Cross-level effects of health-promoting leadership on nurse presenteeism: The mediation and moderation effect of workload and performance pressure

This study examines the cross-level influence mechanism of leaders’ health-promoting leadership on subordinates’ presenteeism among nursing industry. A multilevel mediated moderation model was hypothesized to explore whether health-promoting leadership is associated with subordinates’ presenteeism via the workload of subordinates, and how leader’s performance pressure plays the role in the model. Questionnaires were distributed to 110 nursing teams, which including 110 chief nurses and 660 subordinate nurses. Our findings showed that although health-promoting leadership has no direct impact on presenteeism, health-promoting leadership has an indirect impact on presenteeism via workload, and workload acts as a complete mediator. Meanwhile, performance pressure moderated the relationship between health-promoting leadership and workload. With an increase in performance pressure of leaders, the negative impact of health-promoting leadership on nurse workload gradually weakened. In this multilevel mediated moderation model, the mediated moderating effect of performance pressure was significant and the moderating effect was completely mediated, which means that the interaction between health-promoting leadership and performance pressure can affect presenteeism through workload. When leaders were under high performance pressure, the protective effect of health-promoting leadership on workload would be inhibited. These findings contribute to enriching the research on presenteeism, providing insight into how the health development of employees and performance demands of leaders may be balanced, and affording fresh thoughts for effective prevention and treatment of nurse presenteeism.

Paradoxical Effects of Performance Pressure on Employees’ In-Role Behaviors: An Approach/Avoidance Model

Performance pressure acts as a double-edged sword for employees. Based on an approach/avoidance framework, we theorize that performance pressure produces both positive and negative effects on employees’ in-role behaviors via approach motivation (i.e., self-objectification) and avoidance motivation (i.e., workplace anxiety), and work meaningfulness moderates employees’ reactions to performance pressure. We examine our hypotheses using data from a sample of 345 employees in various organizations. The results show that self-objectification provides an approach motive that mediates the positive indirect effect of performance pressure on employees’ in-role behaviors. However, workplace anxiety provides an avoidance motive that mediates the negative indirect effect of performance pressure on employees’ in-role behaviors. Work meaningfulness strengthens both the approach and avoidance tendencies that employees experience under performance pressure. Our findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications.

Competing at the Cybathlon Championship for Athletes With Disabilities: Long-Term Motor Imagery Brain-Computer Interface Training of a Tetraplegic Cybathlete

Background: The brain-computer interface (BCI) race at the Cybathlon championship for athletes with disabilities challenges teams (BCI researchers, developers and pilots with spinal cord injury) to control an avatar on a virtual racetrack without movement. Here we describe the training regime and results of the Ulster University BCI Team pilot who is tetraplegic and has trained to use an electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI intermittently over 10 years, to compete in three Cybathlon events. Methods: A multi-class, multiple binary classifier framework was used to decode three kinesthetically imagined movements (motor imagery) (left (L) and right (R) arm and feet (F)) as well as relax state (X). Three games paradigms were used for training i.e., NeuroSensi, Triad, and Cybathlon: BrainDriver. An evaluation of the pilot’s performance is presented for two Cybathlon competition training periods – spanning 20 sessions over 5 weeks prior to the 2019 competition, and 25 sessions over 5 weeks in the run up to the 2020 competition.Results: Having participated in BCI training in 2009 and competed in Cybathlon 2016, the experienced pilot achieved high two-class accuracy on all class pairs when training began in 2019 (decoding accuracy >90%, resulting in efficient NeuroSensi and Triad game control). The BrainDriver performance (i.e., Cybathlon race completion time) improved significantly during the training period, leading up to the competition day, ranging from 274s - 156s (255±24s to 191±14s mean±std), over 17 days (10 sessions) in 2019, and from 230s - 168s (214±14s to 181±4s), over 18 days (13 sessions) in 2020. However, on both competition occasions, towards the race date, the performance deteriorated significantly.Conclusions: The training regime and framework applied were highly effective in achieving competitive race completion times. The BCI framework did not cope with significant deviation in electroencephalography (EEG) observed in the sessions occurring shortly before and during the race day. Stress, arousal level and fatigue, associated with the competition challenge and performance pressure resulting in cognitive state changes, were likely contributing factors to the nonstationary effects that resulted in the BCI and pilot achieving suboptimal performance on race day. Trial registration: not registered

Quantifying self-quantification: A statistical study on individual characteristics and motivations for digital self-tracking in young- and middle-aged adults in Germany

This study presents a quantitative account of who uses or stops using digital self-tracking (ST). A representative sample of German adults aged 20–50 years ( N = 1022) completed an online survey on their ST practices, personality traits and attitudes toward numbers, on sociodemographic characteristics, mental disorders (particularly bulimia, burnout syndrome, and depression) and somatic disorders. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on differences between self-trackers and non-trackers. Among others, they differ regarding age, civil status, social class, presence of mental and/or somatic diagnoses, performance-pressure, and strive for competition. A consequent binary logistic regression analysis suggests perfectionism, a somatic diagnosis within the last 5 years, a diagnosis of bulimia in the past, as well as a present mental diagnosis to be significant predictors for ST, though the predictive value of the factors was relatively low.