Do Attitudes towards Work or Work Motivation Affect Productivity Loss among Academic Employees?

Work motivation and job attitudes are important for productivity levels among academic employees. In situations where employees perceive problems, for example, health-related and work environment-related problems, the ability to perform at work could be affected, which may result in fewer publications, reduced quality and less research funding. Few studies, however, have paid attention to productivity loss among academic employees in order to understand how, or if, the perceived loss is affected by the reported problems, either alone or in combination with work motivation and job attitudes. To evaluate whether attitudes towards work—measured as job satisfaction, organisational commitment and work motivation—are associated with productivity loss in the workplace, a cross-sectional study was conducted. This type of design is required as performance is highly variable and is affected by changes in health and work status. This study includes employees who reported either health-related problems, work environment problems or a combination of both (n = 1475). Linear regression analyses were used to answer the hypotheses. Higher levels of motivation, job satisfaction and organisational commitment were associated with lower levels of productivity loss among employees who experienced either health-related or work environment problems. High work motivation and high commitment were significantly associated with lower levels of productivity loss among employees who experienced a combination of problems. In summary, productivity loss among academic employees is not only affected by health-related problems or problems in the work environment but also by work motivation, job satisfaction and organisational commitment; i.e., these factors seem to buffer, or moderate, the reduction in performance levels for this group of employees.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Transit Workers: Perceptions of Employer Responses and Associations with Health Factors

COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on transit workers’ lives, especially among public-facing vehicle operators. The current project examined relationships between workers’ knowledge and perceptions of their employer’s COVID-19 safety responses, job attitudes, and health. We surveyed transit workers (N = 174) between July and August 2020 and followed up 3 months later. Fifty-seven workers responded to the follow-up survey. Surveys addressed workers’ knowledge and perceptions of their employer implementing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended COVID-19 safety responses, COVID-19 risk perceptions, job attitudes, and health factors. Employees reported knowledge of their employer implementing ~8 of 12 CDC-recommended responses. The most reported response was informational poster placements; the least reported was designating a point-person for COVID-19 concerns. Significant associations were found between knowledge of employer safety responses and lower COVID-19 risk perceptions, better job attitudes, and greater mental and global health. Operators (i.e. public-facing workers) reported worse perceptions of employer responses, and higher COVID-19 risk perceptions, work stress, and turnover intentions, compared with non-operators. A time-lagged panel model found that COVID-19 risk perceptions significantly mediated the relationship between public-facing work status and follow-up depression, anxiety, stress, and global health. Results reveal opportunities for transit authorities to broaden and better communicate their responses to emergent occupational safety and health crises.

A study on employees job satisfaction in organisations

Job satisfaction shows that personal factors such as an individual needs and aspirations determine his/her attitude, along with group and organisational factors such as relationships with co-workers and supervisors and working conditions, work policies, and compensation. Job satisfaction reflects the extent to which people find gratification or fulfillment in their work. A satisfied employee tends to make positive contributions to absent less often, and to stay with the organisation. The effect of job satisfaction goes beyond organisational setting and structure. Satisfied employees are more likely to be satisfied responsible citizens. These people will hold a more positive attitude towards life in general and make for a society of more psychologically & physically healthy. Job satisfaction has been considered as state of pleasurable condition. Job satisfaction is often thought to be synonymous with job attitudes, but is important to recognize that those with different theoretical orientations may use the term somewhat differently. Some measure job satisfaction in terms of the gratification of strong needs in the work place. Others see it as the degree of divergence between what a person perceives is actually and what he expects to receive from the work and what that person performs. It can also be defined as the extent to which work is seen as providing those things that one considers conducive to one’s welfare. In yet another view, job satisfaction is considered a purely emotional response to job situation. Job satisfaction depends on several different factors such as satisfaction with pay, promotion opportunities, fringe benefits, job security, and relationship with co-workers and supervisor. Employees who have an internal locus of control and feel less alienated are more likely to experience job satisfaction,job involvement and organizational commitment.

Predictors of Occupational Burnout: A Systematic Review

We aimed to review occupational burnout predictors, considering their type, effect size and role (protective versus harmful), and the overall evidence of their importance. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase were searched from January 1990 to August 2018 for longitudinal studies examining any predictor of occupational burnout among workers. We arranged predictors in four families and 13 subfamilies of homogenous constructs. The plots of z-scores per predictor type enabled graphical discrimination of the effects. The vote-counting and binomial test enabled discrimination of the effect direction. The size of the effect was estimated using Cohen’s formula. The risk of bias and the overall evidence were assessed using the MEVORECH and GRADE methods, respectively. Eighty-five studies examining 261 predictors were included. We found a moderate quality of evidence for the harmful effects of the job demands subfamily (six predictors), and negative job attitudes, with effect sizes from small to medium. We also found a moderate quality of evidence for the protective effect of adaptive coping (small effect sizes) and leisure (small to medium effect sizes). Preventive interventions for occupational burnout might benefit from intervening on the established predictors regarding reducing job demands and negative job attitudes and promoting adaptive coping and leisure.

Incongruent influences: joint effects on the job attitudes of employees with psychological contract breach in the MENA region

Purpose The psychological contract breach (PCB) literature has documented the negative effects of PCB on employee job attitudes and the variables that moderate (accentuate or mitigate) this relationship. Given that multiple variables together influence a subordinate’s PCB – job attitudes relationship, this paper aims to investigate a three-way interaction between corporate reputation, supervisor’s and subordinate’s PCBs on the job attitudes of the latter. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected a dyadic sample of 227 employees and their 79 supervisors from some of the well-known companies in Oman. The authors used SPSS (version 25) to examine the three-way interaction of focal employee PCB, supervisor PCB and corporate reputation on employee job attitudes. Findings The results indicated that depending on the perception of corporate reputation, the extent of the supervisor’s PCB perception has a differential influence on the employee PCB – job attitudes relationship. Originality/value By investigating the joint (sometimes conflicting) influences of multiple moderators which enhances the ecological validity, this paper makes an original and important contribution to the PCB literature.