Search results

The importance of mental wellbeing and the need for organizations to address it is increasing in the post-pandemic context. Although Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly being adopted in HRM functions, its adoption and utility for enabling mental wellbeing is limited. Building on the Open System Theory (OST) and adopting the technology-in-practice lens, the authors examined the roles of human and technology agencies in enabling mental wellbeing.

The study was conducted in two stages; in Stage 1, the authors adopted a case methodology approach to examine the feasibility of a technology company's offerings to assess mental wellbeing. In Stage 2, the authors followed the grounded theory approach and interviewed 22 key stakeholders and HR leaders of diverse organizations. The authors used Gioia's approach to analyze the data.

The study demonstrates the interdependence and inseparability of human activity, technological capability and structured context. Specifically, the authors observe that AI adoption is pushing the boundaries of how organizations could support employees' mental health and wellbeing. These technological advancements and adoption are likely to facilitate the evolution of agentic practices, routines and structures.

This study carries two important implications. While the advent of cutting-edge technologies appears to affect employees' mental wellbeing, the study findings indicate the assistive role of technology in supporting mental wellbeing and facilitating changes in organizational practices. Second, the ontology of technology-in-practice shows how human–machine agencies gain newer relevance from the interactions that unite them. Specifically, per OST, technology (from an external context) can potentially change how mental wellbeing practices in organizations are managed. The authors extend the existing literature by suggesting that both human agents and internal contexts effectively limit the potential of technology agents to change existing structures significantly.

The authors address the need for more research on the technology-management interface, and the boundaries of technology-enabled wellbeing at work. While AI-HRM scholarship has primarily relied on micro-level psychological theories to examine impact and outcomes, the authors borrow from the macro-level theories, such as the OST and the technology-in-practice to explain how AI is shifting the boundaries of human and machine agencies for enabling mental wellbeing.

Building on the emerging literature on the psychology of working theory, this study aims to examine the impact of decent work on employees’ mental health as well as the association between the dimensions of decent work on employees’ mental health.

Quantitative data were collected from 260 employees working in the Ghanaian mining industry.

Data analysis showed a positive significant relationship between decent work and employee mental health. Furthermore, access to health care, adequate compensation and hours that allow for free time and rest related positively and significantly with employee mental health. However, the relationships between physical and interpersonal safe working conditions, organizational values that complement family and social values and employee mental health were not significant.

The findings extend the emerging literature relative to the influence of decent work on mental health in developing country context, specifically, sub-Saharan Africa where concerns for decent work have become extremely relevant because of the experience of extreme poverty and unemployment that characterize the region.

The development of sustainable employee-focused HRM approaches have grown in importance during and post-COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which wellbeing-oriented HRM practices can transform workers’ feelings of burnout to enable thriving, and subsequently enhance in-role employee performance in high workload contexts.

This study draws on data gathered from 561 employees in bank branches operating in China across two time periods. The authors test the following hypotheses: (1) wellbeing-oriented HRM is positively related to employee thriving; (2) perceived workload is positively related to employee burnout; (3) thriving will mediate the relationship between wellbeing-oriented HRM and employee performance; (4) burnout will mediate the relationship between workload and employee performance; (5) thriving will mediate the relationship between workload and employee performance; and (6) burnout and thriving will sequentially mediate the relationship between wellbeing-oriented HRM and employee performance.

This study confirmed hypotheses 1–5. Hypothesis 6 was not confirmed. The authors find that thriving mediates the relationship between wellbeing-oriented HRM and employee performance, and burnout mediates the relationship between workload and employee performance. The authors also find workload was positively related to thriving (after controlling for burnout), consistent with the challenge–hindrance model of occupational stress.

The study builds on growing evidence that employees can thrive at work even when in stressful situations by using conservation of resources theory to examine how wellbeing-oriented HRM practices act as protective resources against demanding work situations. Findings demonstrate alternative pathways through which wellbeing-oriented HRM can enhance employee performance via reducing burnout and enhancing thriving.

This study addresses a gap in evidence on small employer experiences of managing mental health problems in the workplace. The authors gathered first-hand experiences of small business managers to empirically investigate how the small business context affects the management and support of mental health problems in the workplace, and the practice implications that arise.

Qualitative interviews, combining semi-structured and narrative approaches, with 21 small business managers with experience of managing employees with mental health difficulties. The 21 managers recounted a total of 45 employee cases, which were analysed thematically, using a case-based matrix. Study participants were drawn from small businesses within England and Scotland (UK). Interviews were conducted between November 2019 and February 2020.

Support aligned with current understanding of effective practice, yet was often informal, instinctive and flexible. Accommodating employees with mental health problems impacted the workload of managers and co-workers, and business operation and growth. Challenges and tensions reflected the difficult balancing act faced by managers in organisations of all sizes. However, the intensity and immediacy of cross-pressures was enhanced for small businesses, due to their smaller workforce and lack of dedicated Human Resource Management and occupational health expertise.

Guidance should address the navigation of day-to-day management and support for employees with mental health difficulties, including approaches to balancing the needs of the wider workforce and business operation. Access to HR and occupational health expertise is valuable. Financial subsidies may be of lesser concern to small businesses.

This study offers originality in focusing exclusively on small business managers with first-hand experience of supporting employees with mental health problems. Findings challenge the perception that small firms have unique experiences, whilst highlighting contextual features that exacerbate intensity and immediacy of impacts.

This paper presents the findings of assessing the strategies required for improved work-life balance (WLB) of construction workers in Eswatini. This was done to improve the work-life relationship of construction workers and, in turn, improve the service delivery of the construction industry in the country.

The study adopted a quantitative research approach using a questionnaire administered to construction professionals in the country. The data gathered were analysed using frequency, percentage, Mann–Whitney U test, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The findings revealed that the level of implementation of WLB initiatives in the Eswatini construction industry is still low. Following the attaining of several model fitness, the study found that the key strategies needed for effective WLB can be classified into four significant components, namely: (1) leave, (2) health and wellness, (3) work flexibility, and; (4) days off/shared work.

The findings offer valuable benefits to construction participants as the adoption of the identified critical strategies can lead to the fulfilment of WLB of the construction workforce and by extension, the construction industry can benefit from better job performance.

This study is the first to assess the strategies needed for improved WLB of construction workers in Eswatini. Furthermore, the study offers a theoretical platform for future discourse on WLB in Eswatini, a country that has not gained significant attention in past WLB literature.

This study focusses on the intersection of social sustainability and human resource management (HRM) as a strategy for crisis management. It aims to provide detailed insight by exploring the associations between socially sustainable HRM (SSHRM), employee well-being, trust in social capital and employee resilience.

This study used a cross-sectional research design to test relationships amongst variables. Data was gathered from employees in India’s private-sector information technology (IT) industry, making the framework relevant to this specific context. The study employed the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse complex relationships between the variables.

The results indicate that organisations can boost employee resilience through SSHRM implementation, promote personal well-being (PWB) and family well-being (FWB) and foster trust in social capital. Additionally, the study highlights the moderating impact of employee empowerment, improving the translation of positive employee behaviour in organisational settings.

Our research emphasises the importance of sustainability efforts and strategies focused on social capital to build long-lasting employee connections. This highlights the necessity of incorporating social sustainability objectives into the organisation’s strategic blueprint, ensuring integration into decision-making procedures.

This study uniquely explores the underlying mechanisms through which SSHRM influences employee resilience. An in-depth empirical analysis evinces the causal mechanism between SSHRM, employee well-being, social capital trust and employee resilience.

This study aims to examine the impact of ethical leadership style on the subjective well-being of health-care workers by examining the sequential mediating effects of perceived organizational support and perceived ethical-philanthropic corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Data were collected from frontline health-care workers (i.e. doctors and nurses). Further, to cope with the response burden during the acute wave of the coronavirus pandemic, this study used split-questionnaire design for data collection.

This study’s findings fully support the hypothesized framework of the study, illustrating that ethical leadership positively influenced the subjective well-being of health-care workers. Moreover, this study found that the ethical leadership and well-being relationship is sequentially mediated by perceived organizational support and perceived ethical-philanthropic CSR.

This study possesses practical implications for health-care institutions to encompass the agenda of developing ethically appropriate conduct in their administration and become genuinely concerned about health-care workers and society as well.

By highlighting the role of ethical leadership in participating in ethical and philanthropic CSR activities, this study possesses social implications for the well-being of health-care workers and society at large.

A positive and strong chain of perceptions about organizational support accorded to employees specifically and society at large emerges as an important sequential mediating mechanism that helps ethical leaders in hospital administration in building subjective well-being in their followers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper aims to investigate green buildings and individual productivity, specifically within the context of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) within green certified office buildings. The purpose of the research was to determine how self-assessed productivity levels were influenced by the indoor environment of the office building.

Qualitative data analysis was conducted via semi-structured interviews in two financial services companies (FSCs), both based in green certified office buildings in South Africa. Thematic analysis was conducted to extract common themes from the data. Furthermore, the data were compared to previous research to identify new potential pathways or provide support for existing pathways.

The main findings were that physical components, such as temperature, lighting, ventilation and noise, contribute depending on the respondent to individual productivity, engagement, organisational commitment and psychological wellbeing. Safety, underpinned by location and amenities, was a new component not previously considered that subtly contributed to individual productivity.

The research provides valuable insight into the contributing factors that impact individual productivity within a green certified office building, as previous researchers have yet to reach a consensus on the relationship between individual productivity and IEQ in green certified office buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on how adopting technologies impacts employees’ job performance and well-being. One such new job demand is the use of technology-based knowledge sharing (TBKS), which has the potential to influence employees’ job performance and well-being. Therefore, human resource managers must provide resources that facilitate the adoption of TBKS to improve job performance while minimising mental health effects.

Guided by social capital theory, social exchange theory and the job demands-resources model, the authors analyse survey data from 281 Vietnamese employees.

The results of this paper show that TBKS influences employee mental health and directly and indirectly affects job performance. The authors examine the moderating effects of training, transformational leadership and organisational resources on the relationship between the new job demands of TBKS on job performance and mental health outcomes.

TBKS platform developers should offer user-friendly interface functions and extend critical features. HRM should communicate more with employees, care about their well-being and consider their goals and values. HRM needs to provide training to help employees adapt to organisational changes. Leadership also needs to make employees perceive that organisational success is closely related to the success of TBKS.

This paper draws upon the three fundamental tenets of three theories as a triangular base to examine the relationship between TBKS and its outcomes. This paper contributes to the knowledge management literature by delivering a comprehensive understanding and demonstrating how the inclusion of technology in knowledge sharing and human resource practices can impact employee performance and well-being.