Dina Guglielmi

A three-wave study of job resources, self-efficacy and work engagement among Italian schoolteachers

By utilizing a three-wave longitudinal design, the present study tested the motivational process of the Job Demands-Resources model among Italian schoolteachers (N = 104). Specifically, it aims to test how job resources, self-efficacy and work engagement are related over time. Results of structural equation modelling analysis showed that the model with reciprocal relationships between resources and work engagement exhibited the best fit with the data. Job resources and self-efficacy had a short- (4 months) and longer term (8 months) lagged effect on work engagement, but the reverse pattern was true as well: Work engagement had a short- and long-term lagged effect on job resources and self-efficacy. These findings suggest that is important to think in terms of reciprocity: Resourceful environments and self-efficacy beliefs mean engaged teachers, and vice versa.

Postponing job retirement

Purpose – The study seeks to investigate individual preference for early or late retirement. The aim is to determine the impact that variables at personal, work and organizational, and retirement‐related levels exert on such preference.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was submitted to 275 Italian workers, aged from 45 to 63. The “preferred” and “expected” retirement ages were measured, and a preference for retiring before or after the expected age was computed. The questionnaire included personal (e.g. age, income), work and organizational (e.g. work importance, job demands and control), and retirement‐related variables (level of information on pensions and attitudes to retirement). Hierarchical multiple regressions analyses were conducted to test the impact of such variables on the preference for early or late retirement.Findings – The results show a significant preference for retiring on average three years before the expected age. The preference for postponing retirement is related to chro...

Can an opportunity to learn at work reduce stress?: A revisitation of the job demand‐control model

Purpose – This paper aims to extend the stress‐buffering hypothesis of the demand‐control model. In addition to the control variable, it seeks to analyse the role of an opportunity for learning and development (L&D) in the workplace as a moderator variable between increased demands and need for recovery.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was administered to 199 employees (middle managers and clerical workers) at the district court of a region in North Italy during a period of training activities on stress management.Findings – The results show that control and personal development perform a moderating role in the relationship between workload and the need for recovery by reducing exhaustion.Research limitations/implications – The first limitation concerns the cross‐sectional design of the study, which does not make it possible to establish the direction of the causal relations hypothesised. Moreover, further research will be necessary to identify organisational strategies able to develop the pe...

Assessing and improving health in the workplace: an integration of subjective and objective measures with the STress Assessment and Research Toolkit (St.A.R.T.) method

BackgroundThe aim of this work was to introduce a new combined method of subjective and objective measures to assess psychosocial risk factors at work and improve workers’ health and well-being. In the literature most of the research on work-related stress focuses on self-report measures and this work represents the first methodology capable of integrating different sources of data.MethodAn integrated method entitled St.A.R.T. (STress Assessment and Research Toolkit) was used in order to assess psychosocial risk factors and two health outcomes. In particular, a self-report questionnaire combined with an observational structured checklist was administered to 113 workers from an Italian retail company.ResultsThe data showed a correlation between subjective data and the rating data of the observational checklist for the psychosocial risk factors related to work contexts such as customer relationship management and customer queue. Conversely, the factors related to work content (workload and boredom) measured with different methods (subjective vs. objective) showed a discrepancy. Furthermore, subjective measures of psychosocial risk factors were more predictive of workers’ psychological health and exhaustion than rating data. The different objective measures played different roles, however, in terms of their influence on the two health outcomes considered.ConclusionsIt is important to integrate self-related assessment of stressors with objective measures for a better understanding of workers’ conditions in the workplace. The method presented could be considered a useful methodology for combining the two measures and differentiating the impact of different psychological risk factors related to work content and context on workers’ health.

Comparison between the Spanish and Italian early work retirement models: A cluster analysis approach

Purpose – The aim of this study is to compare the Spanish and Italian early work retirement (EWR) models in a sample comprising individuals from both countries based on the level of voluntariness involved in labour market exit, psychosocial outcomes, perceived consequences, socio‐demographic variables and motivation.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a cluster analysis approach to carry out a cross‐sectional study based on a total sample of 1,131 early retirees (605 Spaniards and 526 Italians) drawn from different industries.Findings – In the Spanish but not in the Italian case, EWR was predominantly perceived as forced. K‐means cluster analysis identified four groups of early retirees in both countries based on perceived outcomes of EWR. Two of these clusters represent extreme positive and negative assessments of early retirement consequences, while the remaining two reflect intermediate positions.Research limitations/implications – These results show that the involuntary Spanish EWR model is...

Prevenzione dello stress lavoro correlato: validazione di uno strumento per la valutazione dei rischi psicosociali nella scuola

Il presente lavoro ha l’obiettivo di presentare lo strumento Questionario sul Benessere a Scuola (QBS) e la relativa validazione. Il questionario e finalizzato alla valutazione dei rischi psicosociali e alla promozione del benessere organizzativo nella scuola. Partendo dall’analisi della letteratura e della normativa di riferimento e grazie al contributo di esperti del settore e stato predisposto un questionario per individuare i fattori di rischio psicosociale relativi al contesto e al contenuto lavorativo. Hanno risposto al questionario 953 persone che lavorano all’interno della scuola (82% docenti). I risultati mostrano la validita e l’attendibilita dello strumento proposto per valutare i fattori di rischio psicosociale nella scuola, segnalandone un possibile uso nella valutazione dello stress lavoro correlato. Gli stessi fattori permettono inoltre di discriminare diversi tipi di esiti (benessere, fatica mentale, ecc.). I risultati possono, quindi, essere considerati una conferma di quanto richiamato dalla normativa attuale in materia di sicurezza sul lavoro rispetto ai potenziali effetti delle caratteristiche del lavoro e dell’organizzazione del lavoro sulla salute dei lavoratori.

When the job is boring: the role of boredom in organizational contexts

OBJECTIVE The present study investigates the role of boredom within the Job Demands-Resources model. Although empirical evidence suggests that the incidence of boredom at work is widespread, the study of job boredom remains neglected today. PARTICIPANTS Data were collected from 269 mass-retail workers, by means of structured face-to-face interviews. METHODS Results of multiple mediation analyses partially supported our hypotheses. RESULTS Boredom mediates the relationship between transformational leadership, low learning opportunities and general dysphoria, while work engagement mediates the relationship between transformational leadership, low learning opportunities and job satisfaction as well as general dysphoria. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our results confirm the suitability of conceptualizing boredom within the JD-R model and contribute to the ongoing conceptualization of both the boredom literature and the JD-R literature.

Getting vaccinated or not getting vaccinated? Different reasons for getting vaccinated against seasonal or pandemic influenza.

BackgroundA large number of studies have investigated the motivation behind health care workers (HCWs) taking the influenza vaccine. But with the appearance of pandemic influenza, it became important to better analyse the reasons why workers get vaccinated against seasonal and/or pandemic influenza.MethodsThree main categories of reasons were identified with an Exploratory Factor Analysis. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to verify the existence of differences between three categories of choices (taking of seasonal and pandemic vaccine, only the seasonal vaccine or none). In addition, a multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to analyse the association between stated intentions and update of seasonal and pandemic vaccine. Questionnaires were returned from 168 HCWs (67.3% women).ResultsThe results showed that age and being well-informed about vaccination topics are the most important variables in determining the choice to take the vaccine.ConclusionsThe results highlight the importance of enhancing education programs to improve awareness among HCWs concerning the benefits of taking the influenza vaccination, with particular attention paid to younger workers.

The Demand-Induced Strain Compensation Questionnaire: A Cross-national Validation Study

The demand-induced strain compensation model is a theoretical job stress model that has been tested in different kinds of empirical study in several countries. To measure key concepts in the model (job demands and job resources), the demand-induced strain compensation questionnaire (DISQ) was developed and has been used in many empirical studies. However, most studies neither focused on the psychometric properties of the DISQ nor tested it cross-nationally. In this study, we examined the psychometric properties of the DISQ tested on Italian (n = 422) and Dutch (n = 1629) employees. Results indicated that the six-factor model, consisting of cognitive, emotional and physical job demands as well as cognitive, emotional and physical job resources, provided a better fit to the data than an alternative two-factor model (demands and resources only). Findings were invariant across Italian and Dutch samples. Internal consistencies were satisfactory. Additionally, the six dimensions of DISQ were found to be meaningfully related to employee active learning behaviour, emotional exhaustion and musculoskeletal disorders. Results suggest the DISQ questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument to measure the proposed dimensions of job demands and job resources in both Italian and Dutch work contexts.

A New Model for Evaluating Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS)

A New Model for Evaluating Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems (OHSMS) Ada Saracino, Gigliola Spadoni*, Matteo Curcuruto, Dina Guglielmi,Venanzo M. Bocci, Massimo Cimarelli, Ennio Dottori, Francesco S. Violante a Dipartimento di Ingegneria Chimica, Mineraria e delle Tecnologie Ambientali, Alma Mater Studiorum – Universita di Bologna, Via Terracini 28 40131 Bologna Italy b Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Educazione «Giovanni Maria Bertin», Alma Mater Studiorum Universita di Bologna– Italy c UniCredit S.p.A., Labour Policies and Industrial Relations , Head of Safety Labour R.S.P.P.Bologna Italy d Lyondell Basell, HSE Manager, Ferrara site Italy Gruppo HERA, Group Director of Quality, Safety and Environment, Bologna Italy f Dipartimento di Medicina Interna, dell’Invecchiamento e malattie nefrologiche, Bologna Italy gigliola.spadoni@unibo.it