Mitigating occupational stress: The role of psychological capital

Psychological capital and well-being: An opportunity for teachers' well-being? Scoping review of the scientific literature in psychology and educational sciences

In a context marked by teachers' shortage, prioritizing teachers' well-being emerges as one of the factors that can encourage them to stay in the profession. Well-being is a multidimensional concept and difficult to define and measure. Moreover, its link with Psychological Capital (PsyCap), a concept that includes personal psychological resources (hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism) (Luthans & Youssef, 2004), has received little attention in the educational sciences. The main objective of this paper is therefore to investigate the links between these two concepts from a theoretical point of view in psychology and educational sciences. For this purpose, the scoping review methodology (Tricco et al., 2018) is mobilized to identify research issues, methodological questions, and the various links between well-being and PsyCap. Based on a systematic review of 376 bibliographic references conducted in the main databases in psychology and educational sciences, 32 articles were selected analysed. The data extracted indicate that these concepts particularly affect teachers (42.11 % of subjects concerned, N = 42,750). In addition, all the sources selected report significant and positive statistical links between well-being and PsyCap. These results suggest possible avenues for research on teachers' well-being.

Stressful life events and problematic internet use in adolescence: Mediation of psychological capital and moderation of school level

INTRODUCTION

While abundant cross-sectional studies have examined the relationship between stress and problematic internet use (PIU), little is known about the underlying mechanism through which stress influences the development of PIU. To elucidate the mechanism in facilitation of prevention and treatment of PIU, this study tested a moderated mediation model using a longitudinal design in which the impact of stressful life events on PIU was mediated by psychological capital (PsyCap); the dependence of this mediation link on participants' developmental stage was further evaluated.

METHODS

A total of 1365 middle school and high school adolescents (M_age  = 14.68, SD = 1.56; 47% female) from central China were surveyed over 3 years.

RESULTS

PsyCap was found to completely mediate the contribution of stressful life events to PIU. In addition, the relationship between stressful life events and PsyCap was moderated by participants' school level, in which the negative impact of stress on PsyCap was stronger in middle schoolers than in high schoolers.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings support further examination of PsyCap in adolescents' PIU development, with a special focus on developmental changes from middle school to high school.

Evaluation of Occupational Health Risk Management and Performance in China: A Case Study of Gas Station Workers

China has a large number of gas stations, with which thousands of workers are associated. There is abundant online literature documenting the various occupational health risks these workers face. However, this literature has many flaws to address, and it falls short of suggesting measures to manage these risks. This study strives to fill that gap, and aims to improve the occupational health of gas station workers through comprehensive risk management and performance analysis. To this end, a reasonable volume of reliable data, i.e., 208 completed questionnaires, were analyzed through current statistical routines, viz., fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Importance Performance Analysis (IPA). These methods were employed to hierarchically organize the main factors and sub-factors of physical risk management, chemical risk management, biological risk management, physiological risk management and psychological risk management according to their appraised importance, and screen out the risk management stratagem for priority improvement. Research findings reveal that chemical risk and biological risk response schemes have the lowest performance, and need to be prioritized for improvement. Furthermore, this study argues that we can safeguard the occupational health of gas station workers through appropriate risk management strategies. It also elaborates on implications, limitations and future research directions.

Occupational stress and psychological wellbeing during COVID 19: Mediating role of positive psychological capital

The COVID 19 pandemic has challenged the humankind's livelihood, physical health, mental health, employment, and economy. Lockdowns, quarantines, online teaching, and learning have become new normal. Negativities have been spread across the globe and society by the pandemic. The negative effects caused a confused mindset, fear, anxiety, stress, and other psychological complications amongst the people especially among the Health Care Workers (HCWs), children, elderly people, and Frontline Workers (FLWs). This research work examines the levels of Occupational Stress (OS), and psychological well-being (PWB) of HCWs and police personnel during the pandemic and the relationship between OS and PWB. Further, the study analyzed the role of Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) as a mediator and Emotional Quotient (EQ) as a moderator in the relationship between OS and PWB. Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) characteristics of the respondents such as having faith in one's ability, and performance, willingness to succeed or attain the goals framed, ability to bounce back from the hard times, and their optimism about the future have helped them to tackle the stress caused by the pandemic and to maintain a better state of psychological wellbeing in the fight against the pandemic.

Healthy Leadership and Workplace Health Promotion as a Pre-Requisite for Organizational Health

(1) Background: Increasing stress levels at the workplace constitute a concerning organizational trend, challenging not only employees but also organizations alike, as it is in most instances associated with increasing workloads. In consequence, employees have started to demand that organizations begin to accept responsibility for their health and well-being. The present contribution seeks to investigate, to which extent individuals are able to deal with stress and whether their employers and respective supervisors (leaders) accept responsibility for their health, for instance, by leading by example. In addition, the existence and support generated by the organization in form of Workplace Health Promotion (WPHP) is inquired. (2) Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews with 40 (full and part-time) employees from two European countries were conducted. (3) Results: The study with employees from Austria and Germany (n = 40) confirmed that employees have started to recognize the potential of the workplace as an environment, where individual health can be enhanced. Yet, the results showed that only a few companies have already put some WPHP measures into practice. Likewise, the implementation of healthy leadership is rather limited to date. (4) Conclusions: At present, companies are still more likely to delegate responsibility for employee health and well-being to their staff, having not fully realized the potential of healthy leadership and organizational health promotion. There is great potential to increase WPHP measures on the employer side, through both healthy leadership and supporting WPHP measures.

Am I Gonna Get a Job? Graduating Students’ Psychological Capital, Coping Styles, and Employment Anxiety

Thoughts about life after school can be frightening for college students. The uncertainty about employment expectancies can engender crippling anxiety, especially in a time of a major pandemic—COVID-19, and urgent attention is needed. This study, drawing on the self-determination theory, demonstrates preliminary protective effect of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) on employment anxiety among a relatively understudied group—graduating college students (Chinese sample = 546). It further illustrates the mediating mechanism of coping styles in this relation. Thus, the motivational impetus of PsyCap facilitates positive coping style (PCS) while diminishing negative coping style (NCS) which, in turn, hinders students’ employment anxiety. Furthermore, the results revealed that students’ internship experience strengthens the influence of graduating students’ PsyCap on their PCS, but that with NCS and anxiety was nonsignificant. This research proffers valuable insights on college students’ from-school-to-work transition for higher education institutions and career counselors, particularly in this turbulent labor market.

Occupational Stress and Employees Complete Mental Health: A Cross-Cultural Empirical Study

Given the shortcomings of previous research on occupational stress and mental health (e.g., predominantly in Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) societies, based on the traditional mental health model and a lack of comparative studies), this study aimed to (a) examine the relationship between occupational stress and complete mental health among employees in Cabo Verde and China, and also explored the mediation and moderation roles of burnout and optimism in accounting for the empirical link. Mental health was defined as comprised of two distinguishable factors: positive and negative mental health. The Pearson correlation test, structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, bootstrap analysis, hierarchical moderated regression and an independent t-test were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that, in both countries, occupational stress showed a negative relation to positive mental health and lower psychopathology symptoms—and job burnout mediated the relation between occupational stress and mental health. Optimism moderated the relation between occupational stress and burnout, but not the relation between occupational stress and complete mental health. The results are interpreted in light of the comparative framework.

Examining occupational stress, job satisfaction and gender difference among bank tellers: evidence from Ghana

Purpose

Bank tellers have been ignored in stress research. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between occupational stress, job satisfaction, and gender difference among bank tellers in Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a cross-sectional survey approach, the authors used questionnaires to collect data from bank tellers in Ghana. Valid questionnaires were retrieved from 112 tellers across four banks. The hypotheses were tested using Pearsonr-test, standard multiple regression and independentt-test.

Findings

The results revealed that tellers are more likely to exhibit counterproductive behaviours such as job dissatisfaction due to work-related stress. The results further showed that gender is not a strong determinant of job satisfaction and occupational stress among the bank tellers. Thus, both male and female tellers can have similar stress perceptions and experiences. Also, both male and female tellers can be satisfied with their jobs.

Research limitations/implications

The findings must be interpreted with caution because cross-sectional surveys are often criticised for causality issues. The causality issue here is that the use of cross-sectional data did not allow the study to examine any changes in some of the constructs examined with time. Also, the results are occupation, industry and country-specific.

Practical implications

To reduce counterproductive behaviours due to occupational stress, human resource managers and line managers of the banks urgently need to train bank tellers on stress management. Emotional intelligence training is also necessary for bank tellers to obtain the needed resources and competencies to deal with daily stress.

Social implications

A stressful work environment negatively affects employee and organisational productivity and performance. The socioeconomic consequences of occupational stress are expensive for organisations, economies and society. The indirect effect of stress on employees' families and friends are often ignored by organisations.

Originality/value

The transactional stress theory has been applied towards an understanding of occupational stress and job satisfaction among bank tellers. The examination and establishment of particular relationships between occupational stress, job satisfaction and gender difference are significant for human resource managers and other line managers.

From workaholism to burnout: psychological capital as a mediator

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among workaholism, psychological capital (PsyCap), and burnout, as well as investigate the potential mediating effect of PsyCap on the relationship between workaholism and burnout.

Design/methodology/approach

Data on workaholism, PsyCap, and burnout were collected, through administration of an online survey, from 400 faculty and staff at a large Southeastern university.

Findings

Workaholism is negatively related to PsyCap and is positively related to burnout, while PsyCap is negatively correlated with burnout. Moreover, while tested in a mediation model, PsyCap appeared as a significant mediating variable for all three dimensions of burnout (i.e. emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment).

Research limitations/implications

Future researchers may benefit from examining a sample outside an educational institution. Also, both workaholism and burnout may be better suited for studies utilizing longitudinal designs. That said, the data reveal information about the process whereby tendencies indicative of heavy work investment lead to burnout within employees. That is, workaholism leads to lower PsyCap, which then results in burnout.

Practical implications

The results suggest that employers may benefit from considering the negative effects of heavy work investment and maintaining a culture that discourages such behavior. It might also be beneficial for employers to ensure that employees have a heightened PsyCap and, therefore, are safeguarded against burnout.

Originality/value

This is the first study to examine the influence that employee PsyCap has on the development of workaholism and burnout by examining its role as a mediator.