Jakub Procházka

Why resilient workers perform better: The roles of job satisfaction and work engagement

ABSTRACT Previous studies have confirmed correlations between resilience and job performance, but surprisingly little is known about the nature of this relationship. This study sheds light on the roles of two important positive dimensions of work-related well-being: job satisfaction and work engagement. Data were collected from 360 Czech workers in helping professions using an online survey. Levels of resilience and perceived job performance were indeed positively associated. Using structural equation modeling, the best-fitting model showed partial mediation by work engagement; conversely, job satisfaction was not found to be a mediator of this relationship. Additionally, the finding that job performance is related more strongly to work engagement than to job satisfaction contributes to the debate about the concurrent validity of job attitudes.

Perceived performance as predictor of satisfaction: Experiment

This study is an inter-subject laboratory experiment focusing on the influence of perceived performance on task satisfaction. The sample consisted of 131 students solved standardized computer word-search puzzles, for which they received feedback, and responded to items from a task satisfaction scale. Feedback was given randomly, regardless of the actual accuracy in solving the puzzles, and created an impression of below-average, average or above-average performance. The results showed that an impression of above-average per-formance led to greater satisfaction than an impression of average or below-average performance. There was no difference between the groups with average and below-average performance. The study provides evidence regarding causality in the relationship between performance and satisfaction.

Personal Interest Branding: Source of Price Premium

ABSTRACT This study looks at whether and why people are prepared to pay more money for products that signalize their personal interests. The design is an intrasubject field experiment carried out using five, real, one-sided Internet auctions. The sample consists of 83 participants from the Czech Flamenco community. In the auction, they placed bids for five types of products—a branded bag, a white shopping bag, a mug, a white top, and a black T-shirt. These items appeared in the auction randomly in Flamenco (bearing visual reference to Flamenco culture) and non-Flamenco generic versions. In the case of the white shopping bag, the mug, and the tank top, the respondents were willing to pay almost double for the Flamenco version in comparison with the generic version. This was partly due to their greater emotional attachment to the Flamenco version of the product. The price difference for the branded bag and the black T-shirt was smaller and insignificant. This study opens up the theme of personal interest branding.