A new approach to stress of conscience's dimensionality: Hindrance and violation stressors and their role in experiencing burnout and turnover intentions in healthcare.

AIMS: To identify a valid, longitudinally invariant factor model for stress of conscience and to investigate how stress of conscience dimensions associate with burnout and turnover intentions. BACKGROUND: There has been a lack of consensus about the number and content of stress of conscience dimensions, and a lack of longitudinal studies on its development and outcomes. DESIGN: A longitudinal, person-centred survey study using the STROBE checklist. METHODS: Healthcare personnel (n = 306) rated their stress of conscience in 2019 and 2021. Longitudinal latent profile analysis was used to identify different subgroups based on the employees' experiences. These subgroups were then compared in terms of burnout and organisational/professional turnover. RESULTS: Five subgroups were identified, where participants experienced: (1) hindrance-related stress (14%), (2) violation-related stress (2%), (3) both stress dimensions increasing over time (13%), (4) both high yet decreasing over time (7%), and (5) stable levels of low stress (64%). When both hindrance- and violated-related stress were high, it was a significant risk for burnout and turnover. Shortened, 6-item, two-dimensional scale for stress of conscience was found to be reliable, valid, and longitudinally invariant. CONCLUSION: On its own, hindrance-related stress (e.g. lowering one's aspirations for high-quality work) is less detrimental to well-being than when it is combined with violation-related stress (e.g. being forced to do something that feels wrong). IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PROFESSION PATIENT CARE: To prevent burnout and staff turnover in healthcare, different risk factors for stress of conscience need to be identified and addressed. PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: Data were collected among public sector healthcare workers. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: If healthcare workers are forced to ignore their personal values at work, it poses a significant risk for their well-being and retention.

Stress of conscience in healthcare in turbulent times: A longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers frequently face ethically demanding situations in their work, potentially leading to stress of conscience. Long-term work intensification (more and more effort demanded year after year), organizational change and COVID-19 may be risk factors concerning stress of conscience. AIMS: The main aim was to investigate the relationship between long-term work intensification and stress of conscience among the personnel in a healthcare organization. Organizational change management was considered a mediator and COVID-19-related work stress a moderator in the association between work intensification and stress of conscience. RESEARCH DESIGN, PARTICIPANTS AND CONTEXT: A total of 211 healthcare district employees participated in a longitudinal survey using questionnaires collected in 2019 (major organizational change in the planning stage) and 2021 (organizational change completed). ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study was implemented according to the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity. The Finnish instructions were that no review by an ethics committee was necessary because participation was voluntary, informed consent was requested, participants were assured that they were free to withdraw from the longitudinal study at any time and no health data were collected. FINDINGS: Long-term work intensification was associated with more severe stress of conscience. Long-term work intensification was partially mediated through change management to stress of conscience. High COVID-19 stress strengthened the association between long-term work intensification and stress of conscience. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term work intensification must be addressed to reduce stress of conscience in healthcare, otherwise the healthcare system will be vulnerable to changes and crisis. Extra resources for personnel and management should be allocated because of work intensification during organizational change and health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic to alleviate stress of conscience.

Intensified job demands, stress of conscience and nurses' experiences during organizational change.

BACKGROUND: Nurses frequently face ethically demanding situations in their work, and these may lead to stress of conscience. Working life is currently accelerating and job demands are intensifying. These intensified job demands include (1) work intensification, (2) intensified job-related planning demands, (3) intensified career-related planning demands, and (4) intensified learning demands. At the same time, many healthcare organizations are implementing major organizational changes that have an influence on personnel. AIM: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between intensified job demands and stress of conscience, and whether their association is moderated by organizational change experiences among nurses. Experiences of organizational change may expose employees to stress of conscience or serve as a buffer because employees appraise, involve, and cope with changes differently. RESEARCH DESIGN: Questionnaires measuring stress of conscience, intensified job demands, and organizational change experiences were completed by nurses (n = 511) in a healthcare district undergoing a major organizational change. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS: Throughout, the study procedures were implemented according to the guidelines of the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity and the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments. According to the Finnish regulations, because participation was voluntary, informed consent was requested, and participants were advised of their right to withdraw from the study at will. No permission from an ethics committee was necessary. FINDINGS: Work intensification and personal worry considering organizational change were associated with more severe stress of conscience among nurses. Nurses' experiences of managements' competent handling of organizational change buffered the association between work intensification and stress of conscience. CONCLUSIONS: During organizational changes, management may alleviate nurses' stress of conscience by proper communication and support procedures.

Intensified job demands in healthcare and their consequences for employee well-being and patient satisfaction: A multilevel approach.

AIMS: Intensified job demands (IJDs) and their effects on employee burnout, work engagement and patient satisfaction were investigated across different work units and occupational groups in a healthcare setting. DESIGN: A multilevel study. METHODS: One thousand twenty-four healthcare employees responded to a survey in 2019 and rated their experiences of IJDs, burnout and work engagement. Nine hundred fifty-one patients rated their satisfaction with care received from healthcare staff. RESULTS: Work units and occupational groups who shared more experiences of increased time pressure and multitasking reported higher exhaustion. Shared perceptions of increased planning and performing one's work autonomously correlated with higher exhaustion and lower patient satisfaction at the work-unit level. Moreover, work intensification was found to be highest in emergency care and among nurses, while job-related planning demands were highest in leadership services. CONCLUSION: IJDs are a shared risk to employee well-being among heterogeneous healthcare staff and relate negatively to customer-rated patient satisfaction. We found that high time-pressure demands increase the shared risk of burnout-especially among nurses and healthcare staff working in emergency care. Furthermore, increased independence and self-determination in planning and executing work tasks also increase the shared risk of burnout especially among those in leadership services. This can lead to lower customer/care satisfaction among patients. IMPACT: With the accelerating pace of socio-economic change, the pace of work is also getting faster. Our findings help understand how IJDs are experienced among heterogeneous healthcare staff. Because different occupational groups and work units had different demands, this research shows that attempts to mitigate the negative effects of IJDs need to be planned and implemented in a context-specific way. It seems crucial to pay more attention especially to adequate nurse staffing so that the adverse effects of IJDs could be mitigated among them.

Illegitimate tasks in health care: Illegitimate task types and associations with occupational well-being.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The aims of the study were to identify content categories of unreasonable and unnecessary illegitimate tasks and to investigate how unreasonable and unnecessary tasks relate to occupational wellbeing. BACKGROUND: Illegitimate tasks are a common stressor among healthcare professionals, and they have been shown to have negative associations with occupational well-being. Despite this evidence, research has not yet uncovered what kinds of tasks healthcare professionals consider illegitimate. DESIGN AND METHOD: The data gathered by means of an online survey consisted of 1024 municipal healthcare organisation employees. A theory-driven qualitative content analysis was used to analyse freely reported illegitimate tasks. For occupational well-being associations, a mixed-methods approach was used (ANCOVA and linear regression analysis). The STROBE statement-checklist for cross-sectional studies was used. RESULTS: Eight content categories were found for illegitimate tasks. For unreasonable tasks, these were (1) tasks outside one's occupational role (78% of all unreasonable tasks), (2) conflicting or unclear demands (9%), (3) tasks with insufficient resources (8%) and (4) tasks with difficult consequences (5%), and for unnecessary tasks, these were (1) impractical or outdated working habits (31% of all unnecessary tasks), (2) tasks related to dysfunctional technology (30%), (3) unnecessary procedures (27%) and (4) tasks related to bureaucratic demands (12%). Unreasonable and unnecessary tasks were associated with higher levels of burnout and lower work engagement and the meaningfulness of work. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the theory that illegitimate tasks are an occupational stressor with negative effects on burnout, work engagement and meaningfulness of work. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: The study offers insights into the types of tasks health care employees see as illegitimate and highlights the importance of good job design in promoting occupational well-being in health care.

Patterns of daily energy management at work: relations to employee well-being and job characteristics.

PURPOSE: The present study aimed at identifying subgroups of employees with similar daily energy management strategies at work and finding out whether well-being indicators and job characteristics differ between these subgroups. METHODS: The study was conducted by electronic questionnaire among 1122 Finnish employees. First, subgroups of employees with unique and distinctive patterns of energy management strategies were identified using latent profile analysis. Second, differences in well-being indicators and job characteristics between the subgroups were investigated by means of ANCOVA. RESULTS: Four subgroups (i.e., patterns) were identified and named: Passives (n = 371), Averages (n = 390), Casuals (n = 272) and Actives (n = 89). Passives used all three (i.e., work-related, private micro-break and physical micro-break) strategies less frequently than other subgroups, whereas Actives used work-related and physical energy management strategies more frequently than other subgroups. Averages used all strategies on an average level. Casuals' use of all strategies came close to that of Actives, notably in a shared low use of private micro-break strategies. Active and Casual patterns maintained vigor and vitality. Autonomy and social support at work played a significant role in providing opportunities for the use of beneficial energy management strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Autonomy and support at work seem to support active and casual use of daily energy management, which is important in staying energized throughout the working day.

Factorial validity of the effort-reward imbalance scale: evidence from multi-sample and three-wave follow-up studies.

PURPOSE: The present study investigated whether the factor structure of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) scale (Siegrist et al. Soc Sci Med 58:1483-1499, 2004) remains same across two white-collar samples (i.e., factorial group invariance) and across three measurement times (i.e., factorial time invariance). METHODS: The factorial group invariance was tested using two different samples including 1,301 managers and 758 young white-collar professionals. The factorial time invariance was tested in the latter sample with a four-year three-wave follow-up design. RESULTS: The confirmatory factor analysis performed supported the theoretically based structure of the ERI scale, that is, the scale included two first-order factors of effort and overcommitment and one second-order factor of reward with first-order factors of esteem, career opportunities, and job security. The factorial group invariance of this structure was also supported. In addition, the factor loadings of all factors remained same across three measurements; thus, lending support for the factorial time invariance. CONCLUSION: The ERI scale was found to be a valid tool to measure costs and gains of social exchanges at work as well as individual orientation toward work in these two occupational samples including a longitudinal study design.

Do intensified job demands predict burnout? How motivation to lead and leadership status may have a moderating effect.

Objectives: The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate how intensified job demands (job-related planning demands, career-related planning demands, and learning demands) are associated with burnout. We explored whether affective-identity motivation to lead moderates this association and, thus, functions as a personal resource regardless of leadership status. We further investigated whether the possible buffering effect is stronger for those professionals who became leaders during the follow-up. Methods: Our sample consisted of highly educated Finnish professionals (n = 372): part of them (n = 63, 17%) occupied a leadership position during the 2-year follow-up while the rest maintained their position without formal leadership duties. Results: The results of hierarchical linear modeling indicated that intensified learning demands were associated with later burnout. High affective-identity motivation to lead was not found to buffer against the negative effects of intensified job demands - instead, it strengthened the connection of intensified job- and career-related demands to burnout. Nevertheless, among the whole sample, professionals with high affective-identity motivation to lead reported lower burnout when job demands were not highly intensified. The leadership status also played a role: High affective-identity motivation to lead strengthened the connection of career-related demands to burnout in those professionals who became leaders during the follow-up. Conclusions: Altogether, we propose that in certain circumstances, affective-identity motivation to lead might help professionals, with and without formal leadership duties, to be more ready to lead their own work and well-being. However, in order to promote sustainable careers, the vulnerability role of high affective-identity motivation to lead should be considered as well.

Do work ability and job involvement channel later personal goals in retirement? An 11-year follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigates the role of work ability and job involvement in personal life goals later in retirement. METHODS: The study is based on longitudinal research on Finnish employees working in managerial positions. At the study baseline (in 1996), 120 employed managers responded to a questionnaire regarding their work ability and job involvement, and 11 years later (in 2007) when they were retired, they responded to an open-ended question regarding their personal goals. The retired participants were 58-76 years old (M = 66 years), and they had been retired for 1-10 years (M = 4.3 years, SD = 2.9). RESULTS: On the basis of the participants' responses to the open-ended question, six main content categories of personal goals were formed. According to these categories, the personal goals in retirement focused on (1) hobbies and leisure time, (2) social relationships, (3) health and well-being, (4) housing and finance, (5) self-development and ideology, and (6) other activities. The managers with better work ability and job involvement at the baseline of the study had fewer personal goals related to health and well-being later in retirement. In addition, better work ability predicted more personal goals related to self-development and ideology views. CONCLUSIONS: The preceding work ability and job involvement seem to channel personal goal pursuit in retirement. Thus, sustaining employees' work ability and job involvement are not only essential for developing employees' ability to cope with work demands but also for their functional capacity in their later stages of life, such as in retirement.

Personality profiles and health: longitudinal evidence among Finnish adults.

This study investigates the associations of longitudinal Big Five personality profiles with long-term health in 304 adults (53% males). Personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) were assessed at ages 33, 42, and 50. Subjective (self-rated health, symptoms, psychological distress) and objective (body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides) indicators of health were measured at ages 42 and 50. Five longitudinally stable personality profiles were extracted over 17 years by latent profile analysis. The levels of traits were the same in each profile at each age. Resilient individuals (N = 65; Neuroticism low, other traits high) had the best subjective health and Overcontrolled individuals (N = 40; Neuroticism high, other traits low) the poorest health over eight years. Reserved individuals (N = 25; high Conscientiousness, other traits low), Undercontrolled (N = 41; high Openness and Extraversion, low Conscientiousness), and Ordinary (N = 133; all traits scored medium) individuals were in the middle of these extremes in subjective health. No differences between the profiles were found in the objective indicators of health. Thus, overcontrol and resilience were most discriminative in terms of good health. Moreover, personality profiles revealed associations with health to be more nuanced than simply being composed of single traits. High Extraversion needed to be combined with high Conscientiousness (Resilients) in order to be associated with the best health; high Extraversion with low Conscientiousness (Undercontrolled) was associated with average health; and low Extraversion with high Neuroticism (Overcontrolled) was associated with the poorest health.

Development of sense of coherence in adulthood: a person-centered approach. The population-based HeSSup cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to identify the most typical patterns of change in sense of coherence (SOC) in adulthood. METHODS: This prospective population-based Health and Social Support (HeSSup) study was based on four age cohorts including men and women initially aged 20-24 years (n = 4,682), 30-34 years (n = 4,248), 40-44 years (n = 4,598), and 50-54 years (n = 4,997). SOC was assessed at baseline and at the 5-year follow-up point. Factor Mixture Modeling was used to identify the latent classes of persons whose mean changes in SOC were similar over time. RESULTS: Three development classes were supported by the data. In all age cohorts, the largest class consisted of those people whose SOC was high at baseline and increased thereafter (46-58% of participants depending on the age group). A class of high SOC with a decreasing trend and that of low SOC with an increasing trend were also found. In all age groups, the rank-order stability was high in the first development class (0.84-0.98) but low in other classes (0.35-0.44). CONCLUSION: This analysis shows continuous increase in the level of SOC over time to be common in adulthood, irrespective of age. High SOC, rather than higher age, seems to determine a stable development of the SOC.

Identifying patterns of recovery experiences and their links to psychological outcomes across one year.

PURPOSE: The main aim of this study was to examine patterns of recovery experiences (i.e., psychological detachment, relaxation, mastery and control during off-job time) and their links to psychological outcomes (job burnout, work engagement and sleep problems) across 1 year. METHODS: The study is based on 1-year longitudinal data collected among Finnish employees (n = 274) using questionnaires. First, patterns of recovery experiences, that is, subgroups of employees with unique and distinctive patterns of mean-level stability and change in recovery experiences across 1 year were identified using Latent Profile Analysis. Second, differences in psychological outcomes between the patterns identified were investigated by means of ANOVA/ANCOVA for repeated measures. RESULTS: Five patterns of recovery experiences were identified. Over 70% of the employees belonged to a pattern with reasonably high stable levels of all four recovery experiences across the 1-year follow-up. This pattern seemed to suffer least from job burnout and sleep problems. Of the four remaining patterns, those with experiences of high levels of mastery and control during off-job time had highest work engagement, and among those with decreasing levels of all recovery experiences job exhaustion increased across time. CONCLUSIONS: Patterns of recovery experiences play a significant role in maintaining long-term psychological well-being.

Prospective relationships between career disruptions and subjective well-being: evidence from a three-wave follow-up study among Finnish managers.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the prospective relationships between career disruptions and subjective well-being by using a three-way follow-up data with a 10-year time lag. Specifically, we investigated the causation and selection hypotheses by examining the directions of causal associations between career disruptions and subjective well-being. The causation hypothesis states that negative career changes will result in poorer well-being, whereas the selection hypothesis expects this linkage to be vice versa, that is, employees' well-being impacts their career line. METHODS: The sample consisted of Finnish managers (n = 528) who participated in this questionnaire study 3 times: in 1996 (T1), 1999 (T2), and 2006 (T3). Career disruptions covered the periods of unemployment, layoffs, and redundancies. Subjective well-being was assessed with sense of coherence (SOC) and psychosomatic symptoms (PSS). The causation versus selection hypotheses were tested with Structural Equation Modeling using a full-panel design, that is, the variables of career disruptions, SOC, and PSS were measured in each wave. RESULTS: Support was found for both the causation and selection hypotheses. First, career disruptions experienced before T1 predicted increased PSS at T1, providing support for the causation hypothesis. Second, low SOC in T2 predicted subsequent career disruptions 7 years later at T3, supporting the selection hypothesis. Furthermore, SOC and PSS showed high stability over time, whereas career disruptions accumulated over time: those who reported career disruptions at T1 had a higher risk to experience disruptions also at T2 and T3. CONCLUSIONS: Negative career changes seem to associate with low subjective well-being (PSS) on short term and, in turn, low subjective well-being (SOC) seems to associate with negative career changes on long term among managers. The different results depending on the well-being measure might relate to the conceptual differences between the well-being indicators used (PSS, SOC) and the different time frame needed for causation and selection. Thus, in examining the causation versus selection hypotheses, it is important to evaluate subjective well-being using different indicators and time lags. Managers may benefit from interventions targeting to enhance their mental resilience and employability in the cases of negative career changes.

Bergen Burnout Inventory: reliability and validity among Finnish and Estonian managers.

OBJECTIVES: This study introduces a short measure for burnout (the Bergen Burnout Inventory, BBI) and examines its validity and reliability among managers in Finland and Estonia by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Burnout comprises three dimensions: (1) exhaustion at work (emotional component), (2) cynicism toward the meaning of work (cognitive component), and (3) the sense of inadequacy at work (behavioral component). METHODS: A total of 742 young Finnish managers and 414 Estonian managers responded to burnout (BBI) and effort-reward imbalance (ERI) scales. RESULTS: The results showed that the three-factor solution for burnout, compared to the one- or two-factor solutions, fitted the data best and gave the best reliability indices. The three theoretically derived dimensions of burnout were closely related but separate constructs. The BBI also had high item scale reliabilities among the managers in both countries. Finally, the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model and the three dimensions of burnout had similar associations among Finnish and Estonian managers providing evidence for the concurrent validity of the BBI. That is, high effort was related to high exhaustion and high cynicism. High reward was related to low exhaustion, but especially to low cynicism and low inadequacy. High overcommitment was related particularly to high exhaustion, but also to high cynicism and high inadequacy. CONCLUSIONS: The BBI can be used for the measurement of burnout in both research and occupational health contexts.

Applicant reactions and faking in real-life personnel selection.

Faking may affect hiring decisions in personnel selection. All the antecedents of faking are still not known. The present study investigates the association between applicants' reactions about the selection procedure and their tendency to fake. The subjects (N = 180) were real-life applicants for a fire and rescue personnel school. After completing the selection process, the applicants filled out a questionnaire about their test reactions (Chan, Schmitt, Sacco & DeSohon, 1998b) and a faking scale, the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (Paulhus, 1991). The results based on Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) indicated that the more positive reactions applicant had about the selection procedure the more impression management they had. The applicant reactions were not associated with self-deception.

Drivers or Drifters? The "Who" and "Why" of Leader Role Occupancy-A Mixed-Method Study.

This study investigated the reasons that leaders have given for their leader role occupancy. By using a mixed-method approach and large leader data, we aimed to provide a more nuanced picture of how leader positions are occupied in real life. We examined how individual leadership motivation may associate with other reasons for leader role occupancy. In addition, we aimed to integrate the different reasons behind leader role occupancy into the framework of sustainable leader careers and its two indicators: leader's health (occupational well-being) and performance (measured indirectly as followers' occupational well-being). The survey data consisted of 1,031 leaders from various sectors of working life. Qualitative analysis revealed that leaders mention various factors behind their leader role occupancy, resulting 26 themes. After inductive investigation of the data, theory-driven analysis focused on the sustainable career components (person, context, time) and agency vs. non-agency. Qualitative data was quantitized based on the theory-driven categories for statistical analysis. Based on the these analysis, we found out that only Affective-Identity MTL predicted all of the studied reasons behind leader role occupancy, whereas the other motivation types (Non-calculative MTL and Social-Normative MTL) did not. All of the reasons for leader role occupancy except non-agentic ones were related to both leaders' own and their followers' occupational well-being. Leaders with more person-related and agentic reasons for leader role occupancy experienced better occupational well-being. Person- and context-related and agentic reasons behind leader role occupancy associated also with followers' occupational well-being, but the associations differed from those of leaders' well-being: person-related and agentic reasons associated with followers' exhaustion, but this association was not found among leaders. Our study provided important information for practitioners in the field of human resources and development, as it has shown that if the reasons for leader role occupancy mainly reflect circumstances or other non-person-related reasons, the experienced occupational well-being and person-career fit may remain weak. It is necessary to try to support the leadership motivation for those leaders, or to shape the job description in such a way that it can also offer the experiences of meaningfulness from aspects other than self-realization through a managerial role.

Intensified Job Demands and Cognitive Stress Symptoms: The Moderator Role of Individual Characteristics.

Intensified job demands (IJDs) originate in the general accelerated pace of society and ever-changing working conditions, which subject workers to increasing workloads and deadlines, constant planning and decision-making about one's job and career, and the continual learning of new professional knowledge and skills. This study investigated how individual characteristics, namely negative and positive affectivity related to competence demands, and multitasking preference moderate the association between IJDs and cognitive stress symptoms among media workers (n = 833; 69% female, mean age 48 years). The results show that although IJDs were associated with higher cognitive stress symptoms at work, that is, difficulties in concentration, thinking clearly, decision-making, and memory, competence demands-related negative affectivity explained the most variance in cognitive stress symptoms. In addition, IJDs were more strongly associated with cognitive stress symptoms at work in individuals with high competence demand-related negative affectivity, and low multitasking preference (moderation effects). Altogether, the present findings suggest that HR practices or workplace interventions to ease employees' negative affectivity from increasing competence demands at work could usefully support employees' effective cognitive functioning when confronted with IJDs.

Intensified job demands and job performance: does SOC strategy use make a difference?

We examined intensified job demands (IJDs) and selecting-optimizing-compensating (SOC) strategies as predictors of job performance (task performance, organizational citizenship behavior). We also investigated SOC strategy use as a moderator in the linkages between IJDs and performance. We sampled three disparate occupational groups (N=4,582). We found that certain dimensions of IJDs showed significant associations with the indicators of job performance but there were also scale-based variations in these linkages, depending on the type of performance and on the sub-scale of IJDs. Specifically, some dimensions of IJDs (e.g., work intensification) related to poorer task performance whereas some other dimensions (e.g., intensified job-related learning demands) related to higher organizational citizenship behaviour. However, SOC strategy use benefitted both types of job performance. Relationships also differed between occupational groups as none of the moderator effects were consistent across the sub-samples.

Is Autonomy Always Beneficial for Work Engagement? A Six-year Four-Wave Follow-Up Study.

Work engagement is expected to result from job resources such as autonomy. However, previous results have yielded that the autonomy-work engagement relationship is not always particularly strong. Whereas previous longitudinal studies have examined this relationship as an average at a specific point in time, this study examined whether this relationship is different within individuals from one time to another over the years. Furthermore, experiences of work engagement are expected to affect how employees benefit from autonomy, but no studies have so far investigated whether the initial level of work engagement affects the autonomy-work engagement relationship. This study aimed to first identify the different kinds of longitudinal relationship patterns between autonomy and work engagement, and then to investigate whether the identified relationship patterns differ in terms of the initial mean level of work engagement. The four-wave study was conducted among Finnish managers (n = 329) over a period of six years. Multilevel regression mixture analysis identified five relationship patterns. Four of the patterns showed a positive predictive relationship between autonomy and work engagement. However, the relationship was statistically significant in only one of these patterns. Furthermore, when the initial mean level of work engagement was high, autonomy related more strongly to work engagement. However, an atypical pattern was identified that showed a negative association between autonomy and work engagement. In this pattern, the mean level of work engagement was low. Consequently, autonomy may not always enhance work engagement; sometimes this relationship may even be negative.

Development trajectories of Finnish managers' work ability over a 10-year follow-up period.

OBJECTIVES: The study investigated the development trajectories of managers' work ability over a 10-year period. In addition, baseline factors affecting the development course were sought from the managers' background variables, work resources, and attitudes. Differences in retirement age in the detected trajectory groups were also examined. METHODS: Questionnaire data were collected from Finnish managers (N=1033) in 1996, 1999, and 2006. In 1996, the mean age of the participants was 44 (range 20-65) years, and 28.5%, 35.5%, and 36% of the participants were in upper, middle, and lower management, respectively. RESULTS: The analysis identified the following five trajectories over the follow-up period: (i) work ability consistently excellent (N=662), (ii) work ability good but declining (N=252), (iii) work ability declined from good to poor (N=54), (iv) work ability improved from moderate to good (N=46), and (v) work ability consistently poor (N=19). In the first group, the participants were more likely to be younger and to work in upper management, as compared with the other groups. They also gave their job control, organizational climate, and organizational commitment the highest rating. The mean retirement age was the highest (61.3 years) in the two most favorable work ability groups (1 and 2) and the lowest (55.4 years) in the group "work ability consistently poor." CONCLUSIONS: Aging managers and lower-level managers are at risk of having their work ability develop in an unfavorable direction. Therefore, more attention should be given to psychosocial work conditions in organizations in order to prevent poor work ability.