Professional self-efficacy as a predictor of burnout and engagement: the role of challenge and hindrance demands.

The objective of the current study is to analyze the role of professional self-efficacy as a predictor of psychosocial well-being (i.e., burnout and engagement) following the Social Cognitive Theory of Albert Bandura (1997). Structural Equation Modeling was performed in a sample of secondary school teachers (n = 460) and users of Information and Communication Technology (n = 596). Results show empirical support for the predicting role that professional self-efficacy plays in the perception of challenge (i.e., mental overload) and hindrance demands (i.e., role conflict, lack of control, and lack of social support), which are in turn related to burnout (i.e., erosion process) and engagement (i.e., motivational process). Specifically, employees with more professional self-efficacy will perceive more challenge demands and fewer hindrance demands, and this will in turn relate to more engagement and less burnout. A multi-group analysis showed that the research model was invariant across both samples. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

How personal resources predict work engagement and self-rated performance among construction workers: a social cognitive perspective.

Traditionally, research focussing on psychosocial factors in the construction industry has focused mainly on the negative aspects of health and on results such as occupational accidents. This study, however, focuses on the specific relationships among the different positive psychosocial factors shared by construction workers that could be responsible for occupational well-being and outcomes such as performance. The main objective of this study was to test whether personal resources predict self-rated job performance through job resources and work engagement. Following the predictions of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and the motivational process of the Job Demands-Resources Model, we expect that the relationship between personal resources and performance will be fully mediated by job resources and work engagement. The sample consists of 228 construction workers. Structural equation modelling supports the research model. Personal resources (i.e. self-efficacy, mental and emotional competences) play a predicting role in the perception of job resources (i.e. job control and supervisor social support), which in turn leads to work engagement and self-rated performance. This study emphasises the crucial role that personal resources play in determining how people perceive job resources by determining the levels of work engagement and, hence, their self-rated job performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Flowing together: a longitudinal study of collective efficacy and collective flow among workgroups.

The aim of this study is to extend the Channel Model of Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, 1990) at the collective level (workgroups) by including collective efficacy beliefs as a predictor of collective flow based on the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1997, 2001). A two-wave longitudinal lab study was conducted with 250 participants working in 52 small groups. Longitudinal results from Structural Equation Modeling with data aggregated at the group level showed, as expected, that collective efficacy beliefs predict collective flow over time, both being related reciprocally. Findings and their theoretical and practical implications in the light of Social Cognitive Theory are discussed.

Connecting the organizational incomes and outcomes: a systematic review of the relationship between talent management, employee engagement, and turnover intention.

Introduction: In a post-pandemic environment, characterized by volatility and uncertainty, organizations need to adapt to it for their survival. Methods: Following a systematic review method, the aim of this study is to assess the relationship between talent management practices, employee engagement, and turnover intention. Carried out using PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review includes 43 studies. Results: Results showed a lack of consensus on the talent management concept, definition, and measurement. Also, talent management practices seem to increase employee engagement and decrease turnover intentions. That is, when organizations provide effective talent management practices to employees, they become more engaged and less likely to abandon the company. It is important to highlight the mediating role of engagement in the relation between talent management and turnover intention. Furthermore, the most studied talent management practices for promoting engagement and reducing turnover intention were identified. Regarding control variables, data highlighted the importance of age and organizational tenure in the aforementioned relationships. Discussion: This review draws attention to the need of designing and implementing talent management practices in an effective way in order to generate a healthy and engaged workforce that is willing to remain in an organization.

Corrigendum: Know and use your personal strengths! A Spanish validation of the strengths knowledge and use scales and their relationship with meaningful work and work-related well-being.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1086510.].

Facing Fear and Embracing Safety: Validation of the COVID-19 Psychosocial Scales in Essential Frontline Workers During the Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The study has two main aims: (1) to analyze and validate the factor structure of the Fear of COVID-19, Workplace health and safety training, and Behavioral Safety Compliance scales (Study 1) in frontline Spanish COVID-19 workers from different sectors (food sector, hospitals, and death care services); and (2) to analyze and validate the factor structure of a reduced version of these scales (Study 2) in Spanish workers in the healthcare sector. METHOD: Analyses carried out using R 1.4.2. allowed us to validate the factor structure of the scales in the two studies. The sample consisted of 361 participants in study 1; and 708 participants in study 2. RESULTS: The results indicate that the instruments offer adequate evidence of reliability and validity. CONCLUSIONS: The questionnaire (especially the short version) can be used by employees who were in frontline of COVID-19 in a reliable and valid way in the post-COVID-19 period, and even to prevent potential similar events that might threaten professionals' physical and mental health in the future.

The dark side of technologies: technostress among users of information and communication technologies.

This paper tests the structure and the predictors of two psychological experiences of technostress associated with the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), i.e., technostrain (users report feelings of anxiety, fatigue, scepticism and inefficacy beliefs related to the use of technologies) and technoaddiction (users feel bad due to an excessive and compulsive use of these technologies). The study included a sample of 1072 ICT users (N = 675 nonintensive ICT users and N = 397 intensive ICT users). Results from multigroup confirmatory factor analyses among non-intensive and intensive ICT users showed, as expected, the four-factor structure of technostrain in both samples. Secondly, and also as expected, confirmatory factorial analyses revealed that technostress experiences are characterized not only by technostrain but also by an excessive and compulsive use of ICT. Moreover, multiple analyses of variance showed significant differences between non-intensive and intensive ICT users (1) in the dimensions of technostress and (2) in specific job demands and job/personal resources. Finally, linear multiple regression analyses revealed that technostrain is positively predicted by work overload, role ambiguity, emotional overload, mobbing and obstacles hindering ICT use, as well as by lack of autonomy, transformational leadership, social support, ICT use facilitators and mental competences. Work overload, role ambiguity and mobbing, as well as the lack of emotional competences, positively predict technoaddiction. Theoretical and practical implications, in addition to future research, are discussed.

The Influence of Psychosocial Factors according to Gender and Age in Hospital Care Workers.

Even though psychosocial risks can affect the entire working population regardless of demographic variables, multiple publications claim that women are more exposed to psychosocial risks and that psychosocial risks affect people in a different way, depending on their age. This study aims to investigate demographic differences (i.e., sex and age) in health care workers, with an aim which is twofold: (i) To know if these geographic differences lead to differences in perception of psychosocial risks; and (ii) to identify the job demands and resources with the highest impact on work engagement and performance. A sample of 4,451 people from the sanitary sector, pertaining to 75 Spanish hospitals, was analyzed to test the hypotheses. ANOVA results demonstrated that women show significantly higher impact values in job demands than men, as well as higher values in job resources. Moreover, the group of younger people (< 40 years) showed significantly lower levels in demands, and significantly higher in job resources, wellbeing, and organizational outcomes. Finally, multi-group SEM analyses showed that the impact of job demands and resources on work engagement and performance is significant, regardless of sex and age, although there are changes in the coefficients. The differences in the perception of job demands and resources of the different demographic groups can be used to develop specific psychosocial intervention in health care workers.

Psychological Capital, Autonomous Motivation and Innovative Behavior: A Study Aimed at Employees in Social Networks.

The present study investigates the relationship between positive psychological capital (PsyCap) and innovative work behavior (IWB), as mediated by autonomous motivation and participative leadership moderation. The study was conducted on a sample of 246 employees from various public and private organizations, recruited through different social networks. The moderated mediation analysis provided evidence about the impact of employees' PsyCap on their innovative behavior at work. This behavior will be higher when individual factors (PsyCap) and social factors (participative leadership) interact with one of the most self-determined forms of motivation. Our findings highlight the importance of the individual's positive psychological capital in activating the resources and motivation, necessary to develop innovative behavior in employees, thus achieving organizational success in today's dynamic and competitive business environment. The results also confirmed the moderating effect of participative leadership on the relationship between autonomous motivation and innovative behavior of employees, supporting that the relationship will be stronger when participative leadership is higher. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as limitations and suggestions for future studies.

Know and use your personal strengths! A Spanish validation of the strengths knowledge and use scales and their relationship with meaningful work and work-related well-being.

Introduction: Research in the field of work and organizational psychology increasingly highlights the role of meaningful work as a protector of well-being at work. This study tests the role of strengths knowledge and use as new pathways through which meaningful work may have a positive effect on work engagement and mental health. Methods: Study 1 and Study 2 report the validation of the Spanish Strengths Use and Knowledge Scales respectively, with samples of N = 617 (Study 1) and N = 365 (Study 2) employees. Study 3 tests the mediating effects of strengths use and knowledge in a model with different work-related constructs in another sample of N = 798 employees. Results: Findings from Studies 1 and 2 indicate that the instruments offer adequate evidence of reliability and validity. Results from Study 3 revealed that strengths knowledge is a mediator in the relationship between meaningful work and strengths use. Findings also confirmed the mediating roles of strengths use in the relationship between meaningful work and work engagement, and between meaningful work and mental health. Discussion: This study highlights the ability to be aware of and apply signature strengths as effective and novel pathways to foster well-being at work through the cultivation of meaningful work.

The dark and bright sides of self-efficacy in predicting learning, innovative and risky performances.

The objective of this study is to analyze the different role that efficacy beliefs play in the prediction of learning, innovative and risky performances. We hypothesize that high levels of efficacy beliefs in learning and innovative performances have positive consequences (i.e., better academic and innovative performance, respectively), whereas in risky performances they have negative consequences (i.e., less safety performance). To achieve this objective, three studies were conducted, 1) a two-wave longitudinal field study among 527 undergraduate students (learning setting), 2) a three-wave longitudinal lab study among 165 participants performing innovative group tasks (innovative setting), and 3) a field study among 228 construction workers (risky setting). As expected, high levels of efficacy beliefs have positive or negative consequences on performance depending on the specific settings. Unexpectedly, however, we found no time x self-efficacy interaction effect over time in learning and innovative settings. Theoretical and practical implications within the social cognitive theory of A. Bandura framework are discussed.

The Mediating Role of Compassion between Social Job Resources, and Healthy Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Study with Gender Perspective.

The aim of this study is to examine the role of Compassion towards others as a mediator between Social Job Resources (social support climate, coordination, and positive leadership), Healthy Employees (psychological well-being such as resilience, engagement, and optimism) and Healthy Organisational Outcomes (in-role performance, extra-role performance and commitment) from a gender perspective in healthcare professionals. Through the multiple analyses of variance, structural equation models, and multiple-group analyses in a sample of 1420 healthcare professionals from different public and private hospitals in Spain, this study proved the existence of gender differences, with women perceiving higher levels of Compassion. Moreover, this study shows that Compassion partially mediates the relationship between Social Job Resources and Healthy Employees. In addition, Compassion partially mediates the relationship between Social Job Resources and Healthy Organisational Outcomes. Finally, Healthy Employees mediate the positive relationship between Social Job Resources and Healthy Organisational Outcomes. This is an innovative contribution to the limited research examining Compassion towards others as a personal resource that can have a positive impact in the workplace. The results also propose a way to develop and conduct interventions in order to increase Compassion towards others in the healthcare context.

Basic Psychological Needs at Work: Their Relationship with Psychological Well-Being and Healthy Organisational Outcomes with a Gender Perspective.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the mediating role of psychological well-being between the satisfaction/frustration of Basic Psychological Needs (BPN) and Healthy Organisational Outcomes, with a gender perspective. In a sample of 565 workers (65% women, response rate 72%) from two Colombian food companies, using Multigroup Structural Equation Models to test the invariance among gender, the study hypotheses were partially supported. The results show that: (1) psychological well-being fully mediates the relationship between BPN satisfaction and Healthy Organisational Outcomes; and (2) only work engagement mediates the relationship between BPN frustration and Healthy Organisational Outcomes. Specifically, people (women and men) whose basic needs are satisfied experience greater well-being and better Healthy Organisational Outcomes. In contrast, people whose BPN are frustrated experience lower levels of work engagement, which, in turn, influences their Healthy Organisational Outcomes. However, structural differences were observed among the variables, attending to gender, when invariance model grouping by gender was tested. Furthermore, ANOVA by gender found significant differences in the autonomy dimension of frustration and organisational affective commitment, in favour of men. The present study contributes to the scarce research on the role of BPN levels as a relevant driver in the development of psychological well-being and Healthy Organisational Outcomes.

Organizational Drivers of Burnout and Work Engagement: A Multilevel Study in Portuguese Firefighter Brigades.

In this study, we analyzed how organization-level demands and organizational-level social support relate to the core dimensions of burnout and work engagement, controlling for individual resources (i.e., proactive coping) and demands (i.e., acute demands) using the Job Demands-Resources Theory. In a sample of 1487 Portuguese firefighters nested within 70 fire brigades, hierarchical linear modeling indicated that: (1) proactive coping was related to lower burnout and higher work engagement, whereas acute demands were related to higher burnout and lower work engagement (for vigor only); (2) proactive coping moderated the relationship between acute demands and vigor; and (3) unexpectedly, social support from colleagues was not related to firefighters' well-being, whereas organization-level demands were related to higher burnout and lower work engagement. These results suggest the need to implement practices and policies to guarantee the relevant conditions for improving the well-being of firefighters, to develop coping strategies in a proactive way, and finally, to enhance support from colleagues.

Linking transformational leadership to nurses' extra-role performance: the mediating role of self-efficacy and work engagement.

AIMS: This paper is a report of a social cognitive theory-guided study about the link between supervisors' transformational leadership and staff nurses' extra-role performance as mediated by nurse self-efficacy and work engagement. BACKGROUND: Past research has acknowledged the positive influence that transformational leaders have on employee (extra-role) performance. However, less is known about the psychological mechanisms that may explain the links between transformational leaders and extra-role performance, which encompasses behaviours that are not considered formal job requirements, but which facilitate the smooth functioning of the organization as a social system. METHODS: Seventeen supervisors evaluated nurses' extra-role performance, the data generating a sample consisting of 280 dyads. The nurses worked in different health services in a large Portuguese hospital and the participation rate was 76·9% for nurses and 100% for supervisors. Data were collected during 2009. A theory-driven model of the relationships between transformation leadership, self-efficacy, work engagement and nurses' extra-role performance was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. RESULTS: Data analysis revealed a full mediation model in which transformational leadership explained extra-role performance through self-efficacy and work engagement. A direct relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement was also found. CONCLUSION: Nurses' supervisors with a transformational leadership style enhance different 'extra-role' performance in nurses and this increases hospital efficacy. They do so by establishing a sense of self-efficacy but also by amplifying their levels of engagement in the workplace.

Corrigendum: Positive Psychology Micro-Coaching Intervention: Effects on Psychological Capital and Goal-Related Self-Efficacy.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.566293.].

Positive Psychology Micro-Coaching Intervention: Effects on Psychological Capital and Goal-Related Self-Efficacy.

Positive Psychological Coaching is receiving increasing attention within the organizational field because of its potential benefits for employees' development and well-being (Passmore and Oades, 2014). The main aim of this study was to test the impact of a Positive Psychological Micro-Coaching program on non-executive workers' psychological capital, and analyze how goal-related self-efficacy predicts goal attainment during the coaching process. Following a control trial design, 60 non-executive employees (35 in the experimental group and 25 in the waiting-list control group) from an automotive industry company participated in a Positive Psychological Micro-Coaching program over a period of 5 weeks. The intervention was grounded in the strengths-based approach and focused on setting a specific goal for personal and professional growth. The program consisted of a group session, three individual coaching sessions, and individual inter-session monitoring. Pre, post, and 4-month follow up measurements were taken to assess the impact on the study variables. Our results reveal that psychological capital increased significantly at post and follow-up times compared to baseline levels. In addition, results confirmed that goal-related self-efficacy predicted goal attainment during the micro-coaching process. Practical implications suggest that short-term positive psychological coaching is a valuable method for developing personal resources, such as psychological capital and to facilitate the goal achievement in non-executive employees, in order to reach work-related goals.

We Trust You! A Multilevel-Multireferent Model Based on Organizational Trust to Explain Performance.

This study tests organizational trust as the psychosocial mechanism that explains how healthy organizational practices and team resources predict multilevel performance in organizations and teams, respectively. In our methodology, we collect data in a sample of 890 employees from 177 teams and their immediate supervisors from 31 Spanish companies. Our results from the multilevel analysis show two independent processes predicting organizational performance (return on assets, ROA) and performance ratings by immediate supervisors, operating at the organizational and team levels, respectively. We have found evidence for a theoretical and functional quasi-isomorphism. First, based on social exchange theory, we found evidence for our prediction that when organizations implement healthy practices and teams provide resources, employees trust their top managers (vertical trust) and coworkers (horizontal trust) and try to reciprocate these benefits by improving their performance. Second, (relationships among) constructs are similar at different levels of analysis, which may inform HRM officers and managers about which type of practices and resources can help to enhance trust and improve performance in organizations. The present study contributes to the scarce research on the role of trust at collective (i.e., organizational and team) levels as a psychological mechanism that explains how organizational practices and team resources are linked to organizational performance.

Differential Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention Programs at Work on Psychological Wellbeing and Work Engagement.

Two different mindfulness-based interventions were deployed in a sample of white-collar workers to explore the differential effects on different facets of mindfulness, dimensions of psychological wellbeing, work engagement, performance, and stress of a participant. A total of 28 participants completed one of the different programs, and their results were compared between groups and against 27 participants randomly allocated to a waiting list control group. Results suggest both mindfulness intervention programs were successful at increasing the levels of psychological wellbeing, work engagement, and performance of the participants, as well as decreasing their levels of stress. Significant differences were found between the two programs in all outcome variables. Results suggest that brief and customized mindfulness interventions at work are as successful as lengthier programs.

Efficacy beliefs predict collaborative practice among intensive care unit nurses.

AIM: This paper is a report of an investigation of whether intensive care nurses' efficacy beliefs predict future collaborative practice, and to test the potential mediating role of team commitment in this relationship. BACKGROUND: Recent empirical studies in the field of work and organizational psychology have demonstrated that (professional) efficacy beliefs are reciprocally related to workers' resources and well-being over time, resulting in a positive gain spiral. Moreover, there is ample evidence that workers' affective commitment to their organization or work-team is related to desirable work behaviours such as citizenship behaviour. METHODS: A longitudinal design was applied to questionnaire data from the EURICUS-project. Structural Equation Modelling was used to analyse the data. The sample consisted of 372 nurses working in 29 different European intensive care units. Data were collected in 1997 and 1998. However, our research model deals with fundamental psychosocial processes that are not time-dependent. Moreover, recent empirical literature shows that there is still room for improvement in ICU collaborative practice. RESULTS: The hypotheses that (i) the relationship between efficacy beliefs and collaborative practice is mediated by team commitment and (ii) efficacy beliefs, team commitment and collaborative practice are reciprocally related were supported, suggesting a potential positive gain spiral of efficacy beliefs. CONCLUSION: Healthcare organizations should create working environments that provide intensive care unit nurses with sufficient resources to perform their job well. Further research is needed to design and evaluate interventions for the enhancement of collaborative practice in intensive care units.