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1 – 10 of over 28000Jean Elizabeth Wallace and Tom Buchanan
This study aims to explore how status differences relate to strained working relationships with co-workers and clients. Two statuses, gender and occupation, are examined using…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how status differences relate to strained working relationships with co-workers and clients. Two statuses, gender and occupation, are examined using data from veterinarians and animal health technologists (AHTs). Competing perspectives regarding exposure to stressful relationships and access and effectiveness of work-related resources are considered.
Design/methodology/approach
An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design is used that combines quantitative survey data with open-ended qualitative data. The survey data are used to examine how interpersonal strain and access to work-related resources vary by status. The qualitative data are used to illustrate how strain is experienced by these workers and aids in interpreting the quantitative findings.
Findings
Status is linked to interpersonal client strain and access to resources. Challenging work is widely available to all three groups, but is more beneficial in reducing higher status veterinarians’ client strain. Autonomy is a scarce resource for the lowest status group (female AHTs), yet appears effective in reducing co-worker strain for everyone. Unexpectedly, work overload and market concerns appear to aggravate work-related strain and greater numbers of the lowest status group exacerbates interpersonal tensions with clients.
Originality/value
This paper contributes by examining stressful interactions experienced by two occupations who work side-by-side in the same employment settings, but who vary significantly by gender representation and occupational status. The authors argue that in addition to gender and occupational status, the organizational health of employing clinics and the feminization of veterinary practice may offer insights into how status differences are related to interpersonal conflict experienced in these work places.
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Inga Jona Jonsdottir, Gudbjorg Linda Rafnsdottir and Thorhildur Ólafsdóttir
The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of public sector line managers' work-related well-being and health in relation to job strain, gender and workplace social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further the understanding of public sector line managers' work-related well-being and health in relation to job strain, gender and workplace social support.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was sent to all senior and middle line managers (N = 357) in three administrative departments of Iceland's largest municipality. The response rate was 64.7%. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyse the data.
Findings
A minority of respondents experience high job strain. However, for these managers, the risk of experiencing emotional exhaustion is about fivefold, compared to those not experiencing high job strain. Social support is an important buffering against job strain and enhances well-being. Female managers are more likely than their male counterparts to report myositis, back or shoulder pain and sleeping difficulty.
Practical implications
The study emphasises that workplace social support attenuates the negative impact of job strain on line managers' work-related well-being. Furthermore, it demonstrates that in a society at the forefront in gender equality, gender differences in health symptoms exist among line managers in the public sector – a finding that highlights the importance of studying all aspects of workplace well-being by gender. This calls for future research using a more comprehensive survey data and interviews to shed light on the pathways through which female line managers' health is negatively affected.
Originality/value
Knowledge relating to well-being and health of line managers in the public sector is scarce. This study contributes to filling that gap. As work-related well-being is often gender-blind, the value of the study is also the investigation of the gender patterns in the authors’ data.
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Ben (C.) Fletcher and Roy L. Payne
There is a large literature devoted to the stresses and strains of work and work‐related activities. This research effort shows no sign of abating. The aim of this paper is to…
Abstract
There is a large literature devoted to the stresses and strains of work and work‐related activities. This research effort shows no sign of abating. The aim of this paper is to highlight and discuss several centrally important questions and assumptions in the nature of this research which, in our view, require more careful consideration in future work.
Rabi S. Bhagat, Balaji Krishnan, Terry A. Nelson, Karen Moustafa Leonard, David L. Ford and Tejinder K. Billing
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of two distinct styles of coping and decision latitude on the relationship between three facets of role stress and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of two distinct styles of coping and decision latitude on the relationship between three facets of role stress and psychological strain in six national contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
The objective of the research is to examine the relative predictive efficacies of three theory specific moderators in six countries which differ on the cultural dimension of individualism‐collectivism. The data are analyzed using moderated regression analysis.
Findings
The results show that problem‐focused coping is a better moderator in the individualistic countries and that emotion‐focused coping is a better moderator in the collectivistic contexts. None of the three moderators moderate the relationships in Germany and South Africa – the two countries which had scores in the mid‐range of the individualism‐collectivism continuum. Findings are discussed for their significance into the interplay of cultural variations and coping with work stress in predicting psychological strain or distress on the job.
Practical implications
Practical implications for managing human resources in various subsidiaries of multinational and global organizations are discussed.
Originality/value
This paper confirms existing theories and expands the authors’ understanding of role stress and psychological strain in different cultural contexts.
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Chu-Hsiang (Daisy) Chang and Samantha K. Baard
Given the increasing global focus of many aspects of our society, researchers have taken significant steps in understanding the impact of culture on various psychological states…
Abstract
Given the increasing global focus of many aspects of our society, researchers have taken significant steps in understanding the impact of culture on various psychological states. This review focuses on the stressor–strain relationships within the context of cross-cultural and cross-national studies. Using research findings from the United States as a baseline, we identify common and unique themes concerning the stressor–strain relationships between different countries, and clarify the differences between cross-national and cross-cultural studies. Furthermore, we consider cross-cultural and cross-national occupational stress research from an individual differences perspective. We encourage future studies to adopt this perspective and carefully consider the implications of cultural values on occupational stress research at the individual, group, and country levels.
This paper presents the generalized theory of the most important energy principles in structural analysis. All derive from two basic complementary theorems denoted as the…
Abstract
This paper presents the generalized theory of the most important energy principles in structural analysis. All derive from two basic complementary theorems denoted as the principles of virtual displacements and virtual forces. Both exact and approximate methods are discussed and particular attention is paid to the derivation of upper and lower limits. The theory is not restricted to linearly elastic bodies but includes ab initio the effect of non‐linear stress‐strain laws and thermal strains. Finally the basic principles are illustrated on a number of simple examples in preparation for the more complex ones to appear in Parts II and III.
Helen Lingard, Valerie Francis and Michelle Turner
This research aims to explore the relationship between work time demands, work time control and supervisor support in the Australian construction industry.
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to explore the relationship between work time demands, work time control and supervisor support in the Australian construction industry.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was undertaken with waged and salaried construction workers in two construction organizations (n=261).
Findings
Work time demands were positively correlated with time‐ and strain‐based work interference with family life (WIF) but inversely correlated with time‐ and strain‐based family interference with work (FIW). Work‐family enrichment was inversely correlated with work time demands and positively correlated with both work time control and social support from one's supervisor. Respondents with high work time demands and low work time control (or low supervisor support) reported the highest levels of time‐ and strain‐based WIF. The lowest levels of WIF were reported by respondents in low work time demands and high work time control (or high supervisor support) jobs classifications. However, jobs high in both work time demands and work time control reported the highest levels of work‐to‐family enrichment.
Research limitations/implications
The results suggest that work‐family conflict and work‐family enrichment should be treated as two distinct concepts in work‐family research and that the job demands‐control theory is helpful in explaining work‐family conflict but that alternative theories are needed to explain positive work‐family interactions.
Practical implications
The practical implication of the research is that reducing work time demands may be helpful in reducing work‐family conflict but that the provision of work domain resources is probably required to enable positive work‐family interactions.
Originality/value
Previous work‐family research has focused on job demands and resources separately, while the job strain literature has focused on the impact of job demands and the key resources of social support. The originality of this research is that it examines the extent to which different configurations of job demand and resource can explain experiences at the work‐family interface.
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Sharon Glazer, Małgorzata W. Kożusznik and Irina A. Shargo
Global virtual teams (GVTs), also known as transnational or distributed teams, are increasingly common as organizations strive to maintain a global presence, find top and diverse…
Abstract
Global virtual teams (GVTs), also known as transnational or distributed teams, are increasingly common as organizations strive to maintain a global presence, find top and diverse talent, and cope with economic constraints. Despite increasing adoption of GVTs, there is a dearth of research addressing whether GVTs are an effective coping strategy for dealing with the world economic crisis and if there are unintended negative consequences on employee well-being as a result of their use. Thus, a focal question guiding the development of this chapter is whether or not GVTs are a sustainable solution for organizations? In this chapter we present a generic framework depicting the cycle by which macroeconomic demands impose changes on organization's structures, which trickle down to the level of the individual who has to cope with the demands the new structure has imposed. We discuss GVTs as an intervention (or cure) for organizations’ dealing with the current world economic crisis and how this organizational intervention inevitably becomes the context (or cause) for the kinds of stressors or demands employees face.
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Nicholas J. Beutell, Jeffrey W. Alstete, Joy A. Schneer and Camille Hutt
The purpose of this paper is to test a model predicting self-employment (SE) personal growth (learning opportunities and creativity) and SE exit intentions (exiting to work for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test a model predicting self-employment (SE) personal growth (learning opportunities and creativity) and SE exit intentions (exiting to work for someone else and exit likelihood) based on the job demands-resources model.
Design/methodology/approach
SEM was used to examine SE demands and resources, strain, and engagement predicting growth, exit intentions, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction. SE type (owners with employees and independent owners without employees) was a moderator variable. Data were analyzed from a national probability sample (n=464 self-employed respondents for whom SE was their primary work involvement), the National Study of the Changing Workforce.
Findings
Overall support for the model was found. Work–family conflict (demand) and work–family synergy (resource) had the strongest relationships with strain and engagement. Strain was positively related to both growth and exit intentions while engagement was inversely related to exit intentions but positively related to growth. The model was significantly different for business owners and independently self-employed.
Practical implications
These results provide guidance to researchers and educators regarding the challenges of self- employment engagement and strain with implications for selecting business types that minimize exit likelihood while maximizing work engagement and personal growth potential.
Originality/value
This study breaks new ground by testing a structural model of engagement and growth for self-employed individuals while also investigating two types of exit intentions. The authors report findings for growth and exit decisions that have received scant attention in the literature to date. Type of SE was a significant variable.
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