Role modeling of safety-leadership behaviors in the construction industry: A two-wave longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: The construction industry is heavily affected by occupational accidents, and it is important to investigate how leadership behaviors promoting safety on construction sites are fostered among construction-site managers. OBJECTIVE: The overall aim of this study was to investigate how safety-leadership behaviors can be developed in the construction industry, specifically focusing on managerial role modeling. METHODS: A two-wave longitudinal cohort study with approximately four months between measurement occasions was conducted among construction-site supervisors in Sweden (n = 51). Supervisors' ratings of their site managers' and their own generic and safety-specific contingent reward (CR) leadership behaviors were obtained by means of questionnaires. Cross-lagged panel models were tested within a path model framework to test the hypothesis that site managers' leadership behaviors prospectively influence supervisors' leadership behaviors. RESULTS: Site managers' CR behaviors prospectively influenced supervisors' CR behaviors, both generic CR behaviors (ß= 0.29, p = 0.01) and safety-specific CR behaviors (ß= 0.22, p = 0.04). For safety-specific CR behaviors, a reversed effect (ß= 0.26, p = 0.03) was also found, implying that supervisors' behaviors prospectively influenced site managers' behaviors. CONCLUSION: Site managers act as role models for supervisors when it comes to developing safety-leadership behaviors on construction sites. The results also indicate that site managers are influenced by their subordinate supervisors' safety-leadership behaviors. Hence, there seems to be reciprocal interaction between site managers and supervisors in which they influence each other and together shape safety-leadership practices at their construction sites.

Individualized behavior-based safety-leadership training: A randomized controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Construction site managers play a critical role in occupational safety in the construction industry. This study aimed to develop and test a method for training construction site managers in positive feedback and active listening by incorporating the behavioral training components of behavior analysis, goal setting, practice with behavior feedback, homework, and maintenance planning into individualized behavior-based safety-leadership training (IBST), and to assess the effect of IBST on construction site managers' safety-leadership behaviors and performance. METHOD: In a naturalistic randomized controlled trial, construction site managers were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 16) or a control group (n = 19). The experimental-group managers received IBST, while the control-group managers received no training. Paired sample t-tests on pre- to post-training (i.e., six weeks after the final training session) were performed separately for the experimental- and control-group managers. RESULTS: The safety-leadership behaviors of the experimental-group managers improved in terms of favorable feedback (d = 0.99, p <.01), safety-specific feedback (d = 0.89, p =.02), behavior-specific feedback (d = 0.66, p =.02), antecedent listening (d = 0.68, p =.02), and consequential listening (d = 0.78, p =.01). In addition, safety-leadership performance improved in terms of transformational leadership (d = 0.78, p =.01) and contingent-reward leadership (d = 0.64, p =.02). No significant change was found for the control-group managers. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that behavior analysis, goal setting, practice with behavior feedback, homework, and maintenance planning are effective behavioral training components of safety-leadership training. Positive feedback and active listening were also found to be important behavioral requisites for transformational and contingent-reward leadership. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: IBST can be used to develop occupational safety in the construction industry by improving construction site managers' safety-leadership behaviors and performance.

Mea Culpa! The Role of Guilt in the Work-Life Interface and Satisfaction of Women Entrepreneur.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the role of mediator of Guilt (in both directions: Family Interference with Work (FIW) and Work Interference with Family (WIF)) in the relationship between Conflict, Job and Life Satisfaction, also investigating the role of Enrichment as moderator. Using PROCESS Macro, the hypothesized models are tested on a sample of 161 women entrepreneurs. Both the mediating role of guilt and the moderating role of enrichment were analyzed through models of mediation and moderate mediation. Results from the analysis support the hypothesized models. Guilt FIW and Guilt WIF mediate the relationship between work Conflict and Job satisfaction, as well the relationship between Conflict and Life satisfaction, and at the same time, Enrichment moderated the mediating processes by which the Conflict affects Job and Life satisfaction via Guilt FIW and Guilt WIF. This study is one of the few that takes into consideration both Conflict and Enrichment in a sample of women entrepreneurs and examines Guilt, which many times presents itself as an "invisible" factor in studies on the work-family interface.

Gender and Entrepreneurship in Pandemic Time: What Demands and What Resources? An Exploratory Study.

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, global economies have suffered an exogenous shock never seen before with a strong economic and psychosocial impact on organizations. Italy, in the context of the research, has been severely affected. The economic crisis has mainly affected women. In this scenario, entrepreneurial perceived success (objective and subjective) is influenced by increasingly burdensome job demands that entrepreneurs have to face up. Using the job demand-resources model, the study aims to broaden the knowledge of the determinants of entrepreneurial perceived success in the current emergency moment. In particular, as regards of the demands, alongside the specific entrepreneurial demands (time demands, uncertainty and risk, and responsibility), we also decided to include the negative interface family-work in both directions from-family-to-work (NEGWIF) and from-work-to-family (NEGFIW). Regarding the resources, we considered entrepreneurial self-efficacy (researching, planning, marshaling, implementing people, and implementing financial), proactive and elaborate social strategies (SS), and both directions of the positive interface: from-family-to-work (POSWIF) and from-work-to-family (POSFIW). All participants are women entrepreneurs (N = 137) who have completed a self-report questionnaire. We explored the associations between demands, resources, and the dimensions of success through hierarchical regressions. As for the demands, time demands, uncertainty and risk, NEGWIF, and NEGFIW negatively influenced the perceived entrepreneurial success. Regarding resources, planning, implementing financial, proactive and elaborate SS positively influenced the perceived entrepreneurial success.

Creative utterances about person-centered care among future health care professionals are related to reward dependence rather than to a creative personality profile.

BACKGROUND: Creativity can be defined as the creation of something that is novel, useful, and valuable for society (i.e., high-level creativity) and/or everyday life. In this context, people have implicit theories of creativity as being either non-malleable (i.e., a fixed creative mindset) or malleable (i.e., a growth creative mindset). Our aim was twofold: (1) to test an improved creative mindset priming paradigm (i.e., adding high-level/everyday creativity perspectives and using an organizational important task) by assessing if participants used different ways to answer to the prime and (2) to analyse the relationship between personality and creative utterances regarding an important topic in participants' future professions. METHOD: Students (N = 73) from different health care professions were randomly assigned to the non-malleable or malleable creative mindset priming paradigm (i.e., fixed vs. growth) and then asked to write about (a) their own creativity, (b) person-centered care in their professions (i.e., unusual use test), and to (c) self-rate their personality (Temperament and Character Inventory). We used natural language processing methods (i.e., Latent Semantic Algorithm) to analyse participants' responses in the different conditions and also responses in relation to self-reported personality. RESULTS: The fixed versus growth condition was predicted (r = .55, p < 0.0001), following Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons by participants' descriptions about creativity. Although the condition was not predicted (r = .07, p < 0.2755) by participants' utterances about person-centered care, a t-test suggested that participants used words that were semantically different depending on the condition they were randomly assigned to (t(2371) = 5.82, p = .0000). For instance, participants in the growth condition used verbs more frequently, while those in the fixed condition used the personal pronoun I more often. Finally, only the temperament trait of reward dependence (r = .32, p < 0.01) predicted the person-centered care utterances. CONCLUSION: We argue that the paradigm successfully primed participants to write about creativity and person-centered care using narratives with different semantic content. However, individuals' ambition to be socially accepted, rather than creative personality traits, elicited the utterances about person-centered care. The creative mindset priming paradigm presented here along language processing methods might be useful for measuring creative potential at work. We suggest that if health care personnel's notions of the activities related to care are generated from their drive to be socially accepted and not from a truly creative profile, the activities might be self-serving and not person-centered.

IRT analyses of the Swedish Dark Triad Dirty Dozen.

BACKGROUND: The Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) can be captured quickly with 12 items using the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (Jonason and Webster, 2010). Previous Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses of the original English Dark Triad Dirty Dozen have shown that all three subscales adequately tap into the dark domains of personality. The aim of the present study was to analyze the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen using IRT. METHOD: 570 individuals (nmales = 326, nfemales = 242, and 2 unreported), including university students and white-collar workers with an age range between 19 and 65 years, responded to the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (Garcia et al., 2017a,b). RESULTS: Contrary to previous research, we found that the narcissism scale provided most information, followed by psychopathy, and finally Machiavellianism. Moreover, the psychopathy scale required a higher level of the latent trait for endorsement of its items than the narcissism and Machiavellianism scales. Overall, all items provided reasonable amounts of information and are thus effective for discriminating between individuals. The mean item discriminations (alphas) were 1.92 for Machiavellianism, 2.31 for narcissism, and 1.99 for psychopathy. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to provide IRT analyses of the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen. Our findings add to a growing literature on the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen scale in different cultures and highlight psychometric characteristics, which can be used for comparative studies. Items tapping into psychopathy showed higher thresholds for endorsement than the other two scales. Importantly, the narcissism scale seems to provide more information about a lack of narcissism, perhaps mirroring cultural conditions.

Factor analysis of the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen.

The aim of this study was to test the proposed three-factor structure of the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen measure. A confirmatory factor analysis showed mixed evidence for model fit. In contrast to expectations, men did not score significantly higher than women in Machiavellianism and narcissism. Nevertheless, men scored higher than women in psychopathy.

Legal medical consideration of Alzheimer's disease patients' dysgraphia and cognitive dysfunction: a 6 month follow up.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients to express intentions and desires, and their decision-making capacity. This study examines the findings from a 6-month follow-up of our previous results in which 30 patients participated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The patient's cognition was examined by conducting the tests of 14 questions and letter-writing ability over a period of 19 days, and it was repeated after 6 months. The difference between these two cognitive measures (PQ1 before-PQ2 before), tested previously and later the writing test, was designated DΔ before. The test was repeated after 6 months, and PQ1 after-PQ2 after was designated DΔ after. RESULTS: Several markedly strong relationships between dysgraphia and other measures of cognitive performance in AD patients were observed. The most aged patients (over 86 years), despite less frequency, maintain the cognitive capacity manifested in the graphic expressions. A document, written by an AD patient presents an honest expression of the patient's intention if that document is legible, clear, and comprehensive. CONCLUSION: The identification of impairment/deficits in writing and cognition during different phases of AD may facilitate the understanding of disease progression and identify the occasions during which the patient may be considered sufficiently lucid to make decisions.

Understanding Group and Leader (UGL) trainers' personality characteristics and affective profiles.

BACKGROUND: The Understanding Group and Leader (UGL), provided by the Swedish National Defense College and mentored by UGL-trainers, is one of the most popular management programs among civilians in Sweden. However, there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding the training. We used the affective profile model (i.e., the combination of positive, PA, and negative affect, NA) to mapp important markers of empowerment, self-awareness, adaptive coping skills, and maturity among the UGL-trainers. The aims were: (1) to compare profiles between UGL-trainers and managers/supervisors and (2) to investigate differences in personal characteristics. METHOD: UGL-trainers (N = 153) and the comparison group (104 Swedish Chiefs of Police) completed an online survey on optimism, self-esteem, locus of control, and affect. The four profiles are: self-fulfilling (high PA, low NA), high affective (high PA, high NA), low affective (high PA, low NA), and self-destructive (low PA, high NA). RESULTS: The self-fulfilling profile was more common among UGL-trainers (25.70%) than among Chiefs of Police (19.20%). UGL-trainers, compared to Chiefs of Police, were more likely to express a self-fulling than a low affective profile (OR = 2.22, p < 0.05) and a high affective than a low affective profile (OR = 1.43, p < 0.001). UGL-trainers with a self-fulfilling profile, compared to those with a self-destructive profile, scored higher in optimism, higher in self-esteem, and lower in external locus of control. CONCLUSIONS: The probability of self-fulfillment rather than low affectivity was higher among UGL-trainers. Self-fulfillment was associated to markers of self-awareness and adaptive coping skills. However, the most common profile was the low affective, which is associated to low performance during stress, low degree of personal development, low degree of purpose in life, and low resilience. Hence, it might be important for UGL-trainers to have a continuous training in awareness after certification.

Exercise, character strengths, well-being, and learning climate in the prediction of performance over a 6-month period at a call center.

BACKGROUND: Performance monitoring might have an adverse influence on call center agents' well-being. We investigate how performance, over a 6-month period, is related to agents' perceptions of their learning climate, character strengths, well-being (subjective and psychological), and physical activity. METHOD: Agents (N = 135) self-reported perception of the learning climate (Learning Climate Questionnaire), character strengths (Values In Action Inventory Short Version), well-being (Positive Affect, Negative Affect Schedule, Satisfaction With Life Scale, Psychological Well-Being Scales Short Version), and how often/intensively they engaged in physical activity. Performance, "time on the phone," was monitored for 6 consecutive months by the same system handling the calls. RESULTS: Performance was positively related to having opportunities to develop, the character strengths clusters of Wisdom and Knowledge (e.g., curiosity for learning, perspective) and Temperance (e.g., having self-control, being prudent, humble, and modest), and exercise frequency. Performance was negatively related to the sense of autonomy and responsibility, contentedness, the character strengths clusters of Humanity and Love (e.g., helping others, cooperation) and Justice (e.g., affiliation, fairness, leadership), positive affect, life satisfaction and exercise Intensity. CONCLUSION: Call centers may need to create opportunities to develop to increase agents' performance and focus on individual differences in the recruitment and selection of agents to prevent future shortcomings or worker dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, performance measurement in call centers may need to include other aspects that are more attuned with different character strengths. After all, allowing individuals to put their strengths at work should empower the individual and at the end the organization itself. Finally, physical activity enhancement programs might offer considerable positive work outcomes.

The relationship between the JobMatchTalent test and the NEO PI-R: construct validation of an instrument designed for recruitment of personnel.

BACKGROUND: Personality measures in recruitment situations need to (1) cover the Big-Five model of personality and (2) focus on interpersonal requirements of jobs. We investigated the relationship between the JobMatchTalent test and the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R). The JobMatchTalent consists of three areas (i.e., Stability Patterns, Action Patterns, and Relation Patterns) divided in 10 main scales providing a deeper picture of the employee (e.g., Work Structure, Tolerance). METHOD: The participants (N = 390) were recruited from the professional network LinkedIn and completed online versions of both instruments. We used correlation analysis to investigate the construct validity of the JobMatchTalent test by identifying significant correlation coefficients no lower than ±.30 (i.e., convergent validity) and those with nonsignificant correlations (i.e., discriminant validity). Regression analyses were used to investigate the variance of the NEO PI-R dimensions that was explained by the JobMatchTalent test. RESULTS: Four of the NEO PI-R dimensions showed considerable overlap with the following JobMatchTalent main scales: (1) Work structure and Decision Characteristics, which both are measures of thoughtfulness, planning, and order (i.e., Conscientiousness); (2) Inner drive, Activity, Drive, Acting, and Communication, which represent different aspects of being outgoing and extrovert (i.e., Extraversion); (3) Tolerance and Social interest, which measure a person's interest and ability to create social relations (i.e., Agreeableness); and (4) Stress Index, a measure of emotional stability (i.e., the opposite of Neuroticism). All 5 NEO PI-R dimensions overlapped with the JobMatchTalent sub-scales. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that 4 of the NEO PI-R dimensions are logically categorized along the JobMatchTalent main scales: (1) Order and Thoughtfulness, (2) Energy and Extraversion, (3) Social Adaptation and Interest, and (4) Emotion Control. Hence, it suggests substantial overlap between the instruments, but also that the two instruments cannot be considered as equivalent to assess individual differences in recruitment situations.