Liliane Rioux

Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Collection of Used Batteries by Secondary School Pupils.

This research is based on Kollmuss and Agyeman’s mode, and aims to determine if the prerequisites for pro‐environmental behaviour, such as the collection of used batteries at school, are ethical, cognitive and environmental. A questionnaire/opinionnaire was given to 102, 14–17‐year‐olds to gather data on: (1) their current recycling habits, (2) their environmental values, (3) their level of knowledge about the harmful effect of used batteries on the environment, (4) their attitude towards collecting used batteries, (5) their attachment to the neighbourhood, (6) their perceived behavioural control and finally (7) their intention to act. The number of used batteries brought by each school child was recorded over a four‐month period. Results show that young people’s behaviour of collecting used batteries can be predicted by ethical (pro‐environmental values), affective (neighbourhood attachment) and cognitive (perceived behavioural control) variables (R 2 = .38; p > .01).

Enfoque psicosocial del “apego al lugar de trabajo”. Estudio realizado con personal hospitalario

Resumen La presente investigación se inscribe dentro del marco teórico del apego al lugar (Theory of Place Attachment), teoría elaborada por Shumaker y Taylor (1983), y que ha sido reavivada por Giuliani (1991). En ella se evaluará el impacto de diversas variables sociodemográficas, organizacionales y psicosociológicas referentes al apego al lugar. 134 agentes que trabajan en una estructura hospitalaria de la región Centro de Francia respondieron a un cuestionario que está compuesto por tres partes: (a) una escala de apego global al lugar de trabajo; (b) un aparato de preguntas sobre el apego a diversos lugares del trabajo y (c) una escala de satisfacción y de motivación en el trabajo. Los resultados demuestran que los trabajadores se apegan de manera más intensa a aquellos lugares del trabajo que favorecen la comunicación informal. Los dos tipos de elementos que pronostican el apego al lugar de trabajo son: (a) los que dan sentido al trabajo; (b) aquellos que permiten aislarse para superar el estrés por carga excesiva de exigencias organizacionales.

Three-Factor Structure of Adult Attachment in the Workplace: Comparison of British, French, and Italian Samples

The goal was to compare three-factor and two-factor solutions and construct validity of the Adult Attachment in the Workplace (AAW) questionnaire. Participants were 660 volunteers from three countries (France, Italy, and Great Britain). The two-factor model of Neustadt, Chamorro-Premuzic, & Furnham (2006) and the three-factor theoretical model of Collins and Read (1990) were compared. Construct validity was assessed by calculating correlations among the two- and three-factor AAW, the Workplace Attachment Scale, and the Organizational Commitment Scale. The three-factor structure differentiated between the three attachment styles, i.e., secure, preoccupied, and avoidant. There were moderate, significant correlations between AAW, workplace attachment, and affective commitment. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the three-factor structure fit the data better. Furthermore, the AAW, the Workplace Attachment Scale, and the Organizational Commitment Scale can be considered independent. In line with previous empirical evidence, a further distinction is noted between avoidant and preoccupied styles in the workplace.

The Spiritual Well-Being of Elderly People: A Study of a French Sample

AbstractThe aim of our research was to identify predictors of the spiritual well-being of elderly people. More specifically, we postulated that subjective well-being and its components would be predictors of spiritual well-being, and more so than age and health status. We invited 133 people aged 60–95 to complete a questionnaire that included the French adaptation (Velasco and Rioux in Revue Canadienne des Sciences du Comportement 41(2):102–128, 2009) of Paloutzian and Ellison’s (Loneliness: A sourcebook of current theory, research and therapy, Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1982) Spiritual Well-Being Scale, Ryff and Essex’s (Psychol Aging 7:507–517, 1992) Psychological Well-Being Scale (translated by Lapierre and Desrochers 1997), Salamon and Conte’s (Meas Eval Guid 15(3):194–200, 1982) Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale (validated by Rousseau and Dubé in 1993), and the French version (Blais et al. in Can J Behav Sci 21:210–223, 1989) of Diener et al. (J Pers Assess 49:71–75, 1985) Satisfaction with Life Scale. The results only partially confirm our hypothesis, because only satisfaction with life as a whole and two items in “Life Satisfaction in the Elderly Scale” make it possible to predict the spiritual well-being of elderly people. Moreover, neither health status nor age was found to be a significant predictor of spiritual well-being. This research helps understand better the links between the concept of spiritual well-being and that of subjective well-being of elderly people and could contribute to the development of a tool that could take into account the spiritual well-being of elderly people, whether they be believers, agnostic, or atheist.

A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of an Environmental Action.

In a previous study, we investigated the impact of an awareness-raising campaign on the behaviour of secondary school children in the Centre Region of France, regarding the recycling of used batteries. But, was it a question of pro-environmental behaviour or simply an environmental action? To answer this question, a three-year longitudinal study was carried out, revealing that the awareness-raising campaign had a greater impact on stabilizing the children’s behaviour than on the adoption of sustainable pro-environmental behaviour.

Workplace Attachment and Meaning of Work in a French Secondary School

This research aims to gain a better understanding of the attachment of teachers to their workplace by identifying the areas to which they become attached and which give meaning to their work. Based on the belief that place attachment is an affective bond between a person and his or her environment (Bonnes & Secchiaroli, 1995), its aim is to identify the attachment of secondary school teachers to their workplace, which is viewed as a whole but also as a combination of specific places, and to show that the places that predict overall workplace attachment are also those that give meaning to work. A Workplace Attachment Scale was completed by 158 teachers in a secondary school in the Paris region (France). This questionnaire contained items evaluating attachment to each specific place of work and others adapted from the meaning-of-work scale evaluating the meaning given to each of these places. The results show that all the teachers were more closely attached to places that provide opportunities for informal communication than to those directly related to teaching. The main workplace attachment predictors also concern places constituting the essence of the profession and/or places where teachers can manage their organizational stress.

I hate my workplace but I am very attached to it: workplace attachment style: An exploratory approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether different patterns of workplace attachment exist and to explore the relations between adult attachment styles and the level of workplace attachment. Design/methodology/approach Participants were 351 Italian employees who completed a questionnaire composed of the Workplace Attachment Scale and the Relationship Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using correspondence analysis. Findings The results showed that high scores on workplace attachment correlated significantly with secure attachment style, while low scores correlated with insecure attachment styles. These results shed light on different workplace attachment styles. Research limitations/implications The limitation in this study mostly concern the use of self-reporting instruments to measure the participants’ attachment style, since they may be susceptible to distortions. However, the distribution of attachment styles in this sample is similar to the worldwide distribution, which supports the authors’ choice. Practical implications To the extent that it is possible to identify a specific workplace attachment style, it should also be possible to change some of the human resource management practices inducing employees to develop a workplace secure attachment style. Originality/value Researchers tended to ignore the extension of the adult attachment behavioral system to examine core environmental relationships. The present study, applying attachment theory to workplace attachment, provides theoretical support that the bonds that an individual forms with workplace can be classified as attachment bonds.

Satisfaction et confort au travail. L’apport de la démarche implicative

Resume De nombreux travaux se sont interesses aux variables psycho-organisationnelles susceptibles de predire la satisfaction au travail mais peu se sont penches sur celles issues du champ de la psychologie environnementale. Notre recherche se propose de reperer l’impact de variables evaluant le confort au travail en les confrontant a des variables organisationnelles dont les liens avec la satisfaction au travail sont actuellement bien connus et d’ordonner les relations entre ces variables dans une sequence quasi-implicative en se basant sur une analyse statistique implicative. Menee aupres de 105 employes du secteur bancaire, elle confirme notre modele theorique en montrant que la satisfaction au travail est implicativement expliquee par les trois autres variables ((Confort/Fonctionnalite => Controle/privacite) => Attachement_au_lieu_de_travail) => satisfaction_au_travail.

Construction and initial validation of a scale of attachment to work objects - WOAS

This article presents the results of a series of five studies to construct and validate a Workplace Objects Attachment Scale (WOAS). In total, 851 people employed in various professional sectors (health, education or services) participated in five successive studies. A questionnaire of attachment to objects in the workplace was constructed, based on Scrimas (2015) research and taking a qualitative approach (Study 1). Study 2 revealed that the questionnaire has a unidimensional factor structure, which was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis (Study 3). The questionnaire was shown to have good reliability, as evaluated by its temporal stability over a time span of 3 weeks (Study 4). As expected, we found positive links between the WOAS and the emotional dimensions of the Workplace Attachment Scale, Organizational Commitment Scale and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour scale, and a negative link between workplace object attachment and the intention to leave the organisation (Study 5).

Comfort at Work: An Indicator of Quality of Life at Work

Comfort at work is seen as a three-dimensional concept, each dimension corresponding to a different level of analysis, namely (a) physical, (b) evaluative, and (c) psychological. Each dimension will be illustrated through research investigating (i) the physical factors of the work environment, (ii) satisfaction with the work environment, and (iii) attachment to the workplace and to the affective ties of employees to their workplace. Bringing these different studies together, we discuss the role of the concept of comfort in Human Resource Management and examine whether one way of responding to psychosocial risks at work would be to offer employees comfort, thus coming within the framework of the primary prevention of occupational hazards as defined by the WHO.