Teacher organizational citizenship behaviours and job efficacy : implications for student quality of school life

The present study investigated the impact of teachers' organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) on student quality of school life (SQSL) via the indirect effect of job efficacy. A measure of teacher OCBs was developed, tapping one dimension of individual-focused OCB (OCBI – student-directed behaviour) and two dimensions of organization-focused OCB (OCBO – civic virtue and professional development). In line with previous research suggesting that OCBs may enhance job efficacy, as well as studies demonstrating the positive effects of teacher efficacy on student outcomes, we expected an indirect relationship between teachers OCBs and SQSL via teachers' job efficacy. Hypotheses were tested in a multi-level design in which 170 teachers and their students (N=3,057) completed questionnaires. A significant proportion of variance in SQSL was attributable to classroom factors. Analyses revealed that the civic virtue and professional development behaviours of teachers were positively related to their job efficacy. The job efficacy of teachers also had a positive impact on all five indicators of SQSL. In regards to professional development, job efficacy acted as an indirect variable in the prediction of four student outcomes (i.e., general satisfaction, student–teacher relations, achievement, and opportunity) and fully mediated the direct negative effect on psychological distress.

Team change climate : a group-level analysis of the relationships among change information and change participation, role stressors, and well-being

We explored whether teams develop shared perceptions regarding the quantity and quality of information and the extent of participation in decision making provided in an environment of continuous change. In addition, we examined whether change climate strength moderated relationships between change climate level and team outcomes. We examined relationships among aggregated change information and change participation and aggregated team outcomes, including two role stressors (i.e., role ambiguity and role overload) and two indicators of well-being (i.e., quality of worklife and distress). Questionnaires were distributed in an Australian law enforcement agency and data were used from 178 teams. Structural equation modelling analyses, controlling for a marker variable, were conducted to examine the main effects of aggregated change information and aggregated change participation on aggregated team outcomes. Results provided support for a model that included method effects due to a marker variable. In this model, change information climate was significantly negatively associated with role ambiguity, role overload, and distress, and significantly positively associated with quality of worklife. Change participation climate was significantly positively associated with quality of worklife. Change climate strength did not moderate relationships among change climate level and team outcomes.

Airborne culturable fungi in naturally ventilated primary school environments in a subtropical climate

There is currently a lack of reference values for indoor air fungal concentrations to allow for the interpretation of measurement results in subtropical school settings. Analysis of the results of this work established that, in the majority of properly maintained subtropical school buildings, without any major affecting events such as floods or visible mould or moisture contamination, indoor culturable fungi levels were driven by outdoor concentration. The results also allowed us to benchmark the “baseline range” concentrations for total culturable fungi, Penicillium spp., Cladosporium spp. and Aspergillus spp. in such school settings. The measured concentration of total culturable fungi and three individual fungal genera were estimated using Bayesian hierarchical modelling. Pooling of these estimates provided a predictive distribution for concentrations at an unobserved school. The results indicated that “baseline” indoor concentration levels for indoor total fungi, Penicillium spp., Cladosporium spp. and Aspergillus spp. in such school settings were generally ≤ 1450, ≤ 680, ≤ 480 and ≤ 90 cfu/m3, respectively, and elevated levels would indicate mould damage in building structures. The indoor/outdoor ratio for most classrooms had 95% credible intervals containing 1, indicating that fungi concentrations are generally the same indoors and outdoors at each school. Bayesian fixed effects regression modeling showed that increasing both temperature and humidity resulted in higher levels of fungi concentration.

Empirical investigation of factors contributing to the psychological safety climate on construction sites

Employees’ safety climate perceptions dictate their safety behavior because individuals act based on their perceptions of reality. Extensive empirical research in applied psychology has confirmed this relationship. However, rare efforts have been made to investigate the factors contributing to a favorable safety climate in construction research. As an initial effort to address the knowledge gap, this paper examines factors contributing to a psychological safety climate, an operationalization of a safety climate at the individual level, and, hence, the basic element of a safety climate at higher levels. A multiperspective framework of contributors to a psychological safety climate is estimated by a structural equation modeling technique using individual questionnaire responses from a random sample of construction project personnel. The results inform management of three routes to psychological safety climate: a client’s proactive involvement in safety management, a workforce-friendly workplace created by the project team, and transformational supervisors’ communication about safety matters with the workforce. This paper contributes to the field of construction engineering and management by highlighting a broader contextual influence in a systematic formation of psychological safety climate perceptions.

The Relationship Between University Culture and Climate and Research Scientists’ Spin-off Intentions

Over the past decades, universities have increasingly become involved in entrepreneurial activities. Despite efforts to embrace their 'third mission', universities still demonstrate great heterogeneity in terms of their involvement in academic entrepreneurship. This chapter adopts an institutional perspective to understand how organizational characteristics affect research scientists' entrepreneurial intentions. We study the impact of university culture and climate on entrepreneurial intentions, thereby specifically focusing on intentions to spin off a company. Using a sample of 437 research scientists from Swedish and German universities, our results reveal that the extent to which universities articulate entrepreneurship as a fundamental element of their mission fosters research scientists' spin-off intentions. Furthermore, the presence of university role models positively affects research scientists' propensity to engage in entrepreneurial activities, both directly and indirectly through entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Finally, research scientists working at universities which explicitly reward people for 'third mission' related output show higher levels of spin-off intentions. This study has implications for both academics and practitioners, including university managers and policy makers.

Building an organizational change communication theory

The difficulty of communicating during organizational change has intensified with the prevalence of continuously changing organizations (Buchanan, Claydon & Doyle, 1999). The difficulty faced by managers is compounded by the lack of studies examining organizational communication within a context of organizational change (Eisenberg, Andrews, Murphy, & Laine-Timmerman, 1999; Lewis & Seibold, 1996). Not surprisingly then, is there a paucity of organizational change theory to guide further research and practitioners. This paper addresses the lack of organizational change communication research and contributes to theoretical development of communication during organizational change. A model of change communication during continuous change is presented from the analysis of two longitudinal empirical studies. Central constructs of the model are the monologic change communication, the dialogic change communication and the background talk of change. Further Van de Ven and Poole's (1995) Process Theories of Change are extended to consider the sequencing of the three constructs. The findings suggest that the sequencing of the dominant change communication approaches is informed by an alignment of individual communication competences and organizational change communication expectations.