Supportive-leadership training to improve social connection: A cluster-randomized trial demonstrating efficacy in a high-risk occupational context
The high, and rate of loneliness is a threat to public health (Office of the Surgeon General, 2023), with negative mental and physical health consequences (e.g., Holt-Lunstad, 2021). Given that loneliness is a risk factor for poor mental health, efforts to address loneliness are urgently needed. Workplaces can facilitate an employee's social connection through supervisor support training, which can help mitigate loneliness. Among occupational groups, the military is at higher risk for mental health disorders, suicide, and loneliness (Fikretoglu et al., 2022; Naifeh et al., 2019). This study evaluated the efficacy of an evidence-based supportive-leadership training intervention targeting active-duty U.S. Army platoon leaders and targeting both proactive support behaviors that help bolster employee social connection and responsive support behaviors, including destigmatizing mental health. Ninety-nine platoon leaders (69.7% of eligible leaders) completed the 90-min training that consisted of both in-person and computer-based components. Using a cluster-randomized controlled trial design, intervention effects were tested using an intent-to-treat approach and revealed a significant effect, whereby loneliness of service members whose leaders were randomized to the intervention group ( = 118) was significantly reduced compared to loneliness reports for service members in the control group ( = 158). Additionally, service members with higher baseline loneliness were more strongly and positively impacted by the supervisor training, reporting higher levels of supportive behaviors from their leaders at 3 months postbaseline. In sum, these results suggest how workplaces, especially those that are considered high-risk occupations, and their leaders play a critical role in a national strategy to address Americans' well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Proactive employees perceive coworker ostracism: The moderating effect of team envy and the behavioral outcome of production deviance
As the workplace becomes more team based, interpersonal relationships at work are a central topic that affects both employees and the organization. Despite ample evidence showing the detrimental effects of workplace ostracism on employees' health and productivity, why someone is ostracized by others at work warrants more research. Based on social comparison theory, we predict that task proactivity could be perceived negatively and can elicit ostracism from team members; this effect is dependent upon the boundary condition of team envy. Furthermore, perceived coworker ostracism explains why task proactivity may turn into production deviance. We tested these predictions based on data from 630 employees in 131 teams collected in various industries in China. The results showed that individual-level task proactivity positively predicted coworker ostracism perceived by the proactive employee, and this relationship was moderated by team envy. Task proactivity was indirectly and positively related to production deviance via perceived coworker ostracism, especially in teams with high levels of team envy. Based on these results, we suggest that proactive employees need to be aware of possible unexpected interpersonal consequences in the workplace, given that proactive work behaviors may elicit unwanted and unintended treatment from team members. Managers should monitor team contextual factors, which may affect the extent to which good soldiers turn into bad apples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
A daily exercise prescription when work gets tough: The moderating effect of work demands on the relationship between daily physical exercise and next-day well-being and job performance
Physical exercise is widely recognized for its benefits to individuals' general health, yet its implications for in-role and extrarole job performance, especially on demanding workdays, have rarely been explored. This oversight is concerning as high work demands can deter employees from exercising when they are unaware that exercise can improve their job performance on demanding workdays. In this research, we draw on the effort-recovery model to propose that daily physical exercise not only promotes next-day well-being but also enhances next-day in-role job performance and extrarole organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) by fostering positive affect and work engagement the following day. Moreover, these benefits of daily physical exercise are more pronounced on days with high rather than low work demands. Results from two experience sampling studies generally support our hypotheses, revealing that daily physical exercise contributes to next-day well-being, both self- and leader-rated in-role job performance and self-rated, but not leader-rated, extrarole OCB, through the sequential mediation of next-morning positive affect and next-day work engagement. Furthermore, these benefits of physical exercise are more evident on days when employees face high overall work demands (Study 1) and in particular on days with high-hindrance demands but on days with low-challenge demands (Study 2). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Family intergenerational stress: Concept exploration and development via coping and identity management
The sandwich generation faces dual responsibilities of supporting parents and raising children, resulting in heightened levels of stress and negative work-related outcomes. Despite a wealth of research on the sandwich generation, few studies have examined the specific nature of the multigenerational needs of the sandwich generation. Accordingly, we introduce a new concept termed family intergenerational stress (FIS), which refers to the interaction and integration of stresses from elder caregiving, child-rearing, and associated challenges with self-definition. Through the lens of FIS, we collected interview data from 137 sandwich generation employees, secondary network data, and field observation data from 21 employees. We further used grounded theory to explore employees' stress and coping responses to dual family responsibilities. Findings indicate that employees with both elder caregiving and child-rearing responsibilities experience FIS. This, in turn, threatens their identity as an ideal worker and is associated with lower work engagement. Findings further reveal that in coping with FIS, employees adopt different identity-based strategies. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Financial stress and leadership behavior: The role of leader gender
Concern about personal finances is one of the most widespread and salient sources of stress. We advance our emerging understanding of the work-related impacts of financial stress by examining the consequences of personal financial stress on leadership behavior. Drawing on compensatory control theory, we propose that financial stress positively relates to abusive supervision via a lowered sense of personal control. Integrating social role theory, we propose that these effects are stronger for leaders who are men than leaders who are women. We test our model in a vignette-based study using a sample of leaders (N = 201) and a second multiwave, multisource field survey study among leaders and their subordinates (N = 119 leader-subordinate dyads). Across both studies, we found that financial stress was positively associated with abusive supervision via lack of control and that this relationship was stronger for men than women. In Study 2, we examined an alternative tend-and-befriend theoretical account, proposing that leaders who are women exhibit more communion-striving motivation and empathic leadership as a result of financial stress. We found some support for this alternative pathway, though not gender differences in it, and in doing so we uncovered novel outcomes of financial stress. Our results offer implications for supporting employee financial health and uncover a context wherein men (and their subordinates), rather than women, experience the costs of misalignment with societal gender expectations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The daily costs of workaholism: A within-individual investigation on blood pressure, emotional exhaustion, and sleep disturbances
Workaholism literature has been so far focused on individual differences in workaholic tendencies, considering the construct as a stable individual trait and highlighting its health and well-being consequences. Only recently, research has started inspecting the daily dynamics and potential consequences of state workaholism. In this preregistered study, we aimed at systematically investigating the within-individual fluctuations in workaholism levels and their potential short-term and delayed psychophysiological responses as captured by ambulatory assessment integrating subjective and objective data. Using an intensive longitudinal design over 10 workdays with 114 workers from various occupations (2,534 measurement occasions), we found higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, emotional exhaustion, and sleep disturbances in workdays characterized by higher-than-usual workaholism symptoms. Moreover, the reactivity to state workaholism, as indexed by afternoon blood pressure, was found as a mediator of the subsequent prolonged activation indexed by bedtime blood pressure. Finally, we found evidence of a buffering effect of evening psychological detachment on the relationship between state workaholism and sleep disturbances. Overall, our results support the conceptualization of workaholism as a multilevel phenomenon that acts as an internal job-related demand by showing the typical strain reactions triggered by well-characterized external demands. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting that transient workaholism symptoms can result in significant short-term stress responses at different levels, providing new, robust, and multisource evidence that underlies the importance of effectively preventing and managing dysfunctional work investment since its early manifestation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Why your help is unhelpful: A multistage mediation model exploring mechanisms linking unhelpful workplace social support to work engagement
Recent occupational health research has begun exploring unhelpful workplace social support (UWSS). UWSS refers to actions taken by a colleague that the recipient believes are intended to be helpful but are perceived as ineffective. For example, a colleague may provide help that is not wanted or do something incorrectly while providing aid. Despite the perceived good intentions of UWSS providers, empirical research suggests that UWSS is a potent workplace demand negatively associated with occupational well-being. The mechanisms that link UWSS and reduced occupational well-being, however, have yet to receive empirical examination. We integrate the job demands-resources model, conservation of resources theory, and basic needs theory to construct a multistage model linking UWSS to reduced work engagement via the frustration of basic psychological needs and the consequent experiencing of negative emotions. We test this model across two studies-a three-wave weekly study (N = 960, N = 320) and a 5-day daily diary study (N = 1,680, N = 336)-and find several significant direct and indirect effects. Across both studies (though at different levels of analysis), partial support was linked to reduced work engagement via the frustration of both the need for competence and relatedness and the experiencing of negative affect, while in Study 2, a daily link between undependable support and work engagement through relatedness frustration and the experiencing of negative affect was found. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and future research directions are offered. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Mindfulness and cognitive-behavioral strategies for psychological detachment: Comparing effectiveness and mechanisms of change
Recovering from work is essential for maintaining occupational well-being, health, motivation, and performance, but recovery is often difficult to achieve. In this study, we evaluated and compared the effectiveness of two (parallel) interventions aimed at promoting recovery: one based on mindfulness and one involving applying cognitive-behavioral strategies. Both interventions were embedded in a measurement burst design, which allowed us to examine the mechanisms underlying change or intervention success. To explore mechanisms of change, we used the stressor-detachment model as a theoretical framework. We operationalized the interventions' effects in three ways: as changes from pretest to posttest, as changes in daily states, and as changes in daily associations. To this end, we used intensive longitudinal data to examine the roles that daily negative activation plays in detachment and strain. In a randomized controlled trial (N = 393), we administered three assessments of traits: pretest, posttest (8 weeks later), and follow-up (3 months after the posttest). We also administered 2 work weeks of experience sampling questionnaires (preintervention and postintervention). Latent change models and Bayes factor equivalence tests revealed that both interventions substantially-and to a similar extent-increased detachment. Bayesian multilevel path models showed improvements in all state variables, including improvements in negative activation, and provided some evidence that mindfulness-based and cognitive-behavioral approaches might tackle different processes at the daily level. We discuss theoretical implications for the literature on recovery from work and specifically for the stressor-detachment model. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The effects of an employee assistance program on productivity at work, workability, absenteeism, and smartphone measures of heart rate and heart rate variability
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) have been shown to effectively reduce absenteeism, workplace injury rates, and health-related productivity impairments. However, established measures for determining its impact on employee-level productivity have rarely been used, nor have studies employed biological measures of well-being. Drawing on the allostatic load theory, we examine the effects of an EAP on biological measures (heart rate, heart rate variability), established measures of health-related productivity (Workability Index, Health and Work Performance Questionnaire, Workplace Limitations Questionnaire), and absenteeism 4 weeks and 6 months after clients started to receive counseling. We conducted a quasi-experimental study comparing an EAP (n = 73) with a matched control group (n = 134) using propensity score matching. We found that an EAP improves health-related productivity 4 weeks and 6 months after enrolling in counseling, above and beyond changes in the control group. Biological measures changed in the hypothesized directions, but differences between the groups did not reach significance. Absenteeism did not change in the EAP group 6 months after enrolling in counseling. In an exploratory analysis, we found that individuals requiring many sessions in the first 4 weeks showed worse productivity outcomes, demonstrating a negative dose-response relationship. Our study provides an example of how to include biological measures in EAP research. It adds to the scientific evidence of the usefulness of EAP services in restoring employee-level productivity. We calculate that the marginal productivity improvements per employee using the EAP are as much as $15,600 per annum. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Investigating daily abusive supervision as antecedent of subordinates' low psychological detachment and relaxation during nonwork time: A diary study
Recovery from work is highly relevant for employees, yet understanding the interpersonal antecedents of impaired recovery experiences remains unclear. Specifically, because former research neglected supervisor behaviors as a predictor of impaired recovery and abusive supervision is a core stressor, we examine daily abusive supervision as a predictor of subordinates' recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment and relaxation). We draw on research on the recovery paradox and propose that psychological detachment and relaxation will be impaired on days with high abusive supervision, although recovery would have been highly important on those days. We suggest a cognitive mechanism (via rumination) and an affective mechanism (via anger) to explain this paradox. We test coworker reappraisal support as a moderator that buffers the adverse effects of abusive supervision on rumination and anger. In a daily diary study (171 subordinates, 786 days), we found an indirect effect of abusive supervision on psychological detachment via rumination and indirect effects of abusive supervision on psychological detachment and relaxation via anger. Coworker reappraisal support moderated the association of abusive supervision and rumination, such that the relationship was weaker when coworker support was high. Our results suggest that including negative supervisor behaviors, such as abusive supervision, in recovery research is highly relevant. Coworkers can help cognitively process abusive-supervision experiences by providing reappraisal support. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Biophilia in the home-workplace: Integrating dog caregiving and outdoor access to explain teleworkers' daily physical activity, loneliness, and job performance
We examined whether dog caregiving and outdoor access affect the relationships between a teleworking day and teleworkers' daily physical activity, loneliness, and job performance during the pandemic in two different seasons in 2021. Building on the biophilia hypothesis, we hypothesized that dog caregiving and outdoor access would attenuate the adverse effects of telework on our outcomes. We tested our cross-level moderation hypotheses in a Belgian daily diary data set combining two data collections during 10 workdays in two seasons: One in 284 teleworking employees in spring and one in 151 teleworking employees in autumn-of whom 75 also participated in spring (N = 360, N = 3,809). Consistent with our hypotheses, mixed coefficient modeling showed two-way interactions between teleworking day and dog caregiving, and between teleworking day and outdoor access on daily physical activity, daily loneliness, and daily job performance. Specifically, both dog caregiving and outdoor access buffered against the harmful effects of a teleworking day on these three outcomes: On teleworking days compared to nonteleworking days, there was a smaller decrease in physical activity and in job performance for employees who had a dog or who had outdoor access compared to employees who did not. Likewise, dog caregiving and outdoor access buffered against an increase in loneliness on teleworking days, with a less steep increase for employees with a dog or outdoor access. Our study shows the importance of contextualizing the home context more broadly by including dogs and outdoor access at home when considering the effects of telework during and after the pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The chains of the past: A life course perspective on childhood adversity and organizational attitudes and behaviors
Childhood adversity stains the past of millions of working adults worldwide. The impact on health and well-being is substantial-a now-acknowledged public health crisis. Yet, research in the organizational sciences has failed to recognize the burden that individuals with this difficult history carry with them into the workforce. By synthesizing an interdisciplinary body of scholarship into a cohesive theoretical framework, we provide a foundation for emerging work in occupational health psychology. Empirically, across two single-level multiwave studies, we demonstrate the importance of adversity in one's childhood and its impact on the workplace specifically showing that child adversity, directly and indirectly, impacts worker attitudes and discretionary behaviors. Further, providing one of the few examinations of stress proliferation theory in the workplace, we demonstrate adulthood adversity as an essential mediating mechanism that leads to these work outcomes. From an applied perspective, our results highlight a need to focus on the healing and recovery of adult survivors as they work toward breaking the chains of the past in their lives and at work. In presenting this life course perspective on organizational attitudes and behaviors, our work offers a unique and vital contribution to occupational health theory, practice, and research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Job demands-resources theory: Frequently asked questions
Job demands-resources (JD-R) theory is commonly used to predict employee well-being, work behaviors, and performance. This article provides a short description of JD-R theory and discusses issues and questions that have been raised regarding the theory. These issues include the differences between conservation of resources theory and JD-R theory, whether a job resource can be a job demand, the impact of job resources on strain and health, the role of hindrance and challenge job demands in JD-R theory, the relationship between job demands and resources, and the likelihood of work engagement being a redundant concept. We also discuss whether JD-R theory can be falsified, the role of personality in the theory, within- and between-person effects in JD-R theory, the question whether there is a standard JD-R questionnaire, and the existence of loss and gain spirals. Finally, we discuss the use of JD-R theory in domains other than work and answer the question whether JD-R theory is universally applicable. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Too depressed and anxious to speak up: The relationships between weekly fluctuations in mental health and silence at work
While it is widely acknowledged that some employees are more prone to silence than others, emerging research suggests that silence is much more dynamic than previously indicated, as even the most vocal employee will withhold input in some situations. However, given scant empirical attention to intraindividual fluctuations in silence, several important questions remain regarding its etiological antecedents, the mechanisms underlying such effects, and potential factors mitigating them. We respond by integrating the silence and mental health literature to consider how fluctuations in employees' experiences of depression and anxiety relate to fluctuations in silence via distinct silence motives. Specifically, we propose that employees are likely to engage in silence while experiencing episodes of depression because depressive symptomology shifts perceptions toward voice being pointless (i.e., ineffectual silence motive). Likewise, we propose that employees are likely to engage in silence while experiencing flare-ups of anxiety because anxious symptomology shifts perceptions toward voice being dangerous (i.e., defensive silence motive). Finally, we argue that voice endorsement attenuates these relationships by interrupting the link between silence motives and behaviors, such that employees experiencing heightened ineffectual and defensive silence motives are less likely to remain silent during weeks in which they experience high voice endorsement. We find support for these predictions via an experience sampling methodology study conducted with 136 employees across 4 weeks. We discuss how these results enhance theoretical clarity on the dynamic links between mental health and silence and offer insights into how organizations can counteract intrapersonal variations in silence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
A weekly diary within-individual investigation of the relationship between exposure to bullying behavior, workplace phobia, and posttraumatic stress symptomatology
Most studies on workplace bullying have adopted a between-person approach, neglecting the potential within-individual fluctuations in the experience of bullying behaviors. However, investigating such fluctuations may prove useful for uncovering processes and mechanisms associated with bullying and its antecedents and consequences as they unfold over time. In the present study, based on recent discoveries on traumatic experiences and posttraumatic stress (PTS), we hypothesized that even short-term exposure to bullying behaviors-such as the exposure that characterizes an individual when the considered is a working week-may already have a substantial psychological impact at the within-individual level, as indicated by the experience of PTS symptoms. Additionally, we hypothesized that the development of workplace phobia may act as a mechanism linking the exposure to bullying behaviors during the week and the reported PTS symptomatology, and that person-level vulnerability factors to PTS (e.g., a recent trauma and female gender) accentuate the within-individual relationships. We tested the proposed hypotheses on a sample of 158 workers that were followed for 6 consecutive working weeks for a total of 860 observations. In line with other recent within-individual investigations, we found that exposure to bullying behaviors shows substantial week-level fluctuations. We also found overall support for the hypotheses, including evidence of a within-level lagged impact of bullying behaviors on workplace phobia, suggesting that even nonpersistent exposure to such behaviors is related to potentially nonignorable psychological suffering and PTS symptoms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Needs-based job crafting: Validation of a new scale based on psychological needs
We present the conceptualization and validation of the Needs-Based Job Crafting Scale (NJCS), a new assessment tool theoretically grounded in the Identity-Based Integrative Needs Model of Crafting and DRAMMA psychological needs (detachment, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation). The article is composed of three studies. In Study 1, we develop the NJCS and test its factorial structure using a cross-sectional sample of Finnish employees (N = 578). In Study 2, we validate the factor structure and test the scale for measurement invariance across time with longitudinal samples from Finland (N = 578) and Japan (N = 228). In Study 3, we examine the convergent, criterion, and incremental validity using a sample of German and Swiss employees (N = 1,101). The results confirm a six-factor structure of the scale as defined by the detachment, relaxation, autonomy, mastery, meaning, and affiliation needs in all three samples. The NJCS showed convergent validity when correlated with the conceptually related Needs-Based Off-Job Crafting Scale (NOCS), a job crafting scale based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, and the Proactive Personality Scale. Further, the six job crafting dimensions explain a large amount of variance in work engagement, job satisfaction, burnout, and psychological needs satisfaction; thus, supporting criterion validity of the scale. Finally, the NJCS explains variance beyond the existing JD-R based job crafting scale in work engagement, job satisfaction, burnout, and recovery experiences; thus, supporting incremental validity of the NJCS. Together with the existing NOCS, the NJCS facilitates the examination of crafting dynamics within and across work and nonwork life domains, applying a shared theoretical framework of psychological needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The development and validation of a Multidimensional Perceived Work Ability Scale
Research on the concept of existing unidimensional Perceived Work Ability scale (PWA) in organizational science has recently increased due to its prediction of important work, individual, and labor force outcomes. To date, PWA has been measured as a unidimensional construct. The present study outlines the need for the multidimensional conceptualization of PWA and its measurement. We describe the development and validation of the Multidimensional Perceived Work Ability Scale (M-PWAS), comprising four dimensions: physical, cognitive, interpersonal, and emotional. In line with Hinkin's (1998) approach to scale validation, we use four samples (total N = 1,152) to establish the M-PWAS as a reliable and valid measure of PWA. Through an iterative item generation and review process, we found evidence for content validity. Furthermore, each subscale demonstrated high internal consistency and factorial validity, and analysis of the PWA nomological network demonstrated evidence for convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, we found that the M-PWAS showed incremental validity over an existing unidimensional PWA measure in the prediction of perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, work engagement, and turnover. We discuss implications for theory, research, and workplace interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Why does using personal strengths at work increase employee engagement, who makes the most out of it, and how?
Engaging in behaviors that take advantage of one's personal strengths at work can promote employee flourishing in the workplace and mental health. Personal strengths use has thus gained increasing attention within occupational psychology and positive organizational scholarship. In this article, we first integrate work on personal strengths use with the latest developments in the job demands-resources theory (and its extensions) to develop a conceptual model explaining how and why personal strengths use on the job increases work engagement. Specifically, we propose that feelings of inspiration and meaningfulness explain the relationship between personal strengths use and work engagement. Second, we identify two mechanisms through which employees can amplify the benefits associated with personal strengths use at work; that is, we propose that the increased engagement associated with strengths use makes employees more likely to capitalize on the positive aspects of their work by engaging in work-family interpersonal capitalization and positive work reflection. Further, our model predicts that employees' psychological capital moderates the effects of personal strengths use. We tested our theoretical predictions in a sample of 160 full-time employees who provided ratings that comprise a three-level data set (person, week, and day) comprising 943 matched weekly ratings and 2,787 daily ratings. Our hypotheses were largely supported by these data. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Negative cognitive-affective involvement as a mechanism linking job demands to occupational well-being: The moderating role of maladaptive thinking patterns
Negative cognitions and emotions about work during off-job time (e.g., worry about work tasks) can hinder the necessary recovery from work and lead to impaired occupational well-being. To better understand when this arises, we considered simultaneous and interactive effects of external and individual factors. Specifically, we investigated whether job demands (i.e., time pressure, cognitive demands, emotional demands) and maladaptive thinking patterns are independently and jointly related to negative cognitive-affective involvement and whether this is in turn associated with impaired occupational well-being (i.e., emotional exhaustion, cynicism). Using a diary study, we collected daily data from 109 employees twice a day over two working weeks ( = 667 day-level observations). Multilevel analyses showed that negative cognitive-affective involvement mediates the relationship between job demands (i.e., cognitive demands, emotional demands) and the two occupational well-being indicators. The relationship between cognitive and emotional demands, respectively, and negative cognitive-affective involvement is moderated by work-related maladaptive thinking patterns, with stronger relationships for employees reporting more frequent maladaptive thinking patterns. Moreover, work-related maladaptive thinking patterns moderate the indirect effects of job demands on occupational well-being via negative cognitive-affective involvement. Overall, we expanded the research on negative cognitive-affective involvement by providing a more comprehensive picture of its antecedents and outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
An energizing microintervention: How mindfulness fosters subjective vitality through regulatory processes and flow experience at work
Can adopting one's morning routines influence employees' experiences throughout the day? To answer this focal question, we examine the daily effects of a brief meditation in the morning on well-being throughout the day considering spillover effects from the home to the work domain and back. To identify the dominant underlying mechanisms of this daily spillover, we draw on the personality systems interactions theory that distinguishes between autonomous self-regulation and effortful self-control as two psychological processes that reflect the regulation of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in alignment or contradiction with one's interests, values, and goals. Accordingly, we hypothesized that meditating in the morning before work fosters autonomous self-regulation and reduces effortful self-control in the work domain, which subsequently facilitates the experience of flow at work and hence fosters subjective vitality in the home domain after work. A quasi-experimental daily-diary study over 10 days with a brief 10-min mindfulness intervention during the final 5 days with 78 participants (588 day-level data points) supported most of our predictions. More specifically, our data suggest a positive indirect effect of the intervention on subjective vitality in the evening via self-regulation and flow experience. However, there was no indirect effect of the intervention on subjective vitality via self-control. The results help to clarify how a mindfulness-based intervention can influence distinct regulatory processes and well-being, crossing boundaries between the work and home domains. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
The dynamic interplay of job characteristics and psychological capital with employee health: A longitudinal analysis of reciprocal effects
The dynamic development of employee health is increasingly addressed by occupational health scholarships. Based on the job demands-resources theory, this study examines reciprocal relationships among job resources, job demands, psychological capital (PsyCap), work engagement, and burnout over time. We hypothesize that PsyCap, job resources, and work engagement are part of a reciprocal gain cycle that is based on static levels and changes in these variables. Further, we assume that PsyCap has multiplicative buffering and boosting relationships with job demands and burnout. We test our hypotheses using latent change score modeling with data from 661 employees surveyed over 3 consecutive months. The results reveal a complex reciprocal cycle between PsyCap, work engagement, and job resources. However, PsyCap does not interact with the reciprocal relationship between job demands and burnout, as it is directly reciprocally related to burnout and certain types of job demands. Against the background of these results, our study contributes to research and practice on the role of personal resources, specifically PsyCap, by identifying individual differences in change patterns and highlighting the importance of considering individual differences and temporal aspects in the context of occupational health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).