Michael O’Driscoll

The Psychology of Ownership Work Environment Structure, Organizational Commitment, And Citizenship Behaviors

This study explored a potential mediating role of psychological ownership (of the job and the organization) in the relationship between levels of work environment structure and employee responses, in a diverse sample of 239 New Zealand workers and their managers. It was reasoned that low levels of work environment structure permit employees to exercise more personal control, have greater knowledge (of their job and organization), and invest themselves more extensively into their work. Hence, less structured work environments are more conducive to the development of feelings of psychological ownership for the job and organization than are more highly structured work environments that allow less personal control. Results from this investigation suggest that psychological ownership (especially feelings of ownership for the organization) mediates the relationship of work environment structure with employee citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment.

A cross-national comparative study of work/family demands and resources

This article presents phase 2 of the Collaborative International Study of Managerial Stress (CISMS2) with the objective of studying cross culturally/cross-nationally potential causes and consequences of work-family conflict. This collaborative international study contributes to the existing literature on work and family by adding a different theoretical perspective (interaction between demands and resources, and resource loss), following the thinking of Grandey and Cropanzano, focusing on a specific collective (managers), and testing both universalistic and cross cultural hypotheses in a large sample taken from 25 countries in different continents, representing different socio-cultural contexts. It will explore cross cultural/cross-national issues in a comparative sense, looking at how family and societal differences relate to work-family conflict. More specifically we expect that individualism/collectivism and the presence of family-supportive government policies will moderate relationships between demands, resources and work-family conflict.

Stress management interventions: what do managers actually do?

Presents a report of research which surveyed managers’ views on stress, their beliefs about stress interventions and who should be responsible for addressing job‐related stress problems. Stress management interventions have embedded in them a range of practices that offer opportunities for individual development and employee wellbeing. Equally, though, there is a strongly‐held belief that many interventions fall short, because they offer only a partial solution or fail to recognize the wider contextual‐structural issues within which organisational behaviour takes place. One reason for this may be that little attempt has been made to find out what managers understand by stress and the extent to which they think that their organisation has a responsibility to address problems of stress. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to explore these issues, using a sample of 540 New Zealand managers. The results draw attention to a number of issues including: do managers’ views of stress reflect ack...

Theories of Psychological Stress at Work

This chapter is about theories of work-related stress. Of course, throughout this Handbook, stress-related topics are discussed. However, in order to understand different theories and to give them a sense of time, place, and meaning, we attempt to explore them against the changes in how stress has come to be defined. The importance of exploring stress theories in this way lies in the way it gives a sense of history: of why different theories prevailed (Cooper, Dewe, & O’Driscoll, 2001), whether they are “worthy of the intellectual resources focused on them” (Kaplan, 1996, p. 374), whether they adequately express the nature of the experience itself (Newton, 1995) and, despite the knowledge and understanding they have provided, whether they are still capable of expressing “the stress of the stress process” (Lazarus, 1990, p. 4). We also explore whether we can distil from them what should now become the organizing concept of the future around which such theories should focus. Liddle (1994) describes an organizing concept as one with “sufficient logic and emotional resonance to yield systematic theoretical and research enquiry that will make a lasting solution” (p. 167). Finally, we explore the different theories in terms of how they have influenced our measurement strategies, where our current methodologies are taking us, what this means for understanding the richness of the stress experience, and the type of evidence they provide in terms of work stress and well-being. However, this chapter does not review all the different theories of stress. In order to explore how they have evolved, we have selected a number that best express this evolutionary process, although all theories have an evolutionary element to them. A comprehensive review of stress theories can be found in Cooper (2000). This book is as “a compendium of theory rich in diversity and range” (p. 4) emphasising not just the need for theories to capture the essence of the work experience itself, but also help us as researchers fulfil our moral responsibility to those whose working lives we study. This chapter begins by first exploring the evolutionary milestones in the way stress has been defined. It then uses this as the context for exploring the development of selected stress theories. The chapter concludes by exploring what this means in terms of our understanding of work stress, those elements that should now be reflected in our theories of stress and the issues we now need to consider as researchers and practitioners.

Predictors of Workplace Bullying and Cyber-Bullying in New Zealand

Background: The negative effects of in-person workplace bullying (WB) are well established. Less is known about cyber-bullying (CB), in which negative behaviours are mediated by technology. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the current research examined how individual and organisational factors were related to WB and CB at two time points three months apart. Methods: Data were collected by means of an online self-report survey. Eight hundred and twenty-six respondents (58% female, 42% male) provided data at both time points. Results: One hundred and twenty-three (15%) of participants had been bullied and 23 (2.8%) of participants had been cyber-bullied within the last six months. Women reported more WB, but not more CB, than men. Worse physical health, higher strain, more destructive leadership, more team conflict and less effective organisational strategies were associated with more WB. Managerial employees experienced more CB than non-managerial employees. Poor physical health, less organisational support and less effective organisational strategies were associated with more CB. Conclusion: Rates of CB were lower than those of WB, and very few participants reported experiencing CB without also experiencing WB. Both forms of bullying were associated with poorer work environments, indicating that, where bullying is occurring, the focus should be on organisational systems and processes.

Exploring gender differences in employee attitudes towards work‐family practices and use of work‐family practices

This study explored a number of work‐family attitudes and the current and future use of work‐family practices by gender, using a sample of 100 New Zealand employees. Females were significantly more supportive of work‐family practice users towards both male and female users. Female employees also perceived greater benefits from work‐family practices than male respondents. Finally, female respondents were more likely to consider using work‐family practices in the future, although there were no differences to wards current use of work‐family practices by gender. Overall, the findings suggest that female employees are more supportive of work‐family practices, their users, and the benefits associated with their use, supporting the socialisation theoretical perspective. The implications for research are discussed.

The Backlash Against Work/Family Benefits: Evidence from New Zealand

This study examines the phenomenon of work/family backlash by comparing attitudes between employees who have used and those who have not used an organization’s work/family benefits. Exploring this phenomenon is important because organizations do not want to offer benefits that create negative reactions in those excluded from using them or those choosing not to use them. Findings indicate no significant differences in attitudes between users and nonusers toward turnover intention, affective, continuance and normative commitment, recruitment and retention benefits, work/family fairness and attitudes toward male and female users of work/family benefits. Nonusers were more likely to be younger and without children, indicating they might have little use for work/family benefits. The findings suggest work/family backlash might be more a case of media hype and provide support for a needs-based allocation perspective being used by nonusers of work/family benefits.

Do South African managers cope differently from American managers? a cross-cultural investigation

Abstract Coping with organizational stress can reduce the experience of psychological strain on the job. While the literature on coping with stress is growing in its importance, there are hardly any empirical studies on the significance of coping styles or their relative efficacies in dissimilar cultural contexts. The present study was undertaken to examine: (1) the relative efficacies of two distinct types of coping styles (Lazarus & Folkman. (1984). Stress appraisal and coping . New York: Springer), and (2) the efficacy of decision latitude in the US and South African contexts. The results reveal important cultural influences on coping styles and decision latitude in ameliorating the experience of psychological strain. Implications of this study for future research on coping are discussed.

The relationship of social support with well-being outcomes via work–family conflict: Moderating effects of gender, dependants and nationality:

The impact of work–family conflict on well-being outcomes is well established, as is the role of social support in buffering perceptions of conflict. What is less well understood is how these relationships vary for different groups of respondents. Using a two-wave longitudinal design with a 12-month time lag and samples of employees (total N = 2183) from Australia, New Zealand, China and Hong Kong, the present research investigated whether the mediating relationships between social support, work–family conflict and well-being outcomes were moderated by gender, geographical region and the presence of dependants in the household. Supervisor support and family support were associated with lower work–family conflict, and hence reduced psychological strain and increased job and family satisfaction, for women and for employees in China and Hong Kong, but not for employees in Australia and New Zealand. However, the presence of dependants was not a significant moderator. Our findings illustrate the importance of exploring gender and national differences in work–family conflict research, particularly the investigation of cross-domain effects.

Measurement Invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale Across 26 Countries

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a commonly used life satisfaction scale. Cross-cultural researchers use SWLS to compare mean scores of life satisfaction across countries. Despite the wide use of SWLS in cross-cultural studies, measurement invariance of SWLS has rarely been investigated, and previous studies showed inconsistent findings. Therefore, we examined the measurement invariance of SWLS with samples collected from 26 countries. To test measurement invariance, we utilized three measurement invariance techniques: (a) multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA), (b) multilevel confirmatory factor analysis (ML-CFA), and (c) alignment optimization methods. The three methods demonstrated that configural and metric invariances of life satisfaction held across 26 countries, whereas scalar invariance did not. With partial invariance testing, we identified that the intercepts of Items 2, 4, and 5 were noninvariant. Based on two invariant intercepts, factor means of countries were compared. Chile showed the highest factor mean; Spain and Bulgaria showed the lowest. The findings enhance our understanding of life satisfaction across countries, and they provide researchers and practitioners with practical guidance on how to conduct measurement invariance testing across countries.