Papers by Jan Philipp Czakert
The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 2024
This study focuses on the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship by investigati... more This study focuses on the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship by investigating resource and demand pathways for daily off-work recovery and employee wellbeing (EWB). While previous research highlighted how transformational leadership energizes employees to engage at work, energy is a finite resource requiring daily restoration for EWB. Yet, how the leader's energizing effect relates to daily employees' recovery remains unknown. Following job demands-resource-recovery theory, we test two pathways that relate the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship to daily employee recovery: (a) Resource-based via resource-building, (b) demand-based via increased demands. Utilizing a 10-day, two daily measurement (N = 88) study, multilevel path analyses revealed: transformational leadership predicted via work engagement (b = .17, p < .05) role clarity (b = .56, p < .01), then positive (b = .39, p < .01), and negative work-nonwork spillover (b =-.38, p < .01). Positive work-nonwork spillover predicted recovery positively (b = .25, p < .01), negative work-nonwork spillover negatively (b =-.40, p < .01). Recovery predicted EWB for positive (b = .38, p < .01) and for negative (b =-.43, p < .01) affect. Work engagement predicted workload (b = .35, p < .01), further negative (b = .33, p < .01) and positive work-nonwork spillover (b =-.16, p < .01), hampering EWB. As one pathway effect might cancel the other, the main effect of transformational leadership on EWB was not significant in the integrative model (p > .05). Results highlight dark and bright sides of the transformational leadership-work engagement relationship regarding daily recovery.
Workplace Health & Safety
Background: COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of remote working in which employers’ obligations f... more Background: COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of remote working in which employers’ obligations for employees’ health and well-being extended into the home. This paper reports on a systematic review of the health impacts of remote working within the context of COVID-19 and discusses the implications of these impacts for the future role of the occupational health nurse. Method: The review protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42021258517) and followed the PRISMA guidelines. The review covered 2020-2021 to capture empirical studies of remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic, their physical and psychological impacts and mediating factors. Results: Eight hundred and thirty articles were identified. After applying the inclusion criteria, a total of 34 studies were reviewed. Most studies showed low to very low strength of evidence using the GRADE approach. A minority of studies had high strength of evidence. These focused on the reduced risk of infection and negative effects in te...
Current Psychology, Jun 1, 2023
Many current working conditions are characterized by increasing blurred boundaries between work a... more Many current working conditions are characterized by increasing blurred boundaries between work and nonwork with spillover that impact employees' and recovery processes and wellbeing. Research, although emerging, considers these processes in the leadership-wellbeing relationship insufficiently. The main aim of this study, therefore, was to enhance our understanding of the role of leadership on employee's work-nonwork interface and wellbeing. To address these processes adequately, longitudinal research is most appropriate. To our best knowledge, no review exists that could inform longitudinal studies on the leadership-employee wellbeing relationship with a focus on spillover and recovery processes. Following the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews, we apply a narrative synthesis of 21 identified studies to organize the research landscape. We make three main contributions: First, we adopt an integrated resource-demands based process perspective and expand the leadership-employee wellbeing relationship by including spillover and recovery. Second, we map the used theoretical approaches and analyzed research gaps. Third, we offer a list of the issues and potential remedies of applied methodologies to orient further research. Results show, that while work-nonwork research is predominantly approached from a negative conflict-based view, research focused more on positive than on negative leadership. We identify two broad categories of investigated mechanisms, namely bolstering/hampering mechanisms, and buffering/strengthening mechanisms. Findings also highlight the importance of personal energy resources and therefore call for more attention to affect-driven theories. The identified predominance of the IT and healthcare sectors and of working parents warrants more representative research. We offer recommendations to advance future research both theoretically and methodologically.
Management for professionals, Nov 17, 2021
Section 2 aims at teaching basic occupational psychology principles in the context of stress and ... more Section 2 aims at teaching basic occupational psychology principles in the context of stress and resilience at the workplace, as well as the ability to integrate stress management into the Excellence Model in an innovative and value-adding manner. At first, industrial and organisational psychology principles are integrated into the global topics of sustainability and the promotion of decent work for all. It will be shown that an excellence management approach based on the blueprint Agenda 2030 and on the sustainable development goals of the United Nations is synergetic with the objective of sustainable, comprehensive quality and occupational health. Subsequently, common and emerging psycho-social risk factors at work will be highlighted as well as the transformative role of modern organisations in developing resource-rich working conditions to promote resilience and health among employees, teams and supervisors. Practical categorisations of stress factors and resources that shape personnel’s experiences will be outlined to summarise the state-of-the-art-knowledge of work-, organisational, and personnel psychology. For integration purposes, a scientific systemic model for the assessment of organisational behaviour and intangibles at work and for the intervention for the quality of human resources called the Human System Audit (HSA), will be introduced to align the topics of stress management and excellence. Core aspects of the HSA are based on the interaction of the organisational environment and structure with intangible psychological and psycho-social processes of individuals, groups, and of the organisational system that are taking place in an organisation and are impacting the quality of the human resources. Finally, conceptual innovative alignments between the psychological human resource perspective of the HSA and the direction and execution deployment factors of the new EFQM model will be exemplified. Part 2 thereby bridges the gap between conventional total management approaches based on excellence and organisational psychology perspectives for occupational stress and health.
Frontiers in Psychology, Dec 16, 2019
Following the call of recent reviews on leadership and well-being, the purpose of this study is t... more Following the call of recent reviews on leadership and well-being, the purpose of this study is to examine how and when two contrasting leadership styles, transformational leadership (TFL) and passive-avoidant leadership (PAL), are related to employees' anxiety and thereby either promote or inhibit employees' well-being. Using the prominent job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, we propose that the relationship between leadership behavior and anxiety is mediated by organizational job demands, namely, role ambiguity (RA), and job resources, namely, team climate for learning (TCL), as well as moderated by autonomy as important job characteristic. A sample of 501 knowledge workers, working in teams in a German research and development (R&D) organization, answered an online survey. We tested moderated multiple mediation models using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results demonstrated that the relationships between TFL as well as PAL on the one hand and anxiety on the other hand were fully mediated by RA and TCL. Job autonomy moderated the quality of the leadership-job demand relationship for TFL and PAL. This paper contributes to understanding the complex relationship between leadership and followers' well-being taking into account a combination of mediating and moderating job demands and resources. This is the first study that examines the effects of TFL and PAL on well-being taking into account the job demand RA and team processes and autonomy as resources.
Liberlibro eBooks, 2020
In times of steadily increasing numbers of burnout in European workplaces, we propose in the fram... more In times of steadily increasing numbers of burnout in European workplaces, we propose in the frame of the IMPRESS project (Project reference: 588315-EPP-1-2017-1-ES-EPPKA2-KA) a common assessment and intervention program for HEI students in occupational psychology focusing on excellent stress management. The program is based on results of an online survey that found similar work-related stress factors in the four participating countries. Following a scientist-practitioner model, HEIs as well as practitioners of these countries developed a training offering assessment, intervention and excellence-related competences for stress-management using online tools. A first pilot was carried out in the Bachelor of Psychology, subject Organizational Behavior (UB) with 18 bachelor and 10 Master students using an online assessment tool, seminars and case studies. Evaluation of the competences acquired, and the seminars and case studies showed satisfactory results.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, Dec 1, 2021
As nonessential workers are working from home and connected to colleagues through means of comput... more As nonessential workers are working from home and connected to colleagues through means of computer technology, cyberbullying, which has only recently been investigated in workplace settings, is likely to become more prevalent. Organizations are also reconsidering work structures that would keep workers remote. Workplace cyberbullying (WCB) can have a detrimental impact on victims' mental health, more than traditional face-to-face bullying. However, there is a dearth of validated assessments to monitor WCB for use in different countries. The Cyberbullying Behavior Questionnaire Short version (CBQ-S) from Jönsson et al. is a validated short scale that seems simple and practical enough to integrate in widely applied multiscale employee surveys. Previously, the CBQ-S has been only validated in Sweden (in the Swedish language) and United States (in English). This study performs a construct validation of the CBQ-S in Spain (in Spanish) and Germany (in German), to equip businesses and organizations operating in those countries with an effective valid tool to measure WCB. Two hundred nine German and 249 Spanish workers (N = 458) participated in a cross-sectional survey. Exploratory and multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses suggested a one-dimensional structure of the scale, supporting configural invariance; metric and partial scalar invariance was also supported. Latent means differences revealed significantly higher mean scores for the Spanish sample (Cohen's d = 0.61). WCB correlated positively with workplace bullying, supporting concurrent convergent validity. WCB also correlated positively with role conflict, role ambiguity, bullying in general, stress, turnover intention, and negatively with job satisfaction, indicating criterion validity.
EDULEARN proceedings, Jul 1, 2020
In particularly challenging times of steadily increasing numbers of burnout in European workplace... more In particularly challenging times of steadily increasing numbers of burnout in European workplaces, we propose in the frame of the IMPRESS project (Project reference: 588315-EPP-1-2017-1-ES-EPPKA2-KA funded by Erasmus Plus) an innovative curriculum for HEI students in organizational psychology focusing on excellent stress management. Young people entering the labour market have to be prepared to sustain their health in a stressful and economic situation where changing employers and sectors is becoming part of a regular employment history. This is currently even more present in times of the COVID-19 pandemic that changes work requirements including much more remote work. Future Human Resource practitioners need to understand the importance of fostering employee well-being as pillar of organizations&#39; competitive advantage, talent attraction and retention, and employee performance. The proposed curriculum is based on results of an online survey that found similar work-related stress factors in four countries (ES, DE, IR, LV) showing the high need of European companies for Human Resource Management competences related to occupational health, thus arguing for a unified HEI curriculum proposal. Following the scientist-practitioner model, HEIs as well as practitioners of the above-mentioned countries developed a curriculum including assessment and excellence-related competences for stress-management based on online tools. As a first pilot has been carried out with Bachelor students of Organizational Psychology, a fine-tuned theory-seminar package was developed and run in a Bachelor course for psychology students of Organizational Behaviour. The developed learning material covered a) a self-assessment, b) theoretical knowledge about state-of-the-art research on occupational stress management, c) a problem-based role-playing scenario, and d) a real case study for student teams. An evaluation of the competences, the self-assessment, learning material, and case study showed satisfactory results. The IMPRESS project is a prime example of how to integrate innovative applied tools into HEI curricula as both learning medium and future working tool. Moreover, all training materials can be deployed virtually and have interactive components such as knowledge quizzes and group work.
Current Psychology, Jul 21, 2020
Group Development (GD) is an important variable when researching and evaluating what makes teams ... more Group Development (GD) is an important variable when researching and evaluating what makes teams successful. We analyzed the psychometric properties of the originally Spanish GD questionnaire with German participants. 501 team members and 104 team leaders, 18 to 65 years old, from a German research organization answered an online survey composed of the GD questionnaire and items related to other group processes of democracy, mutual trust, team spirit, and interest in the team's tasks. Results confirmed the unidimensional factor structure of the translated Spanish version for the German GD construct. Internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity were good. The German GD correlated as expected to other constructs, and it showed concurrent validity with respect to the team members' motivation and interest in team tasks (r = .79, p < .01). We recommend using the GD in German samples to measure team processes that are highly relevant for team effectiveness.
Discover Mental Health, Nov 29, 2021
The increasing spread of digital technologies and respective consequences for the way we live, wo... more The increasing spread of digital technologies and respective consequences for the way we live, work, and communicate can evoke feelings of tension and discomfort. This so-called digitalisation anxiety is related to existing and future technologies, includes the process of digitalisation in everyday life, and refers to multiple levels (the individual, organisations, and society). Existing scales measuring technology-related fears due not adequately reflect these features. Therefore, we developed the German version of the Digitalisation Anxiety Scale (DAS). Having generated items based on a qualitative interview study (Study 1, n = 26), we demonstrated the DAS's factor structure, internal consistency and construct validity in Study 2a (n = 109) and test-retest reliability in Study 2b (n = 30). In Study 3 (n = 223), the scale's structure was confirmed and correlates of digitalisation anxiety were examined. The final version of the DAS consists of 35 items with a four-factor structure (societal triggers for digitalisation anxiety, triggers related to interaction and leadership, triggers within oneself and triggers resulting from the digitalisation implementation process). Digitalisation Anxiety had negative relationships with well-being and performance. The scale allows practitioners and researchers to measure and benchmark individuals' levels of digitalisation anxiety, and to track changes over time. The scale can inform interventions aiming at reducing digitalisation anxiety and stress resulting from digitalisation.
INTED proceedings, Mar 1, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a disruptive, rapid uptake of distance teaching and learning, ... more The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a disruptive, rapid uptake of distance teaching and learning, pressuring the psychological well-being of teachers and students. Especially in Higher Education (HE), closed campuses prevail, and full or hybrid forms of distance teaching and learning became standard pandemic response measures. Preliminary results of timely research during the pandemic revealed heightened prevalence of severe self-reported depressive and anxious symptomatology, while HE teachers facing feelings of uncertainty, role overload, and insufficient knowledge of remote teaching methods and teaching tools. Simultaneously, it was stated that &#39;the COVID-19 pandemic has placed an unprecedented mental health burden on students, which urgently requires further examination and immediate intervention&#39;. This systematic review aims to assess the impact of distance teaching and learning on the well-being of teachers and students as well as on students&#39; performance in HE. Databases including CINAHL Complete, ERIC, MEDLINE, Teacher Reference Center, APA PsychInfo, APA PsycArticles, and special sections of COVID-19 research on researchgate.net and of journals (such as Frontiers), will be searched for relevant studies published in 2020. Studies in English language will be included if they focus on well-being (including performance indicators) on either side of the teaching-learning process, i.e. HE educators or students. Case reports, observation reports, as well as empirical and theoretical studies will be included. Papers focusing on primary or secondary education will be excluded. A refined search strategy will be applied for the different databases. Main search concepts are &quot;distance teaching&quot;, &quot;distance learning&quot;, &quot;well-being&quot;, &quot;performance&quot;, and &quot;COVID-19&quot;, related terms are already defined through thesaurus browsing and will be combined with the appropriate Boolean operators AND/OR. The present review follows the PRISMA protocol of 2015 and will be registered in the PROSPERO register. Two reviewers will ensure a duplicate screening of titles and abstract, as well as subsequently screening of the potentially eligible full papers. Discrepancies will be resolved through consensus or by consulting a third reviewer. Zotero library will be used as a shared reference management system to facilitate the duplicate screening process. The review objectives are 1) to identify the sample and method diversity of the related studies, 2) to describe the measures that have been utilized to assess the psychological impact of the ongoing emergency distance teaching-learning process on teachers&#39; well-being and performance in HE, and (i) to identify the psychosocial risk factors and resources associated with distance teaching, 3) to describe the measures that have been utilized to assess the psychological impact of the ongoing emergency distance teaching-learning process on students&#39; well-being and performance in HE, and (i) to identify the psychosocial risk factors and resources associated with distance learning, 4) to identify web-based learning tools (including immersive technologies) that have been shown or proposed to positively contribute to the well-being and/or performance of HE teachers and students, and (i) to identify best-practices for learning content related distance teaching. A descriptive synthesis is planned to summarize and to present the findings. The GRADE approach will be used to assess the quality of the evidence of the studies overall.
EDULEARN proceedings, Jul 1, 2023
International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics
Digitalization entails positive and negative consequences for employees. In a longitudinal, rando... more Digitalization entails positive and negative consequences for employees. In a longitudinal, randomized control group design over 14 days (N = 95 participants), we piloted and expected each of three app-based interventions to positively influence general well-being, well-being related to information and communication technology (ICT) and recovery compared to the control group with no intervention. The meditation intervention significantly increased general well-being (satisfaction) and recovery (detachment) compared to the control group but did not reduce general stress. The cognitive- behavioural intervention significantly increased general well-being (less stress). The informational intervention, however, increased the general stress level. No intervention changed the level of ICTspecific well-being. Thus, classic stress interventions conveyed via ICTs (app-based) may be effective for addressing classic stress symptoms, but not yet for new forms of stress. Future research should investigate structural differences between classic stressors and new kinds of ICT-related stressors to identify starting points for new types of interventions.
EDULEARN Proceedings
Mastering a healthy Work-Life-Flow (WLF) has become an ever-more challenging key competence to ma... more Mastering a healthy Work-Life-Flow (WLF) has become an ever-more challenging key competence to maintain an effective and sustainably enduring work performance while increasing social, physical and mental health. We propose in the frame of the Strategic Partnership project &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;Excellence based profiling to identify and apply tools and trainings for a better and sustainable Work-Life-Flow&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; (Project Number: 2020-1-ES01-KA203-083282 funded by Erasmus+) an innovative and transversal curriculum for higher education institution (HEI) students in Europe focusing on competencies for a healthy WLF. Within the scope of the European Green Deal and the accentuated transition need towards lifelong learning, young people entering the labour market will not only face an increase in complex and dynamic work contexts but also increasingly blurred boundaries between work and nonwork in highly flexible work arrangements, both temporally and spatially. This disruptive work systems change requires a change for personal agency. Specifically, a recent EU-OSHA report shows that the erosion and forced integration of work and nonwork domains results in longer working hours, presenteeism, more ruminative thinking after work hours, higher anxiety levels, more sleeping disorders, and generally higher stress levels. It is crucial to determine which personal competencies are needed to cope with this ongoing transformation and to achieve a healthy WLF. The WLF project embeds its competency-based approach within The European Framework for Personal, Social and Learning to Learn Key Competence and the Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Goals 3, 4 &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; 8.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Research on workplace cyberbullying (WCB) is still scarce and needs verification. This study addr... more Research on workplace cyberbullying (WCB) is still scarce and needs verification. This study addressed the indirect influence of positive and negative leadership on WCB via perceived role stressors and negative team climate. The main goal is to test the applicability of the work environment hypothesis and job demands–resources model for WCB on a cross-sectional sample of n = 583 workers in Germany (n = 334) and Spain (n = 249). We tested multiple mediation models, and findings revealed that negative (passive-avoidant) leadership increased role and team stressors and thereby WCB exposure, whereas positive (transformational) leadership decreased the same stressors and thereby reduced WCB exposure. No cross-cultural differences were found, indicating portability of the results. This study highlights the explanatory factors for WCB at individual and team level and emphasizes the role of managers as shapers of the work environmental antecedents of WCB in the emergent digitalized working ...
Current Psychology
Group Development (GD) is an important variable when researching and evaluating what makes teams ... more Group Development (GD) is an important variable when researching and evaluating what makes teams successful. We analyzed the psychometric properties of the originally Spanish GD questionnaire with German participants. 501 team members and 104 team leaders, 18 to 65 years old, from a German research organization answered an online survey composed of the GD questionnaire and items related to other group processes of democracy, mutual trust, team spirit, and interest in the team's tasks. Results confirmed the unidimensional factor structure of the translated Spanish version for the German GD construct. Internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity were good. The German GD correlated as expected to other constructs, and it showed concurrent validity with respect to the team members' motivation and interest in team tasks (r = .79, p < .01). We recommend using the GD in German samples to measure team processes that are highly relevant for team effectiveness.
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Papers by Jan Philipp Czakert