Feeling Positive, Negative, or Both? Examining the Self-Regulatory Benefits of Emotional Ambivalence

According to self-regulation theories, affect plays a crucial role in driving goal-directed behaviors throughout employees’ work lives. Yet past work presents inconsistent results regarding the effects of positive and negative affect with theory heavily relying on understanding the separate, unique effects of each affective experience. In the current research, we integrate tenets of emotional ambivalence with self-regulation theories to examine how the conjoint experience of positive and negative affect yields benefits for behavioral regulation. We test these ideas within a self-regulatory context that has frequently studied the benefits of affect and has implications for all employees at one point in their careers: the job search. Adopting a person-centered (i.e., profile-based) perspective across two within-person investigations, we explore how emotional ambivalence relates to job search success (i.e., interview invitations, job offers) via job search self-regulatory processes (i.e., metacognitive strategies, effort). Results illustrate that the subsequent week (i.e., at time t + 1; Study 1) and month (Study 2) after job seekers experience emotional ambivalence (i.e., positive and negative affect experienced jointly at similar levels at time t), they receive more job offers via increased job search effort and interview invitations. Theoretical and practical implications for studying emotional ambivalence in organizational scholarship are discussed.

COVID-19 effects on my social and family life as student

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic we have undergone has hit us unexpectedly and has affected our lives one way or another, requiring us to readapt in order to coexist with this virus. My name is Gabriel de la Hoz Ruiz, and I recently completed my research work for my Master’s Degree with Dr. Manojkumar Arthikala in the unit ENES-UNAM under the joint degree program between Spain and Mexico. I am currently doing paperwork to defend my thesis. During the pandemic, the entire administrative process slowed down, although all academic activities are being held in their regular fashion, so there has been no need to put them off. Research has continued, always respecting safety guidelines, helping us acquire more and more knowledge on the agro-genomic area. At a personal level, my lifestyle has changed very much. Family time has been cut down as much as possible in order to avoid risks of infection and due to local mobility restrictions. My social life has also been affected, since there is a feeling of insecurity towards the health situation of others regarding COVID-19. This produces a sense of monotony in me since social interaction is so important to me. However, confinement has led to greater social connectivity and greater unity in the family via digital media, which have helped make up for social distance and the lack of our loved ones. Through these media, we have had the emotional support of our families when we need them the most. In conclusion, we are adapting in all spheres of life in the best way possible, proving that, as a society, we can continue having academic and work lives with the greatest normality possible to continue with our personal growth, but with the adequate protection and responsibility of looking after the health of those around us.</p>

Career Complexity No Longer on the Rise: Comparing Early- and Mid-Career Complexity Across the 1930s thru 1980s Birth Cohorts in Sweden

There is a wide-spread idea that contemporary careers continue to become ever more complex. Pioneering research of full-career complexity has shown that work lives have indeed become more complex, yet at modest increasing pace. This paper examines whether career complexity continues to increase using Swedish registry data across an exceptionally long time period, including younger cohorts than in previous research: up to those born in 1983. The full early- and midcareers of selected birth cohorts cover several macroeconomic booms and downturns, a long period of upskilling of the Swedish labor force, as well as the convergence of working hours of women and men. The following conclusions are drawn using state-of-the-art methods of measuring career complexity. For early-careers, an increasing complexity trend is evident between the 1950s and 1960s birth cohorts, yet complexity fluctuates around a stable trend for the 1970s birth cohorts and onward. For mid-careers, which are considerably more stable on average, complexity has decreased among women born between the 1930s and the early-1950s. However, the opposite trend holds true for men, resulting in gender convergence of complexity. We observe a standstill of the mid-career complexity trend across both genders, followed by a modest decline for the last observed cohorts. Subsequent analyses point to educational expansion as an important driver of the initial increase of early-career complexity. Taken together, our analysis affirms an initial shift to more career complexity in the 20th century, yet we find no unidirectional trend toward more career complexity over the last decades.

Learning to Work With Chronic Health Conditions: How Time Since Diagnosis Affects Older Workers' Vitality and Worries

Background. Chronic health conditions (CHCs) pose stark detrimental effects on the health and abilities of older workers. The extent of these effects depend on the CHC, the time since its diagnosis and the type of health measure: a rarely explored combination of heterogeneities. Objective. This study examined how four existing and newly diagnosed CHCs influences older workers’ vitality and worries about enduring physically and mentally until retirement age. Method: Data from two waves of the NIDI Pension Panel survey conducted in the Netherlands in 2015 and 2018 were used. We analyzed a sample of 1,894 older workers between the ages of 60-62 years at wave 1 using conditional change ordinal least square regression models. Results: Having a CHC at wave 1 was associated with lower levels of vitality and higher levels of worries at wave 2. These effects of CHCs on vitality and worries were much larger for older workers who were newly diagnosed with CHCs compared to those who experienced CHCs for longer. Intriguingly, the new diagnosis of physically disabling conditions increased worries about physical endurance at wave 2, while the new diagnosis of mentally disabling conditions increased worries about mental endurance at wave 2. Conclusion: By distinguishing the effects of four existing and newly diagnosed CHCs on vitality and worries, this study allows the identification of vulnerable groups of older workers. The findings may inform work accommodations and interventions which could improve both the quality and sustainability of work lives, while promoting healthy ageing of older workers.

Motives for Crafting Work and Leisure: Focus on Opportunities at Work and Psychological Needs as Drivers of Crafting Efforts

Employees of all ages can proactively shape their behavior to manage modern work–life challenges more effectively and this is known as crafting. Our goal is to better understand employees’ motives for engaging in crafting efforts in different life domains to fulfil their psychological needs. In a survey study with two measurement waves, we examined whether “focus on opportunities at work” (FoO)—the extent to which employees believe in new goals and opportunities in their occupational future—and psychological needs (i.e., approach and avoidance needs)—predicted crafting efforts at work and outside work (i.e., job and off-job crafting). Our hypotheses were largely confirmed in a study on 346 Finnish workers. Greater FoO led to greater approach needs (i.e., mastery, meaning, affiliation), which in turn explained higher engagement in both job and off-job crafting. Avoidance needs (i.e., detachment, relaxation) resulted in increased crafting efforts in both life domains directly. Our findings underline the importance of FoO for crafting efforts across life domains, and explain why this is the case (i.e., it activates approach-oriented psychological needs). By supporting workers in shifting their focus onto their future opportunities (regardless of their age), organizations can create environments conducive to crafting and ultimately sustainable work lives.

Organisational Identity and Alcohol Use in Knowledge-Intensive Workplaces

<p>The use of alcohol is an integral social act in many cultures and societies. The reasons for its use, as well as its mental and physical effects on people, have been a topic of academic interest for decades. This thesis examines the relationship between the work lives of individuals and their use of alcohol. At a more specific level, the thesis examines the relationship between alcohol use and the concept of organisational identity. Using data collected from interviews with members of a knowledge-intensive workplace, findings are presented that illustrate how alcohol use can be understood as an important part of processes of organisational identification, and how workers' alcohol use can be affected by an organisation's identity itself. The theoretical implications of these findings are numerous. Firstly, these findings suggest that organisational concepts, such as organisational identity, can be exceptionally useful in gaining an understanding of the reasons why individuals use alcohol in the ways that they do. In addition, the findings suggest that knowledge-intensive workplaces represent a valuable site for further advancing understandings of the work-alcohol relationship. Finally, it is argued that alcohol use in many situations should be understood as a part of individuals' organisational life, and not just a product or outcome of their participation in an organisation.</p>

Organisational Identity and Alcohol Use in Knowledge-Intensive Workplaces

<p>The use of alcohol is an integral social act in many cultures and societies. The reasons for its use, as well as its mental and physical effects on people, have been a topic of academic interest for decades. This thesis examines the relationship between the work lives of individuals and their use of alcohol. At a more specific level, the thesis examines the relationship between alcohol use and the concept of organisational identity. Using data collected from interviews with members of a knowledge-intensive workplace, findings are presented that illustrate how alcohol use can be understood as an important part of processes of organisational identification, and how workers' alcohol use can be affected by an organisation's identity itself. The theoretical implications of these findings are numerous. Firstly, these findings suggest that organisational concepts, such as organisational identity, can be exceptionally useful in gaining an understanding of the reasons why individuals use alcohol in the ways that they do. In addition, the findings suggest that knowledge-intensive workplaces represent a valuable site for further advancing understandings of the work-alcohol relationship. Finally, it is argued that alcohol use in many situations should be understood as a part of individuals' organisational life, and not just a product or outcome of their participation in an organisation.</p>

Dignity in the Work Lives of Clinical Nurses

<p>This descriptive study examines how clinical nurses understand, experience, and sustain dignity in their work lives. Nursing has embedded dignity, particularly the dignity of others, as a core professional value. However, while the practice of nursing is deeply concerned with the achievement of patient dignity, dignity as a self-regarding professional right is not well articulated. Hodson's (2001) model for dignity at work provided a lens through which to examine the relevant nursing literature. It was revealed that the dignity of nurses as an intrinsic human and worker right has received little explicit attention, and that the significance of this is possibly not sufficiently well understood. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to further investigate the area of nurse dignity. Seven nurses were recruited to participate in facilitated workshops to explore the research question, 'How do clinical nurses understand, experience, and sustain dignity in their work lives'? The data were analysed using directed content analysis and presented as a descriptive summary. Dignity, for the participants, was strongly associated with the worth, value, and meaning that nurses attach to their profession, to the work that they do, and to themselves personally. This was shown to be central to their understanding, experience, and achievement of dignity in their work lives. Each encounter, each moment, was seen to be invested with the potential to maintain, affirm, erode or infringe personal dignity. The nurses perceived nursing to be a meaningful, worthwhile endeavour, but frequently struggled to extract a sense of dignity when working in environments that they perceived as not supporting their agenda of care. Being seen as a respected professional, enjoying daily positive interactions with colleagues and being successful in the act of nursing, had the strongest association with the ability to extract worth, value, and meaning from the work experience. The absence of a perception of the participants' need to regard managerial colleagues was an unexpected finding. It was concluded that dignity should be pursued as a right in any context including the work context of nurses, both as a moral and pragmatic imperative. It is suggested that the current dominant approach that interests itself in the needs of nurses primarily as a means to achieving health care outcomes for patients may be neglecting an important dimension. Future inquiry into the area of nurse dignity should begin from the premise that to understand the meaning that nurses attach to dignity, one first has to understand the meaning that nurses attach to nursing, and in particular the nature of the social compact that nursing holds with society.</p>

Dignity in the Work Lives of Clinical Nurses

<p>This descriptive study examines how clinical nurses understand, experience, and sustain dignity in their work lives. Nursing has embedded dignity, particularly the dignity of others, as a core professional value. However, while the practice of nursing is deeply concerned with the achievement of patient dignity, dignity as a self-regarding professional right is not well articulated. Hodson's (2001) model for dignity at work provided a lens through which to examine the relevant nursing literature. It was revealed that the dignity of nurses as an intrinsic human and worker right has received little explicit attention, and that the significance of this is possibly not sufficiently well understood. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to further investigate the area of nurse dignity. Seven nurses were recruited to participate in facilitated workshops to explore the research question, 'How do clinical nurses understand, experience, and sustain dignity in their work lives'? The data were analysed using directed content analysis and presented as a descriptive summary. Dignity, for the participants, was strongly associated with the worth, value, and meaning that nurses attach to their profession, to the work that they do, and to themselves personally. This was shown to be central to their understanding, experience, and achievement of dignity in their work lives. Each encounter, each moment, was seen to be invested with the potential to maintain, affirm, erode or infringe personal dignity. The nurses perceived nursing to be a meaningful, worthwhile endeavour, but frequently struggled to extract a sense of dignity when working in environments that they perceived as not supporting their agenda of care. Being seen as a respected professional, enjoying daily positive interactions with colleagues and being successful in the act of nursing, had the strongest association with the ability to extract worth, value, and meaning from the work experience. The absence of a perception of the participants' need to regard managerial colleagues was an unexpected finding. It was concluded that dignity should be pursued as a right in any context including the work context of nurses, both as a moral and pragmatic imperative. It is suggested that the current dominant approach that interests itself in the needs of nurses primarily as a means to achieving health care outcomes for patients may be neglecting an important dimension. Future inquiry into the area of nurse dignity should begin from the premise that to understand the meaning that nurses attach to dignity, one first has to understand the meaning that nurses attach to nursing, and in particular the nature of the social compact that nursing holds with society.</p>

Centering social-technical relations in studying platform urbanism: intersectionality for just futures in European cities

Platform-based services are rapidly transforming urban work, lives and spaces around the world. The rise of platforms dependent on largely expendable labour relations, with significant migrant involvement, must be seen as connected, and as replicating larger social processes rather than merely technological changes. This perspective paper urgently calls for an intersectional perspective to better understand social-technical relations crossing the digital-urban interface of platform urbanism in contemporary European cities. Critics of platforms and gig work, to date, have mainly focused on algorithms-based social control, degraded working conditions, problematic employment relations and precariousness of gig work. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has both disrupted and amplified these issues, intensifying the vulnerability of gig workers. For example, in Sweden, migrant groups and gig workers were separately identified as being hardest hit by Covid, but with little attention to the interconnectivity between these categories, nor to how these groups are co-positioned vis-a-vis larger socio-economic inequalities. Thus, we argue for a deeper understanding of the social processes underlying platforms and for active investigation of how inequalities are being produced and/or maintained in/by these processes. Urban planners, designers and policy makers will need to actively address the hybrid (digital and physical) urban spaces produced in platform urbanism in order to prevent spatial and economic inequalities. We argue for a stronger recognition of interrelated and overlapping social categories such as gender and migrant status as central to the construction of mutually constitutive systems of oppression and discrimination produced in and through the platform urbanism.