A longitudinal assessment of the determinant relationship between employee commitments to the occupation and the organization

A review of the research literature suggested that occupational commitment may be an antecedent to employees' commitment to the organization. Although several studies have assessed the general relationship between occupational and organizational commitment, none have attempted to establish the causal priority between the two constructs. In the present study, occupational commitment was viewed as a causal antecedent to organizational commitment. Based on longitudinal data from 100 management information systems professionals, this view was supported through cross-lagged analysis. Further, we examined a longitudinal causal model of the turnover process in which occupational commitment was placed as an antecedent to organizational commitment. Structural equation analysis supported the fit of this model to the data. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Insider or outsider? how employee perceptions of insider status affect their work behavior

Many researchers have used the insider–outsider distinction when discussing employment relationships (e.g., Graen & Scandura, 1987; Pfeffer & Baron, 1988). However, there is no known empirical research directly assessing employees' perceptions of their status as organizational insiders. This article is intended as an initial step to theoretically and empirically explore the concept of perceived insider status (PIS). First, we build theoretical arguments describing how organizations may differentiate between insider and outsider employees, leading to differences in perceptions of insider status. We then hypothesize and show empirical evidence that contrasts, but relates, actual inclusion and perceived organizational support to PIS. We subsequently examine two types of discretionary employee behavior, altruism and production deviance, as potential consequences of PIS. Our results suggest that both actual inclusion, as well as perceived insider status, have implications for organizational functioning via discretionary employee behaviors. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Leadership, psychological capital and safety research: Conceptual issues and future research questions

In this theory-driven literature review we examine how leadership and emerging research in positive organizational behaviour (POB) may inform our understanding of human mechanisms that affect safety outcomes. According to authentic leadership theory, leader self-awareness and self-regulation processes are vital mechanisms in the leader-follower exchange. From emerging research on authentic leadership, we propose that production management values, attitudes, and behaviour are linked to safety climate and safety outcomes in safety critical organizations (SCOs). According to recent developments in management theory, “psychological capital” is comprised of four distinct aspects that can be linked to desirable organizational outcomes and sustained high quality performance in individual workers. From this we offer a research model and five research propositions implicating that authentic leadership directly affects safety outcomes via promoting positive safety climate perceptions. Furthermore, we propose a second path where psychological capital mediates the relationship between authentic leadership, safety climate and safety outcomes in SCOs.     

Cross‐level effects of demography and diversity climate on organizational attachment and firm effectiveness

We studied the impact of demographic diversity on individual attachment and firm unit performance in a relatively diverse organization. We implemented cross‐level regression to study gender and race/ethnic categorical, relational, and organizational demography in a sample of 26 units part of a regional restaurant chain. At the individual level, we found that diversity climate (DC) moderates the impact of relational and categorical demography on affective organizational commitment, organizational identification, and intention to quit. At the organizational level, we found that DC moderates the impact of organizational diversity on firm productivity and return on profit. We discuss the importance of organizational DC as organizational context on individual attachment, and implications for firm effectiveness in diverse organizations. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychological Approaches to OSH Research—An Evaluation of 20 Years of Psychological Research on Industrial Safety and Health in Germany

During the past 20 years of research in occupational safety and health (OSH), major contributions have been made by psychology in general, foremost German work and organizational psychology. This is the result of an empirical study with 216 scientific projects that were analyzed by content, and 32 interviews on OSH with experts on science, as well as in professional occupations and federations. Its sound methodological and theoretical approach has helped work and organizational psychology to embody itself as a driving force of OSH. The research focuses on the development of tools for job analysis, striving for the valid diagnosis of occupational hazards and mental load. Consequently, work and organizational psychology provides a solid foundation for deriving human and personality ameliorating organizational measures. Among the predominant means of intervention are training in coping with stress, behavioral training and modeling, health circles, and the arrangement of environments sensitive to occupational load. Major deficits in the field of research show up within evaluation and transfer as well as within quality control of the developed diagnostic and devices regarding intervention. Future scientific effort by means of application-orientated methods is vital to detect and overcome effectively a mounting mental load in the occupational world.     

Occupational safety and health in Spain

Occupational Health and Safety in Spain has improved considerably over the last decade, most likely due to a new concept where an overall concept of safety culture is defined. Important changes in industrial safety, hygiene, and psychosocial factors present an optimistic panorama for the future of Spain. Despite this general improvement, according to the European Convergence Program, Spanish statistics still offer far from good safety results. In fact, according to 1997 official statistics, Spain had the highest incidence rate for nonfatal occupational accidents of all European Union (EU) countries, and occupied third place for fatal accidents. This paper summarizes the organizational structure of the Spanish National System of Health & Safety at Work, its effective health and safety laws, and statistics on the Spanish work environment obtained from III Spanish National Survey on Work Conditions (1997). The researchers hope that the findings of this work will have an impact on Spanish industry that will subsequently bring about improvements in work conditions and develop assessment and intervention models in occupational health and safety, from a theoretical position integrating environmental, human, and organizational factors.     

Presenteeism in the workplace: A review and research agenda

Presenteeism refers to attending work while ill. Although it is a subject of intense interest to scholars in occupational medicine, relatively few organizational scholars are familiar with the concept. This article traces the development of interest in presenteeism, considers its various conceptualizations, and explains how presenteeism is typically measured. Organizational and occupational correlates of attending work when ill are reviewed, as are medical correlates of resulting productivity loss. It is argued that presenteeism has important implications for organizational theory and practice, and a research agenda for organizational scholars is presented. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The concept of resilience in OSH management: a review of approaches

The concept of resilience has become very popular, especially in the 21st century. This concept is applicable to many fields, from mechanics to a broad range of social sciences. Resilience has even become part of the national and global policies of the USA, the United Nations and the European Commission. The concept of resilience has also been implemented in the area of safety and health based on the criticism of the traditional approach to occupational safety and health, which does not result in a satisfactory level of occupational safety. The concept of resilience was adopted to research occupational safety and health in different fields and thus with different approaches, such as via socio-technical studies, the psychological and behavioral aspects of organizational resilience and the link with research on individual or family resilience and its influence on work.     

Organizational identification: Extending our understanding of social identities through social networks

Although organizational identification is founded on social identity and symbolic interactionist theories, current theories emphasize a social identity whereby organizational members categorize themselves and others based on roles and membership in an organization or work unit. In contrast symbolic interactionism, which resides in interpersonal relationships, is rarely theorized or empirically assessed in studies of organizational identification. We use survey data collected at an academic institution to explore how the strength and structure of an individual's social network both directly influences organizational identification as well as moderates the relation between social identity, or categorical, antecedents and organizational identification. Our results show that the size of an individual's network as well as the interaction between relationship strength and prestige better explain organizational identification than do antecedents based solely on categorization and social comparison processes. Thus networks of relationships, which have been a foundational but much neglected premise and process for organizational identification, are brought back into a theory of organizational identification. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Employee risk perception related to offshore oil platform movements

The results presented in this paper are based on a self-completion questionnaire survey regarding perceived risk and organizational factors conducted among 179 respondents on an offshore oil-installation in the Norwegian part of the North Sea. The aims are (1) to measure perceived risk caused by platform movements, potentially hazardous circumstances, and during the conducting of work tasks; (2) to measure employee evaluations of organizational and social factors, and (3) to analyze the associations between risk perception and the organizational and social factors. Ordinary occupational accidents caused the greatest proportion of respondents who felt unsafe. Perceived risk caused by catastrophes and disasters also created insecurity. The respondents were most satisfied with the status of contingency measures, and especially with the use of personal protective equipment and availability of personal protective equipment.     

Should we be “challenging” employees?: A critical review and meta‐analysis of the challenge‐hindrance model of stress

The challenge‐hindrance model of stress proposes that stressors can be divided into two distinct groups: those that challenge employees and those that hinder employees. This critical review seeks to explain the history of the model and its basic tenets, while succinctly summarizing the findings of existing studies based on the model. A thorough search of the stress literature uncovered 32 studies that specifically examined the relationship between challenge and hindrance stressors and important personal/organizational variables. Results were reviewed and analyzed, specifically by describing past meta‐analyses on the model, looking at the overall pattern of results from primary studies, and meta‐analyzing the relationships presented in those papers. This synthesis suggests that although there are some differential relationships of challenge and hindrance stressors with organizational variables (e.g., performance and engagement), the relationships to other key variables, such as counterproductive work behaviors, psychological strains, and physical health, are consistently negative for both challenge and hindrance stressors. Thus, we propose that stress research move away from the current challenge‐hindrance model in favor of other established models and/or a more appraisal‐based approach.     

Attraction in organizations: A model of workplace romance

Antecedents and consequences of participating in a romantic relationship in the workplace are critically examined. These factors are derived from social-psychological theories of interpersonal attraction, romantic attraction, love, emotion, and social exchange, as well as from previous research addressing romance in the workplace. The antecedent factors explain the processes by which romantic relationships develop between two members of the same organization, and the consequent factors highlight both the beneficial and detrimental effects that such relationships have on the participants, coworkers, and the host organization. Based on these formation and impact factors, a conceptual model of workplace romance is developed along with a series of testable propositions in order to facilitate and direct future research on romantic organizational behavior.     

Cultural diversity recomposition and effectiveness in monoculture work groups

In this article, we discuss different types of cultural diversity recomposition that can occur in monoculture work groups. Several direct effect propositions are set forth about the impact of cultural diversity recomposition type on monoculture group effectiveness, as are several moderating effect propositions. We identify potential moderators that have not been explored in prior research and discuss the implications that each has for organizational behavior and practice. We then discuss some implications for future research. We conclude this article with a call for establishing a research agenda that will guide our thinking as we explore this topic in more depth. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of an occupational stress intervention in a public agency

Only in several controlled studies have organizational or situational stressors (in contrast to individuals) been targeted for change in order to reduce occupational stress. This study evaluates the impact of an intervention which was based on organizational development, action research and Karasek's job strain model. Employee committees conducted problem diagnosis, action planning, and action taking in two departments in a public agency. Waiting list control departments and pre- post- and follow-up assessment were utilized. Results indicated a mixed impact of the intervention in one department, but a negligible or negative impact in the other. Obstacles to the effective implementation of the intervention strategy are discussed. These included a limited focus for the committees (department-wide rather than agency-wide), the negative impact of a major agency reorganization, and the lack of a more formal management and labour commitment to maintaining the stress reduction and organizational change process.     

An adaptive management system for hazardous technology organizations

This paper introduces a management system suitable for hazardous technology organizations which has been developed based on the assumptions that in these organizations safety is a critical strategic factor, the existence of an enhanced safety culture is a crucial condition for safety and that safety culture enhancement implies in organizational changes. The management system was theoretically developed and then implemented at a Brazilian nuclear research and development installation, as a case study, in order to validate the theoretical propositions assumed in the system development. The developed management system comprises a day-to-day based organizational framework which treats safety as one of the organization strategic perspectives and provides a continuous adaptation of the complex causal inter-relationships which occur between the implementation of new management practices – designed and implemented according to the requirements of the criteria of excellence of the Brazilian quality award management assessment model – and the organization safety culture. The results achieved in the case study permitted to demonstrate the validness of all the system theoretical propositions and to conclude that the continuous and systematic operation of the management system makes an effective safety culture enhancement possible and simultaneously facilitates that the new management practices be effectively implemented, thus making continuous organizational improvement possible.     

Occupational embeddedness and job performance

While researchers have recently focused their attention on organizational embeddedness, occupational embeddedness has received little theoretical and empirical attention. Using multisource data on 162 employees in multiple jobs and organizations, we found that occupational embeddedness is positively related to both task performance and creativity and is negatively related to counterproductive work behavior, even after controlling for the effects of organizational embeddedness. In addition, we found that trait affect moderated the relationships of occupational embeddedness to job performance. Occupational embeddedness was more strongly related to counterproductive work behavior when trait negative affect was high, while occupational embeddedness was more strongly related to both citizenship behavior and creativity when trait positive affect was high. Results also indicated that the various components of occupational embeddedness had different effects on job outcomes. Fit had a strong positive effect on core task performance, links had a positive effect on creativity, and sacrifice had a small positive effect on citizenship behavior. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future research and management practice. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of hindrance stressors in the job demand–control–support model of occupational stress: A proposed theory revision

Previous research on the job demand–control–support (JDCS) model of occupational stress has generally been inconsistent at best regarding a key issue: the interaction of demands, control, and support in predicting employee health and well‐being. However, the model continues to be tested in a variety of studies and academic journals owing to its intuitive appeal. By incorporating conservation of resources theory with knowledge from the challenge–hindrance stressor framework, we proposed that hindrance stressors, not the challenge stressors commonly assessed when testing JDCS theory, will provide validation for the model. A two‐wave panel study of 228 employees in a variety of occupations provided support for three‐way interactions between hindrance demands, control, and support predicting job‐related anxiety and physical symptoms. Three‐way interactions using a challenge demand (forms of workload) were not significant, consistent with our propositions. In summary, this study supports the buffering effect of control and support on the relationship between job demands and strain only when job demands reflect hindrance stressors, thereby proposing to alter the JDCS model by specifying that it applies primarily to hindrance stressors in a job hindrance–control–support model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual demographic differences and job satisfaction

Empirical research and theoretical literature support the notion that demographic differences among employees are associated with job satisfaction. However, the evidence is inconsistent, and little is known about the stability of many of the reported relationships. A meta-analysis was conducted involving 21 independent studies and over 10,000 employees to discern selected population relationships. Results indicated that, with the exception of age and organizational tenure, associations do not differ significantly from zero. Large amounts of variance around each mean correlation, however, warranted a moderator analysis. Results indicated that the strength and pattern of associations differ by organizational type. Theoretical propositions and implications for future research in the area of demographic moderators are discussed.     

Multiple dimensions of human resource development and organizational performance

Building on strategic human resource management literature, this study investigates the effects of various human resource development (HRD) dimensions on organizational performance. We identify four distinct dimensions of HRD that reflect either quantitative or qualitative approaches from either managerial or employee perspectives. Furthermore, we propose that HRD affects organizational performance by shaping employee outcomes, a prevailing but rarely tested assumption. Multi‐source data collected from 207 manufacturing companies at three time points over a 5‐year period largely support our theoretical propositions. A series of structural path analyses confirm that HRD improves employee commitment and competence, which in turn determine the financial performance of the organization. The quantitative dimensions of HRD (resource investment in HRD) predict only employee commitment. By contrast, the qualitative dimensions of HRD (management support for, and perceived benefits of, HRD) enhance both employee commitment and competence. Our analysis also demonstrates synergistic interactions between the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of HRD in predicting employee outcomes. This study elaborates the distinct values of different dimensions of HRD and highlights the significance of employee outcomes as the mediating mechanism between HRD and firm performance. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

矿井热宽温度环境人体热健康分区热调节模型*

为评价矿井热环境中工人职业健康安全状况,提出矿井热宽温度环境人体热健康状态的基本特征与生理要求,分析热宽温度环境人体分区热调节规律与热健康状态的对应关系。基于生物控制论的观点,提出热宽温度范围内不同热应力作用下人体分区热调节机制,建立人体分区热调节模型。结果表明:模型能实现对环境热应力作用下人体物理热平衡状态与生理状态的参数化描述,揭示多因素作用下人体热健康状态的热应力边界与变化规律。分区热调节模型提供了人体热健康状态定量模拟平台,通过参数调整可使模型适应研究需求,模型为井下热环境工人职业健康安全状况分析与评价提供了可参考的思路与方法。