Shared identity in organizational stress and change

Reduced loneliness mediates the effects of multiple group identifications on well-being

Membership of multiple groups and identification with those groups have been found to be positively related to individuals' health and well-being. The present research sought to replicate this finding in two large, representative samples. Moreover, we sought to extend previous work by shedding light on the mechanisms mediating the effects of multiple group membership on positive health outcomes. Specifically, we proposed that the links between multiple group membership and positive health outcomes are mediated by reduced feelings of loneliness. In Study 1, a two-wave survey of a German population, participants (N = 989) were asked about their identification with family, friends, neighbourhood, their country and humanity and 4 weeks later about feelings of loneliness, physical health and stress. As hypothesized, multiple identifications predicted lower stress. They were also associated with a marginal reduction in physical symptoms of poor health. Both relationships were mediated by the absence of loneliness. In Study 2, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of German participants (N = 1635), which also included a sixth target of identification (Europe). Results replicated findings from Study 1 and also found similar relations associated with smaller (family, friends and neighbourhood) versus larger (country, Europe and Humanity) foci of identification.

Influence of COVID-19 and employees’ response to deviations on employee enactment

Developing countries’ economies are in shambles as a result of the coronavirus. Developing countries like Bangladesh began opening its business sector in May 2020 in order to preserve the economy. To mitigate the effect of coronavirus, the government has implemented “new normal” guidelines for businesses. The primary goals of this research are to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced employee performance and to determine the workers’ perspectives regarding the changes that have been made to their everyday lives. To complete this research, employee performance was assessed using the employee response to change (ERC) method. Employees from many sectors have been studied. For this research, 300 people from various sectors were surveyed online at random. The study was quantitative as well as exploratory. It was based solely on original data. The research used a non-probability sampling approach to collect data. The survey questionnaire was sent to those who replied via Google Forms. Results and visual representations are found using SPSS software and Microsoft Excel. COVID-19 and the reaction to employee changes have a considerable detrimental influence on employee performance, according to all of the study’s findings. The employee’s focus, communication, and attention to work are all adversely affected by these “new normal” alterations

Team identification relates to lower burnout-Emotional and instrumental support as two different social cure mechanisms

Team identification is associated with less exhaustion and disengagement through more social support and higher collective self-efficacy. However, previous studies did not distinguish between emotional and instrumental support, even though both forms of support may relate differently to collective self-efficacy. By distinguishing between both support forms, we expected an indirect effect-the 'supportive structure' mechanism-of team identification on burnout mediated via emotional support. For a second mechanism-the 'supportive action' mechanism-we expected an indirect effect serially mediated by instrumental support and collective self-efficacy. We tested our hypotheses among N _T1  = 567 employees in a four-wave study with 3-month time lags between measurement points. Partially in line with our expectations, emotional support (T2) mediated the relation between team identification (T1) and disengagement (T4), but not emotional exhaustion (T4). Moreover, as expected, the results showed an indirect association between team identification (T1) and emotional exhaustion and disengagement (T4) via instrumental support (T2) and collective self-efficacy (T3). Accordingly, employees benefit from both support forms but through different mechanisms. We discuss our findings and implications for future research.

Reactions towards organizational change: a systematic literature review

Regardless of the prevalence and value of change initiatives in contemporary organizations, these often face resistance by employees. This resistance is the outcome of change recipients' cognitive and behavioral reactions towards change. To better understand the causes and effects of reactions to change, a holistic view of prior research is needed. Accordingly, we provide a systematic literature review on this topic. We categorize extant research into four major and several subcategories: micro and macro reactions. We analyze the essential characteristics of the emerging field of change reactions along research issues and challenges, benefits of (even negative) reactions, managerial implications, and propose future research opportunities.

Are we seeing "eye to eye" on qualitative job insecurity in healthcare? Employee-teammates perceptual (in)congruence and individual well-being

Background: In healthcare, employees are exposed to continuous change when new methods are implemented to optimize care. Such changes may result in qualitative job insecurity (QJI), i.e., a fear concerning the potential loss of important job features. QJI is an individual experience; however, it may be shared within a team to a varying extent. This study examines how QJI perceptual (in)congruence between individuals and their teammates relates to individuals' well-being. Method: Healthcare employees (N = 305) from 30 healthcare units completed questionnaires measuring QJI, work engagement, and recovery. Results: Multi-level polynomial regression analyses showed that QJI congruence had a curvilinear relationship with well-being: employees reported higher work engagement when QJI perceptions were in agreement, both when QJI was low and high. We observed a negative relationship between QJI congruence and recovery. Recovery was lower when perceptions of QJI were in agreement and were high (vs. low). Finally, we found support for the effects of perceptual incongruence: when employees reported higher QJI than their teammates, they experienced lower recovery and engagement. Conclusions: To understand how employees' QJI relates to their well-being, it is essential to consider their teammates' perceptions. The social context can augment or reduce individuals' stress reactions to job insecurity.

The I and We of Team Identification: A Multilevel Study of Exhaustion and (In)congruence Among Individuals and Teams in Team Identification

The social identity approach to stress proposes that the beneficial effects of social identification develop through individual and group processes, but few studies have addressed both levels simultaneously. Using a multilevel person–environment fit framework, we investigate the group-level relationship between team identification (TI) and exhaustion, the individual-level relationship for people within a group, and the cross-level moderation effect to test whether individual-level exhaustion depends on the level of (in)congruence in TI between individuals and their group as a whole. We test our hypotheses in a sample of 525 employees from 82 teams. Multilevel polynomial regression analysis revealed a negative linear relationship between individual-level identification and exhaustion. Surprisingly, the relation between group-level identification and exhaustion was curvilinear, indicating that group-level identification was more beneficial at low and high levels compared with medium levels. As predicted, the cross-level moderation of the individual-level relationship by group-level identification was also significant, showing that as individuals became more incongruent in a positive direction (i.e., they identified more strongly than the average team member), they reported less exhaustion, but only if the group-level identification was average or high. These results emphasize the benefits of analyzing TI in a multilevel framework, with both theoretical and practical implications.

The social curse: Evidence for a moderating effect of shared social identity on contagious stress reactions

Contagious stress describes the transmission of a stress response from a distressed individual (target) to an uninvolved observer. Building on social identity theory, we hypothesize that a shared social identity between the observer and the target as compared to a personal identity increases the likelihood of contagious endocrine and psychological stress responses. Participants underwent the experiment in groups of four or five individuals. After experimentally inducing either a shared social identity or a personal identity, one participant in each group (N_target = 27) was randomly chosen to undergo the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), while being observed by the rest of the group (N_observer = 89). Salivary cortisol and psychological stress responses were assessed repeatedly during the experiment. As predicted, the likelihood of cortisol stress reactions was significantly higher in the social identity condition (25 %) as compared to the personal identity condition (7 %). No effect of our manipulation on psychological stress responses was found. We also tested whether observers' trait empathy moderates contagious stress and found no support for this moderation.

Workplace team resilience: A systematic review and conceptual development

Workplace team resilience has been proposed as a potential asset for work teams to maintain performance in the face of adverse events. Nonetheless, the research on team resilience has been conceptually and methodologically inconsistent. Taking a multilevel perspective, we present an integrative review of the workplace team resilience literature to identify the conceptual nature of team resilience and its unique value over and above personal resilience as well as other team concepts. We advance resilience research by providing a new multilevel model of team resilience that offers conceptual clarification regarding the relationship between individual-level and team-level resilience. The results of our review may form the basis for the development of a common operationalization of team resilience, which facilitates new empirical research examining ways that teams can improve their adversity management in the workplace.

Social identification-building interventions to improve health: a systematic review and meta-analysis

There is growing evidence that social identity processes play an important role in a range of health outcomes. However, we know little about the nature and effectiveness of interventions that build social identification with the aim of promoting health. In the present research, we systematically review and meta-analyze interventions that build social identification to enhance health and wellbeing. A total of 27 intervention studies were identified (N = 2,230). Using a three-level meta-regression, results indicate that social identification-building interventions had a moderate-to-strong impact on health (Hedges g = 0.66; 95%CIs[0.34, 0.97]). Analyses revealed significant variation in intervention effectiveness as a function of its type: group-relevant decision making (g = 1.26), therapy programmes (g = 1.02), shared activities (g = 0.40), and reminiscence (g = -0.05). By contrast, there was much less variation across health outcomes: quality of life (g = 0.80), physical health (g = 0.76), self-esteem (g = 0.69), well-being (g = 0.66), (reduced) anxiety (g = 0.61), (reduced) depression (g = 0.58), cognitive health (g = 0.55), and (reduced) stress (g = 0.49). Finally, speaking to the mechanism of the interventions, interventions tended to be more effective to the extent that they succeeded in building participants' social identification with the intervention group. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of social identification-building interventions to foster health and outline an agenda for future research and practical application.