The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand entry-level, live-in residence life professionals' experiences of resilience in the workplace. Resilience is a multilevel, biopsychosocial construct that broadly refers one's ability to maintain or improve positive function in response to adversity (Cicchetti, 2010; Masten and Wright, 2010). Workplace resilience is specifically concerned with such adaptive processes and outcomes in response to job stress. Resilience research has been conducted primarily from a post-positivist, diagnostic perspective that has failed to give attention to the diverse experiences of resilience in different contexts. This study was conducted using a constructivist perspective to develop an understanding of workplace resilience in the unique context of live-in residence life work in institutions of higher education where job stress, burnout, and attrition occur at high rates. Ten participants were purposefully selected through expert referral for two 90-minute, in-depth interviews to discuss their history, experiences, and reflections regarding adversity and resilience in the workplace. Data were analyzed inductively to discover themes regarding resilience for residence life professionals. Findings illuminated participant experiences of workplace adversity and resilience, as well as participant beliefs about themselves and the nature and role of resilience in the workplace context. Discussion of findings resulted in four primary conclusions: (a) adversity and resilience coexist in balance with each other; (b) resilience can be learned, as well as lost; (c) resilience is personal and experienced uniquely by individuals; and (d) resilience is a systems issue that is promoted through partnership. Implications for future policy, practice, and research were discussed. / Ph. D. / Entry-level residence life professionals living where they work experience high rates of job stress, burnout, and attrition. These individual concerns also create challenges for organizational effectiveness. Many studies have uncovered factors related to these issues, but few have considered what promotes perseverance in the face of such adversity. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand entry-level, live-in residence life professionals’ experiences of workplace resilience, a construct that broadly refers one’s ability to maintain or improve positive function in response to adversity in the workplace. This study was conducted with a constructivist approach to understand the individual experiences of diverse participants. Ten participants engaged in two individual 90-minute, indepth interviews to discuss their history, experiences, and reflections regarding adversity and resilience in the workplace. Data were analyzed inductively to discover themes regarding resilience for residence life professionals. Findings illuminated participant experiences of workplace adversity and resilience, as well as participant beliefs about themselves and the nature and role of resilience in the workplace context. Discussion of findings resulted in four primary conclusions: (a) adversity and resilience coexist in balance with each other; (b) resilience can be learned, as well as lost; (c) resilience is personal and experienced uniquely by individuals; and (d) resilience is a systems issue that is promoted through partnership. Implications of these findings suggest that individual and organizational outcomes of adversity and resilience are intertwined, and further understanding and promotion of workplace resilience in this setting could be mutually beneficial by contributing to improved employee wellbeing and performance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/86212 |
| Date | 03 December 2018 |
| Creators | Woods-Johnson, Kelley J. |
| Contributors | Higher Education, Robbins, Claire K., Shushok, Frank X., Janosik, Steven M., Welfare, Laura E. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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