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Temporal focus on past, present, and future of contributions to work is critical to understanding how employees and their line managers navigate career disruptions and minimize their potential for negative impact. This paper reframes temporal focus using a dyadic, relational perspective to explore how temporal focus (in)congruence shapes resocialization experiences for returners and their line managers following maternity leave disruption. Our qualitative study draws on 54 interviews across 27 organizations and demonstrates that a congruent, broader temporal focus—that embraces the past, present, and future—is associated with more positive relational and career outcomes than an incongruent focus, where one dyadic partner holds a narrow temporal focus. Our findings explicate how the adoption of a broad versus narrow temporal focus creates a perception of maternity leave as either a brief interlude or a major disruption. A congruent, broader temporal focus allows returners and their line managers to reduce their reliance on typical motherhood biases and instead, consider the woman’s past, present, and potential future contributions over the course of her career. We highlight the importance of temporal focus congruence at a dyadic level and the value of adopting a broader temporal focus on careers while offering new insights regarding the temporal dynamics inherent to maternity leave transitions for both returners and their managers.

Trust propensity is typically conceptualized as a stable, trait-like, exogenous variable. Drawing on the social investment principle of personality change, we argue that trust propensity has situationally specific components and is likely to be less stable during periods of career transition. Using a latent curve-latent state-trait model, we present evidence that suggests that trust propensity has stable (trait) and unstable (state) components during career transition periods and that it has the potential to change over time. Our results are replicated across two, transitional workplace populations during a process of (re)socialization into an organization. In our second study, we also expand our focus to examine correlates of trust propensity and demonstrate the relationship between state and trait trust propensity and cognitive depletion. Our paper significantly extends knowledge of the nature of trust propensity and raises questions about the stability of this construct, one of the core tenets of trust theory.

This study examines the impact of employee experiences of restructuring and downsizing on well-being. The job demands-resources model was used to develop hypotheses related to job demands in the form of work intensity and job resources in the form of consultation. The job demands-resources model allows for direct incorporation of employee perceptions and does not assume a singular, predetermined consequence of HRM practices. Hypotheses were tested via structural equation modelling on a nationally representative sample of over 5,110 employees from the Republic of Ireland in 2009. The findings indicate that work intensity serves as a conduit through which experiences of restructuring and downsizing negatively impact employee well-being. Notably, consultation served as a buffer, diminishing the extent of this negative experience. The findings illuminate the complex pathways that shape how restructuring and downsizing are perceived by employees and the consequences for well-being. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.

ObjectiveTo identify priority interventions for the prevention and reduction of work stress and burnout in hospital doctors through analysis of (1) doctors’ experiences of work stress and burnout and (2) their preferences with respect to interventions.DesignQualitative design using semistructured interviews analysed with deductive thematic analysis.SettingHospitals in Ireland.Participants32 hospital doctors (16 practising consultants and 16 doctors in training) from a range of specialties, career stages, hospital types and locations.ResultsPractical, system-focused interventions were found to be most needed. Challenges with basic entitlements, that is, accessing statutory leave, knowing in advance when leave can be taken and being adequately covered when on leave were identified as requiring urgent attention. Other priority interventions identified were the integration of psychological support in the everyday working environment, time and training for clinical line managers to perform key management activities such as debriefing and education interventions which highlight work stress risks and care pathways, teach self-care and train doctors in how to support one another.ConclusionsHospital doctors are feeling the effects of greater demand and fewer resources. What they most urgently need is adequate staffing levels, access to statutory leave and adequate cover when on leave. Doctors do not receive the support they need from their clinical line managers, who lack the skills and time to excel as people managers. Organisations should focus on developing clinical management skills across the system. The culture of medicine needs to change from stigmatisation and competitiveness to compassion and collaboration. Organisations, medical schools and professional bodies can steer this change through education.

Relational resources are now recognized as significant factors in workplaces and increasing attention is being given to the motivational impact of giving, in addition to receiving social support. Our study builds on this work to determine the role of such relational mechanisms in work engagement, a concept that simultaneously captures drive and well-being. Data from 182 midwives from two maternity hospitals revealed a best-fit model where perceived supervisor support, social support from peers, prosocial impact on others and autonomy explained 52 percent of variance in work engagement. Perceived prosocial impact acted as a significant partial mediator between autonomy and work engagement. This study provides evidence for the importance of perceived prosocial impact and the role of immediate supervisors in facilitating work engagement in midwifery. Results highlight the value of relational resources and suggest their explicit inclusion in current models of work engagement.

Early school-leaving exerts substantial costs on the individual and society. The literature indicates that quitting school early is predicted by an enmeshed group of indicators including academic and behavioural difficulties in school, deprived economic background and disengagement with the educational process. The attitudes and background of a representative sample of 1311 Irish second-level students were assessed. Data were gathered on intention to leave school early, elements of the Theory of Planned Behaviour towards school completion, students’ academic attainment, ability to ‘discount-delay’ (defer gratification), along with socio-demographic data. Analysis indicated that positive attitudes about the potential of the Leaving Certificate and parents and teachers perceived to be strongly pro-school completion are key to the intention to stay on. Performing well academically was a contributing factor, as was ability to discount-delay. Economic deprivation and gender did not exert a direct influence on ...

Early school-leaving imposes costs on the individual and society, and is linked to factors including gender, family income and parental education, community deprivation, and academic history. In Ireland, the role of the school in shaping patterns of early school-leaving is unclear. Employing the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) from social psychology, variation by school among Junior Certificate students in the intention to leave early was assessed, along with characteristics of the individual school and its students. Twenty Irish second-level schools were selected by systematic random sampling. All students in Junior Certificate year were asked to participate, of whom 68.84% (1131) did. Participants completed a questionnaire on intention to drop out of school, three components of the TPB in relation to school completion, demographic details, and academic results. There was evidence of a within-school culture or group representation of the value of education shaping the students’ intentions around school...

The necessity for emotional labor has been seriously called into question with strong evidence linking it to negative wellbeing outcomes and positive performance outcomes. However, extant inconsistent findings individual-based selling model make it difficult to draw reliable conclusions about the effects of emotional labor in retail team-based selling model. The aim of this study is to unpack the effects of two emotional labor strategies –surface acting and deep acting-on retail sales teams’ performance with a focus on the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. Dyadic survey data is collected from 82 retail sales teams in China. We found surface acting and deep acting influence customer-related performance and employee- related performance in distinct ways. Specifically, surface acting increases emotional exhaustion, which in turn decreases sales team members’ task performance and customer loyalty, supporting a full mediation model. Deep acting was not linked to emotional exhaustion but directly increase...

Beyond cognitive ability and family background, are there other significant determinants of educational attainment? From research in psychology, economics, education and criminology, one powerful influence is the ability to delay gratification, operationalised in this paper as ‘delay-discounting’. It is intuitively plausible that the ability to subordinate short-term appetites in order to obtain long-term goals could have positive consequences for academic achievement. A representative sample of 1,131 students preparing for a state examination were offered a series of hypothetical options in which prize winnings, and the interval before the winnings could be collected, were varied. Greater willingness to wait was rewarded with increments in winnings. Participants were also given a short test of cognitive ability, asked about their academic achievement, and family and community status. A multivariate analysis indicated that, while controlling for cognitive ability and economic deprivation, delay-discounting made a significant prediction of attainment. Policy implications for children’s learning are discussed. Not applicable Combat Poverty Agency ti.kpw29/9/10

Background Engagement is couched as the opposite to burnout and while there have been numerous studies that have supported the relationship between organizational antecedents and employee engagement, nurse engagement is still inadequately understood. Recent papers in the nursing literature have called for more research on this construct to be conducted with nurses so that nurse leaders can be better informed about the impact of engagement on outcomes for the organization. Aim To explore nurses' experiences of their work environments and to reveal factors in the workplace that may facilitate or act as barriers to nurse engagement. Methods and participants A qualitative methodology was employed with the data from focus groups with a total of 20 nurses working in both general and psychiatric nursing. Results Facilitators of and barriers to engagement center around six areas of organizational life, namely; workload, control, reward, fairness, community and values. Conclusion Interventions aimed at fostering engagement are called for and through future research in the area of engagement, it is believed that nurses will gain more positive experiences from their work and subsequently a greater sense of well-being.

Two trends have emerged in burnout research that have resulted in a broadening of the topic. First, the concept of burnout has been expanded to embrace all professions, whereas it was previously considered to exist only in the human services. Second, in line with the growth of positive psychology, there has been a shift in focus toward its antithesis, namely engagement, which can be defined as a positive affective-motivational state of fulfilment in employees. As a new construct, the body of literature on this subject is limited. However, this paper offers a comprehensive review of the empirical findings that are available to date. It examines the origins of research on engagement and goes on to explore the likely antecedents and consequences of this construct. In doing so it highlights the value of engagement not only as a state of well-being but also as a predictor of high performance.

PurposeAgainst a backdrop of increased work intensification within maternity hospitals, the purpose of this paper is to examine the role of work engagement in the quality of care delivered to patients and in general health of the midwives delivering care, as reported by midwives and nurses.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative questionnaires consisting of standardised measures were distributed to midwives in two large maternity hospitals. These questionnaires assessed levels of work engagement, supervisor and colleague support, general health and quality of care.FindingsStructural equation modelling analysis revealed a best‐fit model that demonstrated work engagement to be a significant partial mediator between organisational and supervisor support and quality of care, and as a significant predictor of self‐reported general health. Together, supervisor support, social support and organisational resources, mediated by work engagement, explained 38 per cent of the variance in quality of care at the unit level and 23 per cent of variance in general health among midwives (χ2(67)=113; pResearch limitations/implicationsThe study is limited in that it uses self‐report measures of quality of care and lacks objective indicators of patient outcomes. The cross‐sectional design also does not allow for causal inferences to be drawn from the data.Practical implicationsThis study provides evidence for the links between individual levels of work engagement and both health and self‐reports of unit level quality of care. The results support the importance of health services organisations and managers deploying organisational resources to foster employee work engagement. The results also highlight the significant role of the immediate nurse manager and suggest training and development for such roles is a valuable investment.Originality/valueThese results are the first to link work engagement and performance in health care contexts and point to the value of work engagement for both unit performance and for individual employee well‐being in health organisations.

Research suggests that work engagement is highly predictive of job performance. In medical context, the well-being of employees is noted to have far reaching implications for patient safety. Junior...

The present study sought to examine the role of employee engagement in the quality of care delivered within midwifery units as well as links between engagement and mental well-being. Questionnaires consisting of standardised measures were distributed through the wards in two large maternity hospitals. This resulted in a total sample of 168 midwives and nurses, representing about 40% of the total midwifery population within the two hospitals. Structural Equation Modelling analysis revealed a best-fit model that demonstrated engagement to be a significant partial mediator between supervisor quality and quality of care and between social support from colleagues and mental well-being. Together, supervisor quality, social support and professional commitment, mediated by engagement, explained 51% of the variance in quality of care at the unit level and 43% of variance in mental well-being (÷2 (28)= 32.6, p = .25, CFI=.993, RMSEA = .03). This study provides compelling evidence for the importance of individual le...