Daily job crafting and the self-efficacy – performance relationship

The role of administrative staffs' self-efficacy in promoting inclusive higher education: A case of students with disabilities

BackgroundAdministrative staff play a significant role in facilitating an inclusive and accessible academic environment for students with disabilities. However, the examination of the administrative staff's role in delivering accessible services for students with disabilities has received limited attention, particularly within the context of campus climate for diversity.ObjectiveThis study aims to fill this gap by investigating factors related to self-efficacy in the provision of accessible services, following Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.MethodsAdministrative workers from eight higher education institutions (n = 200) completed a set of questionnaires measuring the association between micro-level factors (socio-demographic factors and frequency of encounters with students with disabilities), meso-level factors (familiarity with support services and participation in accessibility training) and macro-level factors (attitudes toward persons with disabilities) and their self-efficacy to provide accessible services.ResultsPositive attitudes, frequent interactions with students with disabilities, and familiarity with support services were found to be significantly associated with a higher level of self-efficacy in providing accessible services. Furthermore, regression analysis showed that the most predictive factor on administrative staff's self-efficacy was a macro-level factor: positive disability attitudes.ConclusionsThe study underscores that direct experience, familiarity with support resources, and positive attitudes play a crucial role in enhancing the sense of self-efficacy for accessible service provision. Accordingly, inclusive policies and staff training should prioritize these factors.

An Organizational-Level Workplace Intervention to Improve Medical Doctors' Sustainable Employability: Study Protocol for a Participatory Action Research Study

Compromised Sustainable Employability (SE) of medical doctors is a concern for the viability of healthcare and, thus, for society as a whole. This study (preregistration: ISRCTN15232070) will assess the effect of a two-year organizational-level workplace intervention using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach on the primary outcome SE (i.e., burnout complaints, work engagement, and job satisfaction) and secondary outcomes (i.e., turnover intention, occupational self-efficacy, and perceived impact on health/well-being) in medical doctors. It will also examine whether changes in Psychosocial Safety Climate (PSC), job characteristics (i.e., job demands and resources), and perceived impact on the work situation mediate these effects, and which process factors (i.e., degree of actual implementation of changes, information provision, management support, medical doctors' involvement, and mental models) are important to the intervention's success. A pre-post design will be used, including 24 groups of medical doctors (approximately N = 650). Data will be collected at four measurement points (a pre-test, two intermediate evaluations, and a post-test) and analyzed using linear mixed-effect models. The results will provide insights into the effectiveness of the intervention in promoting SE and will inform future organizational-level workplace interventions about the mediators and factors in the implementation process that contribute to its effects.

Employee perceived overqualification and innovation performance: the roles of self-oriented perfectionism and job crafting

Leveraging the trait activation theory, the study constructs a model featuring moderated chain mediation to explore how perceived overqualification influences employee innovation performance. After conducting two surveys with Chinese employees, this study collects 363 valid questionnaires. The findings reveal that perceived overqualification is positively related to employee innovation performance. Both self-oriented perfectionism and job crafting are partial mediators between perceived overqualification and innovation performance, and they collectively play a chain mediating role. Furthermore, independent self-construction positively moderates the link between perceived overqualification and self-oriented perfectionism, and informal status positively moderates the relationship between job crafting and employee innovation performance. Additionally, the indirect influence of perceived overqualification on employee innovation performance is moderated by independent self-construction and informal status. This study adds to the current body of literature on perceived overqualification and offers practical implications for organizations aiming to enhance innovation performance.

An evaluation of nursing students' learning self-efficacy: A multi-dimensional instrument development and structural validation

BACKGROUND

Nursing learning self-efficacy (NLSE) is essential in nursing students' learning, and since it is a task-dependent construct, accurate measurements require a multidimensional instrument.

OBJECTIVE

This research aimed to develop and validate a multidimensional NLSE instrument to measure Taiwanese nursing students' views of nursing learning self-efficacy.

DESIGN

The cross-sectional study design was used for this investigation.

PARTICIPANTS

The study included 1143 nursing students from a nursing junior college.

METHODS

To assess the validity and reliability of the instrument's factors, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were utilized. Conceptual understanding, higher-order cognitive skills, practical work, everyday application, and nursing communication were identified as five factors. A comparison of five proposed models was also conducted.

RESULTS

The study found that the correlated and one-factor second-order models were acceptable and provided a simple structure for evaluating nursing students' perceptions of NLSE. Furthermore, a specific model with two second-order scales (Cognition and Application) and one first-order scale (nursing communication) was identified, highlighting the crucial role of nursing communication in nursing students' self-efficacy.

CONCLUSIONS

Evaluating nursing students' learning self-efficacy using a valid and reliable instrument is crucial for understanding their learning confidence. The creation of such a scale constitutes the primary contribution of this study.

The influence of daily life events on learning crafting and the intervening roles of academic emotions and regulatory focus in high school students

BACKGROUND

The adaptation of students to academic challenges in high school is crucial for academic performance. This study proposes the concept of "learning crafting," a previously under-researched area, and investigates its associated variables.

METHODS

Using a diary method, we studied 187 Chinese high school students (64% female; Mage  = 15.57) over a 9-day period. We examined the effect of daily life events on learning crafting, and considered academic emotions as mediators and regulatory focus as moderators.

RESULTS

Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that daily positive events were positively correlated with learning crafting at both within-person and between-person levels. Positive academic emotions served as mediators of this relationship. Furthermore, promotion focus had a positive moderating effect on the relationship between daily positive events and positive academic emotions. Conversely, daily negative events were only negatively correlated with learning crafting at the between-person level, and no additional significant relationships were identified.

CONCLUSION

This study elucidated the effect of daily life events on learning crafting, its mediating mechanisms, and conditional factors. These results not only contribute to crafting theory, but also provide theoretical underpinnings for future interventions targeting high school students' learning crafting.

Relationship between leadership-member exchange (LMX) and flow at work among medical workers during the COVID-19: the mediating role of job crafting

Based on relational leadership theory and self-determination theory, this study aims to investigate the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX), job crafting, and flow at work among medical workers in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants in the study consisted of 424 hospital employees. The results showed that: (1) the LMX positively predicted flow at work; (2) two types of job crafting (increasing structural job resources and challenging job demands) played a mediating role between the LMX and flow at work; and (3) gender did not moderate these mediating effects as suggested by previous studies. These results indicate that the LMX can not only directly predict flow at work, but also indirectly predict work-related flow through job crafting by increasing structural job resources and challenging job demands, thus providing new insights for enhancing flow experiences of medical workers.

Psychological Empowerment and Job Performance: Examining Serial Mediation Effects of Self-Efficacy and Affective Commitment

A substantial body of literature has analyzed the influence of psychological empowerment on individual and organizational outcomes. However, there is still a need to examine how empowered employees achieve higher performance. To fill this gap in the literature, this study analyzed the mediating role of self-efficacy and affective commitment in the relationship between psychological empowerment and task-based job performance. Data were collected from 357 employees. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping procedures. The results validated the structural relationships between psychological empowerment, self-efficacy, affective commitment, and task-based job performance. In addition, the serial mediation effect of self-efficacy and affective commitment was also confirmed. These results highlight the relevance of psychological variables, such as psychological empowerment and affective commitment, for individuals and organizations. The study supports that feeling empowered and emotionally committed is essential in building a long-term relationship between the employee and the organization.

Work limitations as a moderator of the relationship between job crafting and work performance: results from an SEM analysis of cross-sectional survey data

PURPOSE

Job crafting is an incremental, employee-initiated job design process used to achieve a better fit between job demands and worker skills. Persons with work limitations face multiple barriers to optimal work performance. Some persons with work limitations may innately use job crafting as a strategy to achieve better alignment with their job tasks and demands, however the extent to which job crafting may be helpful in improving work performance and engagement is unknown. The purpose of this study is (1) to examine the moderating role of work limitations in the relationship between job crafting and work performance and (2) to understand the complex relationship between job crafting, work limitations, work engagement, work performance, readiness to change, and worker characteristics.

METHODS

We conducted an online survey of workers with and without disabilities (final N = 742) in 2020-2021. Our sample included workers aged 18 and older. Descriptive statistics, bivariate statistics, and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to assess the relationships among job crafting, work limitations, work engagement, work performance, readiness to change, and worker characteristics.

RESULTS

Work limitation moderates the relationship between job crafting and work performance by weakening the impact of innate job crafting on work performance. Worker characteristics such as education and years of work experience predict crafting behaviors and work engagement mediates the relationship between job crafting and work performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Work limitation weakens the relationship between job crafting and work performance. Workers with limitations may benefit from job crafting interventions to increase work engagement and performance.

Performance of village midwives in detecting neonatal emergency through self efficacy and work engagement as mediation: Cross-sectional study in Pamekasan Regency, Indonesia

Backgrounds

The government's strategy in reducing the high infant mortality rate (IMR) in Indonesia is to place midwives in the village and use the Integrated Management of Young Infants (MTBM) guidelines that integrate all steps through early detection and effective treatment. Midwives have not shown maximum performance in neonatal coverage and neonatal complications, each of which has not reached the target. This study aims to analyze the effect of self-efficacy and work engagement on task performance in the Pamekasan Public Health Center Work Area.

Designs and methods

This research was conducted as an analytic study with a cross-sectional study. A sample of 151 village midwives in each Puskesmas' working area, was then analyzed and interpreted to test the model with SEMPLS.

Results

Directly self-efficacy has no effect on performance (t statistic 0.315 < 1.96; p-value 0.753 > 0.05), self-efficacy affects work engagement (t statistic 13.98 > 1.96; p-value 0.000 < 0.05), while work engagement has an effect on performance (t statistic 11.426 > 1.96; p-value 0.000 > 0.05). Indirectly, self-efficacy will affect performance if it is through work engagement (t statistic 7.392 > 1.96; p-value 0.000 > 0.05).

Conclusion

The findings show that self-efficacy and work engagement can help improve the performance of village midwives in detecting neonatal emergencies.

Mediating effect of job crafting dimensions on influence of burnout at self-efficacy and performance: revisiting health-impairment process of JD-R theory in public administration

Introduction

In recent years, job crafting has greatly interested Work and Organizational Psychology. Different research studies have shown its positive impact on people and organizational performance. However, it knows little about the differential effect of the two dimensions that make up this variable (prevention-focused and promotion-focused) and its role in the health-impairment spiral process of the job demand-resources theory (JD-R).

Method

This research aims to analyze the mediating effect of the different dimensions of job crafting on the influence of burnout on performance and self-efficacy in the workplace. The study used a sample of 339 administrative employees of a university.

Results

The results indicate that promotion-focused job crafting is a mediating variable in the relationship between the influence of burnout on performance and self-efficacy. Unexpectedly, prevention-focused job crafting does not have this mediating role in the same relationship.

Discussion

These findings confirm the adverse impact of burnout on personal and organizational improvement, while showing the absence of prevention/protection responses of employees when they are burned out. The theoretical and practical implications show an advance in knowledge about the process of health deterioration and about the spiral of health deterioration in the JD-R theory.

Encouraging job crafting in the workplace for newcomers: A two-year multi-wave study

It is important to identify the antecedents of newcomers' job crafting as it assists with their adjustment in the workplace. This study made use of transformational leadership and newcomers' calling as organizational and personal resources that predict job crafting. We hypothesized that transformational leadership would have an indirect relationship with newcomers' job crafting after 2 years through their occupational self-efficacy and that their calling would moderate this mediational path. A multi-wave approach was employed wherein data from 280 new employees were collected three times during the first 2 years of their careers. The survey was completed by 150 participants. The results illustrated that transformational leadership was positively related to newcomers' job crafting after 2 years of entry through their occupational self-efficacy. Additionally, newcomers' calling moderated the mediating effect of occupational self-efficacy between transformational leadership and job crafting. The theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed.

Exploring Associations between Stressors and Burnout in Trainee Doctors During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the UK

OBJECTIVE

The authors examined associations between stressors and burnout in trainee doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

An anonymous online questionnaire including 42 questions on general and pandemic-specific stressors, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Health Services Survey (MBI-HSS), was sent to 1000 randomly selected trainee doctors in North-West England. Main outcomes were burnout scores that were stratified into Emotional Exhaustion (EE), Depersonalisation (DP), and reduced Personal Accomplishment (PA) and associations between stressors and burnout using stepwise regression analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 362 complete responses were received giving a response rate of 37%. Mean scores for EE, DP, and PA derived from the MBI-HSS were 27.7, 9.8, and 34.3 respectively. Twenty-three stressors were found to be associated with burnout dimensions. "Increase in workload and hours due to COVID-19," "Poor leadership and management in the National Health Service," and "Not feeling valued" were found to have strong associations with burnout dimensions. Only "Not confident in own abilities" was found to be associated with all burnout dimensions.

CONCLUSIONS

Associations with burnout were found to be identified in a range of work, pandemic, and non-work-related stressors, supporting the need for multi-level interventions to mitigate burnout.

Crafting Work Happiness: Balancing Client Agency & Empowerment With Critical Social Awareness

Job crafting is a method taught by career developers and coaches to workers to help them achieve greater happiness in their jobs. Given its agentic, bottom-up approach, job crafting has become closely aligned with positive psychology. While offering empowerment benefits, job crafting has limitations. Given its almost exclusive focus on individual freedom and control, there is little attention paid to the social context, including structural operations of power within an advanced capitalist economy. Three social science critiques of positive psychology and job crafting are examined, with reference to contemporary career development theory. Practical suggestions are made for how career developers might address these social science critiques to best meet diverse client needs. This involves upholding a commitment to client agency and empowerment, whilst developing and maintaining a critical social awareness. Implications for research on job crafting are also discussed.

Who needs transformational leadership to craft their job? The role of work engagement and personal values

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss relationships between transformational leadership and job crafting. Using the job demands-resource (JD-R) theory, this study investigates the mediating role of work engagement in the relationship between transformational leadership and job crafting. The author has also tested the moderating roles of personal values.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on data from 450 knowledge workers representing companies of various sizes from the knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) sector in Poland. The questionnaires were completed using the computer-assisted telephone interview method. The statistical verification of the mediation and moderation analyses was conducted using macro PROCESS (ver. 3.3).

Findings

The findings show that transformational leadership was positively related to job crafting. Statistical analysis also confirmed the research hypothesis that as a personal resource, self-enhancement values moderate relationships between transformational leadership and work engagement, thus strengthening them. The study integrated research on leadership and personal and organisational resources to examine the collective impact of these variables on employee job crafting.

Originality/value

The study is the first to explore the mediating mechanism (through work engagement) between transformational leadership and job crafting in the context of KIBS companies in Poland.

Job crafting, meaningful work and performance: a moderated mediation approach of presenteeism

This study aimed to (1) analyze the relationship between the three job crafting dimensions (task, cognitive and relational crafting) and performance; (2) explore whether meaningful work fully mediates the links between the three job crafting dimensions and performance; (3) analyze if presenteeism moderates the indirect effect of meaningful work in the relationship between job crafting and performance. To achieve these goals, we collected data with 146 workers from a town hall. We analyzed the proposed moderated-mediation model using the PROCESS macro. The results showed that (1) the meaning in work mediated the relationship between the three job crafting dimensions and performance; (2) presenteeism moderated the mediated relationship between job crafting and performance via meaningful work, that is, lower levels of presenteeism were positively related to performance, in particular, when the levels of meaning in work were lower. These results show the importance of empowering employees to craft their work, as it appears to increase employees' performance, by enhancing the meaning attributed to the work. Promoting health conditions, at work, also seems to be relevant for performance once it may decrease levels of presenteeism. The cross-sectional design should be regarded as a limitation, and we assessed all the variables through self-reported measures. The present study contributes to the literature by analyzing the relationship of job crafting to performance via meaningful work, within the public administration context. Moreover, this study adds to the literature the conditional effect of presenteeism which has not been discussed in prior studies. This study aids in bridging this gap.

Skills mismatch and change confidence: the impact of training on change recipients’ self-efficacy

Purpose

Drawing on Bandura’s social learning theory (SLT), the purpose of this paper is to investigate, analytically, the impact that after-training skills level (i.e. perceived skill match) has on change self-efficacy. Moreover, this research also aims to identify which specific skills sets (if any) act as a protective factor during organizational change, supporting the change confidence (CC) level of the people involved.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative research was carried out on a sample of 200 workers in the bank sector.

Findings

Findings of this study suggest that skill match has a significant impact on the CC level. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that, even in front-office jobs, a perceived skill match of soft skills does not have a significant impact on staff CC, unlike that suggested by common sense and by literature.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should investigate if and how a training process enables change self-efficacy over time or instead shows its utility only when it is relating to a specific and limited period.

Practical implications

This study suggests that in designing training, top and middle management should pay specific attention to change recipients’ needs by adopting a bottom-up approach. Moreover, to improve training effectiveness, it would be advisable to also train change recipients’ supervisors.

Social implications

This study has social implications in suggesting how to foster the adaptive capabilities of change recipients in current turbulent times. In doing so, it suggests how to prevent some undesirable change consequences such as anxiety, intention to quit, work-related stress and change cynicism.

Originality/value

This paper shows that, from a methodological point of view, it is necessary to evaluate training effectiveness at the level of a specific skill area and not simply by comparing the trained/not trained people, as typically practiced until now.

How leaders benefit from engaging in high-quality leader-member exchanges: a daily diary study

Purpose

Drawing from the conservation of resources theory and the success resource model of job stress, the authors investigated the role of leader behaviours in the context of leader-member exchanges (LMXs) as a driver of leaders' job-related well-being and recovery. Specifically, they hypothesised positive affect and perceived competence as potential mechanisms enhancing leaders' job satisfaction and psychological detachment.

Design/methodology/approach

Daily diary data were collected from 85 leaders over five consecutive working days (376 daily observations) and analysed using multilevel path analyses.

Findings

Leader LMX behaviours were positively associated with leaders' positive affect and perceived competence at work at the person and day levels. Additionally, results provided support for most of the assumed indirect effects of leader LMX behaviours on leaders' job satisfaction and psychological detachment via positive affect and perceived competence.

Practical implications

Leadership development activities should raise leaders' awareness of the relevance of resourceful interactions with followers for leaders' own well-being. Organisations should create a working environment that facilitates high-quality exchanges amongst their members. The current trend towards increasing digital and less face-to-face collaboration may pose a risk to this important resource source for leaders.

Originality/value

These findings emphasise the day-to-day variation in leadership behaviours and that leaders' engagement in high-quality leader-follower interactions has the potential to stimulate a resource-building process for the benefit of leaders themselves.

Imagining positive workplaces: extrapolating relationships between job crafting, mental toughness and authentic happiness in millennial employees

Purpose

Millennial managers are required to adopt to contemporary management practices and continually evolve to manage the workforce. To help them evolve and create positive workplaces, this study aims to extrapolate the associations between job crafting, mental toughness and authentic happiness (AH) among millennials and derive implications.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from 496 millennial employees at Time-1 (March 2018), Time-2 (November 2018) and Time-3 (August 2019) from multiple sectors. A combined structural equation modelling and artificial neural networks approach was implied to test the strength of the proposed associations.

Findings

With reference to the relationships thus obtained between job crafting, mental toughness and AH, the results specifically conclude that challenging job demand is significant predictor of AH. Mental toughness partially mediates the relationship between challenging job demands and AH, indicating that mental toughness is an essential component for employee happiness.

Practical implications

Millennial managers and policymakers must challenge the skills of employees for obtaining optimal performance. When employees perceive adequate workload and have a set deadline for the completion of tasks assigned to them, they carry out the tasks with greater efficacy, in turn, leading them to find greater meaning (focusing on essential tasks), purpose and engagement in life (enthusiastic, interested, engaged). Overall, when millennial managers focus on such associations, they can help enhance productivity and constitute happier workplaces.

Originality/value

This study explores constructs such as mental toughness to support the job crafting and happiness relationship. A hybrid statistical analysis strengthens the accuracy of the proposed model and enhances its empirical and implied value.

“I Like It like That”: A Study on the Relationship between Psychological Capital, Work Engagement and Extra-Role Behavior

Starting from the Positive Organizational Behavior movement, several studies showed that some personal resources and some contextual features within the working context might encourage individuals and groups in thriving, thus providing a concrete competitive advantage for organizations. Among the individual factors, psychological capital (PsyCap) received a special interest because it was proved to promote positive work attitudes and behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the positive effect of PsyCap on extra-role behaviors considering the mediating role of work engagement. A mediational hypothesis was tested via SEM on 1219 Italian employees, balanced for gender. Results suggested that work engagement partially mediated the positive relationship between PsyCap and extra-role behaviors. The present study shed a light on the psychological mechanisms according to which PsyCap positively affects extra-role behaviors. In line with the Positive Organizational Behavior Movement Theory, personal resources, i.e., PsyCap, tend to improve work engagement that, in turn, tends to promote positive behaviors at work. Finally, the present study discussed results especially in terms of practical implications in order to promote employees’ PsyCap in organizational setting.

How Smart Technology Affects the Well-Being and Supportive Learning Performance of Logistics Employees?

The rapid improvement of technologies such as artificial intelligence in recent years has resulted in the development of smart technologies (ST) that can influence learning performance in different fields. The purpose of study is to explore the link between smart technology and learning performance. Using the S-O-R model as a framework, the researchers argue that smart technology (Stimuli) will increase corporate trust, self-efficacy, and well-being (Organism), resulting in improved learning performance (Response). The current model regards corporate trust and self-efficacy as relationship factors and investigates their direct influence on employee well-being and learning performance and the mediating role played by these variables. Additionally, the function of employee well-being in moderating the relationship between corporate trust, self-efficacy, and employee learning performance is also explored. The respondents (n = 516) in the present study are made up of employees from 10 logistics companies located in China. The data analysis is conducted using the AMOS software. The results show that that smart technologies can affect learning performance through corporate trust, self-efficacy, and employee well-being. The implementation of smart technology initiatives by corporations may provide positive workplace outcomes for employees (increased well-being), corporations (more engagement in workplace learning performance), and the relationship between employees and the companies that employ them (corporate trust and self-efficacy).

How and When Telework Improves Job Performance During COVID-19? Job Crafting as Mediator and Performance Goal Orientation as Moderator

Purpose

Literature shows that it is a paradox whether employees can achieve performance in telework, especially during COVID-19. Our aim is to clarify the relationship between telework and employees’ job performance through a moderated mediation model.

Methods

This study employed two-wave surveys with the aim of reducing the potential risk of common method bias. The 1309 participants of the survey were mainly employees who used telework during COVID-19, and they were mostly in positions such as product design and scheme planning. SEM was used to test the hypotheses.

Results

Results from two-wave surveys of 1309 Chinese employees indicated that telework positively influenced job performance via job crafting. That is, job crafting played a mediating role between telework and job performance. And performance-prove goal orientation positively moderated the relationship between telework and job crafting but performance-avoid goal orientation negatively moderated the relationship between them.

Conclusion

This study shows that telework can improve job performance through job crafting in COVID-19, in response to the paradox implied in the literature. In addition, we use COR theory to explain the role of performance goal orientation and job crafting in telework. We add these variables to the theoretical framework of COR theory, thereby enriching the theoretical research from the COR theory perspective.

The influence of supervisor proactivity on perceived job demands and job outcomes among information technology subordinates in IT-related service projects

Purpose

This study explores how the relationship between supervisor's proactivity, job demands and job outcomes is based on dyadic interpersonal interaction based on the literature of the job demands-resources model and conservation of resources theory.

Design/methodology/approach

In this work, valid data from 272 participants (241 information technology subordinates and 31 project managers) in professional service firms are used in measurement and structural analyses based on a cross-level research framework. Additionally, the hierarchical linear modeling technique and a cross-sectional dataset were used to evaluate the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

The results reveal that supervisor proactivity is a critical resource during the execution of professional service projects and is significantly related to perceptions of job demands on the part of subordinates while positively moderating the relationship between job demands and job satisfaction and job demands organizational commitment.

Originality/value

The answer to the question as to whether extensive use of job resources (i.e. supervisor proactivity) in service projects is beneficial and inconclusive in the current information technology (IT) industry literature. Currently, the IT industry continues to experience rapid growth and is a dynamic sector in the global economy that results in increased demands on supervisors because of the specific characteristics of their positions. Consequently, it is necessary further to examine both the direct and moderating effects of resource crossover driven by supervisor proactivity on subordinate behavior, including job demands, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Although proactivity is a relatively mature concept, some issues related to the negative effects of proactivity on factors, such as job demands, technostress and addiction, need to be further addressed. However, studies specifically focus on investigating this issue are missing from the literature. The findings of this paper thus address these research gaps by validating the direct and moderating relationships of such factors using the proposed cross-level research model.

Reducing Hindering Job Demands: The Role of Belief in Life as a Zero-Sum Game and Workload

When individuals engage in job crafting by decreasing their job demands, the workload of their teammates rises. Pursuing self-interest at the expense of others requires holding a belief about the antagonistic nature of human relations. The present research demonstrates how belief in life as a zero-sum game (BZSG) shapes workplace behaviors. Our two studies-one cross-sectional and one time-lagged-support our predictions that a strong BZSG weakens proactivity and increases the tendency to decrease one's job demands at the expense of others. We also observed a suppression effect: workload triggers a reduction in job demands indirectly by activating BZSG, while the direct link between workload and reducing hindering job demands is negative. The results are important for both theory and practice because they delineate the conditions that prompt the avoidance of job demands by the employees.

Interpreting Usability Factors Predicting Sustainable Adoption of Cloud-Based E-Learning Environment during COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic affected educational institutions in an unrivaled way around the globe and forced them to switch from conventional classroom learning mode to e-learning mode within a short time period. Neither instructors nor students had ample time to prepare. The purpose of the current study is to accomplish two objectives: to explore the functional relationship between attitudinal readiness (ATR), subjective well-being (SWB), and cloud-based e-learning adoption intention in Taiwan and examine the constancy of recommended proposed relationships among different students’ groups. The model was then empirically tested using data of 256 university students by structural equation modeling. The current study demonstrates that ATR is completely explained through four dimensions: peer reference, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ubiquity. SWB is positively interpreted through four dimensions: online course quality, system quality, perceived service quality, and perceived closeness. Self-efficacy has a significant relationship with both attitudinal readiness and adoption intention of a cloud-based e-learning system. Finally, the invariance test explores substantial variance among students who intend to use the system and students who reject it. Therefore, researchers and practitioners regarding educational, technological innovation must consider this empirical evidence to develop and validate a sustainable cloud-based e-learning program in higher education.

Proactive strategies for countering the detrimental outcomes of qualitative job insecurity in academia

Against the backdrop of various and sometimes unexpected transformations of working conditions, qualitative job insecurity has become increasingly prevalent in academia and beyond. As a result, there is a great need for identifying factors that may mitigate its detrimental outcomes on employee well-being. To do so, the current study aimed to investigate the role of two proactive participation strategies-participatory decision-making and job crafting-as a means of counteracting the effects of qualitative job insecurity on burnout, work engagement and job satisfaction. The study was based on a sample of higher education employees in Belgium and Switzerland (N = 915). To test the hypotheses, moderation analyses were conducted in the overall sample and across different staff categories (i.e., senior and junior academic staff, administrative employees). Around 30% of the tested moderation effects were statistically significant, revealing that the negative outcomes of job insecurity were less salient at high values of the moderators. In particular, our findings suggest that encouraging participative decision-making may serve as a means to maintain academic employees' job satisfaction and prevent burnout in turbulent times. Moreover, job crafting may be additionally targeted at preserving work engagement, even though its moderator effects were not universal.

Job crafting, a bottom-up job characteristic of academics with an embeddedness potential

Purpose

The frequent turnover of academic instructors (lecturers) to other organizations and countries despite the autonomies their job offer them necessitated; this study aims to examine the relationship between job crafting (JC) and embeddedness of lecturers to their jobs.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey research design was adopted. This study is carried out in the south-east region of Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 8,051 academic staff of six randomly selected public universities in the region and a sample size of 367 was determined using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) formula. The primary and secondary source of data were used in data collection and were analysed using regression analysis at a 5% level of significance.

Findings

Result revealed that task crafting has a statistically significant positive relationship with employee job fit (r = 0.949, R2 = 0.900, F = 2699.473, p-value < 0.05), that relational crafting has a statistically significant positive influence on employee links (r = 0.982, R2 = 0.964, F = 8112.281, p-value < 0.05) and that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between cognitive crafting and sacrifice links (r = 0.962, R2 = 0.926, F = 3729.900, p-value < 0.05).

Practical implications

This study’s practical implication is that it will aid in making academics in Nigeria embedded in their jobs by encouraging them to craft their jobs so as to give them more meaning. In the field of research, this study helps to close the literature gap existing in JC and the role it plays in embedding academics in their jobs, hence, opening up a whole new research area with empirical data to back it up. For management, the study will help in knowing how to appropriately harness the potential of JC in making employees more engaged in their jobs.

Originality/value

Many studies have been carried out in the past in areas of JC and employee performance, non to the best knowledge of the researchers has been extended to studying JC as it relates to the embeddedness of academics to their jobs in Nigeria, this study is, therefore, a new addition to academic literature in this area.

"Today I felt like my work meant something": A pilot study on job crafting, a coaching-based intervention for people with work limitations and disabilities

BACKGROUND

People's work life and career can ultimately be deconstructed to the day-to-day job tasks they perform, the people they interact with, and the value and meaning attached to their jobs. Individuals with work limitations and disabilities consistently experience disparities in the workplace resulting in a less than optimal work experience in all three areas.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to conduct a pilot study to test the effectiveness of job crafting as an occupational therapy (OT) intervention strategy for workers with health conditions and impairments. Job crafting is a proactive, strengths-based, bottom-up approach where workers renegotiate and redefine their job tasks in a personally meaningful way.

METHODS

A mixed-methods study (n = 11) was conducted with workers who experience work limitations and disabilities. OT graduate students conducted in-depth interviews and facilitated the use of job crafting to improve work-related outcomes. Pre-and post-intervention data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Qualitative data was transcribed, coded, and synthesized.

RESULTS

The job crafting intervention improved work-related self-efficacy (p < 0.05) and crafting behaviors (p < 0.05) in the workplace. Participants accomplished goals to manage their work limitations, meet job demands, and other non-disability related challenges.

CONCLUSIONS

Job crafting has the potential to be used as a holistic OT intervention strategy to improve work-related self-efficacy among workers with work limitations and disabilities.

Job Crafting: A Challenge to Promote Decent Work for Vulnerable Workers

In recent years, the decent work agenda has called upon vocational psychologists to advance psychological research and intervention to promote work as a human right. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic is having disproportionate consequences on vulnerable workers, such as unemployment and underemployment, highlighting the need to enhance access to decent work for these workers. As a response, the present perspective article advances job crafting as a promising way to shape decent work for marginalized workers. To this end, the article deals with decent work and job crafting, starting with the definition of decent work according to the psychology of working theory (PWT) and examining the evolution of the construct of job crafting. Subsequently, the literature on job crafting is discussed, focusing on variables related to the PWT model of decent work and their effect on vulnerable workers. Finally, possibilities for further research and intervention aimed at promoting decent work through job crafting are discussed.

The role of gender, profession and informational role self-efficacy in physician-nurse knowledge sharing and decision-making

While gender and professional status influence how decisions are made, the role played by health care professionals' informational role self-efficacy appears as a central construct fostering participation in decision-making. The goal of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of how gender and profession affect the role of self-efficacy in sharing expertise and decision-making. Validated questionnaires were answered by a cross-sectional sample of 108 physicians and nurses working in mental health care teams. A moderated mediation analysis was performed. Results reveal that the impact of sharing knowledge on informational role self-efficacy is negative for nurses. Being a nurse negatively affects the relation between informational role self-efficacy and participating in decision-making. Informational role self-efficacy is also a strong positive predictor of participation in decision-making for male physicians but less so for female physicians.

Perceived self-efficacy of students in a business simulation game

Self-efficacy is an individual's confidence in the personal ability to complete a task under specified conditions. Game self-efficacy is the belief of game players that they would win in a business simulation game competition. To understand the composites of such belief, an instrument of 30 statements was developed and statistically tested on 227 undergraduate students at the end of a business simulation game competition. The factor analysis produced eight factors of perceived game self-efficacy, namely, innovation, experimentation, conviction, openness, focus, proactivity, conceptualisation and determination. These factors have significant research implications for goal-oriented behaviour, goal setting and performance enhancement at work and in games and competitions, and in developing simulation games.

How E-Learning Environmental Stimuli Influence Determinates of Learning Engagement in the Context of COVID-19? SOR Model Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic at the beginning of 2020 has changed the conventional learning mode for most students at schools all over the world, and the e-learning at home has become a new trend. Taking Chinese college students as the research subject and drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) model, this paper examines the relationship between the peer referent, perceived closeness, and perceived control and the learning engagement. Using data from 377 college students who have used e-learning, this study shows that perceived closeness, perceived control, and peer referents in e-learning have a positive effect on the self-efficacy and well-being of students, thus improving students’ enthusiasm for learning. Our intent is to assist researchers, instructors, designers, and others in identifying effective methods to conceptualize and measure student engagement in e-learning.

Does Paradoxical Leadership Facilitate Leaders' Task Performance? A Perspective of Self-Regulation Theory

As an emerging Chinese indigenous leadership style, paradoxical leadership has received considerable attention from researchers. Many studies have demonstrated the positive impact of paradoxical leadership on employees, teams, and organizations; however, there is less information on how paradoxical leaders influence their own work outcomes. On the basis of self-regulation theory, in this study, we examined the impact of paradoxical leadership on leaders’ task performance. In addition, we investigated the mediating effects of job crafting and career resilience on this relationship. Through a survey of 120 leaders and 271 of their immediate followers, our empirical analysis found the following: (1) paradoxical leadership was positively related to leaders’ task performance, (2) job crafting mediated the relationship between paradoxical leadership and leaders’ task performance, and (3) career resilience positively moderated the relationship between paradoxical leadership and job crafting, and had an indirect effect on task performance through job crafting. Our model offers novel insights into the paradoxical leadership literature and implications for improving leaders’ job crafting and task performance.

Individual-level absorptive capacity and multidimensional work behavior in tourism

Purpose

This study aimed to advance the understanding of employees' individual-level absorptive capacity by examining the mechanisms of three dimensions of their work outcomes: contextual performance, citizenship behaviors toward customers and service sabotage. Drawing on the theory of psychological ownership, the author theorized and assessed how employees' individual-level absorptive capacity predicts different facets of employees' work outcomes through psychological ownership.

Design/methodology/approach

Multisource data were collected from 334 subordinates from the hospitality industry in Taiwan over two time periods. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling, the results of which indicated that employees' individual-level absorptive capacity was positively related to psychological ownership.

Findings

Psychological ownership positively predicted contextual performance and citizenship behaviors toward customers; however, it was negatively associated with service sabotage. Finally, it was found to mediate the effects of employees' individual-level absorptive capacity on contextual performance, citizenship behaviors toward customers and service sabotage.

Originality/value

This study contributed to understanding the relationship between individual-level absorptive capacity and shaping perceptions of service workers and provided several theoretical implications for absorptive capacity and tourism literature.

The role of the employees' individual resources in the perception of the work overload

Purpose

The contemporary world's pressure, oriented on flexibility and quick actions, has permanently changed work characteristics. Taking the employees' perspective into account, it seems important to identify whether and which of the employees' individual resources help them cope with those job demands. Therefore, the main research question is what is the relation between holistically conceptualised employees' individual resources and perceived work overload?

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the literature on individual resources and job demands, the authors test for relations between three components of individual resources (physical, emotional, spiritual potentials) and job characteristics (work variability and work diversity) and the perceived work overload. Data were collected using a survey method amongst 336 Polish knowledge workers.

Findings

The results partially supported the posed hypotheses. Both work variability and work diversity relate positively to work overload. Only the physical potential is related directly and negatively to perceived work overload. The spiritual potential relates indirectly to work overload through work diversity. The authors also found that age moderates the relation between physical and spiritual potential and overload.

Research limitations/implications

Human resource management (HRM) practitioners and supervisors need to consider the level of employee's individual resources, especially when dealing with older employees and their physical resources.

Originality/value

This study contributes to research on the causes of work overload perception by identifying the role of individual resources and employees' age, thereby indicating that taking care of those resources could be another way of preventing occupational burnout in demanding work conditions.

Performance, Achievement, and Success in Psychological Research: Towards a More Transparent Use of the Still Ambiguous Terminology

The present study focused on the terms performance, achievement, and success that have often been used in an ambiguous manner in psychological research. The way in which the meaning of the domain-specific constructs referred to with the terms was established for measurement purposes was investigated on a sample of 262 articles that stemmed from 35 randomly selected journals covering the full range of psychological research. The operational definitions of the constructs referred to with the terms performance, achievement, and success were analysed and compared in both inter- and intra-domain fashion. Additionally, we assessed the match among the observed operational definitions and general conceptual definitions available in the extant literature. The results revealed terminology-related issues in educational and occupational research. Within these domains, lack of adherence to the multidimensionality of the constructs of academic performance, academic achievement, academic success, job performance, and career success was identified as a general issue. Further, the tendency to measure job performance via indicators based on self-rating was considered inadequate given the objective nature of the term performance. In educational research, the overlap of the academic performance, academic achievement, and academic success constructs was confirmed, resulting from the tendency to use GPA as a universal indicator of academic outcomes. Based on the present findings, we provided several recommendations in order to encourage future research towards a more transparent way of dealing with the particular constructs referred to with the terms performance, achievement, and success. We suppose the present study may help researchers in the full range of psychological disciplines to add clarity to their own research.