Lorenzo Avanzi

The downside of organizational identification: Relations between identification, workaholism and well-being

Abstract Employee organizational identification has been proposed and found to be positively related to employee health and well-being. The empirical evidence, however, is not unequivocal, and some authors have suggested possible downsides of identification with the organization as a whole or with a group within it. The potential negative effect of over-identification was tested empirically for the first time in the present paper. Two studies were conducted; Study 1 was cross-sectional and used a sample of Italian law court clerks (N=195) and Study 2 was longitudinal and employed a sample of Italian teachers (N=140 at T2). We proposed a curvilinear mediation model with identification curvilinearly predicting workaholism, and workaholism, in turn, negatively affecting employee well-being. This curvilinear link between organizational identification and workaholism means that workaholism at first decreases with growing identification, but when identification becomes too strong, workaholism increases. The results confirmed our hypotheses, and we discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Staying or leaving: A combined social identity and social exchange approach to predicting employee turnover intentions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine social identity and social exchange theories into a model explaining turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach – Questionnaires measuring the constructs of organizational identification, perceived organizational support, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intentions were completed by 195 employees. Findings – Results supported our hypotheses: social identification increased the perception of organizational support which in turn reduced emotional exhaustion which was finally related to turnover intentions. Furthermore, social identification moderated the relation between organizational support and turnover intentions. Research limitations/implications – The study design was cross-sectional and data were collected using self-report with no assessment of objective data. Practical implications – To reduce turnover, managers should focus on both support and employees’ identification with teams and organizations. Originality/value – This study combines tw...

The relation between overcommitment and burnout: does it depend on employee job satisfaction?

Using the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory as a framework, we hypothesized a maladaptive role played by overcommitment in the escalation of burnout. We further specified our model by testing an interaction effect of job satisfaction. By using a longitudinal design, we proposed a moderated mediational model in which burnout at Time 1 (T1) increases overcommitment, which in turn leads to more burnout one month later. We further expected to find a moderating role of job satisfaction in the link between overcommitment and burnout at Time 2 (T2). A group of 86 white-collar workers in personnel services in Italy (longitudinal response rate = 77.48%) participated in our study. The findings supported our hypotheses even when controlling for gender and role stressors. In particular, by using bootstrapping procedures to test mediation, we found evidence that employees reporting burnout tend to develop a maladaptive coping style, i.e., overcommitment, which in turn increases burnout over time. This relation was particularly strong for dissatisfied employees. These results highlight the importance of overcommitment for burnout escalation, as well as of job satisfaction, since it may mitigate, at least in the short term, the effect of such dysfunctional strategies.

Positive Aging in Demanding Workplaces: The Gain Cycle between Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement

Nowadays organizations have to cope with two related challenges: maintaining an engaged and highly performing workforce and, at the same time, protecting and increasing employees’ well-being and job satisfaction under conditions of a generalized increase of job demand, in an increasingly growing older population. According to the motivational process of the JD-R model, a work environment with many organizational resources will foster work engagement, which in turn will increase the likelihood of positive personal and organizational outcomes, such as job satisfaction, performance, and intention to stay. However, it is not clear how this motivational process could work in different age cohorts, as older workers may have different priorities to those of younger colleagues. Postulating the existence of a gain-cycle in the relationship between work engagement and outcomes, in this study we tested a longitudinal moderated mediation model in which job satisfaction increases over time through an increment in work engagement. We hypothesized that this process is moderated by job demand and aging. We collected data in public administrations in Northern Italy in order to measure work engagement and job satisfaction. 556 workers aged between 50 and 64 replied to the survey twice (the first time and 8 months later). The findings confirmed a moderated mediation model, in which job satisfaction at time 1 increased work engagement, which in turn fostered job satisfaction 8 months later, confirming the hypothesized gain-cycle. This relationship was shown to be moderated by the joint influence of job demand intensity and age: higher job demands and younger age are related to the maximum level of level gain cycle, while the same high level of job demands, when associated with older age, appears unable to stimulate a similar effect. The results confirm that, on one hand, older workers cannot be seen as a homogeneous group and, on the other hand, the importance of considering the role played by the gain cycle of resources. Our findings show that age matters, and that greater consideration should be devoted to age differences in order to design appropriate human resources practices that foster work engagement and satisfaction.

A Cross-National Study on the Psychometric Quality of the Italian Version of the Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS)

We investigated the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Dutch Work Addiction Scale (DUWAS) by using an Italian sample (N = 1,027) and a comparable Dutch sample (N = 7,523). We first conducted multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis. We then examined the correlations of the DUWAS with job demands, work-family conflict, job-related affective well-being, and psychological and physical strain. Results showed that a two-factor solution of the DUWAS was equivalent across the Italian and Dutch samples, with data supporting factor variance and covariance equivalence in addition to metric equivalence. Internal consistencies of the DUWAS and its subscales were adequate, and test-retest reliability showed a strong stability of the measure at one year. The DUWAS and its subscales showed a pattern of correlations in the expected direction with the adopted criterion measures. Overall, the Italian version of the DUWAS shows adequate validity and reliability.

Contributo alla validazione italiana del Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI)

Scopo del presente lavoro e quello di fornire un primo contributo alla validazione italiana del Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI; Kristensen et al., 2005). Seguendo le considerazioni degli autori, esistono vari motivi per cui criticare il Maslach Burnout Inventory. Per questo gli autori hanno proposto un nuovo strumento per misurare il burnout che si sviluppa su due punti chiave: da un lato si afferma che il burnout e definibile esclusivamente in termini di stanchezza ed esaurimento, dall’altro che e legato a specifici ambiti. Gli autori indicano tre ambiti, che definiscono altrettante scale: burnout personale, burnout dovuto al lavoro nel suo complesso e burnout dovuto al lavoro di contatto con gli altri. I risultati dell’indagine condotta su un gruppo di insegnanti (N = 348) evidenziano una buona consistenza interna delle tre scale e la prevista stabilita temporale delle tre misure a sei mesi di distanza. La struttura fattoriale del CBI e sufficientemente ben descritta dai tre fattori postulati. Le tre scale mostrano il pattern atteso di correlazioni con una serie di variabili che la ricerca ha mostrato essere in relazione al burnout, tra le quali sintomi di stress, nevroticismo e soddisfazione lavorativa. Nel complesso i risultati danno indicazioni di validita ed affidabilita della versione italiana del CBI.

The Individual “Costs” of Workaholism: An Analysis Based on Multisource and Prospective Data:

We conducted two studies on workaholism to address three identified gaps in the literature, namely, the job-related affective experiences of workaholics, the relationship between workaholism and job demands, and the long-term mental health effects of workaholism. We also examined gender as a moderator of the relationship between workaholism and its outcomes. In Study 1 (N = 311), focused on a heterogeneous sample of workers, we found that workaholism was positively related to the experience of observer-reported, as well as self-reported, job-related negative affect and that this relationship was stronger among female workers. Furthermore, in a subsample of participants (n = 189) for whom we had available blood pressure data, we found that workaholism was positively related to systolic blood pressure. In Study 2 (N = 235), based on a sample of health-sector employees in which we adopted a full, two-wave panel design including workaholism, job demands, and mental distress, we found that the baseline levels of job demands impacted the follow-up levels of workaholism, while the reverse was not the case. We also found that the baseline levels of workaholism positively affected the levels of mental distress reported after 1 year. These results add to the existing literature on the job-related affective correlates and psychophysical costs of workaholism and shed further light on work environmental factors that may contribute to its genesis.

Identity leadership going global : validation of the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI) across 20 Countries.

Recent theorizing applying the social identity approach to leadership proposes a four‐dimensional model of identity leadership that centres on leaders’ management of a shared sense of ‘we’ and ‘us’. This research validates a scale assessing this model – the Identity Leadership Inventory (ILI). We present results from an international project with data from all six continents and from more than 20 countries/regions with 5,290 participants. The ILI was translated (using back‐translation methods) into 13 different languages (available in the Appendix S1) and used along with measures of other leadership constructs (i.e., leader–member exchange [LMX], transformational leadership, and authentic leadership) as well as employee attitudes and (self‐reported) behaviours – namely identification, trust in the leader, job satisfaction, innovative work behaviour, organizational citizenship behaviour, and burnout. Results provide consistent support for the construct, discriminant, and criterion validity of the ILI across countries. We show that the four dimensions of identity leadership are distinguishable and that they relate to important work‐related attitudes and behaviours above and beyond other leadership constructs. Finally, we also validate a short form of the ILI, noting that is likely to have particular utility in applied contexts.

Exploring Identity Dynamics from a Combined Social Exchange and Social Identity Perspective

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to explore identity dynamics of unit and department leaders in a healthcare setting using both social identity and social exchange theories. In particular, we developed a mediational moderated model in which supervisor trust indirectly influences identification with a subordinate level (i.e., the clinical unit) through its effect on identification with a superordinate level (i.e., the organization as a whole). Furthermore, we predicted and found that this relation is moderated by organizational tenure, contract breach, and the clinical-managers role (heads of clinical units vs. chairs of departments). We tested our hypotheses with doctors of a large public hospital in northern Italy. A total of 370 doctors completed questionnaires measuring organizational and unit identification, supervisor trust, and contract breach. Results supported our hypotheses: supervisor trust was related to unit identification through its effect on organizational identification. As expected, this relation was stronger for more tenured department chairs, and for those doctors who perceived less contract breach.

Unraveling the organizational mechanism at the root of safety compliance in an Italian manufacturing firm

Safety performance is recognized as the more proximal and effective precursor of safety outcomes. In particular, safety compliance significantly reduces workplace accidents and injuries. However, it is not entirely clear what role organizational factors play in determining workers’ safety. The present study contributes to defining which organizational factors increase safety compliance by testing a mediational model in which supervisor support is related to safety climate, which in turn is related to organizational identification that finally is related to safety compliance. We tested our hypotheses in a sample of 186 production workers of an Italian manufacturing firm using a cross-sectional design. Findings confirm our hypotheses. Management should consider these organizational factors in order to implement primary prevention practices against work accidents.