The Use of Social Capital in Teacher Research: A Necessary Clarification

Individual Work Attitudes and Work Ability

Work capacity depends on many factors, including the age and health status of the employee, but also on personal characteristics and attitudes, such as reduced tolerance of unfavorable working conditions (Work Annoyance, WA), excessive commitment to work (Overcommitment, OC), passion for work (Work Engagement, WE), and social interactions (Social Capital, SC). A total of 1309 workers who underwent a medical examination at work completed questionnaires on work attitudes and assessed their work ability using the Work Ability Score (WAS). The relationship between variables expressing work attitudes and WAS was studied using hierarchical linear regression and moderation analyses. WA is associated with low WAS values; SC is a positive predictor of WAS and moderates the effect of WA on WAS. OC reduces work ability, while Vigor and Dedication, components of WE, have a strong positive effect on work ability. To improve the work ability of employees, employers and managers should improve social relations in the workplace and discourage overcommitment. A positive working environment can increase engagement and avoid triggers of work annoyance.

Do the various leisure forms have equal effects on mental health? A longitudinal analysis of self-selected leisure activities

The deteriorating trends of unbalanced income, progressive age-related health problems, and loss of traditional ties necessitate ever-flexible interventions that are helpful to overcome a decline in Chinese adults' mental health. This study aimed to test whether engagement in different domains of leisure is associated with a composite index of mental health, both concurrently and subsequently. Longitudinal data including 10,968 participants (females = 5,804) with a mean age of 46.01 years in the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) were analyzed using generalized estimating equations with a logit link. The results showed that face-to-face experiences, such as sports with all ORs of < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.01 and meeting with all ORs of < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.01 except daily in-person meeting frequency, are important for protecting mental health owing to the increasing social support by building close ties. The results also indicate that online leisure with all ORs < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.01 has positive effects on lowering the odds of depression. In addition, receptive cognitive leisure, such as watching television or movies with all ORs < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.05 level, was not consistently associated with depression. However, active cognitive leisure, such as reading with all ORs of < 1 at a significance level of α = 0.01, was associated with lower odds of depression.

“Title does not dictate behavior”: Associations of formal, structural, and behavioral brokerage with school staff members’ professional well-being

Individuals in brokerage positions are vital when further developing complex organizations with multiple subgroups only loosely coupled to each other. Network theorists have conceptualized an individual’s brokerage as the degree to which a person occupies a bridging position between disconnected others. Research outside the school context has indicated for quite some time that an individual’s social capital in the form of brokerage is positively associated with professional development—not only on a collective but also on an individual level. Schools are without any doubt complex organizations with multiple loosely connected stakeholders involved when further developing their educational practice. Thus, it is not surprising that in recent years, the concept of brokerage has gained interest in research on school improvement as well. Up to now, in school improvement research brokerage has been operationalized in different ways: as individuals’ formal entitlement to act as intermediaries (formal brokerage), their position within a social network (structural brokerage), or their behavior when linking disconnected groups of staff members (behavioral brokerage). As these perspectives have often been examined separately, this study, as a first step, aimed to simultaneously assess school staff members’ formal, structural, and behavioral brokerage, and examine their degree of interrelatedness. In a second step, associations of brokerage with professional well-being were analyzed. Even though there is evidence for the positive impact of brokerage on professional development, only little is known about its associations with professional well-being. In a third step, interaction effects were examined when formal brokerage is congruent or incongruent with other facets of brokerage. Based on a sample of 1,316 school staff members at 51 primary schools in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, we conducted both bivariate correlational and multiple-group structural equation modeling analyses. The findings revealed that formal, structural, and behavioral brokerage are interrelated facets. However, formal entitlement did not determine either structural position or behavior. Moreover, brokerage within schools was only partially related to professional well-being. In the discussion section, the study’s key contributions and practical implications are presented in detail.