (EI = 0.63) showed the highest centrality among the HSQ styles, whereas BFQ Emotion Control (EI = 1.10) showed the highest centrality among BFQ facets; it also revealed that they were positively linked. Furthermore, HSQ Self-defeating emerged as the second-most-central humor style, negatively associated with BFQ Emotion Control. Concerning Bridge dimensions, four nodes were identified: HSQ Aggressive Humor, BFQ Emotion Control, BFQ Dynamism, and BFQ Dominance, with positive links between humor and personality except for Aggressive humor and Emotion Control, which showed negative links. On the basis of these results, the high centrality of HSQ Self-enhancing indicates the possibility of using this node as a starting point to foster positive and adaptive humor styles. The centrality of HSQ Self-defeating suggests that strength-based interventions could be focused to increase adaptive humor styles and to decrease them in order to enhance health-promoting humor styles. Furthermore, the bridge node of the HSQ Aggressive humor style with specific personality facets shows its possible use in intervention to both resize and to adaptively improve relationships between humor and personality.

The Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test-Revised Short (GRAT-RS): A Multidimensional Item Response Theory Analysis in Italian Workers

Gratitude is a promising resource from a healthy organizational perspective. It is related to many positive outcomes at work. The Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test-Revised Short (GRAT-RS) is the most widely used self-report questionnaire to detect gratitude. The present study examined GRAT-RS (the Italian version) by implementing multidimensional item response theory (MIRT) analyses to explore its psychometric properties. The participants were 537 Italian workers. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of the GRAT-RS and MIRT analyses using the Grade Response Model were run. The MIRT discrimination and MIRT difficulty parameters were calculated. A test information function (TIF) and measure of reliability associated with (TIF) scores were also implemented. CFA highlighted that a bifactor model showed the best fit. Hence, MIRT analyses were carried out by implementing a bifactor model. The MIRT bifactor structure showed a good data fit with discrimination parameters ranging from good to excellent and adequate reliability. The good psychometric properties of GRAT-RS were confirmed, highlighting the questionnaire as a reliable tool to measure gratitude in Italian workers.

Satisfaction with life in workers: A chained mediation model investigating the roles of resilience, career adaptability, self-efficacy, and years of education

Satisfaction with life is a core dimension of well-being that can be of great importance in the workplace, in light of the close link between worker health and organizational success highlighted by the perspective of healthy organizations. This study aimed at analyzing the factors associated with satisfaction with life, focusing on the role of resilience, career adaptability, self-efficacy, and years of education. A sample of 315 workers (67% women; Mage = 34.84 years, SD = 12.39) filled out the Satisfaction with Life Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed by implementing a chained mediation model. Results showed a significant and positive relationship between resilience and satisfaction with life, partially moderated by the chained effect of career adaptability and self-efficacy, controlling for education. When inserted as a covariate, education showed a significant and negative association with satisfaction with life. Such findings contribute to enriching the field of research on the factors that contribute to the well-being of workers and may have important practical implications for interventions in organizations.

Towards Meaning in Life: A Path Analysis Exploring the Mediation of Career Adaptability in the Associations of Self-Esteem with Presence of Meaning and Search for Meaning

In the contemporary world of work, workers are engaged more frequently in career choices to cope with changing work and working conditions. In this scenario, the well-being of workers is under threat. This study aims to examine the effect of career adaptability as a preventive resource on the relationship between self-esteem and meaning in life. Three-hundred Italian workers (67.3% females, mean age = 41.90; SD = 12.54) completed an online survey enclosing the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale, the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Data were analyzed through a path analysis by implementing a mediation model to test the hypothesized relationship. The results show that career adaptability partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and meaning in life, both considering the presence of meaning and the search for meaning dimensions. The findings expand current knowledge on the relationship between self-esteem, career adaptability and meaning in life in workers with implications for research and intervention.

Insight orientation scale: A promising tool for organizational outcomes-A psychometric analysis using item response theory

Insight is a construct carried out into different theoretical orientations with increasing application out of the boundaries of clinical psychology. Recent studies have investigated insight also as a promising variable for organizational outcomes. Given the relevance of Insight in promoting change, this paper aimed at describing the psychometric analysis of one of the shortest, most agile, and most versatile tool for measuring some of the characteristics of insight, the Insight Orientation Scale (IOS), using Item Response Theory. To achieve this goal, we applied a Mixed Rash Model to the IOS. Data from 1,445 individuals were analyzed by the means of WIN-MIRA and Multilog. Based on the likelihood statistics (CAIC) we assumed a three-class solution for the IOS. Results also indicated that the greater part of items had good discrimination and threshold parameters. These findings confirmed psychometric stability of the IOS highlighting its measurement precision, supporting its utility in both research and practice.

The Sustainable Development Goals Psychological Inventory: A Network Analysis in Italian University Students

The Sustainable Development Goals Psychological Inventory (SDGPI) is a recently developed self-report questionnaire that assesses interest, motivation, and self-efficacy associated with each of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advanced by the United Nations. This study aims to investigate, via network analysis, (a) the relationships between interest, motivation, and self-efficacy for each SDG and (b) the most central SDGs. To this end, 417 Italian university students (73.9% females and 26.1% males; mean age: 22.20; DS = 3.02) were assessed through the SDGPI, and two network structures were estimated. The first network structure investigates links (edges) between interest, motivation, and self-efficacy in relation to each specific SDG. The second network structure investigates most central SDGs as the sum of interest, motivation, and self-efficacy for each specific SDG. Regarding results, the first network structure showed that five SDGs had strong and statistically significant edges between interest, motivation, and self-efficacy; seven SDGs had strong and statistically significant edges between interest and motivation but not self-efficacy; five SDGs had no statistically significant edges linking the other dimensions. The second network structure revealed that SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) were the most central nodes. Implications for research, tailor-made interventions, and prevention were discussed.