Leading the Challenge: Leader Support Modifies the Effect of Role Ambiguity on Engagement and Extra-Role Behaviors in Public Employees.

The assumption of new challenges and services to provide, and the evolution of new technologies in public administration, give employees an important perception of ambiguity when carrying out their work. Role ambiguity has been conceptualized as one of the main impeding demands at work with negative consequences. The objective of the present study is to analyze the moderating effect of the support by the department head in the negative influence of the role ambiguity on the engagement and the extra-role performance behaviors of the employees. The hypothesis is proposed that the support of the department head will mean the transformation of role ambiguity into a challenging job demand with positive results. A total of 315 public employees with administrative staff have participated in this study. Results confirmed that the support of the leader moderates the effects of role ambiguity. The inclusion of this variable as a moderator transforms the influence of role ambiguity on the employees' engagement into a positive one and reduces their negative effect on extra-role performance behaviors. These results reinforce the role of leader support as a protective element against job demands in public administrations. Theoretical and practical implications and future lines of research are discussed at the end of the work.

Are Job Demands Necessary in the Influence of a Transformational Leader? The Moderating Effect of Role Conflict.

(1) Background: The objective of this manuscript is to propose the necessity of job demands to ensure the positive influence of policies in stimulating employees' engagement and performance. If the policies related to the intellectual stimulation of employees implemented by team leaders are to have positive effects on employee performance, they must induce emotional engagement in the employees. Furthermore, to achieve this positive influence on emotions, the organization must offer an environment that challenges the employees in the organization. Here, we analyze a moderate mediation model to examine the moderating, positive effect of role conflict on the intellectual engagement and performance of employees. (2) Methods: This study involved 705 employees of a multinational private company based in Spain. (3) Results: We confirm the positive moderating effect of role conflict between the intellectual stimulation of employees and intellectual engagement, and the mediating effect of intellectual engagement between leadership behavior and employee performance. (4) Conclusions: Organizational leader stimulation practices necessitate an environment of moderate job demands in order to improve the intellectual engagement of employees, thereby increasing their performance. The implications of the findings in terms of theory, research and practice are discussed.

[CONS-32: factor structure and psychometric properties]. / CONS-32: estructura factorial y propiedades psicométricas.

CONS-32: Factor structure and psychometric properties. Risk prevention in the construction industry has a psychosocial etiology. This article studies the psychometric properties of a scale (CONS-32) created to detect personal prevention and job-related risks. The 336 participants in the present study are from the construction industry and reside in Catalonia. After exploratory factor analysis of the scale, the structure is shown to consist of four factors that involve job characteristics and individual behaviours. The results indicate adequate reliability. Therefore, the present scale may be ideal for identifying safety risks in the construction industry.

[Tangibles as predictors of customer satisfaction in sports services]. / Los tangibles como predictores de la satisfacción del usuario en servicios deportivos.

This study investigates the power of tangible dimensions of service quality to predict customer satisfaction. For this purpose, we statistically controlled the effects of dimensions of service quality that describe social interaction between employees and customers, both functionally and relationally. A field survey was conducted with the participation of 556 customers of a sports centre. The results showed that tangible dimensions of service quality predicted an additional and significant amount of customer satisfaction variance, beyond the effects of service quality of the social interaction. The article concludes with the discussion of the implications of these results.