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Meaningful work and mental health: job satisfaction as a moderator
Journal of Mental Health
Abstract
Background: Depression, anxiety and stress are common problems for modern workers. Although having meaningful work, or work that is significant, facilitates personal growth, and contributes to the greater good, has been linked to better mental health, people’s work might also need to be satisfying or enjoyable to improve outcomes.
Aims: The purpose of the present study was to examine meaningful work’s relation to mental health (i.e. depression, anxiety and stress) and investigate job satisfaction as a moderator of this relation.
Methods: The study hypotheses were tested with a large, diverse sample recruited from an online source.
Results: Partially supporting hypotheses, when controlling for job satisfaction, meaningful work negatively correlated with depression but did not have a significant relation with anxiety and stress. Similarly, job satisfaction negatively predicted depression and stress. Furthermore, the relations between meaningful work and both anxiety and stress were moderated by job satisfaction. Specifically, only people perceiving their work as meaningful and satisfying reported less anxiety and stress.
Conclusions: Although continued research is needed, employers and employees may have to target both the meaningfulness and job satisfaction to address the issues of stress and anxiety among working adults.
... Research, including meta-analytic evidence, indicates that individuals who perceive their work as more meaningful report higher levels of well-being and job satisfaction (Allan et al., 2019;Martela and Pessi, 2018). Additionally, they experience reduced levels of depression (Allan et al., 2016) and enhanced work engagement (Steger et al., 2013). Meaningfulness is thus regarded as a crucial psychological resource that fosters resilience and mitigates burnout risk (Allan et al., 2014). ...
... MW is a critical resilience buffer, mitigating stress and depressive symptoms while promoting overall mental health and adaptive coping (Allan et al., 2016). MW as a resilience buffer is particularly relevant in entrepreneurial contexts, where individuals routinely face uncertainty, heavy workloads, and emotional distress. ...
... Including objective performance in the regression model enhanced the ecological validity of findings by demonstrating that MW is not only a subjective construct but also relates to externally verifiable indicators of success. MW enhances well-being in high-demand environments, such as entrepreneurship (Allan et al., 2016;Steger and Dik, 2009). ...
Introduction: The study explores how meaningful work (MW) and workplace attachment styles, secure (SE), anxious (AX), and avoidant (AV), predict entrepreneurial well-being within a structured sales network of a financial services firm. It further examines the moderating role of attachment styles and the contextual influence of regional leadership and team financial performance. Methods: Data were collected from 300 entrepreneurs using the Work and Meaning Inventory (WAMI), the Workplace Attachment Questionnaire (WAQ), and the Well-Being Index (WHO-5). Results: Regression analyses show that MW is a robust and consistent predictor of well-being, even after controlling for team-level sales performance and gender. AX initially appeared to amplify the positive relationship between MW and well-being, but this interaction effect diminished once objective financial performance metrics were included. SE to leaders was positively associated with well-being in psychological models but lost significance in the extended model, suggesting that financial performance may partially mediate its effects. Well-being varied significantly by regional leadership, even after adjusting for sales outcomes. Discussion: The findings underscore the importance of promoting MW, monitoring leadership impact across regions, and integrating subjective and objective indicators when assessing entrepreneurial well-being.
... Meaning in work concerns the reasons an individual has for working, what he or she seeks to accomplish by working, and the continuity that he or she experiences in work" ( [8]; page 87). Initial empirical findings suggest that meaningful work and mental well-being are interrelated [9,10]. Meaningful work might increase mental well-being by buffering the impact of work stress and by improving people's purpose in life [10][11][12]. ...
... Initial empirical findings suggest that meaningful work and mental well-being are interrelated [9,10]. Meaningful work might increase mental well-being by buffering the impact of work stress and by improving people's purpose in life [10][11][12]. The relationship is, however, conceivable in both directions: more meaningful work might lead to better mental wellbeing, but low mental well-being might also lead to the perception of less meaningful work (e.g., [13]). ...
... The relationship is, however, conceivable in both directions: more meaningful work might lead to better mental wellbeing, but low mental well-being might also lead to the perception of less meaningful work (e.g., [13]). Thus, longitudinal studies are needed to determine the direction of this relation [10]. Conforming the direction and knowing the strength of the relation can inform about potential interventions to improve mental well-being of employees. ...
Background
An increasing number of studies reveal that more meaning in life is positively related to mental well-being. Meaning in life can be derived from different sources, including the workplace. The aim of this study was to explore the longitudinal directional association of meaningful work with mental well-being.
Methods
Prospective data from 292 persons at two timepoints (two-week interval) were used to estimate the cross-lagged relationship and directionality of meaningful work with mental well-being.
Results
The cross-lagged panel model had a good fit to the data (Chi² ms(90) = 150.9; p < 0.001; RMSEA = 0.048; p = 0.576; CFI = 0.984; TLI = 0.979; SRMR = 0.040) and showed that levels of meaningful work at t1 had a positive effect on mental well-being at t2 (β = 0.15, p = 0.010). But mental well-being at t1 did not affect meaningful work at t2 (β = 0.02, p = 0.652). Sub-analyses revealed the effects to be mainly driven by women (as opposed to men) and white-collar workers (as opposed to blue-collar workers).
Conclusion
This study confirmed a directional association of meaningful work on mental well-being, indicating that more meaningful work has beneficial mental well-being effects.
... 21 A previous study has found that meaningful work is negatively correlated with depression when workers can control job satisfaction; therefore, employers and workers may need to target job meaningfulness and job satisfaction to address mental health issues. 22 Individuals' assessment of co-worker support and autonomy can shape their commitment to work and subsequently reduce their stress. Individuals' perceptions of occupational factors, such as social support and how tasks are managed, can influence their commitment to their work. ...
... When workers experience depression, the stigma associated with their mental health conditions must be reduced. 2,22 It is essential to improve working conditions, especially in the transportion sector in developing countries, by implementing employment policies regarding workload, work duration, adequate rest periods, and access to health services. 26 Organizations and workers need to manage work tasks and roles so as not to interfere with workers' mental health. ...
Background: The rise of online motorcycle taxi services, driven by the demand for transportation and new technologies, has created a new landscape for drivers. However, despite the benefits, these drivers are not considered employees and are therefore vulnerable to psychosocial risks. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychosocial hazards and depressive symptoms among online motorcycle taxi drivers. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, involving 218 online motorcycle taxi drivers in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, and Tangerang from September to December 2022. The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire version III was used to assess psychosocial hazards in the workplace and the likelihood of developing depressive symptoms. A multiple linear regression test was used, with a significance level set of p < 0.05.Results: Most respondents were male, and many had worked for over five years, with the majority working more than 8 hours a day. Emotional burden and workplace influences were positively correlated with depressive symptoms (p = 0.017; β = 0.154; and p = 0.002; β = 0.166, respectively). In contrast, the meaning of work and clarity of roles were negatively correlated with depressive symptoms (p = 0.009; β = -0.161; and p = 0.024; β = -0.195, respectively).Conclusion: This study highlights that emotional stress and workplace influence can exacerbate depressive symptoms, while a clear and meaningful work environment have a positive impact. Healthy lifestyle habits are one of the stress management solutions to improve emotional wellness.
... Dissatisfaction occurs when standards do not overlap (Lu et al., 2015). In other words, job satisfaction is supposed to be high when an employee's job expectations are met, they experience fair actions by the managers during the implementation process, and the enterprise achieves its goals (Allan et al., 2018). ...
... Work is completed with high productivity, and a high-quality product is generated as a natural consequence of job satisfaction. As a result, it could be in the organisation's best interests if employees' job satisfaction is closely monitored (Allan et al., 2018). The willingness to make choices about a job is the most important factor affecting employees' job satisfaction (Albert et al., 2018;Ordu, 2016). ...
This study focused on diversity and job satisfaction within organisational climates, exploring the scenarios of small and medium-sized enterprises. The study explored the effects of physiological elements of employee diversity on job satisfaction at the workplace and ascertained the influence of psychological diversity climate on the job satisfaction of employees in SMEs in Kogi State. This study employed a survey research design and targeted employees who could provide insights into diversity-related situations. Both descriptive and inferential methods were employed to analyse the collected data. The study used multiple regression analyses to test hypotheses. Results showed that the age of employees has a significant negative effect on job satisfaction. As employees grow older, there is a noticeable trend towards decreasing job satisfaction, and the gender of employees was found to have an insignificant negative effect on job satisfaction, among others. The study recommends, among others, that SME owners or managers should implement age-specific support programmes aimed at addressing the changing needs and preferences of older employees to help sustain and improve their job satisfaction and that managers should conduct regular training sessions to raise awareness and sensitivity among employees regarding religious and diversity-related issues to foster a positive and inclusive work environment. Keywords: psychological diversity climate, diversity management, job satisfaction, physiological diversity, synergetic environment
... In addition to its impact on the quality of care and the risk of nurse turnover, professional satisfaction is essential for nurses' overall well-being and health [30][31][32]. Low professional satisfaction may lead to anxiety and stress [31]. ...
... In addition to its impact on the quality of care and the risk of nurse turnover, professional satisfaction is essential for nurses' overall well-being and health [30][31][32]. Low professional satisfaction may lead to anxiety and stress [31]. Conversely, high job satisfaction has been linked to improvements in both physical and mental health, as well as increased levels of happiness and selfesteem. ...
Background
In Israel there are only 6.53 nurses per 1000 citizens, compared to 8.8 nurses per 1000 citizens in the OECD countries. The nursing shortage is even more severe in peripheral areas, especially in southern Israel. Nurses` professional satisfaction is crucial for preserving the nursing workforce. This study aimed to assess job satisfaction among novice nurses and identify components of professional satisfaction.
Methods
Cross-sectional study of 216 novice nurses who graduated in 2018–2022 and were approached ten months after graduation. Job satisfaction components were constructed using factor analysis.
Results
Professional satisfaction was based mainly on the intrinsic characteristics of the occupation related to personal accomplishment and organizational culture. In a multivariable model, a one-point increase in mean satisfaction with the training period during studies in the nursing department was associated with a more than a three-fold elevation in the odds for high and very high professional satisfaction (OR 3.0, 95% CI 1.7–5.1). Odds for high and very high professional satisfaction were more than four-fold and two-fold higher among graduates who rated their level of control over work schedule as high and medium vs. low (OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.0–16.7 and OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.2–6.3, respectively). Work-life balance without disturbance to daily life by work was found significantly associated with higher odds for high and very high satisfaction. Nurses who plan to continue professional development, i.e., an advanced professional course or Master’s degree, had significantly higher mean professional satisfaction scales than others (4.2 vs. 3.7, p = .009 and 4.2 vs. 3.9, p < .001, respectively).
Conclusion
The most important components of professional satisfaction among novice nurses are self-accomplishment, which was built from work-related challenges, interest and variety of tasks, personal growth and development, and the possibility of contributing to patients` care and organizational culture, which was built from relationships with co-workers. Persons who manage nurses should cultivate an atmosphere of support and guidance, provide new nurses with interesting work tasks, and increase their ability to control their work schedule. Young nurses should be encouraged to continue their professional and academic education.
... Scanlan & Still (2019) provide results that when employees do not experience burnout, their job satisfaction will increase, this is the result of a positive response after employees can overcome stress caused by job demands and supportive work resources. Allan et al. (2018) show the results of extraordinary work affecting employees' mental health for the better when the work can meet the values, desires, and needs of employees, thereby increasing employee job satisfaction. H2: There is a positive and significant influence of mental health on job satisfaction. ...
... In Kader et al. (2021) research, employees did not experience mental health problems due to support from the company, co-workers support, wage increases, and promotions. Allan et al. (2018) provides significant results that employees' mental health gets better when the job can meet the values, wants, and needs of these employees, so this also increases employee job satisfaction. ...
This study aims to determine the effect of emotional intelligence and mental health on employee performance mediated by job satisfaction at Bank Rakyat Indonesia X Regency employees. This study used a quantitative research method by distributing questionnaires to 100 employees of Bank Rakyat Indonesia in X Regency. The sampling technique used in this study is saturated or census sampling. The final sample in the study amounted to 75 respondents. The analytical tool used in this study uses SmartPLS version 3.0 analysis with the structural equation modelling or SEM analysis method. The results of this study explain that; (1) there is no positive and significant effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction, (2) there is a positive and significant effect of mental health on job satisfaction, (3) there is a positive and significant effect of job satisfaction on employee performance, (4) there is no effect of satisfaction work mediates emotional intelligence on employee performance, and (5) there is an effect of job satisfaction mediating mental health on employee performance.
... H. J. F. Sousa et al., 2021). Assim como a percepção de satisfação com o trabalho esteve diretamente associada a menores sintomas de depressão e estresse (Allan et al., 2018), além de contribuir para a percepção de bem-estar e felicidade e melhora da autoestima (Satuf et al., 2018;Weziak-Bialowolska et al., 2020). ...
Fatores de Risco Psicossociais referem-se a condições laborais que, quando desfavoráveis, podem comprometer a saúde mental de trabalhadores. Por outro lado, há fatores que podem ser protetivos, aumentando o bem-estar psíquico. Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar os efeitos dos construtos de Significado do Trabalho e de Trabalho Decente sobre a saúde mental de trabalhadores por meio da avaliação do efeito mediador destes construtos frente aos fatores de risco psicossociais existentes numa amostra de 330 profissionais brasileiros que responderam a um formulário eletrônico composto por: Questionário Sociodemográfico Ocupacional, Escala de Trabalho Decente, Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, Work and Meaning Inventory e Self Report Questionnaire. A análise de estatísticas descritivas, correlações entre as variáveis e Modelagem de Equações Estruturais indicou que os construtos exerceram um efeito mediador parcial frente ao sofrimento mental, sobretudo em função dos fatores relacionados à autonomia, violência e condições satisfatórias de trabalho. Contribuições para futuros estudos e aplicabilidade prática foram elencadas. Palavras-chave: significado do trabalho, trabalho decente, saúde mental.
... Positive feelings and happiness may be increased by meaningful work (Arnold et al., 2007). Meaningful work can enable FLEs to advance in their careers while protecting them from negative consequences of work-related stress, time flexibility and burnout (Allan et al., 2018). Further, a sense of community would make employees feel that "we are in this together", which would improve communication and coordination (Lata & Chaudhury, 2021). ...
The Indian hospitality industry has experienced significant growth following the pandemic. Hospitality means providing services to the guests, and the burden of providing such exceptional services is on the frontline employees (FLE). As a result, while keeping their guests happy, FLE have ignored to be happy themselves. Although being hospitable is ingrained in Indian culture, the challenging work situations, stress, and poor earnings have negatively impacted FLE’s quality of life. It is imperative that hoteliers and policy makers look at ways to cherish and engage their human capital. Therefore, this study proposes a framework for revitalising the Indian hospitality industry by investigating the direct and indirect ways to promote FLE happiness through spiritual leadership (SL), meaningful work and sense of community, based on the conservation of resources (COR) and cognitive appraisal theories. Survey data was gathered from 362 FLE across India, and data was analysed using SEM and PROCESS macro V4.1. Results indicate that SL contributed greatly to improving the beneficial effects of meaningful work and sense of community on FLE happiness through serial mediation paths. Additionally, however, the findings also revealed a curvilinear relationship between SL and FLE happiness, indicating that too much of SL was not always beneficial, and suggesting new lines of inquiry. This study shed light on theoretical and managerial implications from a service industry context, thus reinvigorating research in the hospitality industry.
... Meaning may arise from a sense of contributing to the greater good, a sense of purpose about one's role, or an alignment between personal values and morals and those of the workplace. When combined with job satisfaction, finding meaning or purpose in one's work can lower levels of anxiety and stress (Allan et al., 2016). This provides a positive feedback loop, where job satisfaction amplifies the sense of being connected to work that is of personal, and potentially societal, value. ...
Teacher Educators (TE) are a specific category of Higher Education (HE) academics whose primary responsibility is the preparation of Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) for the Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary, and Further Education and Training contexts. TEs navigate this important, multifaceted role in addition to growing work pressures and decreased resource allocations. Though these stressors often lead to burnout, negatively impacting TEs' wellbeing, productivity, and career satisfaction, many persevere in this career despite these challenging experiences. This qualitative study employs the popular PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment) to explore the protective factors that support TEs' mental health, wellbeing, and resilience. Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) was applied to a combination of open-ended survey responses (n = 154) and semi-structured interview (n = 14) data from Higher Education TEs in Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK). Participants reported that excessive relational demands and the undervaluation and under-recognition of accomplishments in promotion systems challenged their wellbeing. However, findings highlight how positive emotions, vocational workflow, social support, a sense of meaning/purpose, and professional accomplishment can support thriving in the workplace. Our sample further benefit-ted from general wellbeing practices (diet, exercise, mindfulness), professional col-legiality, and boundary setting, which help maintain work-life balance. These findings suggest that HE institutions might consider PERMA-informed initiatives-such as wellbeing programmes, formal recognition of diverse work achievements, and flexible workload policies-to mitigate workplace stress and promote TE resilience. Promoting these factors may improve quality of life outcomes for TEs and enhance outcomes within initial teacher education.
... La gestión del talento humano es en teoría la forma en que se administran las capacidades de las personas vinculadas como trabajadores en una empresa con el fin de alcanzar sus metas organizacionales (Cazan et al., 2019). El interés de las ciencias administrativas por estudiar los diversos aspectos relacionados con la gestión del talento humano recae en la necesidad de comprender en profundidad cómo el comportamiento de los trabajadores se relaciona con el logro de los objetivos organizacionales en sus diferentes áreas y qué decisiones tomar para guiar dicho comportamiento hacia el logro de los objetivos (Allan et al., 2018). ...
Colombia has a productivity five times lower than that of the United States. A key aspect to improve organizational productivity is compliance with the psychological contract that contributes to the development of a satisfied human talent. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to determine the influence of aspects such as training, bonuses and promotions as variables of the psychological contract on the income of Colombian industrial companies. For the analysis of results, 224 companies in the sector were selected for convenience, which fed the Pearson correlation model and the multiple linear regression model. The results allow us to understand that it is possible to improve the income of organizations through compliance with the psychological contract, through aspects such as training and education, the granting of bonuses and promotions.
... This positive affect fosters intrinsic motivation in individuals to produce high-quality performance. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between meaningful work and positive work outcomes, such as job satisfaction, job commitment, work engagement, and high-quality work (Allan et al., 2018;Geldenhuys et al., 2014;Kaur & Mittal, 2020;Kim & Park, 2022). Previous research also indicates that meaningful work has a significant influence on adaptive performance across various settings, though such studies have typically been conducted with participants of specific characteristics (Budhiraja & Rathi, 2023). ...
The purposed of this study was to examine the role of meaningful work as a mediation between learning culture and adaptive performance relationship, and also considering self-leadership as a moderation between meaningful work and adaptive performance correlation on startup employee. This research is a quantitative study with questionnaire as a data collection tool. Data were collected using purposive sampling which obtained 321 respondents. The result of this study is partial mediation which explain that meaningful work are significant to mediating the relationship between learning culture and adaptive performance. However, self-leadership has a significant effect as a moderation only at low and medium level.
... Also, the links between productive work and both anxiety and stress were tempered by how satisfied people were with their jobs. In particular, only people who thought their jobs were important and satisfying said they had less anxiety and stress (Allan et al., 2016). Psychological factors and job stress had a negative impact on various aspects of work life, particularly job satisfaction. ...
This study examines mental health and job satisfaction with work in above-and minimum wage earners. Similar findings show low mental health for both income scales. All income brackets show some concern, though not much higher than average. Depression is slightly higher among those earning above the minimum wage. Both income groups struggle with behavioral control, suggesting that concentrated interventions may improve coping and stress management. Lower levels of positive affect emphasize the importance of workplace emotional well-being regardless of income. The research suggests that above-minimum wage and minimum wage mental health are not statistically different. The report shows that job satisfaction is good across income brackets. Average job satisfaction is marginally higher for those earning above minimum wage. This group exhibits greater intrinsic job satisfaction, an indication of life contentment, suggesting a tendency for income and intrinsic job satisfaction to increase together. Earning above the minimum wage promotes extrinsic satisfaction, or non-work-related contentment. The study concluded that both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to a productive workplace, emphasizing the need of considering issues beyond monetary compensation. The findings from this study will contribute to analyzing mental health and job satisfaction differences between above minimum wage earners and minimum wage earners.
... Additional studies emphasize the role of emotional intelligence in mediating job satisfaction, particularly in managing interpersonal relationships and stress [18]. Psychological wellbeing, including mental health stability, has also emerged as a critical determinant, with lower work-related anxiety correlating positively with satisfaction [19][20][21]. Furthermore, professors with higher self-compassion and hope not only report increased satisfaction but also demonstrate greater engagement in positive coping mechanisms [22,23]. ...
This article investigates the factors that affect the job satisfaction of university teachers for which 400 teachers from 4 institutions (public and private) in Ecuador were stratified, resulting in a total of 1600 data points collected through online forms. The research was of a cross-sectional design and quantitative and used machine learning techniques of classification and prediction to analyze variables such as ethnic identity, field of knowledge, gender, number of children, job burnout, perceived stress, and occupational risk. The results indicate that the best classification model is neural networks with a precision of 0.7304; the most significant variables for predicting the job satisfaction of university teachers are: the number of children they have, scores related to perceived stress, professional risk, and burnout, province of the university at which the university teacher surveyed works, and city where the teacher works. This is in contrast to marital status, which does not contribute to its prediction. These findings highlight the need for inclusive policies and effective strategies to improve teacher well-being in the university academic environment.
... "Meaningful work" perceptions enhance workers' positive emotional affect and diminish stress, hate and desolation (Steger et al., 2012). Positive emotions protect workers against the damaging impact of job stress on their psychological well-being and advance their professional growth (Allan et al., 2018). Moreover, the "sense of community" creates and nurtures a powerful psychological bond among workers and also fosters workers' perception of improved task coordination and communication (Klein and D'Aunno, 1986). ...
Purpose
This study aimed to observe the effect of workplace spirituality (WPS) on employee silence. In addition, the study investigated the mediating role of workplace incivility on the relationship of WPS with employee silence. We further explored the WPS–workplace incivility link by testing the dark triad as the moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
We collected time-lagged data from 403 employees in the Indian hospitality industry. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to observe the linkages among the study variables.
Findings
The results revealed that WPS is associated negatively with employee silence. The dark triad moderated the association between WPS and workplace incivility. Workplace incivility significantly mediated the association between WPS and employee silence.
Practical implications
The study findings would help organizations in promoting WPS to alleviate the occurrences of uncivil behavior at work and comprehend the negative consequences of workplace incivility such as employee silence.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to explore the linkage between WPS and employee silence. The paper makes a significant contribution by analyzing the interactive effect of personal (dark triad), environmental (WPS) and behavioral (workplace incivility) factors on employee silence.
... Cognitive crafting refers to employees altering the way they perceive their jobs to make it more meaningful (Wrzesniewski and Dutton, 2001;Slemp and Vella-Brodrick, 2013). When employees perceive their work to be meaningful, they experience enhanced psychological well-being (Wrzesniewski et al., 2013;Wallace, 2019) and are more satisfied with their jobs (Allan et al., 2018). Job satisfaction correlates with positive recognition and appreciation from managers, decent salary and benefits, opportunities for career progression, etc. (Oktaviani and Sopiah, 2022). ...
Purpose
This study aims to attempt to put forward a nuanced conceptual framework to develop a better understanding of the relationship between job crafting and employees’ turnover intention, by bringing in “social exchange theory” perspective and proposing the mediating role of perceived organizational support (POS).
Design/methodology/approach
An extant review of literature was undertaken to identify and summarize the relevant findings on the topics of job crafting, POS and turnover intention, which further led to the development of hypotheses and the conceptual framework.
Findings
Results indicate that job crafting has a significant relationship with turnover intention with POS as an underpinning variable.
Practical implications
This study generates actionable insights and suggestions for the business leaders and practitioners, which can help them in handling the problem of rising employee turnover in today’s era marked by evolving attitudes and mindsets of the employees, along with the catalytic effects of pandemic and “Great Resignation”. Insights generated in this study for reducing dysfunctional employee turnover would have a stabilizing effect and lead society and business towards sustainable growth.
Social implications
Insights generated in this study for reducing dysfunctional employee turnover would have a stabilizing effect and lead society and business towards sustainable growth.
Originality/value
This study is original in three ways. Firstly, the study introduces a unique perspective by putting forward a conceptual framework nestled in the social exchange theory. Secondly, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first study to examine the role of POS as a mediator in the association between job crafting and turnover intention. Thirdly, by proposing POS as an outcome of job crafting, this study suggests a reciprocal relationship between job crafting and POS.
... By redesigning the work as play-full activity, internal environment of the organization is improved, workers intended to spend more efforts and times due to meaningfulness of the work and feel much satisfied (Parker & Collins, 2010). According Blake et al., (2018) meaningful work reduced the anxiety and stress, improvised the mental health and ultimately become the source of high job satisfaction. However, Ertuğrul et al., (2022) tested the indirect link between meaningful work and job satisfaction. ...
Is play-full work design strategy effective in higher education sector? To explore this phenomenon, data is collected through a structured questionnaire from teaching faculty of Pakistani universities (public, private and semi-public). SPSS and Amos software are used for the analysis of collected responses. Process macro mediation model suggested that play-full work design has significant positive relationship with job satisfaction and partially mediated by trust in management and meaningful work. Results of this study suggested that play-full work design strengthen the employees’ trust in management and provide insight about worthiness of their tasks, consequently higher level job satisfaction is attained. This study provides insight as well as guidance to higher education commission and top management of universities to take the necessary strategic measures in order to reap the benefits of this mystic practice. In addition, it also enlightens the practitioners’ vision by introducing the alleyways to make their exasperating work more challenging and gratifying.
... Hiding the true emotions results in surface-acting emotional labor, which can lead to depression if it has to be maintained over a long period of time [57]. Other studies also show that the perceived meaningfulness of work is negatively related to depression [58,59]. Similarly, a meaningful work experience counteracts the desire to leave the job [60,61]. ...
Higher rates of depression, suicidal ideation and suicide risk have been reported for veterinarians in Germany. In this study, several demographic and job-related factors were examined to determine whether they could be considered possible predictors of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide risk. For this purpose, a survey was conducted among veterinarians in Germany. The demographic factors surveyed were gender, age, working status (employed/self-employed), income, field of work (practicing/non-practicing veterinarian), weekly working hours and community size. For assessing job-related factors, the Effort-Reward-Imbalance questionnaire (effort, reward, overcommitment), several subscales of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (quantitative demands, emotional demands, demands for hiding emotions, meaning of work, work-privacy-conflict, thoughts of leaving the job) and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory were used. A hierarchical logistic regression analysis was performed with the demographic and job-related factors as independent variables and depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide risk as dependent variables, respectively. A total of 3.118 veterinarians (78.8% female) between 22 and 69 years (mean age 41.3 years) were included in the study. The factors used resulted in the highest variance explanation for depressive symptoms (57%), followed by suicidal ideation (34%) and suicide risk (23%). Low reward and high overcommitment were found to be the most important predictors of depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide risk. Significant relationships with depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation, and suicide risk were also found for burnout, demands for hiding emotions, and thoughts of leaving the job. The results of this study point to opportunities for changes in the veterinary working environment, for the development of prevention and intervention programs for veterinarians, and for the further development of the veterinary curriculum to strengthen the mental health of veterinarians in Germany.
... Recent research has indicated the signi cance of meaningful work for individuals, organizations, and society in terms of their job and life satisfaction (Allan et al., 2018(Allan et al., , 2019(Allan et al., , 2020Autin et al., 2022). Nevertheless, there is a chance that modern workplace challenges, like online platform work, with its rising precarity and uidity (Altman et al., 2021), disrupt the standard working relationship and make work meaningless for people (Bailey et al., 2019). ...
This study investigates the work experiences of Albanian gig workers in Upwork freelancing platform within the lenses of meaning of work. By offering evidence on more creative and complex remote employment, this study contributes to the growing body of literature on digital freelancing and bridges the scholarship on digital platforms, meaningful work, and entrepreneurship/self-employment to capture the complex nature of experiential work practices on remote digital platforms.
In total, 20 semi-structured interviews with gig workers in Tirana, Shkoder and Durres, offered a personalized insight into the lived experiences of the platform gig workers, giving a possibility to comprehend the nuances of their working conditions, challenges faced, opportunities, and benefits. To analyse the data we used the Gioia method.
Our findings suggest that the clustering of the concepts shows that for Albanian gig workers, the meaning of work encompasses a complex interplay of flexibility, economic necessity, and personal autonomy, tempered by the challenges of financial insecurity, lack of benefits, and the absence of clear career paths. This study is to offer an exhaustive insight into the world of remote (gig/platform) work in Albania as an under-researched context.
... He posits that we unknowingly depreciate our mental health as individuals and a society by neglecting important dimensions of wellness [115]. Supported by a broad literature, Hari supposes that disconnection from meaningful work [116][117][118], other people [117,119,120], meaningful values [121,122], childhood trauma [123][124][125], status [122,126], nature [127][128][129][130], and a secure and hopeful future [121,131,132] can be determinants of psychiatric illness, in addition to genes [133][134][135][136], neuroplasticity and neuroadaptation [137] a case that is persuasive and relatable. Ultra-sociality describes the complex social organization of a few species, including humans and some social insects (ants, termites) that are highly adaptive at a group level, having specialized divisions of labor, independent cities, and a dependence on agriculture [113,114]. ...
This narrative review summarizes the early life of the author, Khalin E. Nisbett, and highlights the factors that led to her career in research and her development of two novel research hypotheses: the Mu-opioid and OXytocin system Interaction (MOXI) hypothesis and Mu-Opioid receptor antagonist and OXytocin receptor Agonist In Combination (MOXAIC) treatment hypothesis. Notably, Nisbett's career began in the era after countless studies demonstrated that oxytocin is not just a female neurotransmitter and not just a female reproductive hormone, an era in which researchers are exploring the role of oxytocin in emotion regulation, social interaction, and cognitive processing across both sexes. As such, the previously held perspective that oxytocin is “just a female hormone” did not impede Nisbett's ideas. Intrigued by science, emotion regulation, and social interaction, she began to explore the role of oxytocin and opioids in emotion regulation. On the heels of earlier theories, such as the Tend-and-Befriend theory and Opioid Theory of Social Attachment, she began to develop the MOXI hypothesis, which postulates that the μ-opioid receptor and oxytocin systems interact to mediate social interaction and emotion regulation. In this narrative review, Nisbett summarizes two studies that explored (i) the role of oxytocin in anxiety- and depression-like behavior and (ii) the effect of opioid receptor blockade on the anxiolytic-like effect of oxytocin, which led to a revision of the MOXI hypothesis and postulation of the Mu−Opioid receptor antagonist and OXytocin receptor Agonist In Combination (MOXAIC) treatment hypothesis. Nisbett also discusses several limitations of these hypotheses and her current research interests and aspirations.
... In relation to that, Allan et al. (2018) propose that job satisfaction might play a role as a moderator to explain the level of job stress. Various past scholars have investigated the association between job satisfaction and job stress. ...
Fostering organizational commitment among employees continues to be a major challenge among employers, as the level of commitment is generally linked to the level of satisfaction an employee has with their job. The objectives of the present study are to examine the relationship between job stress and the organizational commitment of employees and to determine the moderating influence of job satisfaction on the relationship between job stress and organizational commitment. An empirical quantitative approach using a survey method was utilized, involving 112 employees who work at various palm oil plantations in Malaysia. The sampling method used is convenience sampling, which is based on respondents’ ease of access, geographical proximity, availability and willingness to participate. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling approach. The result showed that job stress is negatively related to organizational commitment, while job satisfaction does not moderate the relationship between job stress and organizational commitment. These research results provide practical guidelines for management practices in the palm oil industry. The current study promotes the management of palm estate states or smallholder plantations to employ strategies that reduce job stress among the employees, which, in turn, will boost the organizational commitment of the employees to the organization. Suggestions for future research are also elaborated on.
... Given the growing interest in the social value of occupations, we also separately assessed the social value of digital economy occupations, rather than conflate the two concepts. Research has shown that people are interested in doing work that is useful to society (Wolfe & Patel, 2019), and that perceived job usefulness is associated with life satisfaction and individual motivation (Allan et al., 2018). Work meaningfulness, usually assessed through individual-level items, is a significant feature of work, and usually described as the 'degree to which the employee experiences the job as one which is generally meaningful, valuable, and worthwhile' (Hackman & Oldham, 1975, p. 162). ...
With the emergence of the digital economy, the occupational landscape in many countries has undergone major transformations. While scholars have started to study the working conditions of digital economy occupations such as app-based food delivery couriers and social media influencers, assessing societal perceptions of these occupations remains uncharted territory. This article provides a substantive contribution through an in-depth analysis of occupational prestige and occupational social value perceptions across 76 UK digital economy occupations. Leveraging two expansive surveys with more than 2400 respondents, the findings show that these nascent occupations tend to have modest prestige, and that their perceived social value is lower than that of analogous non-digital occupations. Socio-economic factors and attitudes foster variability in societal perceptions. The research thus advances a nuanced understanding of the evolving digital economy, providing evidence for fellow researchers, policymakers, and the larger public, for whom the results help contextualize career choices and occupational identities.
... Further, previous research highlighted the importance of decision making and satisfaction from salary and other factors of job satisfaction (Busari et al., 2017;Busari & Mughal, 2017;Mughal et al., 2017;Pante, 2014;Allan et al., 2016;Schmidt, 2009;Chung & Kim, 2017).our study supported the importance of decision making in order to increase satisfaction and reduce turnover intention. ...
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to find the moderating effect of analytical left brain style and intuition right brain style on the relationship between job satisfaction factors and turnover intention. Survey was conducted for data collection. 502 completed questionnaires are returned. Correlation analysis and Hierarchical regression is used to test moderation. Further interaction plots are also plotted. The results obtained from the analysis explained that analytical and intuition does act as moderator on few variables. Analytical acts as moderator on variables i.e. supervisor, co-workers and salary while does not act as moderator on other variables e.g. work, work environment. While intuition does not act as moderator on supervisor, co-workers, work environment and work but acts as moderator on salary. The cognitive style decision making need awareness by the practitioners in seminars and workshop so the individuals came to know their preferred way of decision making style. The results of the paper are helpful for the education industry to make policies for academicians to help them making decisions and to decide and motivate to increase the satisfaction from work by giving them less work load.
... The results of this research are supported by previous research where workers who give importance to their work tend to feel satisfied with their work (Ghislieri et al., 2019). Workers who perceive their work as more meaningful and satisfying will have less anxiety and stress (Allan et al., 2018). Meaningful work is able to predict work engagement, commitment, job satisfaction which in turn can improve self-assessed performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and intention to resign (Allan et al., 2019). ...
The millennial generation has different characteristics from previous generations. It is important for organizations to know the characteristics of millennials because they can bring advantages and disadvantages to the organization. This research aims to determine the magnitude of the influence of learning agility, meaningful work, and resilience on job satisfaction of the millennial generation. A quantitative causality design was applied in this research. Respondents were 100 millennial workers in Indonesia. Research data was taken via Google Form via Facebook, WhatsApp and Linked-in. Data analysis was carried out using the PLS SEM method. The research results show that learning agility has no effect on millennial job satisfaction. Meaningful work has a significant positive effect on millennial job satisfaction. Resilience has a significant positive effect on millennial job satisfaction. Future research can limit respondents to one sector, such as private and public. Future researchers can use the mediation of meaningful work and resilience on the influence of learning agility on job satisfaction. This research contributes to efforts to increase job satisfaction of the millennial generation through learning agility, meaningful work and resilience.
... This study also affirms previous research that agency nurses' autonomy increases job satisfaction and decreases burnout compared to permanent nurses (Faller, Gates, Georges, & Connelly, 2011), reinforcing the importance of self-determination and individual satisfaction in relation to flourishing because individuals who perceive their work as both satisfying and meaningful are more likely to report lower anxiety and stress levels (Allan et al., 2018;Lair et al., 2008;Ryan, Huta, & Deci, 2008). Although temporary roles can increase stress (Bakker & Sanz-Vergel, 2013;Hart & Warren, 2015), particularly for health care professionals (Vorell & Carmack, 2015), the findings show that agency nurses' autonomy is a primary factor that mitigates increased stress and other stressors in general. ...
Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia guided this investigation on a growing and essential group of professionals that seeks voluntary role transitions to meaningfully advance their careers and nonwork priorities. Using the Straussian grounded theory approach, this interview-based qualitative study: (1) discusses how participants’ work arrangement enabled them to organize their work and nonwork lives in ways that were subjectively meaningful to them; (2) highlights how participants gave meaning to their work in relation to their social ties; and (3) contributes to the communication literature on meanings of work and human flourishing in communication studies
... Moreover, job satisfaction is also an important factor affecting the mental health of garden workers. Previous studies have reported similar findings [44,58,59]. The association between job satisfaction and psychological distress is stronger than that with physical illness [58]. ...
Background
Occupational hazards occur in all walks of life. China’s horticulture industry is undergoing rapid development. However, the mental health of garden workers has not received much attention. This study investigates the mental health status and influencing factors of Chinese garden workers and provides a basis for promoting their mental health and ensuring the healthy development of Chinese horticulture.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey of garden workers in Beijing was conducted from 10 July 2021 to 10 October 2021. A total of 3349 valid questionnaires were recovered, with an effective response rate of 95.69%. Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out on the demographic characteristics, job satisfaction, stress, anxiety, and depression of garden workers, and the influencing factors affecting the mental health of Chinese garden workers were found through a t-test, variance analysis, and ordinal multi-class logistic regression analysis.
Results
Survey respondents were mostly male (54.4%) and under the age of 40 (64.1%). The anxiety and depression symptoms of the garden workers were moderate. Among staff members, 40.2% were in a normal state of stress. Gender, three meals on time, monthly income, and job satisfaction were the factors influencing stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms among garden workers.
Conclusion
Compared to medical staff and other groups, the stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms of Chinese garden workers are severe. Gender, monthly income, and job satisfaction are important factors affecting their mental health. Managers should continuously improve the working environment of garden workers, provide salaries that match their positions, and improve their job recognition and satisfaction to reduce the impact of negative emotions on personal health.
... Ferguson, Frost, and Hall [42] obtained comparable results on the sample of Canadian teachers [42]. Allan et al. [43] revealed that job satisfaction was negatively correlated with depression and stress but was unrelated to anxiety (p=0.18). We suppose that the possible reason is that anxiety symptoms are more physiologically specific than depression and stress. ...
Background
The growing concern for the faculty’s well-being is allied with the emotionally demanding nature of teaching, which has an adverse effect on physical and mental health. There is abundant evidence that academic medicine faculty are subjected to high rates of dissatisfaction, distress, burnout, and turnover among medical educators. This study is dedicated to the exploration of the association between job satisfaction and psychological distress among academic medicine faculty in Kazakhstan.
Methods
The observational cross-sectional study was conducted among medical educators in Kazakhstan between 1 October and 25 December. The survey was completed by 715 representatives of academic medicine staff. The sample size was calculated by Epi Info Sample Size Calculator, version 7.0. Multinomial logistic regression analysis using the forced entry procedure was applied to identify the factors associated with job satisfaction.
Results
The prevalence of job satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and stress was 19.2%, 40.6%, 41.3%, and 53%, respectively. Three variables were significantly associated with job satisfaction: having a partner (AOR=0.20; 95% CI 0.04-0.90), having work experience of 5-10 years (AOR=0.32; 95% CI 0.14-0.74), and holding a Ph.D. degree (AOR=0.40; 95% CI 0.18-0.91). Job satisfaction was significantly associated with depression (p=0.005) and stress (p<0.001).
Conclusions
Compared to previous research in this area, our findings reported a higher prevalence of psychological distress and dissatisfaction. Potential reason for higher rates of dissatisfaction may be the global disruption due to COVID-19 pandemic.
... Among workers in general, increases in anxiety and depression have been associated with a decrease in work productivity [16]. Within the context of employment, both stress and job dissatisfaction have both been linked to increased poor mental health [17][18][19][20][21]. Additionally, the work environment has been repeatedly associated with mood disorders, which calls for the need to improve working environments to enhance mental health [22]. ...
Background
Female migrant domestic workers (MDW), approximately 8.5 million globally, often live in their employer’s home under vulnerable conditions. In Hong Kong, MDWs currently comprise 5% of the population. This study was conducted to assess the association between employment conditions and mental health, and the mediating roles stress and job satisfaction have, among female MDWs in Hong Kong.
Methods
Participants completed an online cross-sectional survey. A total of 1,965 survey were collected between August 2020 and August 2021. Questions in the survey were related to MDWs background information, employment conditions, stress, job satisfaction, and two mental health outcomes: anxiety and depression. An employment conditions score was created to assess the cumulative effect poor employment conditions had on mental health. A multicategorical parallel mediation analysis was used to assess the direct effect employment conditions have on mental health and the indirect effects through stress and job satisfaction.
Results
Overall, 17.7% of MDWs were reported to be suffering from anxiety and 30.8% from depression. An increase in poor employment conditions was statistically associated with an increase in both outcomes, while stress levels and job satisfaction mediated this association.
Conclusions
The findings call for increased scrutiny of employment conditions and mental well-being of MDWs.
... En lo que respecta a la interacción entre las variables estudiadas, las correlaciones positivas encontradas dan cuenta de una asociación estadísticamente significativa que ratifica los hallazgos de investigaciones precedentes (Allan et al., 2018;Carter & Youssef-Morgan, 2019;Luthans & Youssef-Morgan, 2017;Salessi, 2022;Salessi & Omar, 2017). Un examen en profundidad indica la existencia de un proceso de mediación, en el que los efectos directos por parte del CapPsi sobre la satisfacción laboral se conjugan con efectos mediados por el trabajo significativo. ...
Si bien numerosas investigaciones dan cuenta de las experiencias de riesgo psicosocial del trabajo docente, pocas se han interesado en explorar los recursos psicológicos y las actitudes laborales positivas. El presente estudio se propuso analizar las interrelaciones entre capital psicológico, trabajo significativo, satisfacción laboral y variables sociodemográficas. Se diseñó una investigación cuantitativa correlacional-explicativa. Se integró una muestra de 520 docentes de Rafaela, según un muestreo por disponibilidad. Las variables de interés se midieron mediante escalas tipo Likert con adecuadas propiedades psicométricas. Los efectos totales, indirectos y directos fueron calculados mediante análisis de bootstrapping. Se obtuvieron medidas de correlación lineal, asociación y diferencia de medias en función de variables sociodemográficas. Los resultados indican correlaciones positivas entre las variables de interés, así como asociaciones estadísticamente significativas con la formación académica alcanzada y el nivel educativo en el que se desempeña el o la docente. Asimismo, se observaron diferencias de medias en capital psicológico, satisfacción laboral y sentido del trabajo en función de tales variables sociodemográficas. Se obtuvieron efectos indirectos del capital psicológico (a través de la mediación del trabajo significativo) sobre la satisfacción laboral, corroborándose una mediación parcial. Las principales implicancias de los hallazgos subrayan la necesidad de favorecer la percepción positiva del trabajo y del rol profesional docente, propiciar instancias de formación y capacitación, y promover recursos y prácticas organizacionales facilitadoras del bienestar laboral de este grupo profesional.
... The previous literature has demonstrated that job satisfaction is not only a consequence of occupational stress but also a potential precursor to worker health and other organizational outcomes (Feng et al., 2018). The previous studies suggest that work satisfaction is a significant factor in several health outcomes, such as depression, sleep disorders, headaches, and gastro-intestinal problems (Allan et al., 2018;Aazami et al., 2015). Moreover, staff with higher job satisfaction levels are more likely to report better emotional well-being (Park et al., 2021). ...
Human resources are widely recognized as critical factors for promoting sustainable development in organizations. However, the evolving workplace landscape and uncertainties pose significant challenges to Gen Z workers in China, leading to increased psychological distress and decreased performance. This study investigates the effects of 996 work culture, work overload, perceived career development opportunities, and perceived pay for performance on the psychological distress experienced by Chinese Gen Z workers. Using a quantitative and cross-sectional approach, we obtained 676 responses from Chinese Gen Z workers. We also utilized partial least squares structural equation modeling to examine and forecast the extent of the impact of the independent variables. The empirical findings reveal that 996 work culture and work overload indirectly influence the psychological distress of Gen Z workers in China via job burnout and job satisfaction; whereas perceived career development opportunities and perceived pay for performance indirectly influence their psychological distress via job satisfaction. Our research extends the existing literature by providing insights into the complex associations between various work-related factors (particularly 996 work culture) and psychological distress among Gen Z workers in China. Regarding policy implications, this study emphasizes the significance of considering the mental health of young employees as a crucial aspect of organizational management and suggests practical measures that organizations can adopt to ensure long-term psychological well-being and workforce engagement.
... Other studies suggest more nuance, such as that of Lips-Wiersma et al. (2022) which found that expressing one's full potential (as a component of meaningful work) is associated with higher stress, but other aspects (unity with others, service to others, and integrity with self) are associated with lower stress. Although meaningful work has been found to predict lower depression, it was only associated with lower stress when experienced alongside high job satisfaction (Allan et al., 2018). Daniel (2015) found a negative relationship between workplace spirituality (of which meaningfulness is a part) and stress, and several recent studies have shown that meaningfulness can help to reduce strain (Erlmaier et al., 2022;Gur et al., 2022;Mousa and Samara, 2022). ...
Introduction
Meaning is a key part of psychological wellbeing, and the benefits of meaningful work are widely acknowledged. Many people seek meaning from their work, and some organizations aim to facilitate this through interventions. In parallel, work-related stress has become a significant occupational risk. This study seeks to understand the perspectives of those who find their work to be both meaningful and stressful, and to explore the relationships between these concepts.
Methods
Eleven women and six men, aged 34–61, primarily based in the UK, from the private, public, and third sectors were interviewed about their experiences of meaning and stress in their work. Using a social constructivist grounded theory approach, data collection and analysis ran in parallel.
Results
Findings indicate that meaningful work and work-related stress are inherently connected, with bi-directional relationships that can support and hinder wellbeing. Meaningfulness can both alleviate and exacerbate stress, and stress can both reinforce and reduce meaningfulness. Meaningfulness and stress can even feel co-dependent, depending on how participants perceive and make sense of their experience.
Discussion
With many individuals seeking greater meaningfulness from their work, the results suggest that they— and their employers—would benefit from understanding more about the potential harmful effects of meaningfulness, including implications for stress and possible knock-on consequences for health and work.
... The characteristics of ISE, such as flexibility and autonomy, are more prominent compared to non-ISE individuals and employees. According to SDT, these characteristics are better able to satisfy the autonomy-related needs of ISE people and to enhance their job satisfaction and subjective happiness (Benz & Frey, 2008;Hundley, 2001;Lange, 2012), thereby reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms (Allan et al., 2018;Gentzler et al., 2019;Soósová et al., 2021;Vanhove-Meriaux et al., 2020). Thus, the present study hypothesized that ISE people would be less likely to suffer from depression. ...
Independent self-employment (ISE) has a crucial impact on new job creation as well as sustainable and inclusive growth. However, the findings on depression status among self-employed individuals are mixed owing to the lack of targeted classifications or the use of different classification criteria. This study investigated the association between depression and ISE, and conducted a categorical comparison of ISE. Using logit models, the study employed data from the 2018 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) (N = 10,758) to explore differences in depression status between individuals with ISE and those with non-ISE individuals and employees. Further, intellectual and physical ISE were distinguished. This study tested the mediating roles of job freedom and income. ISE individuals were significantly less likely to experience depression than non-ISE individuals and employees. The odds ratio (OR) of ISE with depression was 0.828 times that of non-ISE individuals and employees. The OR of intellectual ISE with depression was 0.717 times that of non-ISE individuals and employees. The regression results of depression in relation to physical ISE were not significant. A mechanism analysis showed that income (rather than work freedom) reduced the risk of depression among intellectually ISE individuals. Significantly different risk levels of depression were found between ISE individuals, and non-ISE individuals and employees in China, particularly between intellectually ISE individuals, and non-ISE individuals and employees. Moreover, the mediating role of income was identified, contradicting prior knowledge that a high degree of work freedom is what leads to high happiness and job satisfaction in self-employment.
Background
Following the health restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, about a third of French workers experienced mandatory teleworking during the lockdowns. The objective of this study is to examine the complex relationships between teleworking conditions, depressive symptomatology, and the onset of low back pain (LBP) during France’s third lockdown in spring 2021.
Methods
Based on the online CoviPrev survey, 466 workers from the French general population who teleworked at least one day a week during lockdown and were free of LBP at the start of lockdown were included in this study. A conceptual model was developed in which relationships between teleworking conditions, depressive symptomatology, and the onset of LBP were assumed. Structural equation modelling was used to test the model.
Results
The model showed that teleworking conditions (both material conditions of teleworking and the amount of telework) have a substantial direct and indirect impact on the onset of LBP. The theoretical model proposed 2 pathways for the effect of the teleworking conditions on the onset of LBP: a direct pathway, of a biomechanical nature, and an indirect pathway, mediated by satisfaction with teleworking conditions and depressive symptoms.
Conclusions
This study suggests that there are complex relationships between teleworking conditions, depressive symptomatology, and the onset of LBP, which are essential to characterize to better understand the chain of determinants for the onset of LBP. They also highlight the importance of good working conditions to reduce the impact of teleworking on health, including the prevention of sedentary behaviours.
Bu çalışma, bilişim sektöründe çalışanların sorumluluk ve diğerkamlık duygusunun iş yerindeki davranışlar üzerindeki etkisini incelemektedir. Günümüzde giderek daha fazla firma, rekabet gücünü artırmak amacıyla yapay zeka teknolojilerini kullanmaktadır. Veri madenciliği, endüstriyel robotik ve insan kaynakları yönetimi gibi alanlarda yapay zeka yaygın olarak benimsenmiştir. Bu bağlamda, çalışan sorumluluğu önemli bir teşvik mekanizması haline gelmiş ve hem dışsal hem de içsel motivasyon unsurları üretmiştir. Kurumsal sosyal sorumluluk, çalışanlarla olan ilişkilerin güçlendirilmesine ve firma ile çalışanlar arasında karşılıklı yarara dayalı bir bağ kurulmasına katkı sağlamaktadır. Araştırma, Türkiye’deki bilişim sektöründe çalışanların sorumluluk ve diğerkamlık duygusunun değişim üzerindeki etkisini analiz etmektedir. Veriler, kolayda örnekleme yoluyla 210 çalışandan toplanmıştır. Yapılan regresyon analizi sonucunda, sorumluluk ve diğerkamlık ile çalışanların sorumlu davranışları arasında 0,01 önem seviyesinde anlamlı ilişkiler olduğu görülmüştür. Özellikle diğerkamlık alt boyutları olan özveri ve bencillik arasında orta kuvvette pozitif bir ilişki tespit edilmiştir. Katılımcıların %93,33’ü kendilerini özverili olarak tanımlamış, bu da çalışanların iş yerinde diğerkamlık içeren davranışlar sergileme konusunda içsel bir motivasyona sahip olduklarını göstermektedir.
Rooted in the decent education as a precursor to decent work, this study investigated via network analysis the relationship between the work as meaning inventory for university students (WAMI-U) (positive meaning, meaning-making through study, greater good motivations) and the humor styles questionnaire (HSQ) (health-promoting styles: affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor; health-endangering styles: aggressive humor, self-defeating humor) in 371 Italian university students. Central nodes and bridge nodes between WAMI-U and HSQ were calculated. Positive meaning, meaning-making through study (WAMI-U), and self-enhancing humor (HSQ) had high centrality. Affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor (HSQ), and positive meaning (WAMI-U) had bridge function. The high centrality and bridge function of self-enhancing with all dimensions of WAMI-U, followed by the bridge function of affiliative humor in relation to meaning-making through study (WAMI-U) confirmed them as health-promoting styles. Negative associations between maladaptive humor styles and positive meaning (WAMI-U) confirmed their standard as health-endangering styles. Implications for research and prevention are discussed.
This study examines the work-life balance and well-being of employees from the IT and Education sectors, focusing on gender differences and sector-specific challenges. The research explores how work-life balance impacts employee well-being in these distinct sectors and investigates the role of organizational culture, job demands, and personal coping strategies. The study involved 60 employees (30 male and 30 female) from Pune district, with 15 males and 15 females from each sector, all with at least 10 years of experience. Data was collected using the Work-Life Balance Scale (WLBS) and the Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being (PWBS). Statistical analysis revealed no significant difference in work-life balance between the IT and Education sectors (t=0.27, not significant) or between male and female employees (t=0.26, not significant). However, employees in the Education sector reported significantly higher well-being compared to their IT industry counterparts (t=2.66, p<0.01). Additionally, female employees reported better well-being than male employees (t=3.919, p<0.001). The study concludes that work-life balance issues are not significantly affected by gender, but sector-related differences in well-being exist, with the Education sector showing higher well-being scores. These findings highlight the importance of understanding sector-specific challenges to enhance employee well-being and work-life balance.
Purpose
Employee engagement is vital for organizational success, driving productivity, innovation, and commitment. While leadership significantly impacts engagement, the precise mechanisms remain under investigation. This study explores how transformational leadership influences work engagement through the lens of meaningful work perception and employee well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employed quantitative methods, surveying 391 Vietnamese faculty members. Data analysis utilized SPSS and structural equation modeling partial least squares (SEM PLS).
Findings
Results indicate that transformational leadership positively affects perceived work meaningfulness, employee well-being and work engagement. Notably, meaningful work perception mediates the relationship between transformational leadership and the other two factors.
Originality/value
These findings offer practical insights for universities seeking to enhance employee engagement. They highlight the importance of fostering transformational leadership styles and creating an environment where employees perceive their work as meaningful.
Objectives: Improving health behavior like mental health is much needed for healthy aging and is commonly required among all age groups and family members. Such prolific results are reasonably possible by investigating the functional and effective role of the family structure, neighboring environment, and social Capital. However, limited research studies in the Chinese regional setting on the stated domain of interest were found while completely missing the role of life satisfaction as a mediating variable between Family structure, social Capital, neighborhood health, and mental health. Methods: Addressing such literature backdrop is the key concern of the present research for which primary data was focused using different methodological approaches. Results: The outcomes demonstrate that family structure, social Capital, and two components of the neighborhood environment, like natural and social environment, positively related to the mental health of the urban and rural Chinese coming from age groups 20 to above 50 years. Conclusion: The partial mediating effect of life satisfaction is between the family structure, mental health, and the social environment and mental health.
MAKALE BİLGİSİ ÖZ Makale Tarihçesi: Başvuru Amaç: Araştırmanın amacı kadın çalışanların kadınsı cinsiyet normları ve işin anlamlılığı arasındaki ilişkide cinsiyet rol stresinin aracı rolünü ortaya koymaktır. Tasarım/Yöntem: Niceliksel araştırma yöntemleriyle kolayda örneklem yoluyla Batı Karadeniz il ve ilçelerinde 412 kadın çalışan üzerine yapılmıştır. Toplanan anketler öncelikle geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizine tabi tutulduktan sonra tanımlayıcı istatistik, korelasyon ve regresyon testleri uygulanmıştır. Sonuçlar: Analiz sonuçlarına göre cinsiyet rol stresinin kadınsı cinsiyet normları ve işin anlamlılığı arasında aracı rolü gözlenmiştir. Özgün Değer: Kadınların ev ve iş yerinde üstlenmiş olduğu farklı rollerin işin anlamlılığını nasıl etkilediğini ortaya koymak ve alanyazına bu açıdan katkı sağlamak özgün değeridir. Araştırma iki sosyal kuram üzerine bina edilmiştir; sosyal norm ve sosyal rol kuramları. Ayrıca araştırmada toplumumuzda kadının iş hayatındaki işin anlamlılığı algısını artırabilecek sosyal cinsiyet normlarının etkisinin ortaya konması amaçlanmıştır. ABSTRACT Article History: Received Objectives: The purpose of the research is to reveal the mediation role of gender role stress on the relationship between gender norms and meaningfulness of job. Methods: Datas were collected through convenience sampling method from 412 female employees in West Blacksea cities and districts. After conducting validity and reliability tests, descriptive, corelation and regression analysis were done. Results: According to the results of analysis mediating role gender role stress on the relation between gender norms and meaninfulness of job is observed. Originality: C ontributing to the literature by presenting how the different roles of women assumed at work and home effect their work engagement and meaningfulness is originality of research. The research is grounded on two social theories; social norms and social role theories. It is also intended that with this research, we will be able to find out the effects of social gender norms on enhancing women's perceptions of meaningfulness. İş'te Davranış Dergisi J o u r n a l o f B e h a v i o r a t W o r k 3 (1) 2 0 1 8
Background: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a chronic neurodevelopmental disorder that, in addition to its impact on children, may lead their parents to experience various psychological disorders, particularly Parenting Stress (PS). The prevalence and severity of PS may be correlated with various factors, particularly parents' level of Health Literacy (HL). Objectives: Given the scarcity of studies in the field of children with ADHD and their controversial results, alongside the significance of ADHD-related PS among their parents, the aim of the current study was to determine the levels of PS, HL, and the PS-HL correlation among parents of children with ADHD. Methods: In this cross-sectional and descriptive-correlational study, a total of 70 parents of children with ADHD participated based on inclusion criteria and convenience sampling. Their PS and HL were investigated using the "Socio-Demographic Information Questionnaire (SDIQ)," "Parenting Stress Index, Fourth Edition (PSI-4)," and "Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (TOFHLA)." The gathered data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Results: The disparity in the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants was considerable. The PS among parents of children with ADHD ranged from “moderate to high” (x̄ = 287.51 ± 107.68, P < 0.05), and their HL ranged from “borderline to sufficient” (x̄ = 73.76 ± 14.02, P < 0.05). Additionally, there was a significant (P = 0.02) but not very strong inverse correlation (- 0.268) between PS and HL among these parents. The correlations obtained between "demographic characteristics with PS and HL" were varied. Conclusions: Based on the results, Iranian parents of children with ADHD demonstrated a “relatively sufficient” level of HL and a “considerable” level of PS. There was a significant, yet not very strong inverse correlation observed between PS and HL among the participants. However, it is important to acknowledge that the obtained frequency, severity, and correlation of these variables were influenced by various demographic inequalities among the participants.
Background
Professional satisfaction affects the quality and the effectiveness of health services provided to patients.
Aims
The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the job satisfaction of paediatric nurses.
Participants and setting
Nurses working at two Pediatric Hospitals in Athens (n=176) were included in the study. The data collection took place during the January-May 2022 period. The completion of the questionnaires was anonymous, all participant data were kept confidential.
Methods
Data collection was carried out using the ‘Measure of Job Satisfaction-MJS’ (Cronbach's α=0.95). Statistical processing was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 23 (SPSS, Inc. Chigago IL, USA). Univariate analysis of variance (univariate ANOVA) was used to evaluate the means of the job satisfaction questionnaire values. The significance level was set at α <0.05. Finally, Pearson's correlation index test was performed to find correlations between the subcategories of the questionnaire
Results
The majority of the sample was female (n=161) and most nurses underwent a 3-year nursing education programme (n=147). The results of the study showed that 45.4% of the participants were generally satisfied with their work whereas 55.9% were dissatisfied with their salary. The factors that appeared to affect the professional satisfaction of nurses were age (p=.049), unit (p=.041), work experience (p=.002) and marital status (p=.034). Nurses, despite their high compassion satisfaction, experienced modest levels of compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress. Pearson's correlation index revealed a positive correlation (r=0.462) between the ‘burnout’ and ‘secondary traumatic stress’ variables.
Conclusions
Professional satisfaction of nurses is characterised as moderate. The most important factors influencing professional satisfaction were age, unit, work experience and marital status. Improving nurses' job satisfaction will contribute to effective and safe nursing care provided to paediatric patients.
Practical implications
Leaders aiming at optimising nurses' job satisfaction should consider decreasing workload, improving education in the workplace, applying rotation in stressful units, increasing income, increasing the percentage perspectives by improving work circumstances.
Muscularity-oriented disordered eating (MODE) is a novel class of eating behaviors characterised by abnormal dietary alterations aimed towards building lean muscle. Although traditionally shown to affect men, emerging evidence suggests that increasingly more women are striving for the muscular and lean ideal, resulting in engagement of MODE behaviors. Prior research examining MODE in women is limited, yet emerging evidence from cross-sectional studies have established associations between MODE and poor mental health indices in this population. However, the temporal order of these associations in women is not yet known. Thus, the current study examined possible bi-directional associations between MODE behaviors and common mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, loneliness). Adult women completed online study measures at baseline (Time 1 [T1]; n = 1760) and three-month follow-up (Time 2 [T2]; n = 1180). Cross-lagged panel models were computed to test for possible bi-directional relationships between MODE and the relevant mental health constructs. Findings showed that higher MODE levels at T1 significantly predicted increased depressive and anxiety symptoms (but not loneliness) at T2, and loneliness at T1 (but not depression/anxiety) significantly predicted MODE at T2. Effect sizes were small, so findings should be interpreted with this in mind. This is the first study to establish temporal relationships between MODE and mental health outcomes in adult women. Findings suggest that clinicians may benefit from inquiring about MODE behaviors for proper screening, assessment, and intervention, and potentially addressing loneliness to decrease risk of MODE.
Background
Following high school graduation, autistic adults are more likely to be disengaged from participation in employment opportunities. The autistic individuals who do obtain jobs, often experience lower rates of employment, work fewer hours, and receive less pay when compared to other non-autistic adults. However, few researchers have explored outcomes associated with the satisfaction of autistic people while in the workplace.
Method
Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with the job satisfaction of autistic workers. Autistic adults who were at least 18 years of age, employed in the United States, and worked at least 10 h per week at the time of data collection were included in the current study. A linear regression was conducted to determine whether social support positively predicted the job satisfaction of autistic workers and mediation analysis was conducted to determine whether person-environment fit mediated the relationship between work volition and job satisfaction.
Results
121 autistic employees completed a battery of assessments to determine the predictors associated with job satisfaction. A linear regression revealed that social support in the workplace was significantly associated with job satisfaction, and a mediation analysis demonstrated that person-environment fit partially mediated the relationship between work volition and job satisfaction.
Conclusions
The findings of this study suggest the need for more widespread training among employers and co-workers, to reframe current understandings of autistic people. With improved knowledge, acceptance, and support, the employment context may foster positive work experiences for autistic people.
Purpose
The study seeks to analyze the influence of sensory experience on perceived environmental sustainability and word-of-mouth (WOM) of tourists and residents. The study also tests the moderation effect of satisfaction on the relationship between perceived environmental sustainability and WOM.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in Sikkim, a state in the northeastern part of India, which is regarded as the world's first organic state. The study was done in two phases. In the first phase, the data were collected from the tourists. And in the second phase, data were collected from the residents. A structured questionnaire was distributed to 700 tourists and residents in Sikkim. Out of these only 484 responses were considered for the study. Multivariate analyses were done using SPSS software and packages like Process Macro, and Amos to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings of the study indicated that sensory experience significantly influences perceived environmental sustainability and WOM. The study model fit with GFI = 0.955, CFI = 0.946 NFI = 0.929 and RMSEA = 0.07. The findings also indicate that satisfaction moderates the relation between sensory experience and word-of-mouth with a p value = 0.018.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted in Sikkim and it used a convenience sampling method. Therefore, the study cannot be generalized.
Practical implications
An emphasis on building an organic brand image can positively impact the local community. A study of this kind will encourage the community to work toward sustainable development.
Originality/value
The study is unique as it explores the evaluation of destination environmental sustainability. And it is one of the first to test the impact of satisfaction in the relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the context of the tourism experience.
This is an exploratory study on the work-life balance of academics in some Melbourne institutes of higher education. It is important to explore this area of their lives as academics constantly face changes in terms of scope and workload. They also form the foundation of institutions of higher education. This research was done to explore where these institutes of higher education stand in terms of achieving SDG goal number 3, which is to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, for their academics through exploring academic lives and well-being. SDG or Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3), refers to one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations in 2015. The reputation and success of institutes of higher education lie fundamentally in the work of its academics so any significant disruption to their health and well-being will have a negative impact on their quality of work and their organisation’s performance. This study revealed a negative impact of changes to the academics’ work-life- balance and the failure of their organisations to achieve SDG goal no 3. A qualitative approach using in-depth interviewing was used to interview nine academics, from different institutes of higher education in Melbourne, Australia. The informants included male and female academics from high and low-ranked institutes of higher education, of different positions and ages. This research used convenience and snowball sampling methods. The findings showed that the majority of informants were overworked with no clear breaks for holidays or weekends. The exception was 2 informants who enjoyed good work-life balance and holidays which may be due to their positions as Deans and Head of Programme. While mental health in education has been mainly focused on students, this research has revealed that the mental health of academics from these institutes is at a critical level and needs to be addressed.
Background
Stress, depression, and anxiety are prevalent issues among SME employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even while having meaningful work that expressively contributes to individual growth has been related to improving mental health, employees’ work may also need to adopt coping strategies to increase outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between meaningful work (positive meaning, meaning-making, and greater good motivations) and mental health, as well as coping strategies (problem-focused and emotion-focused) as a mediator of this relationship.
Methods
Meaningful work, coping strategies, and mental health were evaluated in empirical research based on a sample of 462 SME employees working in Malaysia. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the data and analyze it through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 21.0.
Results
The findings of the study show the importance of meaningful work in influencing the mental health of SME employees, particularly during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the more they value and see their work as meaningful, the more capable they are of dealing with limitations and mental health problems associated with crises. The study also discovered a partial mediating role for coping strategies between employees’ mental health and meaningful work.
Conclusion
This study encourages employees to constantly feel connected and discover continued possibilities to work and learn even during crisis situations. In order to improve human resource efficiency in emerging markets, managers and owners of SMEs must implement the model developed by the researchers.
Objective
We aimed to examine occupational factors affecting workers’ mental health.
Methods
Using data from the 5 th Korean Working Conditions Survey, 50,158 workers were analyzed. A multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the occupational factors.
Results
Sex, age, education level, occupational type, job satisfaction, shift work, and occupational exposure were risk factors for depression, anxiety, and general fatigue. Furthermore, complete application of PPE decreased the risk of depression and anxiety than no application, but partial application of PPE increased the risk of depression and anxiety. Complete and partial application of PPE increased the risk of general fatigue.
Conclusion
This study demonstrated that occupational factors are associated with mental health. This suggests that it is necessary to improve the working environment so that PPE can be applied structurally or systematically to protect against hazardous occupational exposure.
The experience of work as meaningful, evoking a positive sense of purpose, is consistently associated with beneficial work-related and general well-being outcomes. This chapter briefly overviews the sources, mechanisms, and correlates of meaningful work before summarizing three theoretical frameworks that may help explain the experience of meaningful work. Although research investigating meaningful work has proliferated in recent years, comparatively little scholarly attention has focused on strategies workers use to foster a sense of meaningfulness. Drawing from theory and research within social psychology, we propose three steps employees might take to increase their sense of their work as meaningful. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. All rights reserved.
The mediating role of the critical psychological states (CPS) in the job characteristics model was examined in two studies. Using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) approach for examining mediation hypotheses, results from Study 1: (1) supported the hypothesized linkages between the core job dimensions and the CPS, and between the CPS and attitudinal outcomes; (2) provided no support for the hypothesis that all three CPS must be experienced to maximize internal work motivation; (3) supported the present authors’ hypothesis that the CPS would explain significant amounts of outcome variance beyond the core job dimensions; and (4) supported the present authors' hypothesis that the CPS are partial rather than complete mediator variables. Using causal modeling analyst and another sample, results from Study 2 provided the strongest support for a job characteristics model that allowed the core job dimensions to have direct and indirect effects on personal and work outcomes, further supporting the Study 1 finding that the CPS were partial mediator variables. The general discussion centered on the implications the present findings have for future job characteristics model research.
Many people desire work that is meaningful. However, research in this area has attracted diverse ideas about meaningful work (MW), accompanied by an equally disparate collection of ways of assessing MW. To further advance study in this area, the authors propose a multidimensional model of work as a subjectively meaningful experience consisting of experiencing positive meaning in work, sensing that work is a key avenue for making meaning, and perceiving one’s work to benefit some greater good. The development of a scale to measure these dimensions is described, an initial appraisal of the reliability and construct validity of the instrument’s scores is reported using a sample of university employees (N = 370) representing diverse occupations. MW scores correlated in predicted ways with work-related and general well-being indices, and accounted for unique variance beyond common predictors of job satisfaction, days reported absent from work, and life satisfaction. The authors discuss ways in which this conceptual model provides advantages to scholars, counselors, and organizations interested in fostering MW.
Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) currently consists of 4 overlapping, segmental models aimed at understanding educational and occupational interest development, choice-making, performance and persistence, and satisfaction/well-being. To this point, the theory has emphasized content aspects of career behavior, for instance, prediction of the types of activities, school subjects, or career fields that form the basis for people’s educational/vocational interests and choice paths. However, SCCT may also lend itself to study of many process aspects of career behavior, including such issues as how people manage normative tasks and cope with the myriad challenges involved in career preparation, entry, adjustment, and change, regardless of the specific educational and occupational fields they inhabit. Such a process focus can augment and considerably expand the range of the dependent variables for which SCCT was initially designed. Building on SCCT’s existing models, we present a social cognitive model of career self-management and offer examples of the adaptive, process behaviors to which it can be applied (e.g., career decision making/exploration, job searching, career advancement, negotiation of work transitions and multiple roles).
The primary objectives of this article are (a) to put forth an explicit operational formulation of positive human health that goes beyond prevailing "absence of illness" criteria; (b) to clarify that positive human health does not derive from extant medical considerations, which are not about wellness, but necessarily require a base in philosophical accounts of the "goods" in life; (c) to provoke a change of emphasis from strong tendencies to construe human health as exclusively about the mind or the body toward an integrated and positive spiral of mind-body influences; (d) to delineate possible physiological substrates of human flourishing and offer future directions for understanding the biology of positive health; and (e) to discuss implications of positive health for diverse scientific agendas (e.g., stress, class and health, work and family life) and for practice in health fields (e.g., training, health examinations, psychotherapy, and wellness intervention programs).
Previous research on multiple role stress has hypothesized the existence of two types of stress contagion: spillover, in which the stresses experienced in either the work or home domain lead to stresses in the other domain; and crossover, in which the stresses experienced by one's spouse at work lead to stresses for oneself at home. However, empirical evidence of these processes has been largely indirect and qualitative. This study provides the first direct quantitative evidence on the causal dynamics of stress contagion across work and home domains in married couples. Contrary to previous thinking, results indicate that husbands are more likely than their wives to bring their home stresses into the workplace. Also, stress contagion from work to home was evident for both husbands and wives. Furthermore, the contagion of work stress into the home sets in motion a process of dyadic adjustment, whereby individuals, particularly wives, appear to modify their housework efforts to compensate for the work stresses of their spouses. Such findings provide important insights into the dynamics of gender differences in role stress and confirm the value of studying chronic stress processes at the level of analysis where such stresses are inevitably manifest—in day-to-day events and activities.
The present study examined the relation of career calling to life satisfaction among a diverse sample of 553 working adults, with a specific focus on the distinction between perceiving a calling (sensing a calling to a career) and living a calling (actualizing one's calling in one's current career). As hypothesized, the relation of perceiving a calling to life satisfaction was fully mediated by living a calling. On the basis of this finding, a structural equation model was tested to examine possible mediators between living a calling and life satisfaction. As hypothesized, the relation of living a calling to life satisfaction was partially mediated by job satisfaction and life meaning, and the link between living a calling and job satisfaction was mediated by work meaning and career commitment. Modifications of the model also revealed that the link of living a calling to life meaning was mediated by work meaning. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
Through literature searches in psychology, sociology, counseling, management, and leisure, we found 34 studies (combined
n = 19,811) reporting relationships between job and life satisfaction. Contrary to previous reviews (e.g., Rice, Near, & Hunt, 1980), this meta-analysis found sizable overlap between work and nonwork experiences. Furthermore, although this correlation was substantially greater for men than for women in studies published prior to 1974, the difference disappeared in studies published after 1974. Demographic changes among female workers and changes in the relative importance of work to women's lives were suggested as explanations for the larger correlation observed for women in more recent studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Counseling psychologists often work with clients to increase their well-being as well as to decrease their distress. One important aspect of well-being, highlighted particularly in humanistic theories of the counseling process, is perceived meaning in life. However, poor measurement has hampered research on meaning in life. In 3 studies, evidence is provided for the internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, and validity of the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ), a new 10-item measure of the presence of, and the search for, meaning in life. A multitrait-multimethod matrix demonstrates the convergent and discriminant validity of the MLQ subscales across time and informants, in comparison with 2 other meaning scales. The MLQ offers several improvements over current meaning in life measures, including no item overlap with distress measures, a stable factor structure, better discriminant validity, a briefer format, and the ability to measure the search for meaning.
This article presents a social cognitive framework for understanding three intricately linked aspects of career development: (a) the formation and elaboration of career-relevant interests, (b) selection of academic and career choice options, and (c) performance and persistence in educational and occupational pursuits. The framework, derived primarily from Bandura's (1986) general social cognitive theory, emphasizes the means by which individuals exercise personal agency in the career development process, as well as extra-personal factors that enhance or constrain agency. In particular, we focus on self-efficacy, expected outcome, and goal mechanisms and how they may interrelate with other person (e.g., gender), contextual (e.g., support system), and experiential/learning factors. Twelve sets of propositions are offered to organize existing findings and guide future research on the theory. We also present a meta-analysis of relevant findings and suggest specific directions for future empirical and theory-extension activity.
A meta-analysis was conducted of correlations between job satisfaction and measures of health for samples originating from Hong Kong. Using established procedures and a priori selection criteria, 22 samples were combined from published and unpublished sources, in a combined sample of 4492 workers from various industries and occupations. Results indicated relationships between job satisfaction and health for Hong Kong employees were high, and notably different from the larger sample in the HERMES study (Cass, Faragher & Cooper2003). The moderator analysis revealed that samples comprising an approximately equal gender mix had larger correlations than samples of mostly women, or mostly men. Our comparison of studies with differential methodological rigour indicated that this had a minimal impact on combined effect size. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) is a Web application that provides instant access to thousands of potential participants for survey-based psychology experiments, such as the acceptability judgment task used extensively in syntactic theory. Because AMT is a Web-based system, syntacticians may worry that the move out of the experimenter-controlled environment of the laboratory and onto the user-controlled environment of AMT could adversely affect the quality of the judgment data collected. This article reports a quantitative comparison of two identical acceptability judgment experiments, each with 176 participants (352 total): one conducted in the laboratory, and one conducted on AMT. Crucial indicators of data quality--such as participant rejection rates, statistical power, and the shape of the distributions of the judgments for each sentence type--are compared between the two samples. The results suggest that aside from slightly higher participant rejection rates, AMT data are almost indistinguishable from laboratory data.
Past research has suggested that dispositional sources of job satisfaction can be traced to measures of affective temperament. The present research focused on another concept, core self-evaluations, which were hypothesized to comprise self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and nonneuroticism. A model hypothesized that core self-evaluations would have direct effects on job and life satisfaction. It also was hypothesized that core self-evaluations would have indirect effects on job satisfaction. Data were collected from 3 independent samples in 2 countries, using dual source methodology. Results indicated that core self-evaluations had direct and indirect effects on job and life satisfaction. The statistical and logical relationship among core evaluations, affective disposition, and satisfaction was explored.
Two studies examined folk concepts of the good life. Samples of college students (N = 104) and community adults (N = 264) were shown a career survey ostensibly completed by a person rating his or her occupation. After reading the survey, participants judged the desirability and moral goodness of the respondent's life, as a function of the amount of happiness, meaning in life, and wealth experienced. Results revealed significant effects of happiness and meaning on ratings of desirability and moral goodness. In the college sample, individuals high on all 3 independent variables were judged as likely to go to heaven. In the adult sample, wealth was also related to higher desirability. Results suggest a general perception that meaning in life and happiness are essential to the folk concept of the good life, whereas money is relatively unimportant.
A field investigation of 337 employees and their immediate superiors tested the mediating role of empowerment in relations between job characteristics, leader-member exchange (LMX), team-member exchange (TMX), and work outcomes. The meaning and competence dimensions of empowerment mediated the relation between job characteristics and work satisfaction. The meaning dimension also mediated the relation between job characteristics and organizational commitment. Contrary to prediction, empowerment did not mediate relations between LMX, TMX, and the outcome variables. Rather, LMX and TMX were directly related to organizational commitment. In addition, TMX was directly related to job performance. These findings suggest that work satisfaction is explained largely by job characteristics (through empowerment) but that LMX and TMX combine with job characteristics and empowerment to explain variation in organizational commitment and job performance.
Psychology since World War II has been largely devoted to repairing weakness and understanding suffering. Towards that end, we have made considerable gains. We have a classification of mental illness that allows international collaboration, and through this collaboration we have developed effective psychotherapeutic or pharmacological treatments for 14 major mental disorders. However, while building a strong science and practice of treating mental illness, we largely forgot about everyday well-being. Is the absence of mental illness and suffering sufficient to let individuals and communities flourish? Were all disabling conditions to disappear, what would make life worth living? Those committed to a science of positive psychology can draw on the effective research methods developed to understand and treat mental illness. Results from a new randomized, placebo-controlled study demonstrate that people are happier and less depressed three months after completing exercises targeting positive emotion. The ultimate goal of positive psychology is to make people happier by understanding and building positive emotion, gratification and meaning. Towards this end, we must supplement what we know about treating illness and repairing damage with knowledge about nurturing well-being in individuals and communities.
A vast number of published studies have suggested a link between job satisfaction levels and health. The sizes of the relationships reported vary widely. Narrative overviews of this relationship have been published, but no systematic meta-analysis review has been conducted.
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 485 studies with a combined sample size of 267 995 individuals was conducted, evaluating the research evidence linking self-report measures of job satisfaction to measures of physical and mental wellbeing.
The overall correlation combined across all health measures was r = 0.312 (0.370 after Schmidt-Hunter adjustment). Job satisfaction was most strongly associated with mental/psychological problems; strongest relationships were found for burnout (corrected r = 0.478), self-esteem(r = 0.429), depression (r = 0.428), and anxiety(r = 0.420). The correlation with subjective physical illness was more modest (r = 0.287).
Correlations in excess of 0.3 are rare in this context. The relationships found suggest that job satisfaction level is an important factor influencing the health of workers. Organisations should include the development of stress management policies to identify and eradicate work practices that cause most job dissatisfaction as part of any exercise aimed at improving employee health. Occupational health clinicians should consider counselling employees diagnosed as having psychological problems to critically evaluate their work-and help them to explore ways of gaining greater satisfaction from this important aspect of their life.
Two studies investigated the relationship between transformational leadership, the meaning that individuals ascribe to their work, and their psychological well-being. In Study 1, the perceptions of meaningful work partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and positive affective well-being in a sample of Canadian health care workers (N=319). In Study 2, the meaning that a separate sample of service workers (N=146) ascribed to their work fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological well-being, after controlling for humanistic work beliefs. Overall, these results support and add to the range of positive mental health effects associated with transformational leadership and are suggestive of interventions that organizations can make to improve well-being of workers.
The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance, 2% in turnover perceptions, 34% in job satisfaction, 24% in organizational commitment, and 26% in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9% of the variance in subjective performance, 24% in turnover intentions, 17% in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18% in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4% in job satisfaction and 16% in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice.
The present study examined the relations between work stress and both the presence of and search for meaning in life. Three components of meaningful work—positive meaning, meaning-making, and greater good motivations—were investigated as potential moderators. As hypothesized, work stress had a significant, negative relation with the presence of meaning in life, and a significant, positive relation with the search for meaning in life. Furthermore, the meaning making component of meaningful work moderated the relation between work stress and the presence of meaning in life. Specifically, meaning making served as a buffer where greater meaning making at work was associated with weaker relations between work stress and the presence of meaning in life. None of the three components of meaningful work moderated the relation between work stress and the search for meaning in life. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.
This study examined linear and nonlinear relations between age and the presence and search for meaning in life and examined if these relations were moderated by the presence of meaning in work. Age did not significantly relate to the presence of meaning in life, but age had a significant, negative linear relation with the search for meaning in life. Moreover, work meaning moderated the quadratic relation between age and life meaning. Specifically, people high in work meaning demonstrated negative quadratic curves, with high life meaning during middle adulthood, and people low in work meaning had positive quadratic curves, with low life meaning during middle adulthood. Work meaning also moderated the linear relation between age and the search for meaning in life with people highest in work meaning showing the strongest negative relation between age and the search for meaning in life. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
In this article, we used the psychology of working framework to examine how social class relates to the experience of meaningful work with two samples of working adults. In Study 1, participants in higher social classes were more likely to experience work meaning than people in lower social classes. Regardless of class, participants reported serving others or contributing to the greater good as the primary source of their work's meaning. In Study 2, we used a latent, multiple mediator model to test whether the three components of work volition mediated the relation between social class and work meaning. The model was a good fit to the data and partially supported our hypotheses. Specifically, volition and financial constraints fully mediated the relation between social class and work meaning, suggesting that social class may be linked to work meaning due to increased volition and decreased financial constraints.
The meaning of work literature is the product of a long tradition of rich inquiry spanning many disciplines. Yet, the field lacks overarching structures that would facilitate greater integration, consistency, and understanding of this body of research. Current research has developed in ways that have created relatively independent domains of study that exist in silos organized around various sources of meaning and meaningfulness. In this paper, we review the meaning of work literature in order to propose new frameworks within which to classify existing work and to seed new work. Our review is organized by the major sources of the meaning of work on which extant research has focused, and by the mechanisms through which work is proposed to become meaningful. We analyze the evolution and current state of meaning of work research, identifying core patterns and assumptions that have defined research in this area to date, and offer a theoretical framework based on this body of research that illuminates the main pathways to meaningful work. Throughout, we outline several promising directions for future research that we hope will stimulate further generative inquiry in this rich area of study.
Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a relatively new website that contains the major elements required to conduct research: an integrated participant compensation system; a large participant pool; and a streamlined process of study design, participant recruitment, and data collection. In this article, we describe and evaluate the potential contributions of MTurk to psychology and other social sciences. Findings indicate that (a) MTurk participants are slightly more demographically diverse than are standard Internet samples and are significantly more diverse than typical American college samples; (b) participation is affected by compensation rate and task length, but participants can still be recruited rapidly and inexpensively; (c) realistic compensation rates do not affect data quality; and (d) the data obtained are at least as reliable as those obtained via traditional methods. Overall, MTurk can be used to obtain high-quality data inexpensively and rapidly.
© The Author(s) 2011.
The current meta-analysis examined the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being (SWB). Consistent with the spillover hypothesis, we found positive relationships between job satisfaction and life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and the absence of negative affect. In addition, an examination of longitudinal studies suggested that the causal relationship from SWB to job satisfaction was stronger than the causal relationship from job satisfaction to SWB.
The validity of Hackman and Oldham's Job Characteristics Model was assessed by conducting a comprehensive review of nearly 200 relevant studies on the model as well as by applying meta-analytic procedures to a large portion of the data. The evidence indicated that the available correlational results are reasonably valid in light of the issues examined. Results tended to support the multidimensionality of job characteristics, but there was less agreement on the exact number of dimensions. The corrected correlational results of the meta-analysis indicated that job characteristics related both to psychological and behavioral outcomes. Concerning psychological states, the results tended to support their mediating (e.g., intervening) role between job characteristics and personal outcomes. The pattern of correlations between the job characteristics and psychological states was less supportive of the model. Meta-analytic results demonstrated that most of the cross-study variance was due to statistical artifacts. True variance across studies was found for the job characteristics-performance relationship, however, and subsequent analyses suggested that growth-need strength moderates this relationship. Implications for potential revisions of the model and for practice are discussed.
The authors examined career salience, work satisfaction, and depression among 189 clergywomen from all geographic regions
of the United States. Participants demonstrated, on average, a moderate level of commitment to their careers and exhibited
a high degree of work satisfaction, yet the majority also showed many symptoms of non-clinical depression. A regression model
controlling for demographics and work history and conditions revealed that work satisfaction had a significant negative effect
on depression, suggesting that higher job satisfaction results in less depression. The effect of career commitment on depression
approached significance, suggesting greater levels of commitment resulted in higher levels of depression.
A model is proposed that specifies the conditions under which individuals will become internally motivated to perform effectively on their jobs. The model focuses on the interaction among three classes of variables: (a) the psychological states of employees that must be present for internally motivated work behavior to develop; (b) the characteristics of jobs that can create these psychological states; and (c) the attributes of individuals that determine how positively a person will respond to a complex and challenging job. The model was tested for 658 employees who work on 62 different jobs in seven organizations, and results support its validity. A number of special features of the model are discussed (including its use as a basis for the diagnosis of jobs and the evaluation of job redesign projects), and the model is compared to other theories of job design.
This article, which represents a contribution to the 30th anniversary issue of the Journal of Vocational Behavior, seeks to extend the reach of vocational psychology by charting the course for an integrative and inclusive psychology of working. Building on Richardson's (1993) foundation of work as a location for counseling psychology practice and inquiry, I employ a sociopolitical analysis and a theoretical and methodological framework to further the development of a psychology of working. The goal of a psychology of working is to include the work lives of all citizens in our scholarship, not simply the well educated and affluent. Using both a moral and intellectual rationale, I present several key elements of an inclusive and integrative psychology of working that emerge out of the strengths of current vocational psychology, such as the focus on diversity and the advent of feminist thought. The article concludes with a discussion of how a psychology of working can serve to advance the integration of existing social scientific studies of work as well as to promote greater application of our efforts in practice and public policy.
Meaning in life is an important construct in psychology, but one which has been the focus of limited research. Most research has concentrated on the relation between meaning and psychopathology, and has been conducted with the Purpose in Life Test. This paper examines the relation between meaning in life and psychological well-being using several meaning measures and both positive and negative well-being dimensions. A strong association is found between meaning in life and well-being, which is replicated in two different samples. Meaning in life is found to have a stronger association with positive than with negative well-being dimensions, suggesting the value of taking a salutogenic approach to mental health research. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The psychometric properties of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) were evaluated in a normal sample of N = 717 who were also administered the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The DASS was shown to possess satisfactory psychometric properties, and the factor structure was substantiated both by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. In comparison to the BDI and BAI, the DASS scales showed greater separation in factor loadings. The DASS Anxiety scale correlated 0.81 with the BAI, and the DASS Depression scale correlated 0.74 with the BDI. Factor analyses suggested that the BDI differs from the DASS Depression scale primarily in that the BDI includes items such as weight loss, insomnia, somatic preoccupation and irritability, which fail to discriminate between depression and other affective states. The factor structure of the combined BDI and BAI items was virtually identical to that reported by Beck for a sample of diagnosed depressed and anxious patients, supporting the view that these clinical states are more severe expressions of the same states that may be discerned in normals. Implications of the results for the conceptualisation of depression, anxiety and tension/stress are considered, and the utility of the DASS scales in discriminating between these constructs is discussed.
Health care organizations may incur high costs due to a stressed, dissatisfied physician workforce. This study proposes and tests a model relating job stress to four intentions to withdraw from practice mediated by job satisfaction and perceptions of physical and mental health.
Stress perception is highly subjective, and so the complexity of nursing practice may result in variation between nurses in their identification of sources of stress, especially when the workplace and roles of nurses are changing, as is currently occurring in the United Kingdom health service. This could have implications for measures being introduced to address problems of stress in nursing.
To identify nurses' perceptions of workplace stress, consider the potential effectiveness of initiatives to reduce distress, and identify directions for future research.
A literature search from January 1985 to April 2003 was conducted using the key words nursing, stress, distress, stress management, job satisfaction, staff turnover and coping to identify research on sources of stress in adult and child care nursing. Recent (post-1997) United Kingdom Department of Health documents and literature about the views of practitioners was also consulted.
Workload, leadership/management style, professional conflict and emotional cost of caring have been the main sources of distress for nurses for many years, but there is disagreement as to the magnitude of their impact. Lack of reward and shiftworking may also now be displacing some of the other issues in order of ranking. Organizational interventions are targeted at most but not all of these sources, and their effectiveness is likely to be limited, at least in the short to medium term. Individuals must be supported better, but this is hindered by lack of understanding of how sources of stress vary between different practice areas, lack of predictive power of assessment tools, and a lack of understanding of how personal and workplace factors interact.
Stress intervention measures should focus on stress prevention for individuals as well as tackling organizational issues. Achieving this will require further comparative studies, and new tools to evaluate the intensity of individual distress.
Burnout syndrome (BOS) associated with stress has been documented in health care professionals in many specialties. The intensive care unit (ICU) is a highly stressful environment. Little is known about BOS in critical care nursing staff.
To identify determinants of BOS in critical care nurses.
We conducted a questionnaire survey in France. Among 278 ICUs contacted for the study, 165 (59.4%) included 2,525 nursing staff members, of whom 2,392 returned questionnaires with complete Maslach Burnout Inventory data.
Of the 2,392 respondents (82% female), 80% were nurses, 15% nursing assistants, and 5% head nurses. Severe BOS-related symptoms were identified in 790 (33%) respondents. By multivariate analysis, four domains were associated with severe BOS: (1) personal characteristics, such as age (odds ratio [OR], 0.97/yr; confidence interval [CI], 0.96-0.99; p=0.0008); (2) organizational factors, such as ability to choose days off (OR, 0.69; CI, 0.52-0.91; p=0.009) or participation in an ICU research group (OR, 0.74; CI, 0.56-0.97; p=0.03); (3) quality of working relations (1-10 scale), such as conflicts with patients (OR, 1.96; CI, 1.16-1.30; p=0.01), relationship with head nurse (OR, 0.92/point; CI, 0.86-0.98; p=0.02) or physicians (OR, 0.81; CI, 0.74-0.87; p=0.0001); and (4) end-of-life related factors, such as caring for a dying patient (OR, 1.39; CI, 1.04-1.85; p=0.02), and number of decisions to forego life-sustaining treatments in the last week (OR, 1.14; CI, 1.01-1.29; p=0.04).
One-third of ICU nursing staff had severe BOS. Areas for improvement identified in our study include conflict prevention, participation in ICU research groups, and better management of end-of-life care. Interventional studies are needed to investigate these potentially preventive strategies.
Rates of depression have been rising, as have rates of work stress. We tested the influence of work stress on diagnosed depression and anxiety in young working adults.
Participants were enrolled in the Dunedin study, a 1972-1973 longitudinal birth cohort assessed most recently in 2004-2005, at age 32 (n=972, 96% of 1015 cohort members still alive). Work stress (psychological job demands, work decision latitude, low work social support, physical work demands) was ascertained by interview. Major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were ascertained using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS) and diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria.
Participants exposed to high psychological job demands (excessive workload, extreme time pressures) had a twofold risk of MDD or GAD compared to those with low job demands. Relative risks (RRs) adjusting for all work characteristics were: 1.90 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22-2.98] in women, and 2.00 (95% CI 1.13-3.56) in men. Analyses ruled out the possibility that the association between work stress and disorder resulted from study members' socio-economic position, a personality tendency to report negatively, or a history of psychiatric disorder prior to labour-market entry. Prospective longitudinal analyses showed that high-demand jobs were associated with the onset of new depression and anxiety disorder in individuals without any pre-job history of diagnosis or treatment for either disorder.
Work stress appears to precipitate diagnosable depression and anxiety in previously healthy young workers. Helping workers cope with work stress or reducing work stress levels could prevent the occurrence of clinically significant depression and anxiety.
Although several variables have been correlated with nursing job satisfaction, the findings are not uniform across studies. Three commonly noted variables from the nursing literature are: autonomy, job stress, and nurse-physician collaboration. This meta-analysis examined the strength of the relationships between job satisfaction and autonomy, job stress, and nurse-physician collaboration among registered nurses working in staff positions. A meta-analysis of 31 studies representing a total of 14,567 subjects was performed. Job satisfaction was most strongly correlated with job stress (ES = -.43), followed by nurse-physician collaboration (ES = .37), and autonomy (ES = .30). These findings have implications for the importance of improving the work environment to increase nurses' job satisfaction.
Highlights: Workplace stress & anxiety disorders survey Available from: http://www.adaa.org/workplace-stress-anxiety-disorders-survey
- Depression Anxiety
- Adaa Association Of America
The Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment) Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work
- Rv Dawis
Depression costs U.S. workplaces $23 billion in absenteeism
- Gallup
The “40-Hour” workweek is actually longer - By seven hours
- Gallup
Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work
- R V Dawis
Theories and research on job satisfaction
- B A Fritzsche
- T J Parrish
Counseling for career construction
- M L Savickas