Maria José Chambel

The psychological contract of call-centre workers: Employment conditions, satisfaction and civic virtue behaviours

The number of call centre businesses and workers has increased considerably over recent years and has become one of the sectors with the highest growth rate in Portugal. In this cross-sectional study, covering 363 call/contact centre (C/CC) workers in a Portuguese firm, we confirm that the relationship between employees and the organization, namely their psychological contract, is influenced by their employment conditions, that is, their status and work premises. We perform multiple regression analyses and results show that: (1) temporary employees perceive fewer relational and balanced and more transactional organizational obligations than permanent employees; (2) employees working at the client’s premises perceive more balanced obligations of the organization; (3) the psychological contract has a relationship with the attitudes and behaviours of employees with a higher general relational orientation to their work, who are more satisfied and present more civic virtue behaviours. This study provides a discussion of the practical implications and future research.

Training, exhaustion, and commitment of temporary agency workers: A test of employability perceptions

The aim of this study was to analyse whether the social exchange between temporary agency workers (TAWs) and the client organization is associated with a perception of training. In this study, we developed and tested a moderated mediation model that accounts for TAWs’ exhaustion and desire to obtain a direct contract with the client company in the relationship between the perception of training and affective commitment. Our hypotheses were tested on a sample of 425 blue-collar workers from four Portuguese companies with temporary agency work contracts. Our findings support a conditional indirect relationship between the perception of TAWs that the training provided by the client company facilitates their internal employability and their commitment towards this company via exhaustion for those TAWs who have a low desire to have a direct contract with this company. In addition, our findings show that TAWs do not reciprocally respond to the training that promotes external employability, as this factor is not associated with the affective commitment of these individuals, although exhaustion is associated with this perception. Moreover, we discuss the implications of these findings for the human resource management of TAWs.

The role of proactive coping in the Job Demands–Resources Model: A cross-section study with firefighters

This study analyses the expansion of the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model with the introduction of proactive coping, in both health impairment and motivational processes. 1487 rescue mission firefighters from the 18 districts of Portugal participated in the study. Through structural equation modelling the results revealed that proactive coping partially mediated the relationship between job demands and burnout, as well as the relationship between job resources and engagement. The results suggest that this personal resource also has an effect on the promotion of positive occupational well-being indicators, in addition to the mitigation of negative well-being indicators. Practical implications for the field of occupational health psychology are also discussed.

Work context support and Portuguese soldiers’ well-being: The mediating role of autonomous motivation.

Using self-determination theory ( Deci & Ryan, 2008) as the theoretical framework, we tested a model for this study that considers soldiers’ perceptions of organizational support and leader–member exchange (LMX), work motivation, and well-being at work. The hypothesized model was tested using a representative sample of 1,045 Portuguese soldiers. Results revealed that autonomous work motivation was significantly related to both contextual factors (organizational support and LMX). In addition, autonomous work motivation was positively related to work engagement and negatively related to burnout, and controlled motivation showed the opposite pattern. More interesting, the results showed that autonomous work motivation as a mechanism that helped to explain the relationship between both contextual factors and workplace well-being. The present results underscore the importance of understanding the mechanisms through which higher work engagement and lower burnout take place, eventually leading to appropriate interventions.

HR attributions and the dual commitment of outsourced IT workers

Purpose – Outsourced information technology (IT) workers establish two different employment relationships: one with the outsourcing company that hires them and another with the client organization where they work daily. The attitudes that an employee has towards both organisations may be influenced by the interpretations or attributions that employees make about the reasons behind the human resource (HR) management practices implemented by the outsourcing company. This paper aims to propose that commitment‐focused HR attributions are positively and control‐focused HR attributions are negatively related to the affective commitment to the client organization, through the affective commitment to the outsourcing company.Design/methodology/approach – These hypotheses were tested with a sample of 158 highly skilled outsourced employees from the IT sector. Data were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM).Findings – The papers hypotheses were supported. It can conclude that, if an employee interprets t...

Burnout in salespeople: A three-wave study to examine job characteristics’ predictions and consequences for performance

The present study aims to test (1) the main effects of job demands and control on burnout and (2) the contribution of burnout to explaining variance in job performance, namely in-role performance and service-oriented organizational citizenship behaviour (service-OCB). The hypotheses were tested in a three-wave study among a sample of 94 Portuguese salespeople. The results provided partial evidence for the main cross-sectional effects of demands and control on burnout, but they did not provide evidence of carry-over effects six months later. Exhaustion was found to reduce extra-role performance over a six-month period.

Job insecurity, workload and job exhaustion in temporary agency workers (TAWs)

Purpose – Different studies underline that perceived job insecurity (PJI) has negative consequences at both individual and organisational level. Some authors investigated PJI in temporary agency workers (TAWs) but these studies did not focus on specific countries and did not discuss the relationship with job exhaustion. Other researchers explored gender differences in PJI and found different results; some investigated differences in PJI perception and others its relationship with the outcome of stress or well-being. The purpose of this paper is to inquire about the effects of PJI (as a demanding condition) on job exhaustion, considering the mediation role of workload and exploring differences between male and female TAWs. Design/methodology/approach – This research involved 474 Portuguese TAWs (209 men, 265 women). Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire; data analyses were performed using IBM Spss Statistics 22 for descriptive statistics, correlations and t-test; Mplus7 was used to estimate a multi-group structural equation model and to test the mediation. Findings – The results confirmed that workload is a mediator and indicated gender differences in how PJI relates to workload and job exhaustion in TAWs. In fact, the mediation of workload in the relationship between PJI and job exhaustion was partial in men and total in women: in the women group the direct effect of PJI on job exhaustion is not significant, and the indirect effect mediated by workload is significant; in the men group both direct and indirect effects are significant. Originality/value – This paper contributes to extend the research on job insecurity of TAWs in a specific national context and highlights gender differences in the relationship between PJI and job exhaustion.

Perceived High-Performance Work Systems and Subjective Well-Being Work-to-Family Balance and Well-Being at Work as Mediators

Perceived high-performance work systems (HPWS) have presented mixed results related to subjective well-being. Additionally, there remains a lack of an integrative analysis of the relationship between work–family balance and these practices. To explore this relationship more fully, we developed and tested a model that proposed work–family balance and well-being at work as mediators. Data gathered from 218 participants employed in a city council with different occupations indicated a positive relationship between perceived HPWS and work-to-family enrichment and a negative relationship between perceived HPWS and work-to-family conflict. More interestingly, based on Conservation of Resources theory and on Job-Demands Resources, the results also indicated the presence of a serial mediation model where work–family balance and well-being at work act as mediators of perceived HPWS and subjective well-being.

Job attitudes among workers with disabilities: The importance of family support in addition to organizational support

BACKGROUND In the case of workers with disabilities, family support is often essential to gain access to the labor market and achieve personal autonomy and financial independence, in addition to fostering job satisfaction and permanence in the organization. Moreover, the support offered by organizations is particularly valued by workers with disabilities, as the organizations that hire such people generally go to considerable lengths to ensure their adaptation and integration in the workplace, contributing to job satisfaction and permanence in the organization. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between organizational support and family support with job satisfaction and intention to quit the organization among workers with disabilities employed in ordinary firms. METHODS Our study surveyed 204 workers using a questionnaire, and we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses to test these relationships. RESULTS Our results show that organizational support is a significant explanatory factor in the levels of job satisfaction. Moreover, our results indicate that the participants perceived high levels of support from their families, facilitating the conciliation of work and family life. CONCLUSIONS Our results have practical implications in order to improve full integration and normalization of workers with disabilities in ordinary jobs.

Contract moderation effects on temporary agency workers’ affective organizational commitment and perceptions of support

Purpose – Temporary agency workers (TAWs) have a double employment relationship: one with the agency that hires them with a formal contract, either temporary or permanent; and another with the client organization where they actually perform their work. As the social-exchange theory assumes that TAWs respond to the support they receive from both organizations with affective commitment toward the respective organization. The purpose of this paper is to propose that the type of contract with the agency moderates these relationships, specifically that permanent TAWs present a stronger relationship between perceived organizational support (POS) and affective organizational commitment (AOC) toward the agency and, to the contrary, that temporary TAWs show a greater relationship between POS and AOC toward the client. Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses were tested with a sample of 522 Portuguese TAWs, of which 265 were temporaries and 257 were permanents. Data were collected with a self-report questionna...