Sarah Turgut

Dispositional resistance to change and emotional exhaustion: moderating effects at the work-unit level

Organizational change, although essential for business success, may negatively impact employees’ well-being. Based on person–environment fit theory, the authors investigate employees’ dispositional resistance to change as it impacts emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, the authors examine boundary conditions that may affect dispositional resistance to change and its influence on emotional exhaustion. They take a trait activation approach and test the moderating roles of two work-unit-level internal contextual factors: perceived organizational support and informational team climate. Using a longitudinal research design of 709 participants in 30 work units, multilevel analyses reveal that dispositional resistance to change (time 1) is positively related to emotional exhaustion (time 2). Moreover, a lack of perceived organizational support and a high informational team climate strengthen these effects. The authors conclude that organizations should offer coaching and training programmes to cope with organizational change for employees who are highly change resistant. Furthermore, personal and organizational development strategies should consider the insights gained from the study regarding internal contextual factors that moderate change management processes.

Challenge and threat emotions as antecedents of recovery experiences: findings from a diary study with blue-collar workers

The aim of this study was (1) to investigate whether threat (e.g., anxiety, fear) and challenge (e.g., confidence, excitement) emotions that employees experience before work while thinking about the upcoming workday predict their recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery, and control) after work and (2) to explore the moderating role of job control on the effect of threat and challenge emotions on recovery experiences. For two to four weeks, 57 blue-collar workers at an airport’s hub station completed a diary. Multilevel analyses (N = 1104) reveal that threat emotions in the morning decrease psychological detachment and relaxation after work. Job control buffers this negative effect. Furthermore, challenge emotions in the morning boost mastery after work. Next, when employees have low job control, challenge emotions also boost the recovery experience control. Practical implications and the need for future studies to examine more fine-grained mechanisms for better understanding how threat and challenge emotions experienced before starting work affect recovery experiences after work are discussed.

Arbeitspsychologische Fehlzeitenanalyse — ein Mehrebenenmodell

ZusammenfassungIn diesem Beitrag wird eine arbeitspsychologische Fehlzeitenanalyse dargestellt, die über klassische, kennzahl-orientierte Verfahren hinausgeht und auf einem Mehrebenenmodell aufb aut. Die integrative Betrachtung von Determinanten des Krankenfehlstands auf fünf Ebenen (Arbeitsplatz, Individuum, Team, Führung, Organisation) ermöglicht eine wesentlich differenziertere Analyse und Interventionsgestaltung. In der vorliegenden Studie wird die exemplarische Erprobung dieses Ansatzes anhand einer längsschnittlichen Untersuchung mit 709 Mitarbeitern und Führungskräft en eines deutschen Automobilkonzerns vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse bestätigen das Mehrebenenmodell für eine differenzierte Diagnose und Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen.AbstractIn this article an approach to analyze absenteeism is presented from a work psychology perspective going beyond classic methods based solely on key performance indicators. This approach builds on a multi-level model. The integrative examination of determinants of absenteeism on five levels (workplace, individual, team, leadership, organization) enables a considerably differentiated analysis and design of interventions. The present study depicts an exemplary test of this approach using a longitudinal survey of 709 employees and supervisors of a German automotive company. The results support the multi-level model for a differentiated diagnosis and derivation of interventions.