Investigating the implications of changes in supervisor and organizational support.

Workers tend to experience many benefits when they work for supportive supervisors and organizations. But what happens when workers experience changes in perceived support, more or less support than they typically experience? We studied family-supportive supervision (FSS) and perceived organizational support (POS) to test how changes in the perception of support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may influence workers. Three waves of survey data from 368 workers in the United States and Canada were collected as the human and economic toll of COVID-19 manifested. Random-intercepts cross-lagged panel analyses were used to differentiate between stable associations and the within-person changes of interest. Stable associations among variables were consistent with prior research, but cross-lagged effects painted a complex picture that offered reasons for hope and concern. As hypothesized, we observed evidence for gain cycles such that there were reciprocal positive associations between FSS and POS, and higher-than-normal POS was associated with greater job satisfaction. However, remaining hypotheses were not supported, as changes in FSS and POS were not significantly associated with job insecurity, and heightened FSS was associated with higher levels of anxiety and depression. Our study reinforces prior findings by showing that employees generally benefit when working for supportive supervisors and organizations, while also suggesting that episodic changes in FSS and POS may have limited impacts on workers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Living a calling and perceived work ability in domestic violence services.

Calling involves experiencing a sense of purpose to engage in work that benefits others. We contribute to the literature by studying living a calling, which we conceptualize as a resource, to examine how and why it is related to perceived work ability (i.e., one's perception of their ability to continue working in their current job) among women working in domestic violence services. We propose that by living out one's calling, domestic violence services workers may perceive fewer of the salient interpersonal demands in their jobs (relationship conflict among colleagues, workplace incivility from clients served), which may partially explain a linkage to greater perceived work ability. We tested hypotheses using 2-wave survey data. The results suggest that there are direct and indirect positive relations between living a calling and perceived work ability. Workers living out their calling perceive less relationship conflict among colleagues, which partially explains the positive relation with perceived work ability. However, we did not find support for the similarly proposed mediating role of perceived client incivility. Theoretical implications for studying calling and practical implications for career counselors and organizations are discussed. For example, career counselors may consider the presence of a calling when exploring clients' career development in domestic violence work, whereas social service providers may benefit by selecting employees for whom the work aligns with their calling and creating opportunities for their calling to be lived out to facilitate perceived work ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Target Meaning-Making of Workplace Incivility Based on Perceived Personality Similarity with Perpetrators.

Target meaning-making of incivility (i.e., the ways targets assess uncivil events) has received attention as an important mediating mechanism in explaining the varied outcomes of incivility. The present study draws on person-environment (PE) fit theory, as well as the similarity-attraction paradigm and repulsion hypothesis, to uncover how perceived personality (dis)similarity affects both cognitive (i.e., attribution, negative appraisal) and emotional reactions (i.e., hostility) to incivility. Specifically, we examine whether incongruence between target personality and perceived perpetrator personality worsens target meaning-making (vice versa for personality congruence). Study 1 (N = 479 employees) addressed (dis)similarity in agreeableness, while Study 2 (N = 296 working adults) addressed (dis)similarity in neuroticism. Based on polynomial regressions with response surface modeling, the results generally supported the hypotheses. Along the line of dissimilarity, targets often assessed (i.e., attributed intent to, appraised, reacted emotionally to) uncivil events more negatively when they perceived personality dissimilarity with perpetrators. However, similarity in personality did not always have the opposite effect by buffering against negative assessments; meaning-making was worse when both parties scored high on neuroticism. Implications for workplace incivility and PE fit literatures are discussed, along with practical implications that highlight information elaboration and perspective taking.

Sex-based harassment in employment: new insights into gender and context.

Legal definitions of sex-based harassment have evolved over the decades; it is important that social science perspectives on this phenomenon evolve as well. This study seeks to refine our understanding of conditions in which sex-based harassment thrives, with empirical evidence from three organizations. Previous research has suggested that underrepresentation of one's gender in the employment context increases risk for sex-based harassment. This work has focused mainly on sexual-advance forms of harassment, mainly in the lives of women. Less is known about the gender harassment of women, or about any kind of harassment of men. Extending this scholarship, we analyzed survey data from women and men working in three diverse domains: academia (N = 847), the court system (N = 1,158), and the military (N = 19,960). Across all samples, the underrepresentation of women in a workgroup related to increased odds of women experiencing gender harassment, but not sexual-advance harassment. For men, the opposite pattern emerged: underrepresentation did not increase men's risk for either type of harassment, instead relating to decreased odds of harassment in some contexts. We interpret these results in light of theories of tokenism, gender stereotyping, and sex role spillover in organizations. Our findings support the recommendation that, to reduce harassment (whether it be illegal or legal, gender- or sexuality-based, targeted at women or men), organizations should strive for gender balance in every job at every level. For male-dominated contexts, this implies a need to recruit, retain, and integrate more women throughout the organizational hierarchy.