As mudanças tecnológicas, sociais e econômicas que ocorreram nas últimas décadas trouxeram alterações para o mundo do trabalho, modificando a relação entre empresas e empregados. Uma posição impactada por essas mudanças foi a do executivo, que, para responder de maneira constante e rápida a essas mudanças, tem uma rotina de trabalho permeada por excesso de trabalho, superficialidade e baixa autonomia. Acredita-se que esse cenário tenha distanciando os executivos do modelo contemporâneo de carreira proteana caracterizado pelo autogerenciamento da carreira e pela orientação para valores pessoais. Supõe-se que o job crafting - construção autônoma do trabalho por meio da modelagem das tarefas, cognição e relações - e engajamento no trabalho - estado mental positivo caracterizado por vigor (energia), dedicação (significância) e absorção (envolvimento) - podem estar relacionadas à atitude de orientação para a carreira proteana. O objetivo do estudo foi realizar uma pesquisa quantitativa para identificar a relação entre as três variáveis - orientação para a carreira proteana; job crafting; e engajamento no trabalho - em amostra de 361 executivos brasileiros, por meio de instrumentos já validados para o contexto do país. Por meio da aplicação de uma survey e da análise dos dados com a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais, comprovou-se o modelo conceitual proposto de que a atitude de carreira proteana (através da dimensão autodirecionamento) prediz comportamentos cognitivos de job crafting e, consequentemente, um estado mental positivo de engajamento no trabalho. / Technological, social and economic transformations that have taken place in the last decades have brought changes to the work life that have also modified the relationship between companies and employees. The executive position was also impacted so that its work routine has become permeated by overwork, superficiality and low autonomy to respond to these changes constantly and rapidly. We argue that this scenario has held off executives from the contemporary protean career characterized by career self-management and personal values orientation. We also believe that job crafting - autonomous construction of work through the modeling of tasks, cognition and relationships - and work engagement - a positive mental state characterized by vigor (energy), dedication (significance) and absorption (involvement) - may be related to the orientation attitude toward the protean career. The objective of the present study was to conduct a quantitative research to identify the relationship between the three variables - protean career, job crafting and work engagement - in a sample of 361 Brazilian executives through research instruments validated to the national context. Through the application of a survey and structural modeling analysis, we proved the proposed conceptual model in which the individual protean career attitudes (through its self-direction dimension) predicts cognitive behaviors of job crafting and consequently a positive mental state of work engagement

As mudanças tecnológicas, sociais e econômicas que ocorreram nas últimas décadas trouxeram alterações para o mundo do trabalho, modificando a relação entre empresas e empregados. Uma posição impactada por essas mudanças foi a do executivo, que, para responder de maneira constante e rápida a essas mudanças, tem uma rotina de trabalho permeada por excesso de trabalho, superficialidade e baixa autonomia. Acredita-se que esse cenário tenha distanciando os executivos do modelo contemporâneo de carreira proteana caracterizado pelo autogerenciamento da carreira e pela orientação para valores pessoais. Supõe-se que o job crafting - construção autônoma do trabalho por meio da modelagem das tarefas, cognição e relações - e engajamento no trabalho - estado mental positivo caracterizado por vigor (energia), dedicação (significância) e absorção (envolvimento) - podem estar relacionadas à atitude de orientação para a carreira proteana. O objetivo do estudo foi realizar uma pesquisa quantitativa para identificar a relação entre as três variáveis - orientação para a carreira proteana; job crafting; e engajamento no trabalho - em amostra de 361 executivos brasileiros, por meio de instrumentos já validados para o contexto do país. Por meio da aplicação de uma survey e da análise dos dados com a técnica de modelagem de equações estruturais, comprovou-se o modelo conceitual proposto de que a atitude de carreira proteana (através da dimensão autodirecionamento) prediz comportamentos cognitivos de job crafting e, consequentemente, um estado mental positivo de engajamento no trabalho. / Technological, social and economic transformations that have taken place in the last decades have brought changes to the work life that have also modified the relationship between companies and employees. The executive position was also impacted so that its work routine has become permeated by overwork, superficiality and low autonomy to respond to these changes constantly and rapidly. We argue that this scenario has held off executives from the contemporary protean career characterized by career self-management and personal values orientation. We also believe that job crafting - autonomous construction of work through the modeling of tasks, cognition and relationships - and work engagement - a positive mental state characterized by vigor (energy), dedication (significance) and absorption (involvement) - may be related to the orientation attitude toward the protean career. The objective of the present study was to conduct a quantitative research to identify the relationship between the three variables - protean career, job crafting and work engagement - in a sample of 361 Brazilian executives through research instruments validated to the national context. Through the application of a survey and structural modeling analysis, we proved the proposed conceptual model in which the individual protean career attitudes (through its self-direction dimension) predicts cognitive behaviors of job crafting and consequently a positive mental state of work engagement

Our workforce continues to gray due to advances in medical science and new technology, which allows workers to remain in the workforce longer. Furthermore, we need our current workforce to remain motivated and work until an older age due to decreased birth rates and the smaller size of the post baby boomer cohorts. An in-depth examination of the motivation of our aging workforce is necessary to determine how we can increase motivation and keep older workers (those 55 and older) in the workforce longer, while remaining productive. In this study, three divisions of health (i.e., Major Illnesses, Functional Impairments, and Psychosomatic Illnesses) were related to three work goals (i.e., To-Work, At-Work, and To-Retire), combining aspects of the works of Feldman (1994), Shultz and Wang (2007), and Kanfer, Beier, and Ackerman (2012), using archival data extracted through the National Heath and Retirement Study (HRS). A two-step hierarchical regression was conducted with age, gender, wealth, education level, marital status, financial control, and ethnicity as covariates. Most hypotheses were partially supported, with Functional Impairments exhibiting a small effect on To-Work, At-Work, and To-Retire goals. Major Illnesses exhibited some unexpected relationships, however, as they were not positively related to To-Work and To-Retire goals. All health factors exhibited a negative relationship with a small effect on At-Work goals.

Workplace environments and the dynamics that exist within them affect everyone involved, especially coworkers. Although research has investigated how workplace bullying impacts its victims and the organization, little research has examined the effects of workplace bullying from the role of the bystander. Fewer have investigated how Perceived of Organizational Support (POS) may affect the employee's work engagement of those witnesses. The goal of this quantitative study was to determine the effect of POS on work engagement in the employees who witness workplace bullying. An online survey was used with the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised, (NAQ-R), Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and POS instruments. It was launched on LinkedIn and 152 respondents participated and were asked to snowball the link. The study employed the affective events theory that presupposes that the occupational atmosphere influences those in proximity to negative behaviors. Regression results showed that only POS (t (150) = 5.14, p < 0.001) predicted employees' work engagement. On the other hand, witnessing workplace bullying (t (150) = -0.69, p = 0.49) did not affect employees' work engagement. This study provides a useful framework to illustrate how the environment of workplace bullying affects an organization's human and fiscal resources, contributing to the body of knowledge that can benefit organizations by helping to affect social change.

<p>The overall address of the present thesis is the relationship between being ‘on fire’ and burning out. More specifically, the thesis focused largely on two representations of involvement in work (work engagement and Type A behavior) and their respective relationships to burnout. Another pervasive theme was construct validity in assessing burnout and work engagement. These themes were addressed in four empirical studies, conducted in a sample of health-care workers (Study I) and a sample of information communication technology consultants (Studies II, III, and IV). Study I aimed to extend the previously preliminary support for the construct validity of the Swedish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). The objective of Study II was the discriminant validity of the Utrecht Work engagement Scale (UWES) against the theoretically adjacent constructs job involvement and organizational commitment. Another objective was the translation and evaluation of a Swedish version of the UWES. In Study III, the aim was to investigate (cross-sectional) association between Type A behavior, work engagement and burnout. Study III had two foci: 1) whether Type A behavior interacts with job factors to affect burnout and work engagement, and 2) the associations between the main components of Type A behavior (achievement-striving and irritability/impatience) and burnout as well as work engagement. Study IV concerned the longitudinal relationships between Type A behavior and burnout, and between work engagement and burnout. The results presented in this dissertation supported the construct validity of Swedish versions of the MBI and the UWES. It was further indicated that emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (or cynicism) constitute the core aspects of burnout, and that work engagement was more prominently associated with lack of health complaints than job involvement and organizational commitment. Type A behavior was found to be associated with burnout and work engagement in cross-sectional data, however different aspects of Type A behavior appeared to have somewhat different association with burnout and work engagement respectively. The achievement-striving aspect of Type A behavior was related primarily to work engagement, whereas irritability was associated with less engagement and more burnout complaints. No indications of an interaction between Type A behavior and job stress were found. The most important finding of Study IV was that change in Type A behavior was unrelated to change in burnout across time (one-year interval). Furthermore, Study IV supported the notion that work engagement and burnout are bipolar opposites and constitute a work well-being continuum. To conclude, the present thesis suggests that burnout should be viewed as an erosion of intrinsic, affective engagement in work occurring when intrinsic motivation is frustrated by job stress. To avoid conceptual confusion, burnout should be distinguished form exhaustion syndrome however it should be acknowledged that burnout may have negative impact on health. The present study indicated that Type A behavior is unrelated to the specific burnout reaction, a finding that needs to be replicated before generalizability can be assumed. However, it was assumed that Type A behavior represents an instrumental approach to work, further corroborating that burnout is a specific construct referring to the draining of a specific energetic and affective state. This does not imply that Type A behavior is unrelated to health deterioration – most plausibly, Type A behavior generates exhaustion and fatigue from over-exertion of energy. Both research and practice would benefit from exploring how work engagement may best be enhanced using job redesign.</p>

Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2005.