Gedrag & Organisatie - Volume 23, Issue 2, 2010

Telework as a job resource: A comparison of 'flow' and exhaustion among marginal and substantial teleworkers

P. Peters & M. Wildenbeest, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, June 2010, nr. 2, pp. 97-117

This cross-sectional study among 331 teleworkers aimed to contribute to the contemporary telework debate on the importance of the telework frequence for telework outcomes by examining whether employees who telework more than one day per week on average ('substantial teleworkers') experience more work-related flow and less exhaustion than employees who telework less than one day per week on average ('marginal teleworkers'). Employing the 'Job Demands-Resources model', the study considered particularly substantial telework a job resource, and looked into the direct and indirect relationships between 'substantial telework' and the two outcome variables. Employing multivariate regression analyses, empirical support was found for the proposition that substantial telework is associated with more flow. Remarkably, this was particularly felt when employees were interrupted more frequently in their home offices. Moreover, particularly teleworkers who reported frequent overtime and more job autonomy expressed lower exhaustion levels when they teleworked substantially than when they teleworked marginally. Whether these outcomes also hold for other worker categories, such as lower educated employees, requires further investigation.

Workplace learning and emotional exhaustion in the Job Demands-Resources model

J. Van Ruysseveldt en J. Taverniers, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, June 2010, nr. 2, pp. 118-135

Researching the strain-reducing potential of workplace learning, a research model was developed in which the motivational process in the Job Demands-Resources model was conceptualised as a competencies development process, adding learning opportunities as additional job resources and competencies development as motivational outcome. We assumed a significant negative relationship between learning opportunities and/or actual competency development and emotional exhaustion. Using Structural Equation Modelling, a research model was tested on Dutch survey data obtained in three sectors: industry (N = 159), private services (N = 368) and public services (N = 451). Results show that the availability of more learning opportunities was negatively related to emotional exhaustion, but this relationship was mediated by the actual development of new work-related competencies. This research confirms that in the (re)design of jobs, a double gain could be achieved by considering work places at the same time as learning places.

Long will they live, work and learn. A scheme for understanding and influencing employability during the life span

A. Nauta, A.H. de Lange en S. Görtz, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, June 2010, nr. 2, pp. 136-157

To stimulate employees' employability until high age, knowledge is needed about what people of different ages want with regard to work; this knowledge is discussed in this article. Calendar age appears to be a weak predictor of employability. More important are specific indicators of 'age', namely the ages of (1) professionalism; (2) private situation; (3) psycho-social experience; and (4) health – both physical and neuro-cognitive. We describe how these four 'ages' change over a lifetime and to what changes in work-related needs they may lead. Professionalism is rather stable during peoples' careers; private situation becomes salient as soon as employees have children; most people want to feel young; and the likelihood of health complaints grows with increasing age. Nevertheless, complaints can stay away for a long time when employees live a healthy life and keep on learning. We recommend organisations to align their HR-practices with changes in all four 'ages'. These HR-practices are summarised in a scheme for employability and life span, which also gives guidelines for future research.

A renewed instrument for organizational commitment

S. Jak & A.V.A.M. Evers, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 23, June 2010, nr. 2, pp. 158-171

The prevailing model in organizational commitment research is Allen and Meyer's (1990) 3-component model of organizational commitment. They developed three scales to measure commitment, the affective commitment scale (ACS), the continuance commitment scale (CCS) and the normative commitment scale (NCS). The correlation between the ACS and NCS has consistently been found to be larger than theoretically expected, both with the original scales and the revised scales (Meyer, Allen & Smith, 1993). In the current study, a Dutch version of the revised scales is developed, where the correlation between the ACS and NCS is smaller than originally. This was attained by omitting the word 'feeling' from the NCS items. The newly-developed scales appeared to be both reliable and valid. Possibilities for future research are discussed.

In Bright-sided ontmaskert Barbara Ehrenreich (auteur van onder andere Nickel and Dimed en Fear of falling: The inner life of the middle class) de aanname dat gezondheid, succes en rijkdom zich manifesteren door positief denken als instrument van het kapitalisme. Bright-sided is erg Amerikaans en minder van toepassing op de Europese context, maar ook bevlogen en kritisch geschreven, en actueel. Immers, aandacht voor positief denken, ook wetenschappelijk, neemt eveneens toe in Nederland en België. Zo publiceerde Gedrag & Organisatie eind 2009 een speciaal nummer over een positieve benadering van arbeid en gezondheid, waaronder de positieve psychologie. In dit special issue werd aandacht gegeven aan thema's als empowerment bij reïntegratie en het stimuleren van flow in de arbeidssituatie. Steeds meer organisaties streven naar vitaliteit en employability. Kortom, een positieve benadering van werknemers om hun gezondheid en productiviteit te bevorderen.