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Organisational interventions that aim to improve working conditions are the recommended approach for improving employees' health and wellbeing. This thesis tries to advance the knowledge of how to design, implement, and evaluate organisational interventions. To achieve this, this thesis seeks to improve the understanding of 'how to' apply realist evaluation in organisational interventions, and to explore 'what worked/might work/works for whom in which circumstances' in organisational interventions. Chapter 2 is a realist synthesis, it identifies and synthesises empirical evidence from 28 organisational intervention studies into six Context-Mechanism-Outcome (CMO) configurations based on the mechanisms of implementation adherence, communication, employees' participation, senior management support, middle management support, and external consultants/researchers support. Chapter 3 uses the qualitative evidence from the planning phase of a participatory organisational intervention in the US food service industry and develops four initial CMO configurations based on the mechanisms of participation, leadership commitment, communication, and tailoring the intervention to fit the organisational context. Chapter 4 uses the qualitative evidence from the implementation and evaluation phases of the same participatory organisational intervention and tests of these initial CMO configurations, participation. Finally, based on the lessons learned from using realist evaluation in the participatory organisational intervention in the US food service industry (chapters 3 and 4), and by using the contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes identified in chapter 2, chapter 5 proposes an evaluation model. The proposed model provides guidance on when, why, and how to develop and test CMO configurations for a comprehensive list of crucial intervention mechanisms. Overall, the knowledge generated on 'how to' apply realist evaluation and on 'what worked/might work/works for whom in which circumstances' in this thesis can be used to design, implement, and evaluate future organisational interventions.

This thesis is focused on examining the extent to which contextual factors may influence the resource recovery process as a work-family conflict resolution strategy for female Kuwaiti teachers within the Kuwaiti context. Defining the main strategy that Kuwaiti female teachers use to reduce stress and to restore their resources, and illustrating the difficulties surrounding this strategy are the most important aims of this thesis. The institutional logics theory was used in the study as part of the social constructionist epistemology. As a theory, it has become a popular framework for examining the processes of maintaining social behaviour (Scott, 2008), because societies’ core institutions are the fundamental and major institutions, which can influence and shape individual and organizational processes (Friedland and Alford, 1991). In order to establish a theoretical framework which can answer the research questions, the role of meaning and logics concepts was considered. The framework was used as a research tool that examines the cultural elements within the resource recovery process in the Kuwaiti context. Because of the tenets of the social constructionist epistemology, qualitative methods (in the form of 33 semi-structured interviews) were used in order to determine the participants’ perspectives about the research topic, and to gain more understanding of how and why they reached the given perspectives (King, 2004). The analysis process revealed that the participants have specific cultural understanding about what is defined as resources and demands. Another conclusion is that some recovery activities may seem as universal but in this research and according to the study’s participants they still have cultural (religious) meanings that may be considered as motivation to such activities. Moreover, they tend to change the usual demand to be a recovery activity. Therefore, a vital implication of the study is that examining the recovery process requires more attention to the cultural factors and a deep examination of the study’s context.

This thesis investigates workplace cyberbullying, defined as a situation where over time, an individual is repeatedly subjected to perceived negative acts conducted through technology (for example, phone, email, web sites, social media) which are related to their work context. In this situation the target of workplace cyberbullying has difficulty defending him or herself against these actions. The thesis has two broad aims: (1) to develop a workplace cyberbullying measurement scale; and (2) to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying on employees. Workplace cyberbullying is conceptualised in this thesis by drawing on the traditional workplace bullying and cyberbullying literature. A rationale is presented for investigating it as a distinct form of workplace bullying and four separate studies address the development of the workplace cyberbullying measure (WCM). The first study generated measurement items by asking employees to describe cyberbullying behaviours. The behaviours were sorted into categories using content analysis and converted into measurement items. In the second study, the relative severity of each item was assessed so that the measure could be weighted according to severity. In the third study, the 34 item WCM was completed by a sample of 424 employees. A two factor structure (comprising work-related cyberbullying and person-related cyberbullying) was compared to a unidimensional factor structure and the measure was refined into a 17 item instrument. During the fourth study the nomological network of the WCM was constructed and further reliability and validity evidence was obtained. The fifth and final study then used the WCM to investigate the impact of workplace cyberbullying within a theoretical framework. The theoretical and practical contributions of the studies are discussed along with directions for future research.