Organizations are increasingly expecting individuals to engage in task proactivity, that is, to find better ways of doing their job. While prior research has demonstrated the benefits of task ...proactivity, little is known about its cognitive costs. To investigate this issue, we build theory on how task proactivity affects end-of-day cognitive performance. We propose that task proactivity involves deviating from established ways of working and engaging in cognitively demanding activities requiring high levels of mental effort, which manifest as an erosion of end-of-day cognitive performance. In two daily diary studies, we found that individuals engaging in task proactivity experience lower end-of-day cognitive performance (Study 1 over five consecutive workdays:
= 163,
= 701; Study 2 with multiple daily assessments over seven consecutive workdays:
= 93,
= 471), even when controlling for task performance (Study 1) and beginning-of-day cognitive performance (Study 2). In two experiments, we then show that simulating task proactivity results in greater mental effort and lower routineness but not in greater ego depletion (Study 3:
= 318 and Study 4:
= 319) or increased self-control demands, -effort, or -motivation (Study 4). This provides support for our proposed cognitive pathway. Our findings enhance our understanding of the cognitively demanding nature of task proactivity and provide empirical support for its cognitive costs using a mental fatigue lens. They also suggest that the impact of a cognitively demanding activity like task proactivity may persist throughout the day and carry over to other tasks involving cognitive performance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Self-efficacy's influence on individual job performance has been well documented in laboratory studies. However, there have been very few rigorous field studies of self-efficacy's relationship with ...objectively measured individual job performance in organizational settings. This research history might account for the low take-up of self-efficacy within the business literature as well as within business itself. When it comes to studies of employee engagement, the same lack of rigorous individual studies applies, although several organizational-level studies link employee engagement to organizational performance, while its claimed benefits have been widely discussed in the business literature. Finally, the degree to which employee engagement and self-efficacy have independent and additive effects on individual-level job performance remains unknown. In order to address these issues, a longitudinal field study was undertaken within an Australian financial services firm. Using survey data linked to objectively measured job performance, we found the additive effects of self-efficacy and employee engagement explained 12% of appointments made and 39% of products sold over and above that explained by past performance. This finding suggests human resource management (HRM) practitioners should address both self-efficacy and employee engagement in order to boost job performance while encouraging HRM scholars to incorporate both measures when conducting job performance studies.
In this introduction to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on Meaningful Work, we explain the imperative for a deeper understanding of meaningfulness within the context of the current ...sociopolitical environment, coupled with the growing use of organizational strategies aimed at ‘managing the soul’. Meaningful work remains a contested topic that has been the subject of attention in a wide range of disciplines. The focus of this Special Issue is the advancement of theory and evidence about the nature, causes, consequences, and processes of meaningful work. We summarize the contributions of each of the seven articles that comprise the Special Issue and, in particular, note their methodological and theoretical plurality. In conclusion, we set forth a future research agenda based on five fundamental paradoxes of meaningful work.
This research examines the tension between the aims of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8), to promote productive employment and decent work, and the adoption of Artificial ...Intelligence (AI). Our findings are based on the analysis of 232 survey results, where we tested the effects of AI adoption on workers’ psychological contract, engagement and trust. We find that psychological contracts had a significant, positive effect on job engagement and on trust. Yet, with AI adoption, the positive effect of psychological contracts fell significantly. A further re-examination of the extant literature leads us to posit that AI adoption fosters the creation of a third type of psychological contract, which we term “Alienational”. Whereas SDG 8 is premised on strengthening relational contracts between an organization and its employees, the adoption of AI has the opposite effect, detracting from the very nature of decent work.
This study investigates whether crafting of job demands and resources relates positively to extra-role behavior (i.e. contextual performance and creativity) through work engagement and flourishing. ...We collected data from 294 employees and their supervisors regarding employees' contextual performance and creativity. Results show that seeking resources had a positive indirect relationship with contextual performance through work engagement, and with creativity through work engagement and flourishing. Reducing demands had negative indirect relationships with both contextual performance and creativity through work engagement. We conclude that particularly seeking resources has important implications for extra-role behavior and discuss the practical implications of these findings.
•Work engagement shows stronger associations with supervisor-rated extra-role behavior than flourishing.•Job crafting both favorably and unfavorably affects work engagement and flourishing.•Seeking resources favorably affects contextual performance and creativity through work engagement.•Reducing demands unfavorably affects contextual performance and creativity through work engagement.
In two quasi-experimental studies – Study 1 among medical specialists (N=119) and Study 2 among nurses (N=58) – we tested the impact of a general and a specific job crafting intervention on health ...care professionals' well-being and (objective and subjective) job performance. Both groups of participants received training and then set personal job crafting goals for a period of three weeks. The results of a series of repeated measures analyses showed that both interventions were successful. Participation in the job crafting intervention groups were associated with increases in job crafting behaviors, well-being (i.e., work engagement, health, and reduced exhaustion), and job performance (i.e., adaptive, task, and contextual performance) for the medical specialists and nurses relative to the control groups. Though we did not find a significant intervention effect for objective performance, we conclude that job crafting is a promising job redesign intervention strategy that individual employees can use to improve their well-being and job performance.
•Organizations can train employees in job crafting to increase work meaning and significance.•Job crafting is a cost-effective way to improve employees' functioning at work.•Job crafting is a valuable alternative to traditional top-down job redesign strategies.•Two job crafting interventions among health care professionals are evaluated.•We show that these interventions positively enhance employee well-being and performance.
PurposeEmployee engagement (EE) is an expression of a person's own preferred task behaviours that promote their relationship with work and personal physical, cognition and emotion and make them more ...active in terms of vigour, dedication and level of absorption with their work. To deal with EE in different environments and organisations, it is necessary to both understand and continually assess their employees. This paper presents an instrument which was developed to measure EE for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted in three stages to develop an EE measurement scale. To begin with, 18 questions were developed for a questionnaire based on the concepts of EE and validated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) which is split into the dimensions of vigour, dedication and absorption. A survey was then conducted with 270 employees in SMEs. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergence and validity were tested along the three engagement dimensions.FindingsThis research extended and broadened the EE concept to provide theoretical support for engaging with intelligence research. Three dimensions were developed to measure EE, including aspects of vigour, dedication and absorption with their work.Research limitations/implicationsThe questionnaire used was produced primary data collection which was self-assessed, and data was collected only from the sample of employees working for SMEs in high-growth sectors of the Thai economy. The EE findings exhibited a good fit, but the results require further future refinement and validation using a larger sample size and sampling area.Practical implicationsThe EE questionnaire has practical uses for monitoring management behaviour and can assist practitioners to assess the level of EE. This knowledge will help to encourage and support practitioners to improve EE. This research also provides other measurements for assessing EE in organisations.Originality/valueThe EE questionnaire validity will facilitate future studies on the boundaries of EE measurements in the context of SMEs. The empirical research results verified that EE assessment offered new perspectives to explore vital individual EE which is necessary for SMEs. This instrument can also support and help researchers to effectively understand EE and explore its potential in future studies.
Job demands–resources theory Bakker, Arnold B.; Demerouti, Evangelia
Journal of occupational health psychology,
07/2017, Volume:
22, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The job demands−resources (JD-R) model was introduced in the international literature 15 years ago (Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). The model has been applied in thousands of ...organizations and has inspired hundreds of empirical articles, including 1 of the most downloaded articles of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005). This article provides evidence for the buffering role of various job resources on the impact of various job demands on burnout. In the present article, we look back on the first 10 years of the JD-R model (2001-2010), and discuss how the model matured into JD-R theory (2011-2016). Moreover, we look at the future of the theory and outline which new issues in JD-R theory are worthwhile of investigation. We also discuss practical applications. It is our hope that JD-R theory will continue to inspire researchers and practitioners who want to promote employee well-being and effective organizational functioning.
An Ultra-Short Measure for Work Engagement Schaufeli, Wilmar B; Shimazu, Akihito; Hakanen, Jari ...
European journal of psychological assessment : official organ of the European Association of Psychological Assessment,
2019, Volume:
35, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The current study introduces an ultra-short, 3-item
version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale. Using five national samples from
Finland (N = 22,117), Japan
(N = 1,968), the Netherlands
...(N = 38,278), Belgium/Flanders
(N = 5,062), and Spain
(N = 10,040) its internal consistency and
factorial validity vis-à-vis validated measures of burnout, workaholism,
and job boredom are demonstrated. Moreover, the UWES-3 shares 86-92% of
its variance with the longer nine-item version and the pattern of correlations
of both versions with 9 indicators of well-being, 8 job demands, 10 job
resources, and 6 outcomes is highly similar with an average, absolute difference
between correlations of only .02. Hence, it is concluded that the UWES-3 is a
reliable and valid indicator of work engagement that can be used as an
alternative to the longer version, for instance in national and international
epidemiological surveys on employee's working conditions.
The purpose of the current literature review is to (a) provide a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between employee engagement and innovative behavior through the lens of the JD-R ...model; (b) identify and revisit the guiding theories underpinning employee engagement studies; and (c) construct an integrated conceptual framework based on empirically validated factors and their relationships, along with relevant theories. An integrative literature review of 34 empirical studies indicates that employees perceive a mix of reasonably high demands and high resources to be ideal for their engagement, innovative behavior is a consequence of these delicate interactions, and engaged employees are more likely to behave innovatively by activating coping strategies to deal with challenges. Together, these findings suggest an integrated conceptual framework that refines the original JD-R model and that in doing so, better explicates the dynamics surrounding employee engagement and innovative behavior. Key implications for research and practice are provided.
•Job resources exercise buffering effects to alleviate stress from job demands.•Unless excessive, employees may consider a mix of reasonably high demands and high resources to be ideal for engagement.•Job demands and resources are not entirely adversarial but interwoven in their effect on engagement and, in turn, innovation.•Engaged employees tend to behave innovatively by activating coping strategies to deal with challenges.•Together, these findings suggest an integrated conceptual framework that refines the original JD-R model.
PDF
