Eustress And Distress In The Context Of Telework

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a surge in telework, with many organizations using telework to continue operations. Teleworkers are subject to stress due to the demands of working from home. Despite the common view of stress as being detrimental, stress can also be beneficial. In this paper, we investigate two forms of stress, eustress (beneficial stress), and distress (detrimental stress) using a theoretically-derived model that includes antecedents and outcomes of eustress and distress. We test our model using data from a survey of 525 American teleworkers. Results indicate that job resources (autonomy, managerial support, and technical support), and personal resources (resilience and self-efficacy) affect eustress, while job demands (work overload, social isolation, and resource inadequacies) affect distress. Eustress is positively associated with job and telework satisfaction and negatively associated with telework exhaustion. Distress has the opposite effects. Our findings hold implications for researchers and practitioners.

Applying Salutogenesis in the Workplace

This chapter presents models, measures, and intervention approaches that relate to the double nature of work and its salutogenic quality. Hereby, the view of Aaron Antonovsky is enhanced insofar that health-promoting, salutogenic job characteristics are not solely understood as mitigating the pathogenic effects of stressors at work but have a distinct effect on positive health outcomes. In the chapter, Antonovsky’s original model is first specified and simplified for the context of work. Next, Antonovsky’s line of thinking is related to frameworks researching job resources and demands. After a review of the prevalence of salutogenic measures in worksite health promotion, the point of making salutogenesis more visible in work-related research and practice is elaborated. This is illustrated with a practical example of a survey-feedback process promoting salutogenic work.

The Bucharest College of Physicians’ Study on Burnout Amongst Healthcare Professionals in Romania’s Capital City during COVID-19 Pandemic

The importance of burnout amongst medical staff was highlighted by various papers, showing that this issue implies job demands and job resources. The current challenge of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic also raised many concerns about its impact on healthcare sector. A new survey after 4 years from the previous study of the Bucharest College of Physicians is coming with new data, containing the effect of COVID-19 on the psychological wellbeing of its members. The increasing of burnout was found in all categories, and the most frequently solutions claimed by the respondents were related to decreasing of workload and bureaucracy, and an important number of physicians identify the need for specialized psychological assistance. The COVID-19 pandemic period exacerbated the system related factors that contribute to the phenomenon of burnout.

Pro-Environmental Employee Engagement: The Influence of Pro-Environmental Organizational, Job and Personal Resources

As organizations continue to respond to the existential challenge that is climate change, the extent to which employees engage in environmental sustainability is critical to that response. This study introduces new measures of pro-environmental employee engagement, pro-environmental job resources and pro-environmental meaningful work. Based on engagement theory, a model is tested that shows how perceived corporate environmental responsibility, pro-environmental job resources (supervisor support, involvement, information) and pro-environmental meaningful work (a personal resource) influence pro-environmental employee engagement. Online self-report survey data were collected through convenience sampling from 285 full-time and part-time employees (aged 18–89 years) working across a range of occupations and organizations in Australia. Data were analyzed using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). In support of the proposed model, CFA and SEM results generally yielded a good fit to the data. Eight of nine proposed direct effects involving corporate environmental responsibility, pro-environmental job resources (modelled as a higher-order construct), pro-environmental meaningful work, and pro-environmental engagement, were significant. All proposed indirect effects within a re-specified model were significant. The final model explained 51% of the variance in pro-environmental job resources; 20% in pro-environmental meaningful work; and 71% in pro-environmental employee engagement. Overall, the results indicate that perceived organizational, job and personal resources play a motivational role in enhancing pro-environmental employee engagement. The study contributes a theory-based model and new measures of employee pro-environmental resources and engagement. The model can be applied to help organizations assess and develop interventions to address the critically important issue of environmental sustainability. Future research directions and study limitations are discussed.

Job Demands and Resources and Employee Well-Being in the Chinese Nonprofit Sector

Although the nonprofit sector in China has grown substantially in past decades, its future is threatened by high turnover and burnout. It is thus necessary to investigate the factors that contribute to employee well-being (EWB) among nonprofit employees in China. This study used 233 foundation employees in China to examine the effects of job demands and resources (JD-R) on EWB. Estimates produced by regression analyses indicated that job resources (JR) have a strong effect on EWB (Beta = 0.53), as well as on the three EWB subscales (workplace, psychological, and life well-being). While job demands (JD) had no effects on overall well-being, they were negatively associated with workplace well-being (WWB) (Beta = −0.12). Robustness tests were conducted to further examine how JD and JR dimensions affect EWB and its subscales. Based on the findings, we underscore the importance of JR for EWB among foundation employees in China as well as that of implementing interventions that may alleviate the cost of emotional workload as a JD.

Quantifying the Evidence for the Absence of the Job Demands- and Job Control-Interaction on Workers' Well-Being: A Bayesian Meta-Analysis

Central theories on occupational health postulate that job resources reduce the negative effect of job demands on workers' well-being. However, this postulation lacks support thus far; numerous empirical investigations have assessed several job resources and several workers' well-being but studies produced inconsistent results. Systematic reviews tried to summarize these inconsistencies, however, no studies could adequately synthesize the breadth of studies to derive an aggregated conclusion due to missing quantitative aggregation. This study evaluates the interaction between job control and job demands on well-being by applying a systematic literature search and quantifying results through a Bayesian meta-analytic approach. Both aggregated study findings and raw participant-level data were included in our study, resulting in 104 effect sizes of aggregate-level data and 14 participant-level datasets. Overall, the data provided strong evidence for the absence of the interaction between job demands and control. Longitudinal and non-linear research designs were also examined but did not alter this overall conclusion. Contrary to the postulations of wide-spread theories, job control does not reduce the negative impact of job demands on worker well-being. Alternative theoretical approaches and the need for more consistent and rigorous research standards, like open-science practices, are discussed.