Pascale M. Le Blanc

Present but sick : a three-wave study on job demands, presenteeism and burnout

Purpose – The opposite of absenteeism, presenteeism, is the phenomenon of employees staying at work when they should be off sick. Presenteeism is an important problem for organizations, because employees who turn up for work, when sick, cause a reduction in productivity levels. The central aim of the present study is to examine the longitudinal relationships between job demands, burnout (exhaustion and depersonalization), and presenteeism. We hypothesized that job demands and exhaustion (but not depersonalization) would lead to presenteeism, and that presenteeism would lead to both exhaustion and depersonalization over time.Design/methodology/approach – The hypotheses were tested in a sample of 258 staff nurses who filled out questionnaires at three measurement points with 1.5 years in‐between the waves.Findings – Results were generally in line with predictions. Job demands caused more presenteeism, while depersonalization was an outcome of presenteeism over time. Exhaustion and presenteeism were found to...

Take Care! The Evaluation of a Team-Based Burnout Intervention Program for Oncology Care Providers

In this quasi-experimental study among staff of 29 oncology wards, the authors evaluated the effects of a team-based burnout intervention program combining a staff support group with a participatory action research approach. Nine wards were randomly selected to participate in the program. Before the program started (Time 1), directly after the program ended (Time 2), and 6 months later (Time 3), study participants filled out a questionnaire on their work situation and well-being. Results of multilevel analyses showed that staff in the experimental wards experienced significantly less emotional exhaustion at both Time 2 and Time 3 and less depersonalization at Time 2, compared with the control wards. Moreover, changes in burnout levels were significantly related to changes in the perception of job characteristics over time.

Emotional job demands and the role of matching job resources: A cross-sectional survey study among health care workers

BACKGROUND Research on emotional labour in health care work has not yet revealed under what conditions emotional job demands have an impact on employee health and well-being. There is a need for more theory to unveil the black box of emotional labour processes. OBJECTIVES To test the moderating role of matching (i.e. emotional) and non-matching (i.e. cognitive) job resources in the relation between emotional job demands and employee health/well-being (i.e. emotional exhaustion, employee creativity, and work motivation). DESIGN A cross-sectional survey with anonymous questionnaires was conducted. SETTINGS A large organization for residential elderly care with eight locations in an urban area in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS Questionnaires were distributed to 1259 health care workers, of which 826 people returned the questionnaire (66% response rate). METHODS In addition to descriptive statistics, multivariate multiple regression analysis (LISREL 8.54) with cross-validation was conducted. RESULTS Findings showed that emotional job resources moderated the relation between emotional job demands and health/well-being outcomes. Firstly, emotional job resources were able to moderate the relation between emotional job demands and emotional exhaustion. Secondly, both emotional job resources and, to a lesser extent, cognitive job resources were able to moderate the relation between emotional job demands and positive well-being outcomes (i.e. employee creativity and work motivation). Finally, cross-validation showed that parameter estimates did not vary across subsamples. CONCLUSIONS Job resources could compensate for resources lost through meeting the requirements of emotional job demands, thereby reducing stress-reactions and increasing well-being. Providing health care workers with more, preferably matching, job resources could make emotional job demands less stressful, and even stimulating and challenging. Future longitudinal studies should investigate the interplay of emotional job demands and (matching) job resources more profoundly.

From inequity to burnout: The role of job stress

This research examined burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment) among 2 samples of Dutch teachers as a function of inequity and experienced job stress in 3 different exchange relationships (with students, colleagues, and the school). It was hypothesized that inequity would be linked to burnout through the stress resulting from this inequity. Analysis of a cross-sectional sample (N = 271) revealed that this was indeed the case. Findings were replicated longitudinally using an independent sample of 940 teachers. It is concluded that the often-reported effect of inequity on burnout can partly be interpreted in terms of elevated levels of job stress. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Towards a match between job demands and sources of social support : a study among oncology care providers

Recent studies have demonstrated that Karaseks operationalization of job demands in his well-known Job Demand-Control (JD-C) model (Karasek, 1979), i.e., quantitative demands, cannot capture the complexities of working with patients or clients in health care work. In the present study on burnout among 816 Dutch oncology care providers, the model was extended by including, apart from quantitative demands, emotional job demands and organizational job demands. Moreover, the study examined the potential moderating role of three different sources of social support (colleagues, supervisor, and family) on the relationship between job demands and burnout thereby predicting a specific match between the source of social support and the type of job demand. The results showed that particularly quantitative job demands and organizational job demands significantly contributed to the prediction of burnout. In addition, social support from the family moderated the relationship between quantitative demands and depersonalization, and social support from colleagues moderated the relationship between emotional demands and depersonalization.

Flourishing students: A longitudinal study on positive emotions, personal resources, and study engagement

The aim of this two-wave questionnaire study with a 4-week interval among 391 Dutch university students was to test a gain cycle of positive emotions, personal resources, and study engagement. As a theoretical basis, this study drew on the broaden-and-build (B&B) theory and the conservation of resources (COR) theory. More specifically, it was hypothesized that the experience of positive emotions predicts students’ future personal resources and study engagement. Moreover, it was expected that there is a longitudinal relationship between personal resources and study engagement. Furthermore, we hypothesized that positive emotions, personal resources, and study engagement are reciprocally related. Results, obtained by means of structural equation modeling, confirmed both causal (except for the positive relationship between positive emotions and study engagement) and reciprocal hypotheses, thereby successfully integrating the B&B theory with the COR theory.

Regulatory focus at work : the moderating role of regulatory focus in the job demands-resources model

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating role of regulatory focus in the job demands‐resources model.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey was conducted among 146 teachers in secondary education. It was expected that detrimental effects of job demands (i.e. workload, interpersonal conflict) on emotional exhaustion would be more pronounced among individuals with a strong prevention focus (oriented towards safety and security). Favorable effects of job resources (i.e. autonomy, social support) on motivational outcomes were expected to be more pronounced among individuals with a strong promotion focus (oriented towards growth and development).Findings – The hypotheses regarding the moderating role of prevention focus were confirmed, but the moderating effect of promotion focus appeared to be exactly opposite to expectations. The effect of job resources on motivational outcomes was more pronounced for individuals with a weak promotion focus.Originality/value – To the bes...

Supervisory behavior, reciprocity and subordinate absenteeism

The present study among 242 professionals working in a lung clinic and nursing home was designed to test a model that links supervisory behavior (i.e. leader member exchange (LMX) behavior and conflict management behavior) and reciprocity in the supervisor/subordinate relationship to objectively registered subordinate absenteeism. With respect to LMX‐behavior, a distinction was made between consideration and coaching of a subordinate by the supervisor and filling an assistant role by a subordinate. With respect to conflict management behavior, a distinction was made between openness, distribution, and control. It was hypothesized that subordinates’ feelings of reciprocity with respect to the relationship with their direct supervisor mediate the relation between supervisory behavior and subordinate absenteeism. Results of structural equation modeling showed that this was indeed the case for the relation between LMX‐behavior and subordinate absenteeism. Supervisory conflict management behavior was not directly related to subordinates’ feelings of reciprocity, but only indirectly through LMX‐behavior. Finally, and quite surprisingly, subordinates’ feelings of reciprocity turned out to be positively related to their absence frequency.

On Being Grateful and Kind: Results of Two Randomized Controlled Trials on Study-Related Emotions and Academic Engagement

ABSTRACT Despite the large amount of research attention to engagement as well as positive psychology in a general context, there have been few attempts to increase academic well-being by means of positive psychological interventions. This article tests the potential of positive psychological interventions to enhance study-related positive emotions and academic engagement, and to reduce study-related negative emotions among university students. We modified two existing positive interventions that are aimed at increasing general happiness for use in an academic context. These interventions focused on “thoughts of gratitude” and “acts of kindness,” respectively. The present study consisted of two randomized controlled trials with experimental (thoughts of gratitude or acts of kindness) and control conditions in which participants were monitored on a daily basis during the one-week intervention, and additional pre-, post-, and follow-up assessments were carried out. Results revealed that the gratitude intervention had a significant positive effect on daily positive emotions only. The kindness intervention had a positive influence on both positive emotions and academic engagement, though not in the long run. The results showed no effects on negative emotions in either of the two interventions. Positive psychological interventions seem to foster positive emotions and academic engagement, but do not decrease negative emotions.

Leader Member Exchanges: Distinction Between Two Factors

Abstract The dimensionality of Graens Leader Member Exchange concept was examined in a cross-sectional questionnaire study among 1147 Dutch nurses. The total sample was divided into two subgroups by means of stratified random selection (n1 = 574; n2 = 573) and analyses were performed in each subgroup separately. The factorial structure of a 12-item self-report Leader Member Exchange questionnaire was examined. Exploratory factor analysis on the data of subgroup 1 yielded two factors, which were labelled “consideration/coaching by the leader” and “filling an assistant position”. Confirmatory factor analyses with LISREL showed that a two-factor oblique model had the best fit in both subgroups. Equality of factor structures in both subgroups was clearly demonstrated. Differential validity of the two Leader Member Exchange factors was studied by correlating each factor with measures of job-related affect. In both subgroups, the consideration/coaching factor had a significantly stronger, positive relationship...