Work intensification: A systematic review of studies from 1989 to 2022.

BACKGROUND: Work intensification can lead to both work-related and non-work-related outcomes that positively and negatively affect the employee, organization, and job in question. The criticality of this phenomena necessitates conducting a systematic review to capture the essence of the extant literature. OBJECTIVE: This paper presents a systematic review of the literature on work intensification from 1989 to 2022. It reviews the conceptualization of the construct, explores the factors influencing work intensification, identifies its outcomes, moderators, and mediators, and provides a review of the theories that have been used to support the phenomena of work intensification. METHODS: The systematic review employed the PRISMA approach to screen 2823 records from the Web of Science database and extract 74 quantitative studies for final examination. RESULTS: Firstly, work intensification has primarily been conceptualized through various constructs such as workload, long work hours, and time pressure. Secondly, there are well-established positive and negative outcomes associated with work intensification, either directly or through mediators. Thirdly, both the conservation of resource theory and the job-demands resource theory are widely utilized to support models related to work intensification. CONCLUSION: The study urges practitioners to enhance their efforts in effectively managing employees' intensified work demands, particularly in relation to work overload, working hours, and time pressure. By addressing these factors, organizations can minimize negative outcomes and promote positive consequences.

Psychological ownership and knowledge behaviors during a pandemic: role of approach motivation.

The purpose of this article is to understand the relationship between psychological ownership, knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding and employee motivation in knowledge intensive organizations. We take employee motivation in terms of approach motivation and avoidance motivation and examine moderating role of the former in case of the psychological ownership - knowledge sharing relationship, and the latter in case of the psychological ownership - knowledge hiding relationship. We examine these relationships on data collected during a pandemic (i.e., COVID-19). Data are collected from 217 individuals working in knowledge intensive high-tech organizations and educational institutes. Hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results show that stronger feelings of psychological ownership lead to both positive work behavior (i.e., knowledge sharing) as well as negative work behavior (i.e., knowledge hiding). Furthermore, approach motivation positively moderates the positive relationship between psychological ownership and knowledge sharing. A moderating role of avoidance motivation, however, is not confirmed. Research has ignored the role of different types of employee motivation, particularly approach motivation vis-à-vis knowledge behaviors. Furthermore, by examining these relationships in the context of a Pandemic (i.e., COVID-19), we offer some interesting insights and offer implications for management practice. For example, managers may incorporate reward practices to motivate employees towards knowledge sharing, and nurture an organizational climate, which discourages knowledge hiding.

Ethical leadership: Exploring bottom-line mentality and trust perceptions of employees on middle-level managers.

With the increased competitiveness and significance of the workforce, the responsibility of organizational leaders has been increased to behave ethically and lead their followers in the best ethical way. This study aims to explore how the perception and trust of followers of their middle-level managers can shape the ethical behavior of middle managers and their bottom-line mentality. This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews from 10 employees of two Pakistani textile organizations-selecting five employees from each. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings reported that the bottom-line mentality demands are given priority. Thus, to achieve these demands, ethical values are being ignored while the nature of the task and attitude of the supervisor leads towards the social undermining of the employees. Furthermore, it has been found that leaders' behavior and personality are more important in building trust and perception of employees, and this perception does not entail that leader will be acting ethically in real, but they are perceived to be. This study can provide valuable implications for policymakers, especially HR personnel, to device policies by considering ethical leadership practices. The findings of this research recommend that better performance and profit maximization by employees can be enhanced by reducing the bottom-line mentality of top management. Few scholars have elaborated on ethical leadership, the complexity of the leader-follower relationship, and individual perceptions. Behavioral aspects, bottom-line mentality, and trust from employees' perspective in ethical leadership have received little attention. In addition, this research has taken a step forward by exploring the collectivist country of Pakistan.

Work-From-Home in the New Normal: A Phenomenological Inquiry into Employees' Mental Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced employees to adapt and adjust to the new normal in an unprecedented way. While some employees have been able to move to work-from-home (WFH) relatively easily, many find it challenging. Notwithstanding the magnitude of change, little is known about the determinants of WFH employees' mental health during COVID-19. This study therefore aims to explore (1) the salient factors that contribute to the mental health issues of WFH employees and (2) strategies to overcome WFH challenges. A qualitative approach using phenomenological inquiry was adopted. Forty-one employees who worked from home in Pakistan were sampled using the purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Data was collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis. Overall, employees believe that organizations offer inadequate support in both work-related and non-work-related matters. Five themes were elicited and coded as factors that contribute to mental health issues among WFH employees. Technical issues and system complexities, the absence of flexible working arrangements, distractions, a lack of communication, and inadequate social support were found to obstruct WFH and cause mental distress. Behavioral and cognitive coping strategies were also determined to tackle these mental issues. This study complements the human resource literature by exploring the factors that obstruct WFH and cause mental health issues in the context of the pandemic crisis. As mental well-being is more intricate than administrative arrangements, the study is useful for organizations to develop a feasible mechanism that facilitates the smooth execution of WFH for employees while ensuring their mental health is preserved. Using a phenomenological inquiry, the present study is one of the few to explore the factors that contribute to the mental health of WFH employees in the context of the pandemic crisis. Apart from its contribution to knowledge on human resource management and organizational behavior, it provides useful implications for managers, policymakers, and practitioners to manage WFH employees more effectively.

Another sleepless night: Does a leader's poor sleep lead to subordinate's poor sleep? A spillover/crossover perspective.

Given the importance of sleep to an individual's health and well-being, relatively little research has been conducted in the management and organizational behaviour literature on the relationship between sleep and work behaviour. Using spillover/crossover theory, we extended the current literature by investigating the possible supervisor-subordinate sleep relationship and introduced a serial mediation mechanism to answer how a supervisor's poor night's sleep translates into his/her subordinate's poor night's sleep. We conducted an experience sampling study involving 101 supervisors and subordinates over five consecutive working days (N = 505 occasions). Results verified that the spillover effect of supervisors' poor sleep on their next-day abusive supervisory behaviour has a crossover effect on their subordinates' poor sleep. Finally, results indicated that subordinate's physical exercise has the capacity to mitigate the influence of abusive supervision on subordinate' poor sleep. Future research should continue to examine the supervisor-subordinate sleep relationship and identify interventions in both the work and non-work domains of supervisor and subordinates as avenues for improving sleep health.