The temporal dynamics between work stressors and health behaviors.

Applying dynamic equilibrium theory (DET), we examined the temporal dynamics between role overload and three health behaviors (sleep, diet, physical activity). Participants (N = 781) completed five surveys, with 1-month lag between assessments, and the data were analyzed using general cross-lagged panel modeling (GCLM). Results indicated that people had stable health behavior patterns (i.e., there were strong unit effects) that were related to stable role overload patterns (i.e., the chronic role overload and health behavior factors were significantly related). Furthermore, while monthly increases (impulses) in role overload had a negative effect on health behaviors concurrently, health behaviors quickly adapted or regressed back toward previous levels (i.e., there were weak autoregressive and cross-lagged effects after accounting for chronic factors). Impulse response functions were created to show the specific proportion of the initial impulse effect that persisted on each health behavior over time. The results of these response functions indicated that diet and physical activity regressed back to previous levels within 1 month, whereas sleep regressed back to previous levels within 2 months. Collectively, our results suggest that people engage in fairly stable patterns of health behaviors and that these patterns are partly determined by chronic role overload. Our results also suggest that people are generally resilient to temporary changes in role overload, such that the resulting immediate changes in behavior do not persist or become habitual. These results underscore the strength of habits and the resistance to health behavior change, as well as provide support for the use of GCLM for studying DET. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Political affiliation dissimilarity: Exploring lone affiliate employees' work attitudes and experiences.

Political affiliation is an important demographic variable that has been relatively neglected in the organizational literature. At present, it is unclear how political dissimilarity between employees and their coworkers affects employees' attitudes and experiences, and whether traditional theories are applicable to this unique form of diversity. Based on time-lagged data from a sample of working Americans (N = 360), we found that lone affiliates (employees who work with coworkers who do not share the same political affiliation) experienced lower levels of positive attitudes than majority affiliates (employees who work with coworkers who do share the same political affiliation). Specifically, in Republican majority organizations, Democrats had lower job satisfaction and affective commitment compared to Republicans. This difference was not found in Democrat majority organizations. Interestingly, these trends were not found for negative experiences, such as incivility from coworkers and depletion. Unaffiliated employees had a unique set of attitudes and experiences in that they suffered the most in organizations with no clear affiliation. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are also discussed.

Reactions to psychological contract breaches and organizational citizenship behaviours: An experimental manipulation of severity.

Grounded in affective events theory, we investigated the effects of experimentally manipulated psychological contract breaches on participants' feelings of violation, subsequent perceptions of psychological contract strength, and organizational citizenship behaviours in a sample of working adults. Results support previous findings that pre-existing relational psychological contract strength interacts with severity of unmet promises or expectations. Specifically, individuals with high relational contracts who experience low severity of unmet promises/expectations have the lowest breach perceptions, whereas individuals with high relational contracts who experience more severe levels unmet promises/expectations experience the highest level of breach perceptions. Results also support the concept of a breach spiral in that prior perceptions of breach led to an increased likelihood of subsequent perceptions of breach following the experimental manipulation. Furthermore, consistent with affective events theory, results support the argument that a psychological contract breach's effect on specific organizational citizenship behaviours is mediated by feelings of violation and the reassessment of relational contracts. These effects were present even after controlling for the direct effects of the manipulated severity of unmet promises/expectations.

Understanding role stressors and job satisfaction over time using adaptation theory.

In this study, we seek to highlight a potentially fundamental shift in how dynamic stressor-strain relationships should be conceptualized over time. Specifically, we provide an integrated empirical test of adaptation and role theory within a longitudinal framework. Data were collected at 3 time points, with a 6-week lag between time points, from 534 respondents. Using latent change modeling, results supported within-person adaptation to changes in job satisfaction and role conflict. Specifically, over the 12-week course of the study, changes in role clarity tended to be maintained, whereas changes in job satisfaction and role conflict tended to be fleeting and reverse themselves. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record