Meta-analytic structural equation modeling for exploring workplace friendship, well-being, and organizational commitment.

BACKGROUND: Workplace friendships, which are informal relationships in the workplace, foster mutual trust, assistance, and emotional support and create a sense of belonging among coworkers. Employees with positive perceptions of their job responsibilities, psychological needs, and work environment experience happiness, satisfaction, and an overall sense of well-being. A heightened sense of well-being in the workplace positively affects employee satisfaction with job tasks and the work environment, reinforcing employees' sense of belonging and organizational commitment. OBJECTIVE: The study proposed and validated a theoretical model, with meta-analytic structural equation modeling employed to conduct quantitative, empirical research on workplace friendships, well-being, and organizational commitment in Taiwan and to analyze correlations between relevant variables. METHODS: The theoretical model was further validated through structural equation modeling, which yielded favorable goodness of fit in terms of various indicators. RESULTS: The mediating effect of well-being was verified through bootstrapping analysis. Within a 95% confidence interval, the total effect size of workplace friendships on organizational commitment was 0.549, which is the sum of its direct effect (0.255) and indirect effect (0.294). CONCLUSIONS: This finding indicates that well-being plays a mediating role in the association between workplace friendships and organizational commitment. The proposed theoretical model in this study is supported. Finally, the research results are discussed, and practical suggestions are provided.

The study of constructing evaluation indicators for the implementation of employee assistance programs in public sectors.

Introduction: Employee assistance programs require resources and manpower of various natures across different types of public sector organization. Methods: This study began by outlining elements for comparing employee assistance programs' evaluation criteria in four types of public sector organization on the basis of 22 service measures for such programs implemented by the Ministry of Labor in relation to three major aspects: work, life, and health. Elements of the evaluation criteria for public sector employee assistance programs were determined by surveying a panel of experts using the modified Delphi method. Last, the weight associated with the elements of evaluation criteria were calculated using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, and the criteria of four types of public sector organization were explored. Results: Data analysis indicated that the weight and priorities associated with elements of evaluation criteria for EAPs implemented by four types of public sector organization were not fully identical. Discussion: The results of this study suggest that, in terms of EAPs, the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration of the Executive Yuan should be pursuant to appropriate employee assistance programs provided by various public sector organizations according to the needs of their employees as well as the diverse objective conditions in which these organizations operate.

Stages of organizational development and employee assistance programs in Taiwan.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs) provide work, living, and health services to help employees overcome personal and organizational obstacles that affect their productivity. Most businesses in Taiwan are small or medium-sized, and their scale, stage of development, and resources affect their implementation of EAPs. This study explored EAPs and related measures that organizations can implement in each stage of their development. The results may serve as a reference for human resources personnel in planning EAPs, specifically in identifying appropriate measures to implement for each developmental stage of their organizations. The modified Delphi method and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process were used to organize and analyze key EAP measures and their weights during the creation, guidance, authorization, coordination, and collaboration stages of organizational development. Data analysis revealed that in all five stages of organizational development, work-related EAP measures are the most crucial. As an organization transitions from the creation to collaboration stages, the work dimension is neglected in favor of the health dimension. In the authorization stage, the organization begins to provide a wider range of services in the living dimension. The results and other information regarding EAP service models indicate that in each developmental stage, an organization should adopt a different EAP service model that suits its resources, organizational structure, implementation of EAP measures, and other factors.