Predictors of coping behavior after a layoff

In a longitudinal study of laid-off industrial workers, we examined the effects of individual differences and situational characteristics on individuals' use of six job loss coping strategies. In each case the predictors explained a significant portion of the variance (30–47 percent) although different predictors were significantly associated with each of the six coping strategies. The results also suggest that the use of problem-focused and symptom-focused coping strategies are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. The study's implications and directions for future research are discussed as well. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Perceived social impact,social worth,and job performance: Mediation by motivation

This study was designed to test the relationship between perceived social impact, social worth, supervisor‐rated job performance (1 month later), and mediating effects by commitment to customers and work engagement. The hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling analysis in a field study with 370 customer‐service employees from bank, retail, and sales positions. Results confirm that perceived social impact is associated with better job performance and that this relationship is mediated by work engagement. Furthermore, results support a second mediating mechanism in which perceived social impact and social worth are associated with engagement through affective commitment to customers. Finally, it was found that engaged employees are rated as better performers by supervisors 1 month later. This study supports the motivational approach to performance and highlights the role that interactions with customers may play in motivating service employees. Practical implications are discussed by highlighting the need to consider the social dynamics in service contexts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relative importance of stakeholders: analysing speech acts in a layoff

Grounded in a participant observation study of a ski resort, this paper explores the (re)production of legitimate discourses through speech acts pertaining to an organizational event, a layoff. Manager's justifications and employees' reactions and critiques put sanctioned discourses into play. And while the stated organizational values include shareholder, customer, and employee concerns, the relative importance of these stakeholders is only made clear through the conversation of the speech acts and their reception. The shape of the conversation, in locution, illocution and perlocution, shifts the relations between managers and the employees and creates longer term consequences for the organization. This focus on language use serves as a micro‐foundation for the study of legitimation processes and its consequences within organizations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hassles on the job: a study of a job intervention with urban bus drivers

Epidemiological, psychophysiological and survey data all converge on the conclusion that driving a bus in an urban area is extremely stressful, posing serious health risks. We show that reductions in job hassles while operating buses largely account for the salutary effects of a job environment intervention designed to lessen traffic congestion, diminish passenger demands on drivers, and generally ease bus operation. This study also makes methodological contributions to the stress and health literature. Independent observers' assessments of changes in job hassles caused by a field intervention predict, in a longitudinal design, multimethodological markers of stress including blood pressure, heart rate, and a standardized self‐report index of stress. The value of utilizing job re‐design studies to more rigorously investigate stress and health is discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychological ownership within the job design context: revision of the job characteristics model

In this paper, we offer a theoretical modification to the Hackman and Oldham (1975) Job Characteristics Model by integrating research on the psychological aspects of job design with emerging theory on psychological ownership. We develop the connection between job design and (a) the motives facilitating psychological ownership, (b) the routes through which psychological ownership emerges, and (c) the individual‐level outcomes (e.g., emotional, attitudinal, motivational, and behavioral) that result from an employee's psychological ownership of his or her job. Our work covers several previously ignored positive and negative effects. We conclude by positioning psychological ownership as a plausible substitute for other proposed mediating psychological states in the job design–employee response relationship. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The changing significance of different stressors after the announcement of bankruptcy: a longitudinal investigation with special emphasis on job insecurity

The author investigates the effect of job insecurity and other job stressors on the mental health of steel workers. Levels of job stress and mental health were measured seven years before and seven months after the company at which they worked had gone into receivership, a method that can be described as a quasi‐experimental field study with a sample of blue‐collar non‐supervisory male workers. Two out of four job stressors were found to be at a lower level when the second wave of research took place. Regression analyses showed that the correlation between these job stressors and psychosomatic complaints is now lower than during the first wave but that they reach the former level when job insecurity is added. Job insecurity was mainly connected to an increase in psychosomatic complaints and in anxiety. Self‐esteem, depression, and irascibility showed no important relationship to job insecurity when the variables were controlled for mental health status before the onset of job insecurity. Social support, opportunities in the labor market, and duration of contract in the company are identified as moderating the relation between mental health and job insecurity. One conclusion is that positive health effects due to reduction in the stress level may be offset by acute job insecurity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing the completeness of a job analysis procedure

The current research analyzed employee perceptions of the completeness of a self-report, point-factor job evaluation system. Complementary qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to identify characteristics of jobs, characteristics of employees, and characteristics of the job evaluation procedure that affected employee perceptions of the system. Analyses indicated that the job evaluation instrument might describe some classes of jobs more completely than others. Situations where job evaluation is particularly problematic are identified and discussed.     

Satisfaction at last job and unemployment: a new look

Based on interview studies, the unemployment literature suggests that last job satisfaction influences reactions to unemployment. This study assessed the quantitative relationship between last job satisfaction and the unemployment experience. Results do not support the literature's premise that high last job satisfaction predicts a negative reaction to unemployment. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intra‐individual variability in job complexity over time: Examining the effect of job complexity trajectory on employee job strain

Drawing on gestalt characteristics theory, we advance the literature on the effect of job complexity on employee well‐being by considering intra‐individual variability of job complexity over time. Specifically, we examine how the trend, or trajectory, of job complexity over time can explain unique variance of employee job strain. Across two longitudinal data sets, we consistently find that, with the average level of job complexity during a given period held constant, a positive job complexity trajectory (i.e., an increasing trend in complexity) is associated with higher employee job strain. Based on job‐demand‐control theory and the exposure‐reactivity model, we further establish that job autonomy and employee emotional stability jointly moderate the relationship between job complexity trajectory and employee job strain. Specifically, for employees with high emotional stability, job autonomy mitigates the job strain brought by positive job complexity trajectory, whereas for employees with low emotional stability, job autonomy does not help to reduce the adverse effect of the increasing trend. These findings not only contribute to extend the understanding of the job complexity – strain relationship, but also suggest a promising, dynamic avenue to study the effects of work characteristics on employee well‐being as well as other outcomes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occupational stress in (inter)action: the interplay between job demands and job resources

The present study addresses theoretical issues involving different interaction effects between job demands and job resources, accompanied by a thorough empirical test of interaction terms in the demand–control (DC) model and the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model in relation to employee health and well‐being (i.e., exhaustion, psychosomatic health complaints, company‐registered sickness absence). Neither the DC model nor the ERI model gives a clear theoretical rationale or preference for a particular interaction term. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted among 405 nursing home employees and cross‐validated in a comparable sample (N = 471). Results including cross‐validation showed that only a multiplicative interaction term yielded consistent results for both the DC model and the ERI model. Theoretical as well as empirical results argue for a multiplicative interaction term to test the DC model and the ERI model. Future job stress research may benefit from the idea that there should be a theoretical preference for any interaction form, either in the DC model or in the ERI model. However, more research on interactions is needed to address this topic adequately. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Crafting a job on a daily basis: Contextual correlates and the link to work engagement

This study focused on daily job crafting and explored its contextual determinants and one motivational outcome (i.e., work engagement). Job crafting was conceptualized as “seeking resources,” “seeking challenges,” and “reducing demands.” Participants were 95 employees from several organizations who completed a 5‐day diary survey. As hypothesized, we found a 3‐factor structure for the job crafting instrument, both at the general and day levels. We hypothesized and found that the combination of high day‐level work pressure and high day‐level autonomy (active jobs) was associated with higher day‐level seeking resources and lower day‐level reducing demands. Furthermore, we found that day‐level seeking challenges (but not resources) was positively associated with day‐level work engagement, whereas day‐level reducing demands was negatively associated with day‐level work engagement. Findings suggest that job crafting is a daily employee behavior with implications for management practice and future research. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A test of a multidimensional model of job insecurity: the case of Israeli teachers

The research reported here adopted a multidimensional approach to studying job insecurity, using Israeli teachers as a case in point. Based on two determinants of job insecurity—unionization and kibbutz affiliation—four distinct employment types were identified: unionized city teachers, unionized kibbutz members, unionized kibbutz hirees, and non-unionized personal contract teachers. The a priori job insecurity status of the four employment types matched the subjective reports of these teachers, supporting the external validity of the job insecurity scale used. The study explored the effect of job insecurity on work attitudes. Results indicated that job insecurity had an adverse effect on organizational commitment, perceived performance, perceived organizational support, intention to quit and resistance to change, supporting predictions in related literature. The results of this study have implications on the management of job insecurity in changing environments.     

Cross‐national job stress: a quantitative and qualitative study

Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study contrasted employees' job stress perceptions and their relationships to strains in China and the United States. Significant job stressor–strain correlations were found in both countries. However, hierarchical regression analyses revealed significant interactions of country by job stressors in predicting job strains, indicating the unique patterns of stressor–strain relationships in China and the United States. In the qualitative analyses, American employees reported significantly more incidents of lack of job control, direct interpersonal conflict, lack of team coordination, anger, frustration, feeling overwhelmed, and stomach problems than the Chinese. Chinese employees reported significantly more incidents of job evaluations, work mistakes, indirect conflict, employment conditions, lack of training, anxiety, helplessness, sleep problems, and feeling hot than the Americans. The qualitative approach contributed above and beyond the quantitative results in that it revealed culture‐specific job stressors of job evaluations, work mistakes, and indirect conflict that had been overlooked in western‐based stress research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance: a meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis was conducted to estimate the true correlation between attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance and to identify moderators of this correlation. One‐hundred and eleven samples from 93 published studies were included. The corrected mean correlation was 0.20. The correlation was at least marginally significantly stronger for: (a) extra‐role performance as opposed to in‐role performance; (b) white‐collar workers as opposed to blue‐collar workers; and (c) performance assessed by self ratings as opposed to supervisor ratings or objective indicators. Four other assumed moderators (commitment measure: Affective Commitment Scale versus Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, job level, age, and tenure) did not have at least marginally significant effects. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coping with job insecurity: How does personality make a difference?

Reversing a long-standing tradition of neglect, occupational stress researchers have recently rediscovered the importance of personality disposition in understanding the transformation of stresses into strains and strains into symptoms. Two recent studies of job insecurity in our laboratory provided a fortuitous opportunity to explore the extent of this influence and the mechanisms by which it operates. The most important of our findings is that positive personality attributes impact as strongly on mental health as does negative personality disposition, albeit in the opposite direction. Thus, personality can cushion, as well as aggravate, the impact of occupational stress.     

Personality and job performance: the importance of narrow traits

In a recent discussion of the bandwidth–fidelity dilemma in personality measurement for personnel selection, Ones and Viswesvaran (1996) concluded that ‘broader and richer personality traits will have higher predictive validity than narrower traits’. In this paper, the arguments made by Ones and Viswesvaran in favor of the exclusive use of broad personality dimensions are discussed. New data are presented that contradict Ones and Viswesvaran's claim of the existence of a general, integrity-related personality factor, and that show two narrow measures—the Responsibility and Risk Taking scales of the Jackson Personality Inventory—to have higher validities than the Big Five dimensions with respect to job performance criteria based on self-reported workplace delinquency in a sample of 127 entry-level employees. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地震后灾区生活用水中微生物抽样检测报告

四川汶川“5·12”特大地震,给灾区人民的生命安全和财产带来巨大的损失。地震发生后由于受地震影响,使灾区发生大面积、大规模的山体滑坡、房屋倒塌,城市集中式供水中断、供水设施遭受严重破坏,中小城市的分散式供水和农村生活供水都受到同程度的破坏,