Mohd Awang B Idris

Psychosocial Safety Climate, Emotional Demands, Burnout, and Depression: A Longitudinal Multilevel Study in the Malaysian Private Sector

This multilevel longitudinal study investigates a newly identified climate construct, psychosocial safety climate (PSC), as a precursor to job characteristics (e.g., emotional demands), and psychological outcomes (i.e., emotional exhaustion and depression). We argued that PSC, as an organizational climate construct, has cross-level effects on individually perceived job design and psychological outcomes. We hypothesized a mediation process between PSC and emotional exhaustion particularly through emotional demands. In sequence, we predicted that emotional exhaustion would predict depression. At Time 1, data were collected from employees in 36 Malaysian private sector organizations (80% responses rate), n = 253 (56%), and at Time 2 from 27 organizations (60%) and n = 117 (46%). Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we found that there were cross-level effects of PSC Time 1 on emotional demands Time 2 and emotional exhaustion Time 2, but not on depression Time 2, across a 3-month time lag. We found evidence for a lagged mediated effect; emotional demands mediated the relationship between PSC and emotional exhaustion. Emotional exhaustion did not predict depression. Finally, our results suggest that PSC is an important organizational climate construct, and acts to reduce employee psychological problems in the workplace, via working conditions.

Lay theory explanations of occupational stress: the Malaysian context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the causes and consequences of job stress in Malaysia and make a comparison between Western and Eastern perspectives.Design/methodology/approach – A grounded theory approach was used to develop a lay representation of Malay peoples descriptions of their experiences at work, including job stress. Interviews were conducted with 48 employees in Malaysia, using six semi‐structured interview questions adopted from Kinman and Jones and translated into the Malay language, as a guide.Findings – Although most respondents perceived that individual factors play an important role in work stress, organizational factors seemed to be the dominant factor identified that contributes to work stress. Respondents also perceived the individual as key to stress reduction rather than management interventions. A new concept emerged in this study that was related to external factors impinging on work (such as globalization).Practical implications – Organizations should formulate ...

The effect of globalization on employee psychological health and job satisfaction in Malaysian workplaces.

The Effect of Globalization on Employee Psychological Health and Job Satisfaction in Malaysian Workplaces: Mohd Awang Idris, et al. Work and Stress Research Group, Centre for Applied Psychological Research, School of Psychology, University of South Australia, Australia—

A Multi-level Study of Psychosocial Safety Climate, Challenge and Hindrance Demands, Employee Exhaustion, Engagement and Physical Health

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) on work engagement, emotional exhaustion and physical health problems, particularly through two types of demands (i.e., challenge and hindrance demands) among police personnel in Peninsular Malaysia. Data were collected using a survey among 909 participants from 58 departments and were analyzed using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) version 7.0. The study discovered that PSC was negatively related to hindrance demands. PSC was also negatively related to emotional exhaustion and physical health problems. Interestingly, challenge demands increased work engagement and also emotional exhaustion, whereas hindrance demands were negatively related to work engagement and positively associated with emotional exhaustion. In the mediating pathways, hindrance demands mediated the relationship between PSC and emotional exhaustion, whereas emotional exhaustion mediated the relationship between challenge and hindrance demands and physical health problems. This study provides evidence that PSC acts as a predictor in a multi-level way, while challenge and hindrance stressors at the task level, lead to negative and positive work outcomes.

The Determinant of Nonprofit External and Internal Effectiveness: The Role of Knowledge Sharing, Collaborative Culture, and Beneficiary Participation

Determining the factors that contribute to nonprofit effectiveness is a problematic and puzzling task. In that respect, utilizing the intellectual capital (IC) concept, this paper proposes an analysis of knowledge sharing, collaborative culture, and beneficiary participation as determinants of nonprofit effectiveness. Drawn from quantitative research strategy, a cross-sectional survey and a structured questionnaire have been employed. The final valid data consist of 271 participants from Malaysian nonprofits located in the Klang Valley area, Malaysia. The main analysis used structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings revealed that knowledge sharing and beneficiary participation significantly predict both external and internal effectiveness. However, collaborative culture fails to act as a predictor of either nonprofit external or internal effectiveness.

Psychosocial safety climate versus team climate: The distinctiveness between the two organizational climate constructs

Purpose The importance of organizational climates in enhancing employees’ job performance is well studied in the literature. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and team climate on job performance, particularly through job engagement, by using a multilevel survey. The study also predicted that only PSC (and not team climate) predicted job resources (i.e. role clarity and performance feedback). Design/methodology/approach A total of 412 employees from 44 teams (72.6 per cent response rate) in Malaysian private organizations participated in the current study. Findings Research findings revealed that performance feedback and role clarity mediate the relationship between PSC and job engagement, and that there is no direct effect between the variables, team climate, and job resources. As expected, the study also discovered that job engagement mediates the relationship between PSC and team climate related to job performance. Practical implications This paper suggests the importance of PSC as the precursor to better working conditions (i.e. job resources) and to indirectly boosting employees’ engagement and job performance. Originality/value The study compared two distinctive organizational climate constructs that affect the different types of job resources using multilevel approach within the Asian context.

Psychosocial Safety Climate: Past, Present, and Future Research

A systematic review was conducted on the facet-specific climate for psychosocial safety [psychosocial safety climate (PSC)] that has been featured in the literature. Specifically, we sought answers regarding the roles, impacts, research trend, and challenges for PSC research. From our search of three databases, 113 articles peer-reviewed journal articles were identified of which 13 PSC articles qualified for the review. For comparative purposes we also considered research on other climate facets, safety climate (n = 59), and psychological safety climate (n = 16), published from 1980 to 2016. Although safety climate remains the dominant research interest, PSC surpassed psychological safety climate in terms of publications from 2010. We found that PSC has its own specific outcomes, whereby PSC was predominantly associated with psychological health. Evidence strongly supported the dual function of PSC, as an antecedent and moderator (rather than mediator) of the work stress process. Around half the studies were longitudinal, and all were published in either Australia or Malaysia. The review provides a better understanding of PSC research and shows that the climate for psychosocial safety is crucial for improving health and work quality. Given its important implications for working conditions, health, and engagement, we encourage further research on PSC. We provide insights into future research requirements to advance the field of PSC research such as the simultaneous use of multiple climates, multilevel modeling, research time lags, advanced research designs, and data analysis tools.

Psychosocial safety climate as a moderator of the moderators: Contextualizing JDR models and emotional demands effects

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) is a facet-specific aspect of organizational climate that pertains to employees’ psychological health. We sought to deepen our understanding of how and when resources function by considering the role of PSC as a contextual factor for job demands-resources model. We explained this using two different mechanisms – PSC as a resource passageway (i.e., channelling, supplying, bolstering, complementing, compensating resources) or PSC as a safety signal (i.e., enabling resource use) effect. Using longitudinal data from 429 Malaysian health care workers from 53 teams and hierarchical linear modelling (HLM), we found team PSC was a stronger moderator of emotional demands than control or rewards on psychological health problems (emotional exhaustion and somatic symptoms), after controlling for the baseline outcomes. A three-way interaction of team PSC at Time 1 with demands and resources (rewards only) at Time 2 showed that PSC is able to moderate the moderation relationship of demands and resources. Specifically, PSC, as a resource passageway, is providing a range of resources, that likely to compensate and complement low rewards. Hence, when both PSC and rewards were low, emotional demands had the strongest effect on psychological health. This result is robust as it was validated using HLM and split samples of PSC at the upper level. Given the important contextual role of PSC as a ‘moderator of the moderators’, building PSC should be the focus of workplace interventions to protect the psychological health of workers. Practitioner points: Psychosocial safety climate may compensate for job resources, particularly rewards in an organization to protect workers’ psychological health. Psychosocial safety climate buffers the detrimental effect of emotional demands on workers’ psychological health better than rewards and control.

Supervisory coaching and performance feedback as mediators of the relationships between leadership styles, work engagement, and turnover intention

ABSTRACT Human resource development (HRD) is key to organizational success. With some HRD roles devolving to leaders in recent years, a gap in understanding is now evident in how leaders’ leadership styles shape development-oriented behaviours that may effectively assist them in fulfilling their HRD roles, and the corresponding effects that this has on employee work engagement and turnover intention. This study compared the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on employee attitudes (i.e. work engagement and turnover intention) through leaders’ behaviours (i.e. supervisory coaching and performance feedback). This study used a multilevel approach (i.e. matching leaders to multiple subordinates) with 500 employees, nested in 65 workgroups from private organizations in Malaysia. As hypothesized, we found a link between transformational (but not transactional) leadership and higher levels of supervisory coaching and performance feedback, and that these job resources mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Furthermore, we found that work engagement mediates the relationships of both supervisory coaching and performance feedback to turnover intention. Overall, the study results reveal one way in which Asian leaders can effectively facilitate some aspects of HRD through development-focused behaviours which serve as job resources to boost work engagement and reduce turnover intention.

The effects of customer accountability and knowledge sharing on voluntary organizations’ (VOs) effectiveness

Purpose This study aims to examine how the relationship between customer accountability and voluntary organizations’ effectiveness is mediated by knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-sectional survey and a structured questionnaire, data were collected from 349 employees of Malaysian voluntary organizations (VOs). Baron and Kenny’s (1986) procedures for mediation testing were adopted for the main analysis. Findings Results of structural equation modelling indicated that knowledge sharing partially mediates the relationship between and voluntary organizations’ effectiveness. Research limitations/implications Despite the authors’ contribution on the current academia, this study only investigated 349 employees representing VOs located in a single area, which is the Klang Valley area, Malaysia. Further research could identify a larger sample that would strengthen the inferences and conclusions. Practical implications The main practical implication is that Malaysian VOs need to be aware of the impact of customer accountability upon their voluntary organizations’ effectiveness, and they need to inculcate their employees’ knowledge sharing behaviour to foster the impact of customer accountability on voluntary organizations’ effectiveness. Originality/value This paper is unique in that it is the first attempt to combine the previous direct effect relationship into a new model that shows the effect of customer accountability on voluntary organizations’ effectiveness and the role of knowledge sharing as a mediator in the context of Malaysian voluntary sector.