Role of work breaks in well-being and performance: A systematic review and future research agenda.

Recovery from work is a critical component for employees' proper functioning. While research has documented the beneficial effects of after-work recovery, it has focused far less on the recovery that happens while at work in the form of work breaks. In this review, we systematically review available empirical evidence on the relationship between work breaks and well-being and performance among knowledge workers. Doing so enables us to (a) integrate studies from multiple disciplines, (b) propose a conceptual framework for categorizing work breaks, and (c) provide a future research agenda for studying the role of work breaks in employee well-being and performance. Using Cochrane's guidelines, we review observational and intervention studies (N = 83). Based on the extant research, we propose that work breaks can be described and classified in terms of five features: initiator, duration, frequency, activities, and experiences. The result of our review is an integrative model that comprehensively captures the relationship between work breaks and well-being and performance outcomes, as well as the mechanisms and boundary conditions of these relationships. We conclude by proposing avenues for the future study and practice of work breaks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A meta-analysis of leadership and workplace safety: Examining relative importance, contextual contingencies, and methodological moderators.

Given the high human and economic costs of workplace safety, researchers and practitioners have paid increasing attention to how leadership behaviors relate to workplace safety. Previous research has demonstrated that leadership behaviors are important for workplace safety. In this meta-analysis, we extend our understanding of the leadership-workplace safety relationship by (a) examining the associations between a broader range of five leadership categories-change-oriented, relational-oriented, task-oriented, passive, and destructive-and seven workplace safety variables; (b) investigating the relative importance of these leadership categories in explaining variance in these workplace safety variables; and (c) testing contextual and methodological contingencies of the leadership-workplace safety relationship. Using effect sizes from 194 samples (N = 104,364), we find that although leadership behaviors are associated with workplace safety, the leadership categories vary considerably in their relative importance. Task-oriented leadership followed by relational-oriented leadership emerge as the most important contributors to workplace safety. Change-oriented leadership (which includes transformational leadership) does not emerge as the largest contributor for any of the seven tested safety variables, despite it being the most frequently examined leadership model in the workplace safety literature. Effectiveness of leadership behaviors in relation to workplace safety varies by national culture power distance, industry risk, workforce age, as well as by contextualized forms of leadership (i.e., safety-specific vs. generalized). Finally, there is meta-analytic evidence for publication bias and common-method variance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Observer reactions to workplace mistreatment: It's a matter of perspective.

Workplace mistreatment regularly occurs in the presence of others (i.e., observers). The reactions of observers toward those involved in the mistreatment episode have wide-reaching implications. In the current set of studies, we draw on theories of perspective-taking to consider how this form of interpersonal sensemaking influences observer reactions toward those involved in a witnessed incident of workplace mistreatment. We find that observers' blame attributions and empathic concern for the individual whose perspective is taken explain the positive effects of perspective-taking on observer attitudes toward and performance evaluations of both the target and instigator of a witnessed incident of mistreatment. We also find that the effect of perspective-taking on observer reactions is stronger when the witnessed mistreatment is more severe. Finally, we find that although observer perspective-taking in the context of mistreatment can be encouraged, the effect seems to benefit instigators' performance evaluations rather than targets'. Implications for targets, instigators, and organizations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Masculinity contest culture reduces organizational citizenship behaviors through decreased organizational identification.

Masculinity contest culture (MCC) encourages fierce competition and race for status at all costs. Across three experiments (Ntotal = 554), we investigated how MCC affects discretionary performance at work (i.e., organizational citizenship behaviors; OCBs). Compared to an alternative culture (i.e., feminine nurturing culture; FNC), participants in the MCC condition reported lower levels of OCBs toward the organization and its members. Further results showed that MCC diminished individuals' intentions to engage in discretionary performance through reduced organizational identification. We did not find a moderating effect of gender, suggesting that MCC thwarts discretionary performance and organizational identification for both women and men. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Disability Severity, Leader-Member Exchange, and Attitudinal Outcomes: Considering the Employee and Supervisor Perspectives.

Purpose Although the effects of disability on employee work outcomes are well-documented, the mechanism that explain these relationship remains unclear. We propose that the quality of relationships employees with disabilities develop with their supervisors explains the link between disability severity and employee work outcomes. More specifically, we examine the mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in the relationship between employee disability severity and presenteeism, job accommodation, supervisor-rated performance, job satisfaction, and resilience. We test this proposition from two perspectives: employees with disabilities and supervisors who had supervised employees with disabilities. Method We collected data from employees with musculoskeletal disabilities (Sample 1, N = 264) and supervisors who had supervised employees with musculoskeletal disabilities in the past two years (Sample 2, N = 224). Results From the perspective of employees with disabilities (Sample 1), disability severity was negatively related to LMX quality (R2 = .28). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found a positive relationship between supervisor perceptions of employee disability severity and LMX in Sample 2 (R2 = .27). After adjusting for disability severity, LMX quality was related to improved outcomes in both samples: higher employee job satisfaction (Sample 1: R2 = .36), provision of job accommodations (Sample 1: R2 = .16; Sample 2: R2= .15), resilience (Sample 1: R2 = .18), lower levels of presenteeism (Sample 1: R2 = .20), and higher performance evaluations for employees with disabilities (Sample 2: R2 = .49). Conclusion By collecting two separate samples, we revealed similarities and differences in employee and supervisor perspectives. Our findings demonstrated the need for including both perspectives when considering implications of employee disability severity.