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Research indicates job insecurity (JI) is related to lower job satisfaction, partially mediated by psychological contract breach (PCB; a perceived breaking of the implicit exchange relationship between employer and employee). The authors investigated the extent to which providing a positive organizational learning climate (OLC) might attenuate the relationships between (a) qualitative JI and PCB and (b) PCB and job satisfaction. Using cross-sectional survey data from higher education industry employees within the US (N = 372), South Africa (N = 1096), and Croatia (N = 719), the study found consistent results across all three settings. Qualitative JI was negatively associated with job satisfaction both directly and indirectly via PCB. Although a positive OLC did not attenuate the relationship between JI and PCB, it did buffer the relationship between PCB and job satisfaction. The findings are discussed in light of Conservation of Resources theory and the need to identify practical organizational interventions to alleviate the adverse effects of qualitative JI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burnout poses severe health‐related and financial risks. However, valid and reliable measurement of this occupational phenomenon has been impeded by the conceptual, psychometric and pragmatical shortcomings of the extant burnout instruments. The Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) is a new measure of burnout that was developed to overcome these deficiencies. The purpose of this study was to validate the Croatian version of its short form, BAT‐12, using a representative sample of the Croatian working population. To do so, we examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of BAT‐12 across gender, age, and occupational type, as well as convergent and discriminant data on BAT‐12 vis‐à‐vis an alternative burnout measure, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, job resources, job demands and job outcomes. The results obtained on online survey data from 966 employees supported the hierarchical structure of BAT‐12, although with slight modifications. We also found comparable loading structure across age, gender, and occupational type, whereas the intercept invariance depended on the moderator. Convergent and discriminant validity was supported in relation to all examined variables. Therefore, the psychometric soundness of the Croatian version of BAT‐12 adds new evidence to the current validation process of the BAT‐12 and supports the application of this measure on the Croatian working population. Practitioner points: Extant validation studies support the psychometric soundness of the new measure of burnout (Burnout Assessment Tool; BAT) which was developed to overcome crucial shortcomings of the previous burnout measures.This study adds to the current validation process of BAT by examining the psychometric properties of its short version (BAT‐12) using a nationally representative sample of the Croatian working population.The results support the usage of the BAT‐12 not only for academic research purposes, but also for practical purposes of the assessment of risks for employee safety and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most employees proactively alter their jobs to improve their functioning at work. Such self-initiated behaviours, referred to as job crafting, are primarily intended to benefit the employees themselves. This study contrasts the self-serving nature of job crafting by hypothesizing its positive, reciprocal relationship with a form of work behaviour which primarily benefits organizations – innovative work behaviour (IWB). Drawing upon Conservation of Resources theory, we test a novel perspective suggesting that job crafting and IWB can perpetuate each other by forming gain cycles. Furthermore, we examine whether participative decision making (PDM) can instigate these gain cycles by enhancing subsequent job crafting and IWB. These research hypotheses were tested using three-wave survey data collected from employees (N = 404) within the Belgian higher education sector. The results demonstrate that not only does job crafting relate to subsequent increases in IWB, but also that IWB relates to subsequent increases in job crafting over three measurements occasions. In contrast, PDM did not predict subsequent changes in either form of work behaviour. We discuss these results in light of their contributions to advancing theoretical understanding of the job crafting-IWB relationship and practices intended to promote gain cycles beneficial to employees and employers alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study examined the impact of community service on latent deprivation and mental health of long-term unemployed receiving social assistance by using a two-wave quasi-experimental design with an untreated control group. According to the latent deprivation model, we hypothesized that unpaid participation in community service for the period of three months would alleviate the participants' experience of latent deprivation and improve their mental health. Method: A total of 209 participants (105 in intervention and 104 in the control group; M age = 44.7, SD = 10.47, 58.9% males) completed pretest and posttest measures. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance, followed by the analysis of variances and post-hoc group comparisons, revealed significant effects of the intervention on several dimensions of perceived latent deprivation, but not on the mental health of social assistance recipients. Conclusion: Community service might mitigate the lack of latent benefits of work associated with unemployment by enhancing time structure, regular social contacts, status, and collective purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Human Resources Psychology / Psihologia Resurselor Umane is the property of Romanian Association for Industrial & Organizational Psychology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Društvena Istraživanja is the property of Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revija za Sociologiju is the property of Revija za Sociologiju and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Unemployment has negative but also positive effects on mental health and general well-being depending on which coping strategies the individual use. Our aim was to determine the contribution of core self-evaluations in explaining the coping strategies of job search and job devaluation, as well as to test the potential moderation effect of job search and mediation effect of job devaluation on the relationship between self core-evaluations and both positive and negative experience of unemployment. One hundred seventy-eight individuals who lost their jobs involuntarily for a longer period than one month completed a questionnaire while attending to employment office. Results show that there is a significant relation between core-self evaluations and job devaluation (.37**). Furthermore, core-self evaluations were positively related to positive experience of unemployment (r = .31; p < .01) and negatively related to negative experience of unemployment (r = .60; p < .01). Moreover, self-core evaluations predicted both coping with unemployment strategies (job devaluation; β = .26; p < .01 and job search β = .19; p < .05). However, job search did not moderate the relationship between core self-evaluations and experience of unemployment. But, individuals with a longer duration of the current period of unemployment and higher core self-evaluations had a more positive experience of unemployment, and job devaluation partially mediated this relation (SE = .002; p = .038). These results imply that programs interventions should include the improvement of core self-evaluations and the positive experience of unemployed people.

The aim of this study was to investigate exposure to stress at work in university teachers and see if there were differences between men and women as well as between positions. The study was carried out online and included a representative sample of 1,168 teachers employed at universities in Croatia. This included all teaching positions: assistants (50%), assistant professors (18%), associate professors (17%), and full professors (15%). Fifty-seven percent of the sample were women. The participants answered a questionnaire of our own design that measured six groups of stressors: workload, material and technical conditions at work, relationships with colleagues at work, work with students, work organisation, and social recognition and status. Women reported greater stress than men. Assistant professors, associate professors, and full professors reported greater stress related to material and technical conditions of work and work organisation than assistants, who, in turn, found relationships with colleagues a greater stressor. Full professors, reported lower exposure to stress at work than associate professors, assistant professors, and assistants.