The purpose of the proposed study is to consider why and under which conditions do supervisors engage in abusive behaviours towards their subordinates. To answer my first research question, why do supervisors engage in abusive supervision, I draw on victim precipitation (e.g., Sparks, Glenn, & Dodd, 1977) and conservation of resources (COR; Hobfoll, 1989) theories to argue that certain subordinate performance-related behaviours and characteristics threaten supervisor resources leading to abuse as a stress reaction. To answer my second research question, under which conditions do supervisors engage in abusive supervision, I draw on attribution theory (Heider, 1958; Weiner, 1986). I argue that supervisors abuse subordinates when they attribute responsibility, or blame subordinates for negative performance-related behaviours and characteristics, as a means of protecting or guarding against future resource loss. To answer my research questions, I developed measures for self- and other-perceived general mental ability (GMA) and blame attributions. I obtained data from 211 supervisor-subordinate dyads in Canada and the United States. Respondents were surveyed for information about their work behaviours, characteristics, and relationships. Using Hayes (2013) PROCESS macros, I found partial support for the proposed model and offer refinements to COR and victim precipitation theories. I found relationships between both self- and supervisor-reported subordinate behaviours and characteristics and abusive supervision, largely in the direction hypothesized. I also found supervisor-reported subordinate performance behaviours and perceived GMA to share a stronger relationship with subordinate reports of abusive supervision than subordinate reported behaviours and characteristics in many instances. / October 2016

As military troops continue to deploy post September 11, 2001, limited literature indicates it is important to study the effects of the deployment on the military personnel and their families. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine whether the physical distance between home and military-provided supports plays a role in whether Army families use such supports, and whether the use of these supports effects their coping strategies during the deployment process. Hobfoll's conservation of resources theory served as the framework for this study. Three hundred and two Army spouses, 44% active duty spouses, 33.8% Army National Guard spouses, and 22.2% Army Reserve spouses answered questions from the Conservation of Resources Evaluation, Brief COPE, and Participant Information Survey. Multivariate analysis of variance, between-groups t test, and Spearman's rho tests were run to determine relationships among the variables. According to study results, Army family participants determined that up to 20 miles was convenient to travel to access military-provided supports. Only the Veterans Center was used more than other supports, despite distance. Those families located closer to military-provided supports coped differently than those located farther away. The study adds to the literature on Army National Guard, Army Reserve, and active duty spouses by providing a better understanding for practitioners about Army families and their use of military-provided supports, their coping methods, social resource gain, and how distance plays a role for each. The military can use the information from this to provide support programs to enhance participation in services, which will help military families in times of deployment and inactive service.

Non-family employees are indispensable resources for family firms as they grow. However, despite the recent scholarly attention toward non-family employees, it is still not clear how such important human resources should be managed and/or retained in family firms. To add to the limited body of knowledge on non-family employees working at family firms, this dissertation highlights the role of family-friendly workplace practices in preventing turnover intentions of non-family employees based on conservation of resources theory. Drawing on a sample of 116 dyad data (family business owner - non-family employee), this dissertation shows that family-friendly workplace practices prevent turnover intentions of non-family employees through decreased burnout. Moreover, it is found that family-friendly workplace practices in the family firms are affected by family influence. Thus, this dissertation not only creates avenues for future research on non-family employees, but also provides insight into the critical role of family-friendly workplace practices in the family firms.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, deteriorative disease, which leads to psychological distress. &lsquo / Conservation of Resources theory (COR)&rsquo / is a relatively recent stress model, developed by Hobfoll (1988, 1989). This resource-oriented theory is based on the assumption that psychological stress is a reaction to a threat of loss of resources, loss of resources and/or lack of resource gain after investment in resources. Religiousness, coping abilities, coping self-efficacy and social support are very important personal resources, which have been found to protect individuals against psychological distress. The aim of the present study was to examine the predictive values of socio-demographic and illness related variables, religiousness, perceived social support, ways of coping, resource loss and arthritis self efficacy for both psychological distress (anxiety and depression) and posttraumatic growth (PTG) of RA patient. In addition, the COR theory was tested for a chronic debilitating illness. Data were collected by administering eight scales to one hundred and seventeen RA patients in the Rheumatology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of Ankara Numune Hospital. As a result of the regression analysis, it was found that being female, fatigue, resource loss, helplessness coping and perceived social support were significant predictors of anxiety. Impact of illness on daily activities, resource loss, problem solving coping and arthritis self-efficacy were significant predictors of depression. Gender, perceived severity of the illness, perceived social support and problem solving coping were significant predictors of PTG. Perceived social support was not related to depression and total psychological distress whereas it was related to anxiety and PTG. Religiousness was not related to psychological distress and PTG. The results of the study were discussed within the relevant literature, shortcomings of the current study, clinical implications and suggestions for future research were proposed.

Both flow and flourishing are highly favourable human states and have been described as optimal experience phenomena in the well-being literature. This being said, more research is required to gauge how these states can be more readily achieved – in general, but specifically in sport – and athletic contexts; where it has remained largely unexplored. The objective of this research was to ascertain whether specific contexts can influence the experience of flow and flourishing amongst athletes. It further investigated the state-like properties of these experiences, by evaluating whether certain resources in the environment of the athlete can promote flow and flourishing and assessing whether athlete flow is dynamic over time, i.e. whether it fluctuates over the course of a particular athletic cycle. The research comprised three separate studies, reported in article format. Manuscript 1 evaluated a structural model of athlete flow by investigating the role of both job (sport) – and personal resources in the experience of athlete flow among student athletes. The resources under investigation were teammate relationships and communication (job resources) as well as self-efficacy (a personal resource). Using structural equation modelling direct paths were revealed between teammate relationships, self-efficacy and athlete flow. The findings provide some evidence that athlete flow are associated with contextual factors that relate to the team environment as well as the personal resources of the athlete. Manuscript 2 focused on the flourishing of athletes. An exploratory study was conducted to evaluate relationships between athlete flourishing, team and individual strength use, team embeddedness and withdrawal behaviour. Results suggested that flourishing is related to team strength use. It also revealed positive paths from both the strength use dimensions to team embeddedness. Flourishing related positively to team embeddedness. Withdrawal behaviour was negatively associated with team embeddedness. The results revealed important information from the perspective of antecedents and outcomes of athlete flourishing. Manuscript 3 explored the state-like properties of athlete flow by conducting ecological momentary assessment of the experience amongst under-21 Currie Cup rugby players during a competitive stage of their athletic cycle. The objective of this study was twofold. Firstly, it sought to ascertain whether athlete flow will vary over time and during/ after specific key events during an athletic cycle. Secondly, it investigated whether the introduction of specific interventions during such cycle could influence athlete flow experience. The study, which adopted a longitudinal design, revealed that athlete flow was dynamic over time. Positive relationships were also established between challenging athletic activities, as well as strength-based team and individual interventions; and flow. This provides sport coaches and management teams with information that may assist them in assisting athletes to achieve more readily the favourable and optimum human state that is flow.

Both flow and flourishing are highly favourable human states and have been described as optimal experience phenomena in the well-being literature. This being said, more research is required to gauge how these states can be more readily achieved – in general, but specifically in sport – and athletic contexts; where it has remained largely unexplored. The objective of this research was to ascertain whether specific contexts can influence the experience of flow and flourishing amongst athletes. It further investigated the state-like properties of these experiences, by evaluating whether certain resources in the environment of the athlete can promote flow and flourishing and assessing whether athlete flow is dynamic over time, i.e. whether it fluctuates over the course of a particular athletic cycle. The research comprised three separate studies, reported in article format. Manuscript 1 evaluated a structural model of athlete flow by investigating the role of both job (sport) – and personal resources in the experience of athlete flow among student athletes. The resources under investigation were teammate relationships and communication (job resources) as well as self-efficacy (a personal resource). Using structural equation modelling direct paths were revealed between teammate relationships, self-efficacy and athlete flow. The findings provide some evidence that athlete flow are associated with contextual factors that relate to the team environment as well as the personal resources of the athlete. Manuscript 2 focused on the flourishing of athletes. An exploratory study was conducted to evaluate relationships between athlete flourishing, team and individual strength use, team embeddedness and withdrawal behaviour. Results suggested that flourishing is related to team strength use. It also revealed positive paths from both the strength use dimensions to team embeddedness. Flourishing related positively to team embeddedness. Withdrawal behaviour was negatively associated with team embeddedness. The results revealed important information from the perspective of antecedents and outcomes of athlete flourishing. Manuscript 3 explored the state-like properties of athlete flow by conducting ecological momentary assessment of the experience amongst under-21 Currie Cup rugby players during a competitive stage of their athletic cycle. The objective of this study was twofold. Firstly, it sought to ascertain whether athlete flow will vary over time and during/ after specific key events during an athletic cycle. Secondly, it investigated whether the introduction of specific interventions during such cycle could influence athlete flow experience. The study, which adopted a longitudinal design, revealed that athlete flow was dynamic over time. Positive relationships were also established between challenging athletic activities, as well as strength-based team and individual interventions; and flow. This provides sport coaches and management teams with information that may assist them in assisting athletes to achieve more readily the favourable and optimum human state that is flow.

Si les fragilités individuelles et les conditions de travail sont accusées de conduire à l'épuisement professionnel, cela n'explique pas pourquoi un individu décide de s'enfermer dans une situation intenable pouvant le mener au suicide plutôt que de mettre fin au lien l'unissant à son organisation. Ce lien se nomme l'implication organisationnelle (Mathieu et Zajac, 1990). Ainsi, dans un contexte où les organisations cherchent à renforcer le lien qui les unit à chacun de leurs salariés, nous nous interrogeons sur le rôle joué par l'implication organisationnelle dans l'explication de l'épuisement professionnel. L'implication organisationnelle est un concept multidimensionnel (Meyer et Allen, 1991) négativement lié à l'épuisement professionnel, notamment dans sa dimension affective. Les études relatives aux autres dimensions sont beaucoup plus rares. Par ailleurs, Meyer et Maltin (2010) soulignent la contradiction des recherches s'intéressant au lien indirect entre l'implication organisationnelle et l'épuisement professionnel. Dans cette recherche nous nous intéresserons à toutes les dimensions de manière simultanée à l'aide d'une approche par profil permettant de capter les interactions entre les dimensions (Meyer et al., 2012). Le lien direct et indirect qui unit implication organisationnelle et épuisement professionnel sera étudié à la lumière de la conservation des ressources. Pour cela, nous mobilisons une méthodologie mixte combinant principalement une étude qualitative et deux études quantitatives. Les données analysées dans cette recherche défendent la thèse selon laquelle l'implication organisationnelle est une ressource à double tranchant qui permet de protéger les individus de l'épuisement professionnel mais qui peut devenir néfaste sous certaines conditions. / If individual weaknesses and working conditions are accused to lead to burnout, this does not explain why an individual decides to stay in an unbearable situation that could lead him to suicide rather than cut the link binding him to his organization. This link is called organizational commitment (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990). Thus, in a context where organizations seek to strengthen the bond between each of their employees, we question the role of organizational commitment in explaining burnout. Organizational commitment is a multidimensional concept (Meyer & Allen, 1991) negatively related to burnout, especially in its affective dimension (Meyer & Maltin, 2010). Studies related to the other dimensions are rare. Besides, Meyer and Maltin (2010) highlight the contradiction of the researches related to the indirect link between organizational commitment and burnout. In this research, we focus on all dimensions simultaneously, using an approach-based profile to capture the interactions between dimensions (Meyer et al., 2012). The direct and indirect relations that link organizational commitment to burnout are enlightened by the conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1988, 2001). To do this, we mobilize a mixed methodology combining a qualitative study and two quantitative studies. The data analyzed in this study defend the thesis that organizational commitment is a double-edged resource that protects individuals from burnout but that can be harmful under certain conditions.

A l’heure où le bien-être au travail semble devenir une priorité pour les managers et les organisations, et où les technologies mobiles permettent une accessibilité permanente aux informations professionnelles, contribuant ainsi à accroître la porosité de la frontière entre les vies privée et professionnelle, cette thèse interroge l’influence des technologies nomades sur la santé psychologique des salariés et plus précisément sur leur bien-être. Pour explorer cette problématique, nous mobilisons la théorie de conservation des ressources (Hobfoll, 1989), théorie motivationnelle qui se base sur la diversité des ressources dont peut disposer une personne pour maintenir ou atteindre une situation de bien-être et d'équilibre. Les équipes commerciales d’un grand groupe français, qui ont été équipées fin 2012 de Technologies Nomades, constituent notre terrain d’investigation. La revue de la littérature et les résultats d’une analyse qualitative exploratoire menée à l’aide d’entretiens semi-directifs auprès de 34 commerciaux et managers de ce groupe nous amènent à proposer un modèle structurel de l’influence des technologies nomades sur le bien-être au travail, qui combine des variables organisationnelles, individuelles et technologiques. Ce modèle a été testé via une enquête par questionnaire au niveau national. Sur les 850 questionnaires envoyés, 400 réponses exploitables ont pu être traitées. Dans un premier temps, nos résultats empiriques nous conduisent à déterminer cinq catégories d’usage des technologies nomades, dépendant conjointement de la nature du support technologique et de la tâche réalisée. Les cinq variables ainsi obtenues constituent par la suite les variables d’entrée, lors de l’étape de modélisation par la méthode d’équations structurelles. Le test des hypothèses de recherche met en avant le rôle de certaines ressources telles que l’autonomie, le sens du travail, l’utilité des technologies ou le soutien social organisationnel, pour notamment faire face à l’invasion des technologies dans la sphère privée et la pression liée à leur utilisation. De manière générale, nos résultats laissent transparaître que malgré les changements induits par l’arrivée des technologies nomades, il n’existe pas de dualité concernant l’effet direct ou indirect de ces technologies sur le niveau de stress ou le bien-être au travail. Peu de personnes interviewées sont catégoriques sur des conséquences purement négatives ou purement positives des technologies nomades sur le bien-être au travail ; la mesure semble donc être de rigueur en la matière. Cependant, une large majorité des commerciaux et managers interviewés considère que l’arrivée des technologies nomades a « plutôt » favorisé le bien-être au travail, et ne se verrait plus travailler sans, en dépit de l’augmentation de la charge de travail et de l’invasion technologique induites. Au final, les technologies nomades semblent alors constituer des ressources sous contraintes. Pour conclure ce travail, sont présentées les contributions théoriques et managériales, ainsi que les voies futures de recherche. / At a time where welfare at work seems to be a priority for managers and organizations, and where mobile technologies allow permanent access to business information, increasing the porosity of borders between private and professional life; this thesis questions the impact of mobile technologies on employees’ psychological health and more specifically about their well-being (effects of nomadic technologies on the border between private and professional life, interpersonal relations, etc.). To explore this issue, we mobilized the Resources Conservation Theory (Hobfoll, 1989), a motivational theory which is based on the variety of resources available to a person in order to maintain, or reach, a situation of well-being and balance. The sales teams of a large French group, which were fitted in 2012 with Mobile Technologies (MT) constitute our field of investigation. The literature review and the results of an exploratory qualitative analysis, conducted using a semi-structured interview, with 34 commercials and managers, lead us to submit a structural model of the influence of mobile technologies on well-being at work, combining organizational, individual, and technological variables. This model was tested via a survey at a national level. From the 850 questionnaires which were sent, 400 usable responses were studied. First, our empirical results lead us to identify five categories of mobile technologies use, both depending on the nature of the technological support and on the performed task. The five obtained variables, became the input variables, through the modeling stage realized by the structural equations method. The test of research hypotheses emphasizes the role of certain resources such as autonomy, the meaning of work, the usefulness of technologies or organizational social support, especially to cope with the invasion of technology into the private sphere and the pressure related to its use. Overall, our results suggest that, despite the changes brought by the arrival of MT, there is no duality regarding the direct or indirect effect of these technologies on the stress level or on the welfare at work. Few interviewees are adamant on purely negative or purely positive impact of mobile technologies about welfare at work. However, a large majority of commercial and interviewed managers considered that the arrival of mobile technologies has "somewhat" favored well-being at work, despite the increased workload and technological invasion that it induced. In the end, MT seem to constitute constrained resources. To conclude this work, the theoretical and managerial contributions are presented as well as future opportunities of research.

The present study examines how the relationship between workplace bullying and mental health can be influenced by emotional exhaustion, and how the intensity in this relationship can be affected by the individual’s psychological capital, and access to social support from colleagues and supervisors. The studys theoretical framework is based on the Job Demand-Control-Support model, the Job Demands-Resources model and the Conservation of Resources theory. Data were collected at Indian workplaces and included 139 participants. The study used a self-report questionnaire and was analyzed with mediation and moderation as main analysis methods. In line with previous research, results showed that psychological capital as a whole moderated the negative effects on mental health that follow from being exposed to workplace bullying. Emotional exhaustion was found to be a mediator in the association between workplace bullying and mental health problems. Psycological capital resilience fully moderated the mediating association between workplace bullying and mental health problems via emotional exhaustion. Psychological capital optimism moderated the association between bullying and emotional exhaustion, but not the full mediation. Social support was shown not to moderate the negative effects of workplace bullying on mental health, which does not support previous findings.

The general aim for this research was to explore and describe the risk and protective variables in the bio–psychosocial field of adolescents with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and to describe how these variables impact multi–dimensionally on such adolescents. From the literature search it seemed as if interventions regarding CF focus mainly on the medical condition. No literature could be found on the experiences of adolescents with CF. It is clear that there is a dearth of research on adolescents with CF in general but also specifically on the bio–psychosocial impact of this illness on adolescents in this challenging time of maturing. The research design was a case study and focused on exploration and description of risk and protective factors in the bio–psychosocial fields of adolescents with CF. Semi–structured interviews were used as a data collecting method. Questions were open–ended, but focused on the experience of adolescents having CF. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis based on the following steps, which entailed among others transcribing data, reading, re–reading, translation, coding, identifying and describing themes. Facing a chronic illness and the intensive medical treatment required is a harsh reality that influences the entire field of adolescents with CF. This research results expanded knowledge of CF in adolescents within a Gestalt field perspective. Themes identified outline risk and protective factors related to faith, daily routines and especially the effect of medical procedures on time management, emotions, health and body–related aspects, frequent hospitalisation, social support and future concerns. If the risk and protective variables in the field of adolescents with CF is better understood from their own perspective, it is assumed that trans–disciplinary interventions with a multi–dimensional focus will be targeted more accurately in intervention strategies for this vulnerable group. / Thesis (M.A. (Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.