Jose M. Leon-Perez

Identifying Victims of Workplace Bullying by Integrating Traditional Estimation Approaches Into a Latent Class Cluster Model

Research findings underline the negative effects of exposure to bullying behaviors and document the detrimental health effects of being a victim of workplace bullying. While no one disputes its negative consequences, debate continues about the magnitude of this phenomenon since very different prevalence rates of workplace bullying have been reported. Methodological aspects may explain these findings. Our contribution to this debate integrates behavioral and self-labeling estimation methods of workplace bullying into a measurement model that constitutes a bullying typology. Results in the present sample (n = 1,619) revealed that six different groups can be distinguished according to the nature and intensity of reported bullying behaviors. These clusters portray different paths for the workplace bullying process, where negative work-related and person-degrading behaviors are strongly intertwined. The analysis of the external validity showed that integrating previous estimation methods into a single measurement latent class model provides a reliable estimation method of workplace bullying, which may overcome previous flaws.

Do I Just Look Stressed or am I Stressed? Work-related Stress in a Sample of Italian Employees

Work-related stress is becoming a significant problem in Italy and it is therefore essential to advance the theory and methodology required to detect this phenomenon at work. Thus, the aim of this paper is to propose a new method for evaluating stress at work by measuring the discrepancies between employees’ perceptions of stress and their leaders’ evaluation of the stress of their subordinates. In addition, a positive impression scale was added to determine whether workers might give socially desirable responses in organizational diagnosis. Over 1,100 employees and 200 leaders within several Italian organizations were involved in this study. Structural equation modeling was used to test such new method for evaluating stress in a model of stress at work that incorporates relationships among individual (positive impression), interpersonal (workplace bullying) and organizational factors (working conditions, welfare culture, training). Results showed that the leaders’ capacity to understand subordinates’ stress is associated with subordinates’ psychological well-being since higher disagreement between self and leaders’ ratings was related to lower well-being. We discuss the implications of healthy leadership for the development of healthy organizations.

The relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that conflict management styles play in the relationship between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying. Design/methodology/approach – A survey study was conducted among 761 employees from different organizations in Spain. Findings – Results suggest that an escalation of the conflict process from task related to relationship conflict may explain bullying situations to some extent. Regarding conflict management, attempts to actively manage conflict through problem solving may prevent it escalating to higher emotional levels (relationship conflict) and bullying situations; in contrast, other conflict management strategies seem to foster conflict escalation. Research limitations/implications – The correlational design makes the conclusions on causality questionable, and future research should examine the dynamic conflict process in more detail. On the other hand, to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study empirically differentiating in...

Assessing the effectiveness of conflict management training in a health sector organization: evidence from subjective and objective indicators

This study assessed the effectiveness of an intervention for handling interpersonal conflicts at work. In contrast to the mainstream approach in the health care industry, which focuses on developing formal systems of conflict resolution, our intervention consisted of enhancing health care workers’ conflict management skills through training. A pre- and post-test nonequivalent comparison group design was used (intervention group = 258 workers; comparison group = 243 workers). Participants perceived that the training was successful in reducing the number and intensity of conflicts with co-workers, patients, and patients’ relatives. Moreover, organizational indicators calculated on the basis of data obtained from human resources (HR) records show that the intervention was effective, insofar as the number of requests for third-party interventions to mediate conflicts at work, the number of patients’ complaints, and the level of absenteeism all decreased for trained workers, whereas workers from the comparison group exhibited no corresponding changes over time. In the light of these results, this article discusses the design of conflict management measures which could help improve both employees’ well-being and organizational productivity.

Validación del Cuestionario de Conflicto Interpersonal en el Trabajo (CIT) en empleados españoles

Resumen El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo la validación a la población española de un instrumento de medida de conflictos interpersonales en el trabajo (CIT) en sus dos dimensiones (conflicto de tareas vs. conflicto de relaciones). Para ello, realizamos dos tipos de análisis con una muestra de 209 trabajadores provenientes de diferentes organizaciones españolas. El objetivo del primero fue la confirmación de la estructura factorial del cuestionario (AFC) y la demostración de su fiabilidad. El objetivo del segundo fue demostrar la validez predictiva de ambas dimensiones. La versión en español de conflictos interpersonales en el trabajo (CIT) mostró niveles aceptables de consistencia interna. Los resultados mostraron un mejor ajuste del modelo ante la existencia de una estructura bifactorial (conflicto de tareas y conflicto de relaciones) frente a un modelo unifactorial (conflicto interpersonal general) siendo diferente la relación entre ambos tipos de conflictos y las variables consecuentes de bienestar psicológico y clima de apoyo, respectivamente. Estos hallazgos apoyan la validez de constructo y la fiabilidad de la versión en español de conflictos interpersonales en el trabajo (CIT) para evaluar los distintos tipos de conflictos en muestras de habla hispana.

Effects of self‐efficacy on objective and subjective outcomes in transactions and disputes

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the relationship between self‐efficacy and the outcomes that individuals achieve when they manage conflict at work. The authors propose that self‐efficacy is related to performance following a positive linear or curvilinear model depending on the outcomes assessed (objective versus subjective outcomes) and the conflict setting considered (transaction versus dispute).Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted. Study 1 was a face‐to‐face transaction in which self‐efficacy was measured using a survey. In study 2, participants were involved in a dispute and their self‐efficacy was manipulated using a false feedback technique.Findings – Results suggest that high self‐efficacy participants obtain better objective (economic/substantive) outcomes. However, there is a curvilinear relationship, in a U‐inverted shape, between self‐efficacy and subjective (relational) outcomes, indicating that an increase in self‐efficacy improves subjective outcomes, but there are c...

Addressing Risks: Mental Health, Work-Related Stress, and Occupational Disease Management to Enhance Well-Being

1Department of Human Science, European University of Roma (UER), Rome, Italy 2Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain 3Aviation Faculty School of Engineering, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia 4Department of Public Health and Department of Occupational Medicine, Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, İzmir, Turkey 5Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Adaptation of the short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) into Spanish / Adaptación al español de la versión reducida del Cuestionario de Capital Psicológico (PCQ-12)

Abstract Psychological capital (PsyCap) has been a topic of increasing interest in the last decade. However, there is a lack of validated instruments in Spanish to map PsyCap and its consequences for individuals’ well-being. Consequently, the goal of this study is to adapt the 12-item short version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12) to the Spanish context by analysing its internal consistency and reliability, factor solution and external validity. Results indicated that the PCQ-12 exhibited good Cronbach’s alpha (.87) and omega coefficient (.93) values in a sample from a vehicle inspection company (n = 798). As expected, results also revealed that a second-order factor structure provided the best fit. Moreover, PsyCap is associated with increased job engagement (β = .579; R2adjusted = .333), decreased job burnout (β = −.409; R2adjusted = .166), and lower psychological distress (β = −.349; R2adjusted = .121) (all p < .01), which provided additional support for using the PCQ-12 in the Spanish context. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Steps to Ensure a Successful Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Interventions at an Organizational Level

There is increasing meta-analytic evidence that addresses the positive impact of evidence-based occupational health and safety interventions on employee health and well-being. However, such evidence is less clear when interventions are approached at an organizational level and are aimed at changing organizational policies and processes. Given that occupational health and safety interventions are usually tailored to specific organizational contexts, generalizing and transferring such interventions to other organizations is a complex endeavor. In response, several authors have argued that an evaluation of the implementation process is crucial for assessing the intervention’s effectiveness and for understanding how and why the intervention has been (un)successful. Thus, this paper focuses on the implementation process and attempts to move this field forward by identifying the main factors that contribute toward ensuring a greater success of occupational health and safety interventions conducted at the organizational level. In doing so, we propose some steps that can guide a successful implementation. These implementation steps are illustrated using examples of evidence-based best practices reported in the literature that have described and systematically evaluated the implementation process behind their interventions during the last decade.