An Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology E-Book
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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Sprache: Englisch
AN INTRODUCTION TO CONTEMPORARY WORK PSYCHOLOGY
A fully updated edition of the definitive textbook
Work psychology is the study of work behavior and the psychological dimensions that both produce and result from it. It has developed in recent decades into a field that takes a comprehensive view of 21st century workers and their psychological context and condition. Now fully updated to reflect the latest research and practical insights, it promises to continue as an indispensable resource for advanced courses in work psychology.
Readers of the second edition of An Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology will find:
- Chapters written by a global team of experts
- Overview of classic and current theories that comprise Work Psychology
- Detailed discussion of topics such as leadership, emotion work, sustainable careers, job crafting and the future of work
- A unique focus on positive aspects of work, including motivation, engagement, personal resources and positive workplace interventions
An Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in work psychology courses, as well as for students or researchers looking for a reference or introduction to the subject.
“Understanding work from various psychological perspectives has become highly relevant for all those involved and interested in the diverse and changing nature of work-life. This book is a treasury of what is important to know of current work psychology. It is timely, comprehensive, and enjoyable reading. Editors and authors have done great job and now it is time for readers to enjoy this book and its many perspectives to the world of contemporary work and organizational psychology.”
—Jari Hakanen, PhD, Research professor, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
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Seitenzahl: 1407
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Editors
List of Contributors
Part A: Introduction to Work Psychology
1 Setting the Scene
1.1 Introduction
1.2 What We Talk About When We Talk About Work Psychology
1.3 Who Do We Mean When We Talk About
Workers
?
1.4 The Meaning of Working
1.5 The Roots of Work Psychology
1.6 The Times, They are A-changin’
1.7 The Organization of the Book
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
2 Research Methods in Work Psychology
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Measurement
2.3 Classical Test Theory
2.4 Research Design
2.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part B: Theoretical Perspectives
3 Motivating Employees Using Self-Determination Theory
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Self-Determination Theory
3.3 The Basic Psychological Needs
3.4 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
3.5 A Typology of Extrinsic Motivation: From Controlled to Autonomous Motivation
3.6 Consequences of Employee Motivation
3.7 Antecedents of Employee Motivation
3.8 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
4 The Classic Models that Made Psychology Work
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Background of Job Design and Job Redesign
4.3 Meta-Theoretical Issues Regarding Theoretical Model Development and Evaluation
4.4 The Job Characteristics Model
4.5 The Demand–Control–Support Model
4.6 The Vitamin Model
4.7 The Effort–Reward Imbalance Model
4.8 Contemporary Socio-Technical Systems Thinking
4.9 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
5 Current Theoretical Perspectives in Work Psychology
5.1 Introduction
5.2 The Job Demands–Resources Model
5.3 The Demand-Induced Strain Compensation Model
5.4 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part C: Demands at Work
6 Job Demands
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Quantitative Demands: The Amount and Timing of Job Demands
6.3 Qualitative Demands: The Nature of Job Demands
6.4 How Various Aspects of Job Demands Interact
6.5 Antecedents of Job Demands
6.6 Consequences of Job Demands
6.7 Measuring Job Demands: Objective and Subjective Approaches
6.8 Practical Applications
6.9 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
7 Emotion Work in Organizations
7.1 Introduction
7.2 An Emotion Work Framework
7.3 Emotion Work Requirements
7.4 The Emotion Work Process
7.5 Emotion Work within Organizations
7.6 Cultural Aspects of Emotion Work
7.7 Emotion Regulation at Work
7.8 Implications for Job Redesign and Training
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
8 Social Stressors in Organizations
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Sexual Harassment
8.3 Workplace Bullying and Harassment
8.4 Destructive and Abusive Forms of Leadership and Manager Behavior
8.5 Prevention and Management
8.6 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part D: Resources at Work
9 Conservation of Resources Theory
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Introduction to COR Theory
9.3 The Crossover Model
9.4 COR Applications to Real Practice
9.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
10 Job Resources
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Internal vs. External Resources: Implications for Job Redesign
10.3 Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory
10.4 Job Resource Models
10.5 Empirical Evidence: Meta-Analyses of Job Resources
10.6 Are Job Resources Always Beneficial?
10.7 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
11 Personal Resources
11.1 Introduction
11.2 What are Personal Resources?
11.3 How Do Personal Resources Determine Work-Related Outcomes?
11.4 Mobilization of Personal Resources
11.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part E: Boundaries of Work
12 Work–Family Interaction
12.1 Basic Concepts of Work–Family Interaction
12.2 Theoretical Models of Work–Family Interaction
12.3 Work–Family Interaction: Antecedents and Outcomes
12.4 Ways of Dealing with Work and Family Demands
12.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
13 Non-Standard Working Arrangements
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Shiftwork
13.3 Long Work Hours and Overtime Work
13.4 Working from Home
13.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
14 Recovery from Work Stress
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Theoretical Notions on Work Stress and Recovery
14.3 The Recovery Process
14.4 Work-Stress Recovery Research
14.5 Promoting Recovery
14.6 Work-Stress Recovery in the New World of Work
14.7 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part F: The Work Context
15 The Psychology of Organizational Leadership
15.1 Introduction
15.2 What is Leadership?
15.3 Do Leaders Only Use One Style of Leadership?
15.4 What Are the Outcomes of Leadership on Employees at Work?
15.5 How Does Leadership Exert its Effects?
15.6 What Shapes People’s Perceptions of Leadership?
15.7 What Makes a Leader?
15.8 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
16 Safety at Work
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Accidents at Work
16.3 Accidents: Exposure and Propensity
16.4 Safety-Related Behaviors: Slips, Lapses, Mistakes, and Violations
16.5 Safety-Related Behaviors: Safety Citizenship Behaviors and Safety Participation
16.6 Psychological Antecedents and Consequences of Safety Behaviors
16.7 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
17 Psychosocial Safety Climate
17.1 Introduction
17.2 Psychosocial Safety Climate Theory
17.3 Psychosocial Safety Climate Measurement
17.4 Applications of PSC
17.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part G: Work Outcomes
18 Burnout, Boredom, and Engagement in the Workplace
18.1 Introduction
18.2 A Brief History
18.3 Defining and Assessing Job Burnout, Boredom at Work, and Work Engagement
18.4 A Taxonomy of Employee Well-being
18.5 Antecedents and Consequences of Burnout, Boredom, and Work Engagement
18.6 Individual Differences in Employee Well-being
18.7 Possible Explanations for Job Burnout, Boredom at Work, and Work Engagement
18.8 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
19 Work Performance
19.1 Introduction
19.2 What is Work Performance?
19.3 Measuring Work Performance
19.4 Perspectives on Improving Performance
19.5 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
20 Sickness Absence and Sickness Presence
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Sickness Absence: Prevalence and Costs
20.3 Forms of Sickness Absence
20.4 Examining Sickness Absence: Traditional Approaches
20.5 Sickness Presence: Prevalence and Costs
20.6 Decision Models of Work Attendance
20.7 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
21 Sustainable Careers and Employability
21.1 Introduction
21.2 Career Research in Work Psychology: A Brief History
21.3 Current Theoretical Perspectives in Career Research
21.4 Sustainable Careers
21.5 Employability as a Key Ingredient for Career Sustainability
21.6 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part H: Workplace Interventions
22 Prevention and Intervention
22.1 Introduction
22.2 Types of Workplace Interventions
22.3 Levels of Intervention
22.4 Designing and Implementing Workplace Interventions
22.5 Evaluating Workplace Interventions
22.6 Critical Factors for the Success of Workplace Interventions
22.7 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
23 Job Crafting
23.1 Introduction
23.2 The Roots of Job Crafting
23.3 Job Crafting as an Individual Job Redesign Approach
23.4 Antecedents and Outcomes of Job Crafting
23.5 Linking Job Crafting to Organizational Change and Innovation
23.6 Job Crafting Interventions
23.7 Future Research
23.8 Final Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
24 Positive Workplace Interventions
24.1 Introduction
24.2 The Context of Positivity
24.3 Challenging the Success Paradigm
24.4 What is Unique about Positivity and Negativity?
24.5 Positive Workplace Interventions
24.6 Creating a Positive Organizational Context
24.7 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Part I: Boundaries of Work
25 Emergent Technologies at Work
25.1 Introduction
25.2 A Brief History
25.3 Overview of Various Categories of Emerging Technologies
25.4 How Emerging Technologies Affect Work Design
25.5 Approaches to Introducing New Technologies at Work
25.6 Conclusions
Discussion Points
Learning by Doing
References
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 Scaling definition and examples.
Table 2.2 Ways to estimate the reliability of a measure.
Chapter 3
Table 3.1 Different types of motivational regulation and their effects on empl...
Chapter 4
Table 4.1 The 12 job characteristics of the Vitamin Model.
Table 4.2 Example output from the U.K. health and safety executive’s indicator...
Chapter 8
Table 8.1 Items and descriptions of a strong climate for conflict management....
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 The four dimensions of work–family interaction with examples.
Table 12.2 Main antecedents of work–family conflict.
Table 12.3 Main antecedents of work–family enrichment.
Table 12.4 Main outcomes of work–family enrichment.
Chapter 14
Table 14.1 Circumstances of recovery.
Table 14.2 Potential antecedents of work-stress recovery.
Table 14.3 Potential consequences of successful work-stress recovery.
Chapter 15
Table 15.1 Transformational leadership.
Chapter 16
Table 16.1 A typology of errors.
Table 16.2 Five guidelines for creating a positive safety climate.
Table 16.3 Comparison of the main features of four psychological safety models...
Chapter 17
Table 17.1 The PSC-12 vs. PSC-4 questionnaires: domains and items.
Table 17.2 The different risk categories of PSC-12 according to the PSC risk b...
Table 17.3 PSC means, standard deviations, and benchmark risk levels across se...
Chapter 18
Table 18.1 Potential antecedents of burnout.
Table 18.2 Potential consequences of burnout.
Table 18.3 Potential antecedents and consequences of boredom at work.
Table 18.4 Potential antecedents of work engagement.
Table 18.5 Potential consequences of work engagement.
Table 18.6 Individual differences and employee well-being.
Chapter 20
Table 20.1 Between-country differences in sickness absence.
Table 20.2 Forms of sickness absence according to volition.
Table 20.3 Selected individual, group/team, organization, and society-level an...
Chapter 22
Table 22.1 Primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions at the IGLO levels....
Table 22.2 Checklist for workplace intervention implementation.
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 General outline of this volume.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Criterion contaminationand criterion deficiency.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Overview of different types of motivational regulation and their co...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Levels of theory development in general.
Figure 4.2 The Job Characteristics Model.
Figure 4.3 The Demand–Control Model.
Figure 4.4 The Demand–Control–Support Model.
Figure 4.5 The Vitamin Model.
Figure 4.6 The Effort–Reward Imbalance Model.
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 JD–R theory.
Figure 5.2 The DISC-R Model.
Figure 5.3 DISC-R diagnostic profile.
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 A framework model of emotion work (Zapf et al., 2021, p. 141).
Figure 7.2 A process model of emotion work: affective events, emotion generati...
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Antecedent–outcome model of work–family interaction.
Figure 12.2 Positive spillover of resources, performance, and affect from one ...
Figure 12.3 Outcomes of work–family conflict and enrichment.
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Excessive hours of work (more than 48 hr a week): Global and regio...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 Cycle of work-stress recovery.
Figure 14.2 Effort and recovery.
Figure 14.3 Main notions of the Stressor-Detachment model.
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 Satya Nadella joins Microsoft as their new CEO.
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 Psychosocial safety climate multi-level model of psychological hea...
Figure 17.2 The relation between PSC and COVID-19 pandemic.
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 A taxonomy of work-related well-being.
Figure 18.2 Various effects of individual differences on employee well-being....
Figure 18.3 Burnout and withdrawal at different levels of social exchange. Sch...
Figure 18.4 A model for work engagement.
Chapter 20
Figure 20.1 The illness flexibility model.
Figure 20.2 Model of sickness presence and sickness absence.
Figure 20.3 Dynamic model of presenteeism and absenteeism.
Chapter 21
Figure 21.1 Conceptual model of sustainable careers.
Chapter 22
Figure 22.1 Integrated approach to workplace mental health.
Guide
Cover Page
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About the Editors
List of Contributors
Begin Reading
Index
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
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An Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology
Second Edition
Edited by
Maria C. W. Peeters
Department of Social, Health and Organizational PsychologyUtrecht UniversityUtrecht, The Netherlands
Human Performance Management GroupDepartment of Industrial Engineering and Innovation SciencesEindhoven University of TechnologyEindhoven, The Netherlands
Jan de Jonge
Human Performance Management GroupDepartment of Industrial Engineering and Innovation SciencesEindhoven University of TechnologyEindhoven, The Netherlands
Department of Social, Health and Organizational PsychologyUtrecht UniversityUtrecht, The Netherlands
Toon Taris
Department of Social, Health and Organizational PsychologyUtrecht UniversityUtrecht, The Netherlands
This second edition first published 2024© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Edition HistoryJohn Wiley & Sons Ltd. (1e, 2014)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Peeters, Maria, editor of compilation. | De Jonge, Jan, editor of compilation. | Taris, Toon, editor of compilation.Title: An introduction to contemporary work psychology / edited by Maria C.W. Peeters, Jan de Jonge, Toon Taris.Description: Second Edition. | Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2024. | Revised edition of An introduction to contemporary work psychology, 2014.Identifiers: LCCN 2023037628 (print) | LCCN 2023037629 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119887362 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119887423 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119887430 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: Work–Psychological aspects.Classification: LCC BF481 .I5798 2024 (print) | LCC BF481 (ebook) | DDC 158.7–dc23/eng/20230821LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023037628LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023037629
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © Howard Kingsnorth/Getty Images
About the Editors
Maria C. W. Peeters is associate professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands and a full professor at the Human Performance Management Group at Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. Her expertise as a senior researcher and lecturer is in the field of occupational health psychology. Her scientific work covers a broad area with special interest in sustainable performance of employees in a work context that is characterized by technological innovations. She has published many articles and chapters on topics such as worker (ill)health, motivation and well-being, job crafting, work–family balance, and the impact of emergent technologies on job (re)design.
Jan de Jonge is a full professor of Work and Sports Psychology at Eindhoven University of Technology, and a visiting professor at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. His teaching, research, consultancy, and managerial activities are on Work Psychology, Sports Psychology, Occupational Health Psychology, Human Performance Management, Industrial Engineering, and finally, Research Methods and Advanced Statistics. Key topics are job redesign, job stress and health, recovery, and sustainable performance at work and sports.
Toon Taris is a full professor of Work and Organizational Psychology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He is a prolific author in the area of work and health psychology and has published in outlets such as Advances in Motivation Science, Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, and Work & Stress. His main challenge is applying the insights he teaches his students about work, stress, and recovery to his own life.
List of Contributors
Ali AfsharianPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Jos AkkermansFree University of AmsterdamThe Netherlands
Arnold B. BakkerEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Julian BarlingQueen’s UniversityCanada
Debby G. J. BeckersSwansea UniversityUnited Kingdom
Anja van den BroeckUniversity of LeuvenBelgium
Justin W. CarterEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Nik ChmielUniversity of ChichesterUnited Kingdom
Cherie CrispinPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Anna DahlgrenSwansea UniversityUnited Kingdom
Kevin DanielsEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Matthew DavisEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Arla DaySaint Mary’s UniversityCanada
Evangelia DemeroutiEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Maureen DollardPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Christian DormannEindhoven University of TechnologyThe NetherlandsJohannes Gutenberg University MainzGermany
Ståle Valvatne EinarsenUniversity of BergenNorway
Sabine A. E. GeurtsSwansea UniversityUnited Kingdom
Chris GiebeJohannes Gutenberg University MainzGermany
Gudela GroteETH ZürichSwitzerland
Beatrice van der HeijdenFree University of AmsterdamThe Netherlands
Stevan E. HobfollSTAR: Stress, Anxiety & Resilience ConsultantsSalt Lake City / ChicagoUSA
David HolmanGoethe University FrankfurtGermany
Tianchang JiUtrecht UniversityThe Netherlands
Jan de JongeUtrecht UniversityThe NetherlandsEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
E. Kevin KellowaySaint Mary’s UniversityCanada
Marcel KernGoethe University FrankfurtGermany
Ulla KinnunenTampere UniversityFinland
Anthony D. LaMontagneScheffield University Management SchoolUnited Kingdom
Pascale M. Le BlancEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
May Young LohPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Anne MäkikangasAristotle University of ThessalonikiGreece
Saija MaunoTampere UniversityFinland
Alexandra MichelLeuphana University LüneburgGermany
Jean-Pierre NeveuUniversité de Pau et des Pays de l’AdourBayonneFrance
Karina NielsenScheffield University Management SchoolUnited Kingdom
Amy ParkinPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Sharon K. ParkerETH ZürichSwitzerland
Maria C. W. PeetersUtrecht UniversityThe NetherlandsEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Rachael PotterPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Jordan RainbowPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Johanna RantanenTampere UniversityFinland
Wladislaw RivkinTrinity College DublinDublin
Marisa SalanovaUtrecht UniversityThe Netherlands
Wilmar B. SchaufeliUtrecht UniversityThe Netherlands
Norbert K. SemmerGoethe University FrankfurtGermany
Gavin R. SlempUniversity of MelbourneAustralia
Kaylee SomervilleQueen’s UniversityCanada
Dale SundermannEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Toon TarisUtrecht UniversityThe Netherlands
Franziska TschanGoethe University FrankfurtGermany
Philip TuckerSwansea UniversityUnited Kingdom
Marc van VeldhovenTilburg UniversityThe Netherlands
Laura VenzLeuphana University LüneburgGermany
Laura VietenLeuphana University LüneburgGermany
Ans de VosFree University of AmsterdamThe Netherlands
Mina WestmanTel Aviv UniversityTel AvivIsrael
Anne WöhrmannLeuphana University LüneburgGermany
Despoina XanthopoulouAristotle University of ThessalonikiGreece
Carolyn M. Youssef-MorganEindhoven University of TechnologyThe Netherlands
Amy ZadowPsychosocial Safety Climate Global ObservatoryCentre for Workplace ExcellenceUniversity of South Australia
Dieter ZapfGoethe University FrankfurtGermany
Part AIntroduction to Work Psychology
1Setting the Scene: People at Work
MARIA C. W. PEETERS, TOON TARIS, AND JAN DE JONGE
Chapter Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
describe the key elements of work;
explain what work psychology is about, and what is meant by
contemporary
work psychology;
specify some main features of the world’s labor force;
understand what working means to workers;
summarize the history of work psychology;
explain the six most important changes that have occurred in the world of work;
understand the general outline and structure of the current book.
1.1 Introduction
For as long as mankind has existed, people have worked. Needless to say the nature of work has changed tremendously: our distant ancestors were mostly hunters and collectors, but nowadays people work with data, “goods” or other people, or provide services. What has not changed is that we still spend a substantial part of our lives working. It is therefore not surprising that some people’s work is about understanding the nature and conditions of the work of others in an attempt to explain, predict and improve it. These are work psychologists, teachers, trainers, and practitioners in work psychology, as well as those who study the phenomenon of work and worker behavior: the researchers. This book is aimed at everyone who would like to learn more about work psychology. The primary intended readership consists of advanced (second and third year) bachelor students as well as master students in work and organizational psychology programs. In addition, this textbook will also be useful for advanced students in related fields, including ergonomics and human factors, (applied) social psychology, clinical psychology, social and occupational medicine, occupational health, human resource management, epidemiology, health sciences, industrial engineering, business administration, and management science. Finally, researchers who would like to familiarize themselves quickly with state-of-the-art issues in the area of work psychology will also be interested in this volume.
This first chapter starts with a brief introduction to what work involves and what work psychology aims to achieve (Section 1.2). In Sections 1.3 and 1.4 we consider the world’s labor force, and discuss what having and doing work means for individuals. After describing the history of the field of work psychology (Section 1.5), we describe some important changes that the world of work has witnessed over the last decennia (Section 1.6). The chapter ends by explaining the general outline and structure of the book (Section 1.7).
1.2 What We Talk About When We Talk About Work Psychology
This book is about work. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (2023), in everyday life the term “work” refers to “perform work or fulfill duties regularly for wages or salary; to perform or carry through a task requiring sustained effort or continuous repeated operations; to exert oneself physically or mentally especially in sustained effort for a purpose or under compulsion or necessity; to function or operate according to plan or design.” That is, work is about performing activities that require sustained effort to achieve a particular objective, and these activities are conducted to obtain some form of income. More formally, work can be defined as a set of coordinated and goal-directed activities that require sustained effort and are conducted in exchange for something else, usually (but not necessarily and often not exclusively) some form of monetary reward. Three key elements of this definition are as follows:
Work consists of a set of
goal-directed
activities; that is, actions at work are intended to bring about a particular previously specified result. After all, the goal of work is to produce a good (including data and knowledge) or to deliver a particular service (Frese & Zapf,
1994
).
Work consists of a set of
coordinated
activities. To achieve the intended goal, workers do not act randomly. Rather, successful task accomplishment often requires that workers execute a series of interrelated activities following particular work routines, procedures and guidelines, and often using tools and machinery especially devised to bring about the intended goal. Even the simplest jobs require incumbents to coordinate their activities. Without coordination, the intended goal will be difficult to achieve, if it is achieved at all.
The activities involved in working require some degree of physical, emotional and/or mental effort, and this effort is usually compensated in some way. That is, work is conducted
in exchange for something else
. Few of us would go to work without getting anything in return. Rather, for many people working is a necessary evil: it is easy to think of more attractive, interesting and enjoyable activities, but working is often simply essential for earning a living.
This book is also about psychology. Psychology refers to people’s behavior, motivations, thoughts and emotions related to a particular topic. Work psychology thus relates to these concepts in the context of work (Arnold, 2005). As the goal of work is to produce something (goods, services, or knowledge), one central aim of work psychology is to facilitate obtaining that goal: how can we use the knowledge and insights of psychology to help workers achieve their work goals in an optimal and sustainable manner? Or, from an organizational point of view, how can we help organizations achieving their goals?
Note that work psychologists are not only interested in pushing workers’ performance to (and perhaps even beyond) their upper limit. On the contrary, at present many work psychologists are primarily interested in maximizing worker health and well-being (this used to be different in the early days of work psychology—see Section 1.3). This interest partly follows from the idea that happy, satisfied workers are presumed to be productive workers (see Chapter 19, for a discussion). In this view, maximizing worker well-being is the same as maximizing work performance. Additionally, as we believe that psychologists should improve people’s lives, work psychologists are genuinely interested in improving workers’ health and well-being. For example, the American Psychological Association (2023), the largest professional organization of psychologists, says in its mission statement: “Our mission is to promote the advancement, communication, and application of psychological science and knowledge to benefit society and improve lives.” Similarly, the British Psychological Society (2023) states that it “helps to influence and develop a psychological approach to policy-making that puts people first.” Similar statements can be found on the web sites of other professional organizations for psychologists. Clearly, work psychologists are not solely there for the benefit of organizations or employers, but surely also for the benefit of workers. This is not to say that a focus on worker health and well-being can or should not be beneficial for organizations as well. It is by now well-accepted that work can have adverse effects on worker health and well-being (e.g., consider the potential effects of working with harmful and even carcinogenous substances, or of being chronically bullied by your supervisor and co-workers). Since many organizations frequently face difficulties in finding suitably trained personnel, it is important to them that their current staff remain healthy and motivated. Moreover, the costs of replacing sick employees are high, which also underlines the need for organizations to make sure that the workability of their current staff remains high. Stated differently, contemporary work psychology aims to promote what might be called employee sustainable performance: a regulatory process in which an individual worker enduringly and efficiently achieves particular desired work goals while maintaining a satisfactory level of well-being (Ji et al., 2021).
This book is about work psychology; that is, the way workers’ behaviors, motivations, thoughts, emotions, health and well-being relate to each other, and about ways to influence these concepts. As we have defined work in terms of the specific activities that are conducted by workers, work psychology is not primarily about the context in which these activities are conducted (e.g., the organization or the work team), that is the realm of organizational psychology. Similarly, work psychology is not primarily about the characteristics of the person conducting a particular work task (e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, level of education, experience, or personality) or selecting or hiring new staff—that is the domain of personnel psychology. Work psychology is about the tasks that are carried out at work; that is, the specific work activities that require sustained effort and are conducted to achieve a particular goal. Of course, these activities are accomplished by workers having specific characteristics within a particular context, and in this sense work psychology is inevitably and often strongly related to the other strands of what is often called “work and organizational,” “personnel” or “industrial” psychology. We therefore also pay attention to some of these subjects in this book. In the present introduction we define work psychology in a considerably narrower sense, namely, in terms of the psychological study of work activities and work (re-)design. For introductions to other subfields of work and organizational psychology we refer to standard texts in these areas, such as Aamodt (2022), Spector (2021), and Jex and Britt (2014).
Replay
Work can be defined as a set of coordinated and goal-directed activities that require sustained effort, and are conducted in exchange for something else, usually (but not necessarily and often not exclusively) some form of monetary reward.
Work psychology refers to people’s behavior, motivations, thoughts, and emotions in the context of work.
Work psychologists aim to simultaneously maximize work performance and worker health and well-being. In that sense they aim to promote employee sustainable performance.
Work psychology focuses on the specific activities conducted to achieve work goals. It does not (or at least not primarily) focus on the work context or on worker characteristics; these are the domains of other subfields of what is known as work and organizational psychology.
1.3 Who Do We Mean When We Talk About Workers?
We now have an impression about what we conceive as work and what contemporary work psychology is about. Next, we turn to the workers. There is probably no group in the world that is as heterogeneous and diverse as the world’s workforce. This makes it hard to describe this group. Consider the differences between an Ethiopian farmer who still uses traditional farming methods such as manual sowing and harvesting and a Silicon Valley software engineer who works for a large tech company, and you will understand the enormous diversity within the world’s workforce.
The world’s workforce
In order to have an impression of who we are talking about in the remainder of this book we will present some general figures about the world’s workforce. However, we must first discuss what we mean by the “workforce of the world.” The world’s labor force comprises people aged 15 and older who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. It includes people who are currently employed and people who are unemployed but seeking work, as well as first-time job-seekers. However, not everyone who works is included. Unpaid workers, family workers, and students are often omitted, and some countries do not include members of the armed forces. The size of the labor force tends to vary during the year as seasonal workers enter and leave the labor force (World Bank, 2023a).
To understand the number of people who are really at work we must consider unemployment rates. Unemployment rates refer to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment (World Bank, 2023a). According to the International Labor Organization (International Labour Office, 2023), the global unemployment rate was 5.8% in 2023, coming from 5.2% in 2021 and from 4.7% in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on global employment, with job losses and labor market disruptions affecting millions of workers around the world. In comparison, in the United States the unemployment rate was 3.6% in 2022. The average unemployment rate in the 27 EU Member States (EU27) was 6.1% in 2022, which was a slight decrease from the 7.0% rate in 2021 and nearly 11.1% in 2012 (Eurostat, 2023). Taken together, out of a world population of slightly more than 7.9 billion people, 4.6 billion were employed and 224 million were unemployed (International Labour Office, 2023).
When considering international labor statistics, a distinction is generally made between three different work sectors: (a) agriculture, including forestry, hunting, and fishing, (b) industry, including manufacturing, mining, and construction, and (c) services, including transportation, communication, public utilities, trade, finance, public administration, private household services, and miscellaneous other services. Figures from 2019 show that 26.7% of the total labor force was working in agriculture, 22.7% in industry, and 50.6% in services (World Bank, 2023b).
Contemporary work psychology has a major drawback in that its scope is relatively narrow. The majority of work psychological research is conducted in Western-oriented economies such as the United States, Europe, Japan, and Australia. Unfortunately, countries in Central and Northern Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia (with the exception of China) are largely neglected. Focusing on specific groups in specific parts of the world limits our ability to generalize findings and ignores important issues that may be especially pertinent for vulnerable workers in less developed regions of the world. So, rather than directing our research efforts solely towards the WEIRD-est people in the world (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic; Henrich, 2020), it is critical to diversify our sampling and avoid generalizing from a peculiar subgroup to the entire world’s workforce. Only by recognizing this diversity we can begin to rewrite our textbooks in ways that provide a more inclusive picture of the psychology and behavior of the world’s workforce.
Replay
Around the world 4.6 billion people are at work (out of a total population of nearly 8 billion).
The global unemployment rate is 5.8% in 2023; this figure differs widely across countries.
The number of people working in the service sector is growing fast.
Worldwide, the agricultural sector is still the second largest source of employment after services.
Historically, work psychology has predominantly focused on WEIRD workers. Research on less-studied groups of workers in remaining parts of the world is recommended.
1.4 The Meaning of Working
In the preceding sections we argued that work psychologists should aim to simultaneously maximize work performance and worker health and well-being (i.e., strive towards promoting sustainable work performance). However, in spite of these efforts, workers do not always (or “usually,” or even “frequently”) enjoy their work. Popular culture (songs, movies, books, TV series) provides many examples of jobs that are not particularly satisfying, suggesting that the sole reason for working is the fact that it yields the money needed to subsist.
Work Psychology in Action: Popular views on working
One way of understanding of what working means to people (i.e., how they think about work) is to look at cultural artefacts relating to work and employment, such as popular songs, movies, books and paintings. The idea behind examining such artefacts is that they reflect real cultural and societal values and attitudes (e.g., DeWall et al., 2011). What do these artefacts say about work and working?
Whereas most popular music is about love, sex or partying, a small number of songs actually refer to experiences at work. One interesting example is Sixteen Tons, a country song penned by Merle Travis about the dark days of industrial capitalism that reached number one in the 1955 US Billboard charts. In this song, a coal miner warns Saint Peter not to call him to heaven, since however hard he works, he will never have earned enough to pay his debts at the company store (in mining towns the local store was owned by the mining company, and miners often had no choice other than to spend their wage at this store, paying the [high] prices asked for by the mining company). The miner therefore owes his soul to the company and not to God. A more recent example is presented by Dolly Parton’s 1980 number one hit song Nine to Five, in which the persona complains about being underpaid and about bosses taking the credit for others’ ideas. Or take The Offspring’s 1998 Why Don’t You Get A Job, in which a boy “works his hands to the bone” to give his girlfriend—who apparently just “sits on her ass”—money every payday. Pop singers often have little good to say about work. However, whereas work can be bad, boring and even debilitating (e.g., see NBC’s long-running comedy The Office, in which many characters mainly spend their time trying to look busy), it can also be a source of inspiration and even friendship (as in CBS’s sitcom The Big Bang Theory, in which the characters’ jobs at the California Institute of Technology and similar high-tech research organizations constitute an important part of the personal and professional identities of most of the main characters—all technology geeks, and proud of it).
This short and admittedly ad hoc inventory of some of the artefacts of popular culture shows that work may have both positive and negative features: work provides boredom and challenge, success and failure, and friends and foes.
Research on what working means to people has found that people do not just work for money, but that work serves many other functions as well. One way of examining the functions of working is to compare the effects of having a job to those of not having a job—especially being unemployed. In a sense, the history of mankind can be construed as a continuous and ongoing pursuit to make working life easier; that is, to reduce the effort needed to subsist. For example, the introduction of new technologies (ranging from the wheel in the distant past via the industrial revolution of the eighteenth century and the rise of Information and Communication Technology [ICT] during the 1980s, to the current advance of Artificial Intelligence [AI] and Machine Learning [ML]) all made it easier to accomplish the work tasks of the day—or even made these superfluous, promising to free time and energy to be invested in other, more pleasurable, activities (cf. Basalla, 1988) (see also Chapter 25). From the perspective of the individual worker, an important driver of the acceptance of these innovations was (a) the desire to spend less time on work, and (b) to make work initially easier and more comfortable.
What would a world without work look like? Would people be happier without having to work? In many Western societies, unemployed workers receive an unemployment benefit that allows them to subsist (although often only barely) without having to work. Research comparing the quality of life of unemployed and employed people shows that the latter are usually considerably happier than the former. For example, levels of suicide, mortality, long-term illness, anxiety, depression, and risky behaviors (drinking, unhealthy eating, and smoking) tend to be higher among unemployed than employed people, whereas for the first group lower levels of life satisfaction and general health have been found (e.g., Paul & Moser, 2009; Wanberg, 2012). The relation between unemployment and health runs both ways: whereas lack of health increases the chances of becoming unemployed, unemployment also contributes to the emergence of health problems (De Witte et al., 2019).
Apparently, having a job contributes positively to people’s health and well-being. But why would this be the case? Obviously, being without a job often negatively impacts on one’s income, meaning that it is difficult to spend money on goods and activities that go beyond the bare necessities for survival. However, research into unemployment has generated several theoretical perspectives on the reasons why being unemployed yields these negative consequences. The most influential of these is Marie Jahoda’s (1982) Relative Deprivation Model. Born in Vienna in 1907, Jahoda examined the impact of unemployment on 478 families living in a small community of Marienthal (now in Germany) during the Great Depression of the 1920s. At that time, the only factory in town was heavily hit by this depression. Jahoda and her colleagues showed that the often devastating psychological consequences of unemployment went beyond the obvious hardships of financial deprivation. Based on these observations, Jahoda concluded that, apart from providing an income, having employment also provides five classes of social benefits: (a) time structure, (b) opportunities for social contact, (c) sharing of a common purpose, (d) social identity or status, and (e) regular activity. Without work, people are deprived of all five benefits, accounting for many of the adverse consequences of unemployment for health and well-being. Of course, this does not imply that having a job is necessarily fun; rather one might say that being unemployed—especially in the dire circumstances of the 1920–1930s—is worse. In this sense, the insights presented in this section can be summarized by paraphrasing Matt Groening’s (1987) famous dictum: “work is hell—but it beats unemployment.”
Replay
Examining the artefacts of popular culture may provide some insights into what working “means” to people; that is, what they think of it and what function it has in their lives.
Popular culture frequently depicts work and working life as something that is unpleasant, and may have adverse consequences for employee health and well-being.
Contrary to this popular view, research strongly suggests that having a job contributes positively to health and well-being, at least when compared to having no job (i.e., being unemployed).
According to Marie Jahoda’s Relative Deprivation Model, main drivers for the positive consequences of having employment are the fact that working provides people with (a) time structure, (b) opportunities for social contact, (c) sharing of a common purpose, (d) social identity or status, and (e) regular activity.
1.5 The Roots of Work Psychology
As indicated above, contemporary work psychology is concerned with promoting employee sustainable performance, which has been referred to as a regulatory process in which an individual worker enduringly and efficiently achieves particular desired work goals while maintaining a satisfactory level of well-being (Ji et al., 2021). Historically, these foci of work psychology have not always been emphasized equally strongly by both researchers and practitioners in the area of work and work performance. Indeed, when researchers and practitioners started to study work and organizations systematically in the middle of the nineteenth century, key emphasis was on the best way of organizing work and the work organization (with an eye to maximizing productivity and profit, leading to what has come to be known as industrial capitalism), and on the socio-political implications of this (e.g., consider the criticism of industrial capitalism by scholars such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels).
Systematic thinking about the organization of work
However, far before this era, scholars had already considered how particular tasks should be conducted. For example, Ancient Greek medical knowledge is documented in what is known as the Hippocratic Collection, a collection of about 60 books written by various authors during the fifth to third centuries BC. The Hippocratic Collection provided Greek doctors with detailed guidelines on how particular types of complaints were to be treated. It is basically a collection of routines and guidelines prescribing how the tasks of a medical doctor should be accomplished. As an example, here is how doctors were expected to start their examinations:
First of all the doctor should look at the patient’s face. The following are bad signs: sharp nose, hollow eyes, dry skin, and strange color of face such as green, black or leaden. If the face is like this, the doctor must ask the patient if he had lost sleep, or had diarrhea, or had not eaten. (Lloyd,
1982
)
As this example illustrates, early work on how particular tasks should be conducted largely rested on rules of thumb, long-standing practices, and common sense. A more scientific (i.e., systematic, theoretical, evidence-based) approach to examining work and its effects and antecedents only emerged much later, after the middle ages had ended.
The birth of occupational medicine
The scientific study of work, worker health and well-being, and work performance can be traced back to the 1500s, when Georg Bauer (otherwise known as Agricola) published De Re Metallica (On metal matters), an influential book on the art and science of mining. Being the town physician in Chemnitz, Saxony (at the time an important mining area in Central Europe), Agricola not only discussed the technical details of mine operation, but also paid attention to miners and their typical diseases: “It remains for me to speak about the ailments and accidents of miners, and of the methods by which they can guard against these” (cited in Weber, 2002, p. 294). He recommended wearing personal protective clothing (e.g., elbow-high leather gloves for work with aggressive minerals, and a veil worn before the face to protect from dusts, since “The dust which is stirred and beaten up by digging penetrates into the windpipes and lungs and produces difficulty in breathing, and the disease which the Greeks call asthma. If the dust has corrosive qualities, it eats away the lungs, and implants consumption in the body” (cited in Weber, 2002, p. 294). Furthermore, Agricola stated that mines should be operated in a 5-day work week with three shifts of 8 hr each per day, and recommended that miners should not work two shifts per day because of the increased risk of occupational injury (Weber, 2002). Agricola’s work was later followed up by Bernardino Ramazzini (1633–1714), an Italian physician and university professor who wrote a seminal book on the typical diseases encountered by workers in 52 occupations. These works can be considered the starting point for the discipline now known as occupational medicine (Gochfeld, 2005).
Work psychology, 1850–1930
The industrial revolution of the 1750–1850s marked a transition towards new manufacturing processes, in that production processes were increasingly mechanized (using novel technology such as water power, steam power and machine tools) and industrialized (i.e., production processes changed from artisanal, piece-by-piece production to mass production). These changes reformed the economic system into that of industrial capitalism, transforming the social and physical landscape in the process. Large mills and factories were built, and canals, roads and railways were constructed to transport materials to the factories and their products to the stores selling them. Working people found increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, leading to increased urbanization. However, the working conditions in the mills and factories were harsh, working days were long and pay was low.
From a work-psychological perspective, the nature of the tasks conducted in this new era was different from the pre-industrial (or agrarian) time preceding it. The emergence of the industrial economy meant that young workers entering the labor market could seek out, occupy and identify with jobs that were completely different from the jobs that their fathers and mothers could choose from. However, this also implied that many young people struggled to find a career that suited their interests, talents, and accomplishments (Porfeli, 2009). Moreover, the tasks in the factories were characterized by a high level of division of labor and were usually simple, repetitive, and boring—requiring few skills. The important issues in this era therefore became how can workers be motivated to work hard and how can they be made more productive?
The then-young science of psychotechnics or applied psychology promised to provide answers to these issues. Its founders (psychologists such as the Germany-born Hugo Münsterberg and William Stern, who both obtained professorships in the United States early in the twentieth century) attempted to apply psychological insights, obtained through empirical research and rigid measurement, to the work environment. Both Münsterberg and Stern worked in the field of vocational psychology—the branch of personnel psychology that focuses on the link between workers’ characteristics and job requirements, assuming that worker well-being and productivity are optimal when there is a good match or fit between the job and the worker (see also Chapter 5).
Scientific management
Productivity could also be optimized by not focusing on the match between the worker and the task, but rather by concentrating on the task itself, especially by simplifying it to such a degree that any worker would be able to do it. This idea was worked out in great detail by the American engineer Frederick Taylor (1856–1915), the founder of the scientific management approach (or Taylorism). As one of the first management consultants, he sought to maximize industrial efficiency and his ideas were highly influential until at least the 1950s. His ideas were also controversial because they rested on two basic assumptions, namely that workers are both lazy and stupid. As regards laziness, Taylor (1911, p. 13) stated that:
… instead of using every effort to turn out the largest possible amount of work, in a majority of the cases [a worker] deliberately plans to do as little as he safely can—to turn out far less work than he is well able to do … Underworking, that is, deliberately working slowly so as to avoid doing a full day’s work … is almost universal in industrial establishments … the writer asserts without fear of contradiction that this constitutes the greatest evil with which the working-people of both England and America are now afflicted.
With regard to stupidity, Taylor writes that “one of the very first requirements for a man who is fit to handle pig iron as a regular occupation is that he shall be so stupid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles in his mental make-up the ox than any other type” (p. 59). Taylor proposed to counter the stupidity issue by:
Simplifying tasks using scientific methods
: tasks requiring complicated actions were broken down into considerably smaller and simpler subtasks;
Examining the best way to conduct these tasks
: it was assumed that for each task there is
one best way
to accomplish this task and that any other approach is suboptimal and should therefore be discouraged;
Training
workers in the “one best way” to conduct their simplified task so that even relatively unskilled (or dumb) workers could be trained to perform the task fast and efficiently, resulting in higher productivity;
Separating the planning of tasks from their execution
: during the execution of their tasks workers should not think about how they should conduct the tasks, but instead this should be decided for them by their supervisors;
Selecting workers for particular tasks
: if a major requirement for a man who is fit to handle pig iron is that he is as stupid as an ox (cf. Taylor,
1911
), then there are also workers that are too intelligent for this particular task. Similarly, some tasks would involve great strength, other tasks require high levels of precision, and so forth, meaning that not all workers were equally well-suited for all tasks.
The laziness issue was addressed by introducing high levels of management control and supervision, as well as by introducing pay-for-performance systems—you work harder, you get paid more; you work too slow, you get fired. Taylorism may be construed as being the start of contemporary work science, with standardization and efficiency as its core concepts.
Work Psychology in Action: Discovering the one best way
A basic assumption of scientific management is that there is one best way for each task to be conducted. However, how can this one best way be discovered? Taylor proposed to analyze tasks thoroughly and systematically (i.e., “scientifically”). For instance, he often selected the employee most successful in his or her task, studied the way this person worked and then trained the other employees to use these work methods. Later on Taylor used the possibilities offered by modern technology—photography and movies—in order to reduce process times.
