Search results

Work overload has become a relevant issue in the Information Technology (IT) industry, with negative effects for individuals and organizations alike. This study aims to analyse the role of personal resources in a broad model regarding the effects of work overload on performance and well-being for the particular case of IT professionals. Considering the specificities of the IT industry, three personal resources were included in this study: one stable personality variable (conscientiousness) and two more malleable variables (work-life balance and psychological detachment).

To test the model, the authors use a sample of 144 IT Portuguese professionals. The authors collected data through an online questionnaire shared in social networks and IT social network communities. The authors use partial least squares (PLS) for data analysis.

The results show that work overload negatively impacts on employees’ life satisfaction, psychological detachment, work-life balance and task performance. Conscientiousness is positively related with two positive outcomes: task performance and life satisfaction. Work-life balance has a mediating effect in the relationship between work overload and life satisfaction.

These findings emphasize the need to promote conscientiousness in IT professionals, as well as reduce workload and promote family-friendly working environments to foster work-life balance and life satisfaction.

By testing this model, the authors aim to contribute to the current knowledge on the role of personal resources in the Job Demands-Resources model, which is still unclear and under-researched.

The well-being of individuals is an essential issue of sustainability research. This study aims to focus on the particular case of teleworkers and the work conditions which may hinder their well-being. More specifically, this study analyses the impact of social isolation and work overload on the work engagement and life satisfaction of teleworkers during COVID-19 pandemic.

With a sample of 188 workers from the Portuguese banking sector, the authors use structural equations modelling to test a conceptual model. The authors carry out data analysis with partial least squares.

Social isolation and work overload are both negatively associated with the three dimensions of work engagement, namely, vigour, absorption and dedication. In turn, vigour is positively associated with life satisfaction. Social isolation and work overload are indirectly associated with life satisfaction through vigour. Results from multi-group analysis show that the negative relationship between social isolation and dedication is stronger for less senior teleworkers. By contrast, the negative relationship between work overload and dedication is stronger for more senior teleworkers. Additionally, the positive relationship between vigour and life satisfaction is stronger for permanent workers than for temporary ones.

This study tests the assumptions of the job demands-resources under the novel conditions of telework during COVID-19, focusing its ubiquitous conditions – social isolation and work overload. For human resources managers, this study highlights the need to take seniority and job stability in consideration when devising onboarding and working arrangement strategies for teleworkers.

Rewards’ management has long been used as a panacea to promote job satisfaction and labour retention. However, the relationship between these variables is not clearly defined in the real estate industry, due to the scarcity of empirical studies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the role of both satisfaction with intrinsic rewards (SIR) and satisfaction with extrinsic rewards (SER) on job satisfaction and turnover intention in the real estate industry.

Using a sample of 220 employees from the three largest real estate agencies in Portugal, the study analyses a conceptual framework and tests hypotheses by using partial least squares (PLS), along with importance-performance map analysis (IPMA).

Results indicate that both SIR and SER have a positive impact on job satisfaction. However, SER has a stronger impact on job satisfaction. Satisfaction with rewards and job satisfaction are negatively related to turnover intention. Job satisfaction mediates the relationship between satisfaction with rewards and turnover intention. Results also show gender and age differences. SIR is more important for women and younger agents. SER has similar importance for men and women, but higher importance for older agents.

Findings of this study extend the existing literature on rewards satisfaction and turnover intention to the context of the real estate industry. They present a contribution to the current debate on extrinsic vs intrinsic rewards for this particular industry.

Following the results of this research, real estate managers should consider intrinsic rewards because they also play a role for job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Human resource managers should consider identifying employees’ needs and motivations and then implement adequate strategies to promote their job satisfaction because it plays a mediating role between satisfaction with rewards and turnover intention. Reward strategies should also consider gender and age differences by giving women and younger agents more recognition, responsibilities and other intrinsic rewards because they are important for their job satisfaction.

Previous studies on real estate agents rewards appear to have only focussed on extrinsic rewards. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the effects of SIR on job satisfaction and turnover intention in the real estate industry. Also, to the best of the knowledge, this study is original in the use of IPMA to detect gender and age differences.

The purpose of this study was to understand the changes in the social fabric of victims of forced displacement in Colombia as a result of these events, as well as the contributions of belonging to a collective musical program in reconstructing the social fabric of the participants. In Latin America, the metaphor of social fabric is used to represent the web of social relations that shape society. A five-year doctoral investigation sought to understand the changes in the social fabric of victims of forced displacement in Colombia resulting from these events, as well as the contributions of belonging to a collective musical program in reconstructing the social fabric of the participants. The study was undertaken using a qualitative approach and simple statistics, with which were analyzed 14 life stories and 70 sound postcards across seven families, who were victims of violence and belonged to the musical program in question. The research identified as key elements of the social fabric: networks, cohesive or divisive tangible resources, precarious or sufficient tangible resources, the experiences.

This research had a qualitative, ethnographic and narrative approach. It was developed through life stories with sound postcards and semi-structured interviews. The research participants were 14 people from families in the program studied and 10 teachers from the same program. The fieldwork was carried out over a period of six months in four cities in Colombia, taking four to five weeks in each city. In addition to the above, documents of the organization studied were reviewed.

This paper shows the impacts on the social fabric of the participants in terms of the negative impact on their family and social networks, as well as the emergence after forced displacement of divisive intangible resources associated with distrust of self, others and society. Collective musical spaces help to break the sense of anonymity and isolation by creating new networks through which cohesive intangible resources circulate, helping participants to regain confidence in themselves and others through temporary musical identity and peaceful identity.

The limitations of this research relate to being a case study in Colombia. Although this is a national program and the study has been carried out in four different cities in the country, it is not possible to generalize. However, it is possible that in the future it will be possible to contrast the findings with the processes developed with similar organizations working in music for social construction.

The results of this research have practical implications insofar as they can help to better understand the elements that make up the social fabric, the impacts of violence for families who have experienced it and the paths to recovery. Particularly for music organizations with social objectives, it can help to better understand their social impact. In that sense, it allows strategic elements of the organizations to be adjusted so that their social objectives are better met.

The social implications are related to the responsibility of organizations that work with victims of the armed conflict to understand the impact of violence on these people, as this understanding allows them to generate appropriate strategies of care. Particularly, for artistic organizations, and in this case, musical organizations, to understand how their action can collaborate in the recovery of people.

Although the term social fabric is widely used in Latin American literature, there are few studies that clarify the concept and its application in concrete social situations. This research managed to define the specific elements of the concept and to approach the affectation of these elements by violence. Likewise, the research manages to show some ways for the recovery of the social fabric of the victims owing to their participation in the collective musical space.