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Mental health problems are a grave concern in construction. Although the distinction between high job demands and low job resources, as reflected in the Job Demands-Resources (JD–R) model, has been used to examine the extent to which psychosocial hazards influence mental health for construction practitioners, limited research has reflected on the nature of these psychosocial hazards by exploring experiences of site-based construction practitioners.

This study adopted a phenomenological approach to examine people’ experiences and thoughts of the complex phenomena of psychosocial hazards and mental health in construction. In total, 33 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with site-based construction practitioners in Australia to unveil construction-focused psychosocial hazards and their effects on mental health. The data were analysed via content analysis, employing an interpretation-focused coding strategy to code text and an individual-based sorting strategy to cluster codes.

Eighteen psychosocial hazards were identified based on the JD–R model. Six of these represented a new contribution, describing salient characteristics inherent to the construction context (i.e. safety concerns, exposure to traumatic events, job insecurity, task interdependency, client demand and contract pressure). Of particular importance, a number of interrelationships among psychosocial hazards emerged.

The significance of this qualitative research lies in elucidating psychosocial hazards and their complex interrelatedness in the context of the mental health of construction practitioners, enriching the understanding of this central health and safety issue in the high-risk setting of construction work. The findings contribute to addressing mental health issues in the Australian construction industry by identifying higher order control measures, thereby creating a mentally healthy workplace.

Employee withdrawal behavior can be costly for an organization. Referring to the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study assessed employee withdrawal behavior during forced remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Job demands in the recent crisis tend to be high, resulting in the use of job resources, that is, perceived organizational support (POS) during remote work and meaningful work. Thus, the study aimed to examine the roles of POS and meaningful work toward employee withdrawal behavior during forced remote work.

Self-report questionnaires were received from 320 Thai forced remote employees in various industries. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted, followed by structural equation model to test hypotheses.

The full mediating role of meaningful work between POS during remote work and employee withdrawal behavior was detected, emphasizing its significance as an intrinsic motivator to lessen the likelihood of withdrawal behavior.

Existing knowledge of remote work is questioned in terms of how it applies to a forced remote situation. This study also confirmed the JD-R model in an unfamiliar scenario, contributing to our knowledge of remote work as a future of work.

This study aims to explore the boundary conditions of the relationship between challenge-hindrance stressors and innovative work behavior via task crafting and psychological detachment.

The data were collected from 238 questionnaires in five technology R&D enterprises in Tianjin, China. The paper utilized structural equation modeling and cross-sectional design to test hypotheses by AMOS and examined the mediating and moderating effects using the bootstrapping method by SPSS.

Challenge stressors indirectly improved innovative work behavior via task crafting, while hindrance stressors did not affect task crafting or innovative work behavior. Psychological detachment moderated the relationship between challenge stressors and innovative work behavior. When psychological detachment was high, innovative work behavior did not change regardless of challenge stressors. When psychological detachment was low, innovative work behavior increased with the increase of challenge stressors.

The study explains the link mechanism between stressors and innovative work behavior. It enriches the research on psychological detachment as a moderator and provides a new frame for enterprises to develop employees' innovation.

This study aims to investigate whether social media use (SMU) at work has a curvilinear effect on job performance and whether Cyberloafing (non-work-related use) and job complexity moderate this effect.

Online surveys were conducted in China among WeChat users from multiple organizations working in the office environment, generating 350 valid responses.

The results revealed that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between SMU at work and job performance through mediations of communication, information sharing and entertainment; such that the relationship is initially positive but becomes weaker as SMU increases and exceeds the optimal level. Notably, it is found that Cyberloafing negatively moderates the relationship between SMU and job performance, and there is a significant joint moderating effect of job complexity and Cyberloafing.

This study improves the research of information system use. It also provides implications for organizations concerned about formulating policies related to individuals' SMU and suggests that SM users and managers should find strategies to arrive at without surpassing the optimal level to maximize productivity.

This paper enriches the job demands-resources model to extend the literature on the advantages and disadvantages of SMU at work, which indirectly affect performance through two job conditions (job resources and demands). The study finds that employees benefit from a moderate amount of SMU at work, once it surpasses the optimal level, job demands surpass job resources and counterproductivity will appear. In addition, Cyberloafing and job complexity moderate the optimal level of SMU at work, which have not yet been investigated.

This paper aims to propose and provide an overview of a model analysis that considers the main spatial design attributes that influence and produce the most relevant salutogenic outcomes. These results are essential for a healthy work experience, especially in shared workspaces.

This study departs from the theoretical contributions of the salutogenic approach, principles from supportive design theory, psychosocial supportive design and the environmental demands and resources model. After a scoping literature review covering different fields of workspace design, environmental psychology and evidence-based design of health-care facilities, a conceptual analysis is done on a proposed understanding of work, health and environmental relations to overview spatial attributes that enhance specific salutogenic and well-being-promoting outcomes needed for a healthy work experience.

The model of analysis, as a theoretical element that helps create methodological tools, combined with the application of a post occupancy evaluation, is thought to assist architects, designers, workspace owners and stakeholders in their new designs or to evaluate existing ones.

Studies on defining spatial attributes and their intended salutogenic outcomes have been formally done in health-care facilities. However, applying this idea to shared workspaces is something new and is expected to contribute to their design and evaluation, especially if the notion of environmental demands and resources is complemented.

Infrastructure projects are pivotal for regional economic development, but also face low project effectiveness. Leadership is always regarded as a key enabler for project team effectiveness, including vertical leadership and team-level leadership. The purpose of this paper is to examine how vertical leadership facilitates shared leadership in infrastructure project teams.

This paper develops the conceptual model based on the literature review. Then the questionnaire survey was conducted. The empirical data obtained from 117 infrastructure project teams in China were analyzed by partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) for validating the proposed model. Finally, the results were comparatively discussed to explain the dual-pathway between vertical leadership and shared leadership. And the practical implications were presented for the project managers in infrastructure project teams.

Drawing on social learning theory and social cognitive theory, the results show that both participative leadership and task-oriented leadership can facilitate shared leadership. Further, team atmosphere fully mediates the link between participative leadership and shared leadership. Team efficacy fully mediates the relation between task-oriented leadership and shared leadership. Also, role clarity has a negative moderating effect on the former path.

The study extends the knowledge of leadership theory in the construction field. Based on the proposed conceptual model and PLS-SEM results, this study unveils the black box between vertical leadership and shared leadership and contributes to the theory of leadership on how the impact of different vertical leadership on team process promotes shared leadership.

This study aims to identify and analyse the gains and strains associated with flexible working practices (FWPs) introduced and adopted prior to and during the pandemic and consider how these experiences are likely to shape the future of workplace flexibility post-pandemic.

A case study research strategy was adopted to explore the FWPs implemented by a state-owned organisation in the Chinese publishing industry. A mixed data collection method was used. Quantitative data was collected from 50 valid questionnaires, which was followed by 7 qualitative interviews to gain rich insights into the availability and effectiveness of various FWPs and associated benefits and drawbacks.

While the results confirm positive effects FWPs have on employee engagement and retention and on business continuity and employee well-being during the pandemic, the empirical analysis highlights the performance-driven patterns in use and impacts of some FWPs, which caused concerns and dilemmas. Besides the increasing intense market competition, the changing face of state-owned enterprises and managerial attitudes have been found to have significant effects on the use of FWPs.

This paper has contributed to a better understanding of flexible working in an under-researched setting, reflected in changes before and during the pandemic, offering an insight into the commercialised nature of flexible working in the Chinese context. It has implications for organisations and HR practitioners as they envision future workplace flexibility.

The world of work is constantly changing. The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced working from home, and there is an increasing demand for flexibility regarding the workplace. There is little empirical evidence on the mechanisms and factors that influence employee outcomes, such as productivity and turnover intention, at the workplace and at home. In addition, it is unclear whether the workplace characteristics that influence employee outcomes vary between different nations due to country-specific circumstances. The paper aims to address these two issues.

The research model applied in this study is based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) and environmental demands-resources models using German (n = 429) and USA (n = 507) survey samples. Partial least squares structural equation modelling is used to analyse the influence of workplace characteristics (isolation, family–work interference, equipment/facilities and skill variety) on employee outcomes (satisfaction, burnout, productivity and turnover intention). Additionally, a multi-group analysis is used to explore group differences in the factors influencing satisfaction, burnout, productivity and turnover intention between employees in Germany and the USA.

The results reveal that significant determinants of productivity and turnover intention include isolation, family–work interference, equipment/facilities and skill variety. Isolation and equipment/facilities are identified as the most important demands and resources of the home workplace. Some significant differences are found between Germany and the USA. The positive effect of isolation on burnout is significantly stronger in the USA than in Germany, whereas the positive effect of family–work inference on burnout is stronger in Germany than in the USA. The negative effects visible for the relations between burnout and satisfaction, and satisfaction and turnover intention are stronger in Germany than in the USA. The positive effect of burnout on turnover intention is stronger in the USA compared to Germany.

The study adds empirical evidence to the JD-R theory by analysing the influence of the home workplace characteristics on employee outcomes in different countries for the first time using a multi-group analysis. In addition, the study reveals new insights into the differences between the knowledge workforces in Germany and the USA by uncovering how key factors influence employee outcomes such as productivity and turnover intention, partially carried by varying length of experience in work from home between both of these countries. Insights from this study can support corporate real estate managers to make better decisions on the design of employees’ home workplaces and the integration of work from home into the company’s workspace concept.

This paper aims to investigate how perceived working conditions affect employee performance, including safety compliance and task performance, through employee well-being (i.e. job satisfaction) in the context of the coal mining sector in China.

This paper uses the job demands-resources model to test the relationships between working conditions, including job demands (work pressure as a challenge demand and perceived risks and hazards in the workplace and ineffectiveness of the safety system as hindrance demands), job resources (interpersonal harmony), job satisfaction and performance. This study adopts a two-wave design with a three-month lag to reduce possible common method bias.

Employees who experienced high level of challenge demands, e.g. time pressure workload, reported higher levels of task performance, and this positive relationship seemed to be robust. There is a direct effect of perceived ineffectiveness of the safety system on task performance, while the relationship between perceived risks and hazards and task performance was fully mediated by job satisfaction. Challenge demands, i.e. work pressure, did not impact much on employees’ well-being, and thus job satisfaction did not mediate the relationship between work pressure and performance. Perceived ineffectiveness of the safety system was negatively associated with safety compliance. This result is not surprising since a lack of effective safety system reflects management’s ignorance of workplace safety, which demotivates employees to enact safe behaviors. In contrast, the presence and implementation of an effective safety system would be interpreted by employees as management exhibiting a high level of commitment. Work pressure was positively not negatively related to safety compliance. One possible explanation for this finding is that the effects of work pressure on safety compliance behaviors might be dependent on contextual factors such as safety climate. Interpersonal harmony moderated the relationships between work pressure and employee performance (both safety compliance and task performance) and the relationship between perceived risks and hazards and task performance, but the role of interpersonal harmony appeared more complex. There was no significant correlation between challenging job demands and individual employee performance when there were higher levels of interpersonal harmony. The relationship between perceived risks and hazards, a hindrance job demand and task performance became positive as interpersonal harmony increased but negative as interpersonal harmony decreased.

This paper provides a robust integrative theoretical framework that better explains the various types of job demands and job resources in the working environment of coal mining sector in China and their relationships to employee performance. The findings also offer valuable guidance for managers trying to identify effective ways to enhance employee performance and safety in the workplace.

This study aims to examine the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace incivility using a dual theoretical framework. First, it draws on the ego depletion theory to investigate the relationship between abusive supervision and incivility by exploring the mediating role of ego depletion. Second, it integrates the job demands–resources model with the ego depletion theory to examine how perceived co-workers’ support functions as a buffer in mitigating the effects of ego depletion on incivility.

The authors tested our moderated mediation model using hierarchical linear modeling through an experience-sampling study based on data collected from a participants across five consecutive workdays.

The findings reveal employees subjected to abusive supervision are more likely to experience a depletion of self-regulatory resources. Moreover, the authors found a positive association between ego depletion and workplace incivility, suggesting that diminished self-control resulting from abusive supervision contributes to a higher likelihood of engaging in uncivil workplace behaviors. In addition, perceived coworkers’ support emerged as a significant moderating factor that attenuates the indirect impact of abusive supervision on workplace incivility through ego depletion. Specifically, when perceived coworkers’ support is high, the negative influence of abusive supervision on ego depletion, and subsequently, on workplace incivility, is mitigated.

By exploring ego depletion as the underlying mechanism and boundary conditions imposed by perceived coworker support on the relationship between abusive supervision and workplace incivility, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of the intricate dynamics of this relationship. Based on the research findings, the authors advocate that organizations should establish and integrate support services, such as counseling and employee assistance programs, to reduce the emotional turmoil caused by abusive supervision.