Safety climate and safety behaviors: Adapting and validating a positively worded safety climate scale through the time-lagged approach.

BACKGROUND: Contemporary literature raises serious questions about the inclusion of negatively worded items in the safety climate scale. Despite these reservations, limited efforts have been made to address this shortcoming. OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to adapt and empirically validate the ten-items group-level safety climate scale with the purpose of replacing negatively worded items with positively worded ones after a thorough validation process. The present study is one of the first to propose an empirically validated group-level safety climate scale that uses positive items to measure the safety climate construct. METHODS: Study 1 was conducted using a sample of 135 participants. Study 2 used a time-lagged approach to validate the scale, with a sample of 173 production workers from six oil and gas organizations in Malaysia. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method was used to test the hypothesized relationships. RESULTS: In Study 1, the results of the exploratory factor analysis showed good reliability for the revised scale. In Study 2, the results of the PLS-SEM analysis demonstrated a positive relationship between safety climate and safety behaviors, thereby validating the revised and translated scale of safety climate. CONCLUSION: The revised safety climate scale will not only improve data quality, but it will also increase response rates. Additionally, the revised scale will assist managers in understanding the true perceptions of safety climate in their organization, regardless of the cultural context in which the scale is used.

Work intensification: A systematic review of studies from 1989 to 2022.

BACKGROUND: Work intensification can lead to both work-related and non-work-related outcomes that positively and negatively affect the employee, organization, and job in question. The criticality of this phenomena necessitates conducting a systematic review to capture the essence of the extant literature. OBJECTIVE: This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on work intensification from 1989 to 2022. It reviews the conceptualization of the construct, explores the factors influencing work intensification, identifies its outcomes, moderators, and mediators, and provides a review of the theories that have been used to support the phenomena of work intensification. METHODS: The systematic review employed the PRISMA approach to screen 2823 records from the Web of Science database and extract 74 quantitative studies for final examination. RESULTS: Firstly, work intensification has primarily been conceptualized through various constructs such as workload, long work hours, and time pressure. Secondly, there are well-established positive and negative outcomes associated with work intensification, either directly or through mediators. Thirdly, both the conservation of resource theory and the job-demands resource theory are widely utilized to support models related to work intensification. CONCLUSION: The study urges practitioners to enhance their efforts in effectively managing employees' intensified work demands, particularly in relation to work overload, working hours, and time pressure. By addressing these factors, organizations can minimize negative outcomes and promote positive consequences.

Programa Mais Médicos e as comunidades indígenas do Norte da Bahia: relato de experiência / The Mais Médicos Program and the indigenous communities of Northern Bahia: experience report / Programa Más Médicos y las comunidades indígenas del Norte de Bahía: reporte de experiencia

As ações para construção de um modelo de prestação de serviços de saúde para a população indígena só foram intensificadas em 2002, quando foi criada a Política Nacional de Saúde dos Povos Indígenas. Dessa forma, ocorreu a utilização de profissionais oriundos do Projeto Mais Médicos nos Distritos Sanitários Especiais Indígenas. Assim, este trabalho descreve a experiência de profissionais do Projeto Mais Médicos para o Brasil em comunidades indígenas do norte da Bahia, no polo de Paulo Afonso. Essas comunidades se caracterizam por baixas condições socioeconômicas de maneira geral e os povos indígenas do sertão do nordeste brasileiro são amplamente afetados pelo processo de urbanização. Durante o programa, foi possível perceber que as comunidades indígenas já trazem consigo os efeitos psicológicos das lutas territoriais, dos históricos de repressão violenta e da persistente cultura preconceituosa por parte do não indígena. Além disso, são evidentes o empenho e a dedicação do médico bolsista do Projeto Mais Médicos, bem como seu interesse em gerar cuidados para as comunidades tradicionais indígenas de seu polo de atuação, no entanto, vale ressaltar que mesmo após tantos anos da implementação do Projeto Mais Médicos, existe uma grande dificuldade no preenchimento de vagas destinadas ao atendimento nas comunidades indígenas e os últimos editais não conseguiram um médico para preenchimento da vaga em aberto para o polo de Paulo Afonso.

Actions for building a health service delivery model geared towards the indigenous population became more prominent only in 2002, upon creation of the National Health Policy for Indigenous Peoples. As a result, professionals from the Mais Médicos Project were included in the Special Indigenous Health Districts. Hence, this study describes the experience of professionals from the More Doctor for Brazil project within indigenous communities in northern Bahia, at the Paulo Afonso center. Overall, these communities face low socioeconomic conditions and the indigenous peoples of the Sertão are largely affected by urbanization processes. During the program, the professionals noted that indigenous communities bear the psychological effects of land struggles, the history of violent repression and the persistent prejudiced culture espoused by non-indigenous. Moreover, the commitment and dedication of Mais Médicos physicians, as well as their interest in providing care for the traditional indigenous communities in their area of activity, is evident. Importantly, however, even many years after the implementation of the Mais Médicos Project, vacancies geared towards indigenous health are difficult to fill out and the last public notices were unable to find a doctor to fill the open vacancy for the Paulo Afonso center.

Las acciones para construir un modelo de prestación de servicios de salud a la población indígena recién se intensificaron en el año 2002 cuando se creó la Política Nacional de Salud para los Pueblos Indígenas. De esta forma, se incluyó a profesionales en el Proyecto Más Médicos en los Distritos Sanitarios Especiales de Salud Indígena. Así, este trabajo describe la experiencia de profesionales del Proyecto Más Médicos para Brasil en comunidades indígenas del Norte de Bahía, en el polo Paulo Afonso. Estas comunidades se caracterizan por tener condiciones socioeconómicas bajas en general, y los pueblos indígenas del sertão del Nordeste Brasileño son en gran medida afectados por el proceso de urbanización. Durante el programa se pudo percibir que las comunidades indígenas traen consigo los efectos psicológicos de las luchas territoriales, la historia de represión violenta y la cultura prejuiciosa persistente por parte de los no indígenas. Además, es notorio el compromiso y dedicación del médico becario del Proyecto Más Médicos, así como su interés por brindar atención a las comunidades indígenas tradicionales de su zona de actuación; sin embargo, vale mencionar que aún después de tantos años de implementación del Proyecto Más Médicos, existe una gran dificultad para cubrir las vacantes destinadas a la atención de las comunidades indígenas y los últimos avisos públicos no encontraron a médicos para llenar la vacante abierta para el polo Paulo Afonso.

Ethical leadership: Exploring bottom-line mentality and trust perceptions of employees on middle-level managers.

With the increased competitiveness and significance of the workforce, the responsibility of organizational leaders has been increased to behave ethically and lead their followers in the best ethical way. This study aims to explore how the perception and trust of followers of their middle-level managers can shape the ethical behavior of middle managers and their bottom-line mentality. This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews from 10 employees of two Pakistani textile organizations-selecting five employees from each. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings reported that the bottom-line mentality demands are given priority. Thus, to achieve these demands, ethical values are being ignored while the nature of the task and attitude of the supervisor leads towards the social undermining of the employees. Furthermore, it has been found that leaders' behavior and personality are more important in building trust and perception of employees, and this perception does not entail that leader will be acting ethically in real, but they are perceived to be. This study can provide valuable implications for policymakers, especially HR personnel, to device policies by considering ethical leadership practices. The findings of this research recommend that better performance and profit maximization by employees can be enhanced by reducing the bottom-line mentality of top management. Few scholars have elaborated on ethical leadership, the complexity of the leader-follower relationship, and individual perceptions. Behavioral aspects, bottom-line mentality, and trust from employees' perspective in ethical leadership have received little attention. In addition, this research has taken a step forward by exploring the collectivist country of Pakistan.

Work-From-Home in the New Normal: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Employees' Mental Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced employees to adapt and adjust to the new normal in an unprecedented way. While some employees have been able to move to work-from-home (WFH) relatively easily, many find it challenging. Notwithstanding the magnitude of change, little is known about the determinants of WFH employees' mental health during COVID-19. This study therefore aims to explore (1) the salient factors that contribute to the mental health issues of WFH employees and (2) strategies to overcome WFH challenges. A qualitative approach using phenomenological inquiry was adopted. Forty-one employees who worked from home in Pakistan were sampled using the purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Overall, employees believe that organizations offer inadequate support in both work-related and non-work-related matters. Five themes were elicited and coded as factors that contribute to mental health issues among WFH employees. Technical issues and system complexities, the absence of flexible working arrangements, distractions, a lack of communication, and inadequate social support were found to obstruct WFH and cause mental distress. Behavioral and cognitive coping strategies were also determined to tackle these mental issues. This study complements the human resource literature by exploring the factors that obstruct WFH and cause mental health issues in the context of the pandemic crisis. As mental well-being is more intricate than administrative arrangements, the study is useful for organizations to develop a feasible mechanism that facilitates the smooth execution of WFH for employees while ensuring their mental health is preserved. Using a phenomenological inquiry, the present study is one of the few to explore the factors that contribute to the mental health of WFH employees in the context of the pandemic crisis. Apart from its contribution to knowledge on human resource management and organizational behavior, it provides useful implications for managers, policymakers, and practitioners to manage WFH employees more effectively.

Mediating Role of Self-Efficacy in the Relationship Between Optimism, Psychological Well-Being, and Resilience Among Iranian Students.

The present study aims to examine whether self-efficacy mediates the relationship between optimism, dimensions of psychological well-being, and resilience among Iranian students. The participants in this study included 251 Iranian students from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Structural equation modeling using AMOS 20.0 was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that there were significant relationships between optimism, dimensions of psychological well-being, and resilience among Iranian students of UPM. The study findings presented that self-efficacy mediated the relationship between dimensions of psychological well-being (environmental mastery, autonomy, self-acceptance, positive relations with others, personal growth, and purpose in life) and resilience among Iranian students of UPM. Furthermore, self-efficacy was not observed to mediate the influence of optimism on resilience among Iranian students of UPM. The study's findings help to understand the interrelationship between self-efficacy, various dimensions of psychological well-being, and resilience. Consequently, counselors, psychologists, and instructors can develop and plan valuable strategies to enhance students' psychological factors.

Malay Validation of Copenhagen Psychosocial Work Environment Questionnaire in Context of Second Generation Statistical Techniques.

Psychosocial hazards present in workplaces are being actively investigated by researchers from multiple domains. More research and resources are required to investigate the debilitating consequences of these hazards in the developing and underdeveloped countries where this issue remains one of grave concern. This study aims at investigating the psychometric properties of Malaysian version of Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire for reliability and validity purpose. The Malaysian version of COPSOQ is a multidimensional questionnaire; it comprises of 7 major formative constructs and 28 variables with an additional inclusion of two variables which are organizational loyalty and physiological health biomarkers (blood pressure and body mass index) that explicate a reflective construct which has 93 items all catering to assess psychosocial determinants present in workplace environments. Each formative second-order construct is further categorized into different reflective first-order constructs. The focus of this study was only on first-order reflective constructs. Probability sampling was used for data collection from 300 respondents working in industries with a response rate of 100%; structural equation modeling technique was applied for data analysis. All psychometric analysis performed on reflective constructs gave reliable results which demonstrate the validity of Bahasa Melayu (BM-COPSOQ) and its comprehensiveness of including relevant dimensions particularly in context to Asian region. The BM-COPSOQ will fill up the knowledge gap and provide a bridge between researchers, work professionals and practitioners, and many other workplaces for the best understanding of psychosocial work environment.