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Integrating the perspectives of psychological contract and sex differences, this study examines how organizational decision to reduce labour costs influences employees' perceived psychological contract breach and their commitment to their organizations. Using two experiments, we found three-way interaction effects among the decision to reduce labour costs, employee sex, and the managerial control over the decision. The decision of labour costs reduction leads to stronger feelings of psychological contract breach for females when the decision is in low than in high levels of managerial control, but the same decision leads to stronger psychological contract breach for males when the decision is in high than in low levels of managerial control. Furthermore, the indirect effect of labour costs reduction on employees' organizational commitment through psychological contract breach is also contingent upon the interaction between employee sex and managerial control. Our findings expand the literature of psychological contract and shed light on timely practical issues of management's decisions regarding labour costs reduction. Practitioner points Labour costs reductions in economic downturns lead to different responses from employees, and managers are advised to plan their actions bearing in mind such differences., Management in crisis or difficulties calls for more delicate considerations of employees' psychological feelings towards the organization., Nuanced empirical evidence informs us about the different needs and responses of a diverse group of employees and how their responses contradict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although playing a crucial role for the prevention of long-term health impairment, interventions aiming at the improvement of employees' recovery processes are still scarce. In this study, we therefore investigated the effectiveness of a low-dose mindfulness intervention for recovery from work. In addition, differential responding to the treatment in terms of treatment-by-baseline interactions was studied. A sample of 140 employees participated in a randomized field experiment with a self-training and a wait-list control group. Three central recovery processes (psychological detachment, sleep quality, and sleep duration) were assessed with event-sampling methodology involving daily measurements over 10 workdays. Growth curve analyses revealed intervention effects on sleep quality and sleep duration. No effects were found for psychological detachment after work and for the proposed treatment-by-baseline interactions. Our findings are discussed in the context of occupational health promotion in general and mindfulness-based interventions in specific. Practitioner points Although daily recovery from the demands of work has been shown to be vital for employee well-being and performance, research on how workplace interventions can help improve recovery is still scarce., This study investigated the effectiveness of a brief, economic mindfulness intervention on processes that are vital for recovery - psychological detachment, sleep quality, and sleep duration., Findings revealed positive effects of the intervention on sleep quality and duration, but not on psychological detachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and objective Shared decision making is especially advocated for preference-sensitive decisions. We investigated whether physicians' recommendations pull patients away from their preferred treatment option when making a preference-sensitive decision. Design, participants and methods Inpatients ( N = 102 with schizophrenia, N = 101 with multiple sclerosis) were presented with a hypothetical scenario (the choice between two drugs). They were first asked about their preferences concerning the two drugs and then they received a (fictitious) clinician's recommendation that was contrary to their preferences. Subsequently they made a final choice between the two drugs. Main outcome measures The main outcome measure was whether the patient followed the physician's advice in the hypothetical scenario. Thereby patient's (pre-recommendation) preferences served as a baseline. Results In the decision scenario, about 48% of the patients with schizophrenia and 26% of the patients with multiple sclerosis followed the advice of their physician and thus chose the treatment option that went against their initial preferences. Patients who followed their physician's advice were less satisfied with their decision than patients not following their physician's advice (schizophrenia: t = 2.61, P = 0.01; multiple sclerosis: t = 2.67, P = 0.009). Discussion and conclusions When sharing decisions with patients, physicians should be aware that their advice might influence patients' decisions away from their preferred treatment option. They should encourage their patients to identify their own preferences and help to find the treatment option most consistent with them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]