Callings and work engagement: Moderated mediation model of work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy

Scholarly interest in callings is growing, but our understanding of how and when callings relate to career outcomes is incomplete. The present study investigated the possibility that the relationship of calling to work engagement is mediated by work meaningfulness, occupational identity, and occupational self-efficacy – and that this mediation depends on the degree of perceived person-job fit. I examined a highly educated sample of German employees (N=529) in diverse occupations and found support for two of the three hypothesized mediators – work meaningfulness and occupational identity – after controlling for the relation of core self-evaluations to work engagement. Contrary to expectations, the mediated relations of callings to work engagement were not conditional upon the degree of person-job fit. The findings are considered in terms of the pathways through which callings may relate to work engagement and other career development outcomes.

Social Stress at Work and Change in Women's Body Weight

Social stressors at work (such as conflict or animosities) imply disrespect or a lack of appreciation and thus a threat to self. Stress induced by this offence to self might result, over time, in a change in body weight. The current study investigated the impact of changing working conditions--specifically social stressors, demands, and control at work--on women's change in weighted Body-Mass-Index over the course of a year. Fifty-seven women in their first year of occupational life participated at baseline and thirty-eight at follow-up. Working conditions were assessed by self-reports and observer-ratings. Body-Mass-Index at baseline and change in Body-Mass-Index one year later were regressed on self-reported social stressors as well as observed work stressors, observed job control, and their interaction. Seen individually, social stressors at work predicted Body-Mass-Index. Moreover, increase in social stressors and decrease of job control during the first year of occupational life predicted increase in Body-Mass-Index. Work redesign that reduces social stressors at work and increases job control could help to prevent obesity epidemic.

Social stressors at work and sleep during weekends: The mediating role of psychological detachment

Social stressors at work may result in long-term health impairments if recovery is insufficient. In the present psychophysiological field study, we tested whether the inability to psychologically detach from work issues mediates the negative effect of social stressors at work on sleep during weekends. Sixty full-time employees participated in the study. Daily assessment included diaries on psychological detachment and continuous ambulatory actigraphy to assess psychophysiological indicators of sleep. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that enduring social stressors at work were negatively related with psychological detachment on Sunday evening and negatively related with various sleep indicators on Sunday night. Furthermore, psychological detachment from work on Sunday evening partially mediated the effect of social stressors at work on two sleep indicators. Social stressors at work may threaten recovery processes just before the working week starts.

Social support reciprocity and occupational self-efficacy beliefs during mothers’ organizational re-entry

The present study assesses the effects of a lack of social support reciprocity at work on employees' occupational self-efficacy beliefs. We assume that the self-efficacy effects of received support and support reciprocity depend on the specific work context (e.g., phase in the process of organizational socialization). 297 women who returned to work after maternity leave participated at three measurement points (five weeks, eleven weeks, six months after re-entry). We measured self-reported received and provided support as well as occupational self-efficacy beliefs. Women who received a high amount but provided only little support at work (overbenefitting) reported lowered self-efficacy beliefs. As expected, this effect was not found at the beginning of re-entry, but only later, when over-benefitting began to be negatively related to recipients' self-efficacy beliefs.