Rosa Rodrigues, Ana Junça-Silva, Cláudia Lopes and Diogo Espírito-Santo
This study relied on the affective events theory to test the mediating role of the ratio of emotions in the relationship between employees' perceived leadership effectiveness and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study relied on the affective events theory to test the mediating role of the ratio of emotions in the relationship between employees' perceived leadership effectiveness and their well-being at work.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative methodology was used, based on a deductive approach of a transversal nature. Data were collected from a convenience sample consisting of 255 working adults.
Findings
Structural equation modeling results demonstrated that perceived leadership effectiveness positively influenced well-being and the ratio of emotions, showing that when employees perceived their leader as effective, they tended to experience more positive emotions and less negative ones (as indicated by a positive ratio). Furthermore, the results supported the hypothesis that perceived leadership effectiveness influenced well-being through increases in the ratio of emotions.
Research limitations/implications
The nature of the sample makes it impossible to generalize the results. Also, the fact that the questionnaires were self-reported may have biased the results because only the employees' perception of the variables under study was known.
Practical implications
This study highlights the fact that perceived leadership effectiveness can be seen as an affective event that triggers positive and negative emotional responses at work, which, in turn, will have an impact on employee well-being.
Originality/value
An effective leadership style has been shown to be pivotal in reducing the prevalence of negative emotions within a team. When leaders foster a welcoming work environment where team members enjoy their roles, it often results in heightened positive emotions and overall well-being.
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Burcu Taşkan, Ana Junça-Silva and António Caetano
In the current uncertain working environment, how and when employees adapt their performance is an essential issue. Based on the integrative model of uncertainty tolerance, this…
Abstract
Purpose
In the current uncertain working environment, how and when employees adapt their performance is an essential issue. Based on the integrative model of uncertainty tolerance, this study aims to investigate the relationship between uncertainty and adaptive performance by testing the mediating role of negative affect and mindfulness as a moderator.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the model, 159 participants took part in a diary study during 10 working days (n = 159 x 10 = 1,590).
Findings
The multilevel results showed that negative affect mediated the within-person effect of uncertainty on adaptive performance. Further, mindfulness moderated the relationship between uncertainty and adaptive performance in such a way that it became stronger for individuals who scored lower on mindfulness (versus higher mindfulness).
Research limitations/implications
Understanding what may sustain and amplify responses to uncertain working conditions may help managers to design interventions that may support their employees’ responses to effectively cope with them.
Originality/value
This study shed light on the relevance of both negative affect and mindfulness on the relationship between uncertainty and adaptive performance. In addition, the findings expand the theoretical knowledge of the mechanism underlying the relationship between uncertainty and adaptive performance, and the condition that may strengths this relationship.
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Human–animal interactions (HAIs) have been found to have an extensive and significant influence on individuals' well-being and health-related outcomes. However, there are few…
Abstract
Purpose
Human–animal interactions (HAIs) have been found to have an extensive and significant influence on individuals' well-being and health-related outcomes. However, there are few studies that examine this influence on work-related contexts, such as teleworking. In this study, the author relied on the affective events theory to examine the effect of daily HAI on employees’ daily work engagement and the underlying mechanisms (daily affect ratio and state mindfulness), by resorting to a daily diary study.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the hypotheses, the author collected daily data during five consecutive working days with pet owners (N = 400 × 5 = 2,000).
Findings
Multilevel results showed that interacting with pets during the working day was positively associated with daily work engagement, but this positive relationship was stronger for individuals with lower levels of mindfulness. Further analyses showed that the daily affect ratio mediated the moderating effect of mindfulness on the relationship between daily interactions with pets and daily work engagement.
Practical implications
These findings provide strong support for the proposed mediated moderation model; indeed, positive affect and mindfulness help to explain the positive effect of HAIs on work engagement. Hence, managers may consider the adoption of teleworking, even in a hybrid format for those workers who own pets, because interacting with pets may be a strategy to make them feel more positive and, in turn, more enthusiastic, dedicated and absorbed in their work.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first studies to demonstrate the importance of adopting pet-friendly practices, such as allowing pet owners to telework, as a way to promote daily work engagement.
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Ana Junça-Silva, Henrique Duarte and Susana C. Santos
Discovering opportunities is a key entrepreneurship competence for those who want to start their own business and who choose to enter the workforce. In this study, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
Discovering opportunities is a key entrepreneurship competence for those who want to start their own business and who choose to enter the workforce. In this study, the authors focus on the antecedents of the ability to discover entrepreneurial opportunities by uncovering how and when students' personal initiative (Frese and Fay, 2001) leads to an increase in this key competency. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of risk-taking and creativity in the interplay between personal initiative and opportunity discovery competencies among university students.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected with a self-assessment tool in two moments in time, using a sample of 103 university students from Portugal enrolled in an entrepreneurship course. The authors measured personal initiative and entrepreneurial risk-taking at the beginning of the entrepreneurship course (Time 1). Two months later (Time 2), by the end of an entrepreneurship course, the authors measured creativity and opportunity discovery abilities.
Findings
The results of this study showed that risk-taking mediates the effect of personal initiative on opportunity discovery and that creativity interacts with risk-taking and opportunity discovery. Specifically, the authors found that the relationship between entrepreneurial risk-taking and opportunity discovery is positive and statistically significant when students display average or above-average creativity. The indirect effect of the personal initiative on opportunity discovery through entrepreneurial risk-taking seems to increase when the student's creativity increases, as the index of moderated mediation is positive.
Research limitations/implications
As with all studies, there are limitations to work of this study. First, data of this study is restricted to a sample of students from Portugal. As such, the authors should be careful about generalizations concerning students from other cultural settings; entrepreneurship competencies can differ across countries. Second, the findings of the present study are based on students’ self-reports regarding their own entrepreneurship competencies.
Originality/value
This work can inspire entrepreneurship educators to look at the entrepreneurship competencies models holistically and inspire future work to explore the relationship patterns between entrepreneurial competencies.
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The recent workplace dynamics era allowed many organizations to adopt the hybrid working model. However, despite the growing relevance of telework for diverse outcomes, few…
Abstract
Purpose
The recent workplace dynamics era allowed many organizations to adopt the hybrid working model. However, despite the growing relevance of telework for diverse outcomes, few studies have explored hybrid work. Therefore, this research was based on the role theory and the job demands-resources model to develop a conceptual model arguing that hybrid work may potentially influence employees’ life harmony and mental health through decreases in work–family conflict. Moreover, answering the call for more studies on the role of families with pets regarding work-life boundaries, it is also proposed that hybrid work may potentially influence employees’ harmony and mental health through decreases in work–[pet]family conflict.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve this objective, two studies were conducted. The first was a two-wave study carried out in 2023, involving 376 hybrid workers who completed two online surveys. The second study, also two-wave, was conducted in 2024 and included 479 working adults who participated in the research through online data collection.
Findings
The findings of the first study showed that individuals working in a hybrid model tended to experience less work–family conflict, consequently increasing their harmony and mental health. The second study also evidenced that those working in a hybrid modality had higher levels of harmony in life and mental health due to decreases in their work–[pet]family conflict.
Originality/value
The results highlight the importance of this working modality for employees’ mental health and well-being. Plus, it also opens future venues for research regarding work–[pet]family conflict, as it appears to be a relevant construct for modern families and younger generations of working adults.
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Ana Junça Silva and Clara Encarnação
Relying on the affective events theory, this study conceptualizes abusive supervision as a micro-affective event and tests a multilevel moderated mediation arguing that abusive…
Abstract
Purpose
Relying on the affective events theory, this study conceptualizes abusive supervision as a micro-affective event and tests a multilevel moderated mediation arguing that abusive behaviors from the supervisor trigger negative affective reactions that, in turn, will enhance the likelihood of counterproductive work behaviors (interpersonal and organizational). We further propose that mindfulness will shape how employees react to abusive behaviors from supervisors.
Design/methodology/approach
A daily diary study conducted for five consecutive days was developed with Portuguese working adults (N = 176*5 = 880).
Findings
The multilevel findings showed that abusive behaviors triggered negative affect and this, in turn, promoted both forms of counterproductive work behaviors. The indirect effect regarding interpersonal counterproductive work behavior was moderated by mindfulness in such a way that the indirect effect was stronger for those who scored lower on mindfulness (versus higher levels). The indirect effect on organizational counterproductive work behavior was not significantly moderated by mindfulness.
Practical implications
The examination of mindfulness as a moderating factor contributes significantly to management by delineating practical strategies to assist employees in effectively managing micro-events involving abusive behaviors from supervisors. Consequently, these findings may inform the development of research-backed strategies aimed at mitigating the affective and behavioral repercussions of an abusive supervisor.
Originality/value
The inclusion of mindfulness in the model is an added value.
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Ana Junça Silva, Patrícia Neves and António Caetano
This study draws on the affective events theory (AET) to understand how telework may influence workers' well-being. Hence this study aimed to (1) analyze the indirect relationship…
Abstract
Purpose
This study draws on the affective events theory (AET) to understand how telework may influence workers' well-being. Hence this study aimed to (1) analyze the indirect relationship between telework and well-being via daily micro-events (DME), and (2) test whether procrastination would moderate this indirect effect.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the goals, data were gathered from a sample of teleworkers in the IT sector (N = 232). To analyze the data, a moderated mediation analysis was performed in SPSS with PROCESS macro.
Findings
The results showed that micro-daily events mediated the positive relationship between telework and well-being; however, this relation was conditional upon the levels of workers' levels of procrastination, that is, this link became weaker for those who were procrastinators.
Practical implications
By highlighting the importance of telework, DME and procrastination, this study offers managers distinct strategies for enhancing their employees' well-being.
Originality/value
Despite the existing research investigating the effect of telework on well-being, studies investigating the intervening mechanisms between these two constructs are scarce. Moreover, there is a lack of research investigating the moderating effect of procrastination in these relations. Hence, this study fills these gaps and advances knowledge on the process that explains how (via DME) and when (when procrastination is low) teleworking influences workers' well-being.
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Ana Junça Silva, António Caetano and Rita Rueff
Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, the authors expected that daily micro-events, daily hassles and uplifts at work influenced well-being via work engagement at the…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, the authors expected that daily micro-events, daily hassles and uplifts at work influenced well-being via work engagement at the daily level.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted two diary studies. In study 1, 181 workers answered a daily questionnaire for four working days (N = 181 × 4 = 724). In study 2, 51 workers filled in a questionnaire for ten consecutive working days (N = 51 × 10 = 510).
Findings
In study 1, the results demonstrated that work engagement fully mediated the effects of daily uplifts on well-being and partially mediated the effects of daily hassles on well-being. The results of study 2 revealed a full mediation for both kinds of daily micro-events. Hence, daily uplifts stimulated work engagement, which, in turn, enhanced well-being, and daily hassles minimized work engagement and, consequently, well-being.
Originality/value
The relationships explored provide new theoretical elements for models that explain well-being.
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Ana Junça Silva and Raquel Dias
Although overall well-being is a well-studied phenomenon, financial well-being only recently has attracted scholars’ attention. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand the…
Abstract
Purpose
Although overall well-being is a well-studied phenomenon, financial well-being only recently has attracted scholars’ attention. Accordingly, this study aimed to understand the relationship between financial well-being, its predictors (financial status, financial behaviour, financial knowledge and financial attitudes) and overall well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected data from 262 working adults.
Findings
The results showed that only financial status was positively related to financial well-being and the latter was positively related to overall well-being. It was also found that financial well-being mediated the relationship between financial status and overall well-being. In sum, these results showed a multidisciplinary concept of overall well-being and that individuals tend to prioritize financial security over the other components.
Research limitations/implications
The cross-sectional nature of the data is a limitation.
Practical implications
Practically speaking, this research is relevant because it highlights the evidence of financial status as an important influence on financial well-being, as well as the role of household income in individuals’ financial satisfaction.
Originality/value
The study addresses a call for research on the relationship between financial well-being, its main predictors and how these contribute to explain overall well-being.
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Ana Junça Silva and António Caetano
This research relied on the broaden-and-build (B&B) theory to explore emotional predictors for curiosity-related differences in daily engagement and contextual performance. We…
Abstract
Purpose
This research relied on the broaden-and-build (B&B) theory to explore emotional predictors for curiosity-related differences in daily engagement and contextual performance. We tested a moderated mediation model, arguing that daily positive emotions would be related to daily work engagement and contextual performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 586 participants participated in a five-day diary study (n = 2379).
Findings
Multi-level modeling showed that, at the person level of analysis, daily positive emotions were significantly and positively related to daily work engagement and, in turn, daily performance. At the daily level of analysis, the mediation model was moderated by curiosity, such that it became stronger for individuals who scored higher on curiosity.
Originality/value
These findings make relevant theoretical contributions to understanding the power of curiosity for daily emotional dynamics in organizations. Compared to traditional between-person variables, these results also expand knowledge on within-person processes that explain daily work engagement and contextual performance. In sum, this study shows that “curiosity does not kill the cat”; instead, it makes it productive.