Experiences, Attitudes, and Behaviors of the Unemployed: The Role of Motivation and Psychological Needs.

Alleviating the psychological burden of unemployment and preventing the unemployed from withdrawing from the labor market remains a priority for unemployment researchers and practitioners alike. Job search motivation and the differential relationships with experienced psychological need satisfaction (and need frustration) potentially induce different well-being (i.e., experiences), attitudinal outcomes (i.e., employment commitment), and behavioral outcomes (i.e., job search intensity) in unemployment. This study examined if job search motivation relates to the experiences, attitudes, and behavior of the unemployed over time through basic need satisfaction and frustration. In a two-wave study (nT1 = 461; nT2 = 244), the results demonstrated that job search motivation has no relationship with the affective experiences, attitudes toward employment, and job search behavior over time. It also showed that only controlled motivation and amotivation were significantly related to need frustration. Finally, only psychological need satisfaction, and not the frustration of their needs, was significantly related to affective experiences over time. The implications for unemployment and self-determination theory research are discussed, and recommendations for practitioners are made.

Trabalho e bem-estar: evidências da relação entre burnout e satisfação de vida / Work and well-being: evidence of the relation between burnout and life satisfaction / Trabajo y bienestar: evidencias de la relación entre burnout y satisfacción con la vida

Esse estudo visa investigar a relação entre Burnout e satisfação de vida em trabalhadores brasileiros pelo modelo teórico Job Demands-Resources (JDR), da Psicologia Positiva. Foram testadas as associações entre Burnout e demandas e recursos de trabalho, satisfação de vida e sintomas depressivos, em 986 participantes das cinco regiões brasileiras, entre 18 e 89 anos (M = 39, DP = 11,1), sendo 87,2% de mulheres. Os resultados demonstram que Burnout prediz sintomas depressivos e é consequente de altas demandas e baixos recursos laborais. O papel de mediação parcial da satisfação de vida se destaca quando associado aos recursos de trabalho, o que diminui a probabilidade de ocorrência do Burnout e sintomas depressivos associados. Conclui-se que recursos de trabalho e satisfação de vida são importantes fatores psicossociais de proteção ao Burnout, que influenciam indireta e negativamente sintomas depressivos. Contribuições desses achados para o trabalho e as organizações são discutidas no texto. (AU)

This study aims to investigate the relationship between burnout and life satisfaction in Brazilian workers through the Job Demands-Resources (JDR) theoretical model of Positive Psychology. The associations between burnout and job demands, job resources, life satisfaction and depressive symptoms were tested in 986 participants, 87.2% women, from the five Brazilian regions, aged between 18 and 89 years (M = 39, SD = 11.1). The results show that high job demands and low job resources are indirectly linked with depressive symptoms via burnout and low life satisfaction. The partial mediation role of life satisfaction stands out when associated with job resources, which reduces the likelihood of burnout and its association with depressive symptoms. It was concluded that job resources and life satisfaction are important psychosocial protective factors for burnout, which impacts indirectly and negatively on depressive symptoms. Contributions of these findings for work and organizations are discussed in the text. (AU)

Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar la relación entre el burnout y la satisfacción con la vida en los trabajadores brasileños a través del modelo teórico Job Demand Resources (JDR), de la psicología positiva. Las asociaciones entre burnout y demandas y recursos laborales, satisfacción con la vida y síntomas depresivos fueron probadas en 986 participantes de las cinco regiones brasileñas, los participantes poseían edades entre 18 y 89 años (M = 39, DS = 11.1), siendo el 87.2% mujeres. Los resultados demuestran que el burnout predice síntomas depresivos motivados por las altas demandas y bajos recursos laborales. El papel de la mediación parcial de la satisfacción con la vida se destaca cuando se asocia con recursos laborales, lo que reduce la probabilidad de burnout y los síntomas depresivos asociados. Se concluye que los recursos laborales y la satisfacción con la vida son factores psicosociales importantes de protección contra el burnout, que influyen indirectamente y negativamente en los síntomas depresivos. Las contribuciones de estos hallazgos para el trabajo y las organizaciones se discuten en el artículo. (AU)

Do job resources affect work engagement via psychological empowerment? A mediation analysis / ¿Afectan los recursos del trabajo al engagement a través del empowerment psicológico? Análisis de mediación

The present study explores whether psychological empowerment may act as a personal resource mediating the motivational process from job resources (i.e., task autonomy, skill utilization, social support from supervisors and social support from colleagues) to work engagement. Regression analysis using MEDIATE macros in a sample of Chilean public workers (N = 1,313) lent support to the mediation hypothesis: Psychological empowerment carried the effect of task autonomy, skill utilization, and social support from supervisors on work engagement. These results suggest that job resources may increase the perception of being empowered at work, which then represents an important factor to enhance work engagement. Psychological empowerment is thus a pathway to promote wellbeing in organisations (AU)

El presente estudio explora si el empowerment psicológico puede actuar como un recurso personal mediando el proceso motivacional desde los recursos laborales (autonomía de tareas, uso de habilidades, apoyo social del supervisor y apoyo social de los colegas) a la implicación en el trabajo. Los análisis de regresión, usando la macros MEDIATE en una muestra de trabajadores públicos chilenos (N = 1.313), apoyan la hipótesis de mediación. El empowerment psicológico trasmitió el efecto de la autonomía de tareas, el uso de habilidades y el apoyo social del supervisor la implicación en el trabajo. Estos resultados sugieren que los recursos laborales pueden incrementar la percepción de empowerment en el trabajo, lo cual representa un importante factor para mejorar la implicación en el mismo. El empowerment psicológico, por lo tanto, es una vía para promover el bienestar en las organizaciones (AU)

This is funny: on the beneficial role of self-enhancing and affiliative humour in job design / ¡Tiene gracia!: sobre el rol beneficioso del humor como afrontamiento y afiliativo en el diseño del trabajo

Building on positive psychology, the present study aims to address the role of humour in the workplace, and particularly in job design, one of the crucial job aspects contributing to employee well-being. Specifically, we examine the main effects of self-enhancing and affiliative types of humour both on burnout and work engagement. Furthermore, we study whether these humour styles serve as personal resources, moderating the associations of job hindrances (i.e., role conflict), job challenges (i.e., workload) and job resources (i.e., social support) with burnout and work engagement, as outlined in the Job Demands-Resources model. Results in a large sample of Belgian employees (N= 1200) showed that both types of humour related negatively to burnout and positively to work engagement. No interactions between humour and the job characteristics were found in the prediction of burnout. The significant interactions in predicting work engagement showed that self-enhancing and affiliative humour played a positive role, particularly when role conflict and social support were low. No interactions with workload were found. The discussion aims to shed light on the unexpected results and to further the study of the humour-health hypothesis (AU)

El presente estudio tiene como objetivo abordar el papel del humor en el ámbito laboral, en particular en el diseño del trabajo. En concreto, se examinan los efectos directos del humor afiliativo y el humor como afrontamiento en el burnout y el engagement. Además, basándonos en el modelo de Demandas-Recursos Laborales, analizamos si estos estilos de humor pueden actuar como recursos personales. En concreto, se examina su papel moderador en la relación entre estresores que suponen un obstáculo (i.e., conflicto de rol) o un reto (i.e., carga laboral), recursos laborales (i.e., apoyo social) y el burnout y el engagement. Los resultados en una amplia muestra de trabajadores belgas (N= 1.200) muestran que ambos tipos de humor se relacionan negativamente con el burnout y positivamente con el engagement. No se hallaron interacciones entre el humor y las características laborales a la hora de predecir el burnout. Sin embargo, las interacciones encontradas con vigor indican que ambos tipos de humor juegan un papel positivo, especialmente con bajos niveles de conflicto de rol y apoyo social. La discusión trata de explicar algunos hallazgos inesperados, así como promover el estudio de la hipótesis humor-salud (AU)