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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating roles of work and family demands and work-life balance on the relationship between self-efficacy (to regulate work and life) and work engagement. Specifically, it seeks to explain how self-efficacy influences employees’ thought patterns and emotional reactions, which in turn enable them to cope with work and family demands, and ultimately achieve work-life balance and work engagement.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) of survey data obtained from a heterogeneous sample of 1,010 Australian employees is used to test the hypothesised chain mediation model.

The SEM results support the hypothesised model. Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively related to work and family demands, which in turn were negatively associated with work-life balance. Work-life balance, in turn, enabled employees to be engaged in their work.

The findings support the key tenets of social cognitive theory and conservation of resources (COR) theory and demonstrate how self-efficacy can lead to work-life balance and engagement despite the presence of role demands. Study limitations (e.g. cross-sectional research design) and future research directions are discussed.

This study incorporates COR theory with social cognitive theory to improve understanding of how self-efficacy enhances work-life balance and work engagement through a self-fulfilling cycle in which employees achieve what they believe they can accomplish, and in the process, build other skills and personal resources to manage work and family challenges.

The engagement and retention of older workers is a major concern for organisations and has been an increasing focus for human resource scholars internationally. Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), the purpose of this paper is to examine the conditions under which retention and engagement of older workers could be enhanced, together with the potential for perceptions of age discrimination to negatively influence these outcomes.

The study surveyed a large sample of New Zealand workers aged 55 years and over from across 28 New Zealand organisations of varying size and from a wide range of industrial sectors. A moderated-mediation model was proposed to examine the relationship between perceived organisational support (POS) and intention to leave, the mediating effect of job engagement in this relationship, and the moderating influence of perceived age discrimination on this mediation.

While POS was negatively related to workers’ intention to quit, job engagement partially mediated this relationship. Age discrimination moderated this mediation. As perceived age discrimination increased, the mediation of job engagement was weakened as POS had less influence on the job engagement of older workers.

Implications for human resource management practice include the importance of providing organisational support for older workers along with protections from age bias and discrimination.

The study is one of the first to apply SET to the context of older workers, and has extended the SET literature through its examination of the role of employee engagement as a mediator of this relationship, and how perceived age discrimination, as a negative aspect of the work environment, can negatively impact these relationships.

A survey of employed workers was conducted at two time periods to assess relationships between work‐family conflict, well‐being, and job and family satisfaction, along with the role of social support from work colleagues and family members. Levels of work‐to‐family interference (WFI) were found to be uniformly higher than family‐to‐work interference (FWI). However, at each time period FWI showed more consistent negative relationships with well‐being and satisfaction, indicating that family‐to‐work interference may have a greater bearing on employees’ affective reactions. There were few cross‐time relationships between work‐family conflict and these reactions, which suggests that the association of work‐family conflict with well‐being and satisfaction may be time‐dependent. Although there was some evidence that social support from work colleagues moderated the relationship of WFI with psychological strain and family satisfaction, family support did not display a consistent moderator influence. Instead, both forms of support tended to exhibit direct (rather than moderator) relationships with the outcome variables. Implications of the findings for research and interventions are discussed.

The paper seeks to examine whether spillover from “nonwork” to work contributes to individuals' well‐being.

An online survey was administered to New Zealand local government employees. Positive (facilitation) and negative (conflict) spillover from two “nonwork” domains (family and personal benefit activities) to work were investigated. The survey also assessed psychological involvement (in work, family and personal benefit activities), time devoted to each domain, and self‐reported well‐being in each area.

Levels of nonwork‐to‐work facilitation were moderate, and significantly higher than nonwork‐to‐work conflict, and well‐being was moderately high (although greater for the family and personal benefit domains than for work). There were significant positive relationships between psychological involvement in the nonwork domains and levels of facilitation from these domains to work, and nonwork‐to‐work facilitation was associated with higher well‐being. Time invested in family and personal activities was not linked with greater nonwork‐to‐work conflict. Mediation analyses indicated that psychological involvement (in family and personal activities) was associated with increased facilitation, which in turn enhanced well‐being.

Engagement in family and personal benefit activities yields positive outcomes for individuals, in terms of their psychological well‐being and facilitation of work‐related outcomes. Encouragement to engage in these areas can therefore be beneficial for both individuals and their employing organizations.

The main contribution of this research is that involvement in personal benefit activities (as another component of the “nonwork” domain, in addition to family activities) can have positive outcomes for individuals, resulting in facilitation of work outcomes and positive well‐being.

The impact of technology on the health and well-being of workers has been a topic of interest since computers and computerized technology were widely introduced in the 1980s. Of recent concern is the impact of rapid technological advances on individuals’ psychological well-being, especially due to advancements in mobile technology that have increased many workers’ accessibility and expected productivity. In this chapter we focus on the associations between occupational stress and technology, especially behavioral and psychological reactions. We discuss some key facilitators and barriers associated with users’ acceptance of and engagement with information and communication technology. We conclude with recommendations for ongoing research on managing occupational health and well-being in conjunction with technological advancements.

This study explored a number of work‐family attitudes and the current and future use of work‐family practices by gender, using a sample of 100 New Zealand employees. Females were significantly more supportive of work‐family practice users towards both male and female users. Female employees also perceived greater benefits from work‐family practices than male respondents. Finally, female respondents were more likely to consider using work‐family practices in the future, although there were no differences to wards current use of work‐family practices by gender. Overall, the findings suggest that female employees are more supportive of work‐family practices, their users, and the benefits associated with their use, supporting the socialisation theoretical perspective. The implications for research are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and buffering effects of three workplace contextual factors – constructive leadership, perceived organizational support, and organizational anti‐bullying initiatives – on bullying and its relationships with relevant criteria. Further, the paper aims to investigate the effectiveness of organizational initiatives against bullying as perceived by targets and non‐targets.

Data were collected from 727 employees in nine New Zealand healthcare organizations. Of these, 133 employees were classified as bullied, as they had experienced at least two negative acts per week over the last six months.

Correlations revealed negative relationships between the three contextual work factors and bullying. Moderated regression showed that perceived organizational support buffered the relationship of bullying with self‐rated job performance, and that organizational initiatives against bullying buffered the relationship of bullying with both wellbeing and organizational commitment. Targets consistently gave lower ratings than non‐targets of the effectiveness of organizational initiatives to address bullying.

There is scant research on workplace factors that may reduce bullying and buffer its negative effects. This paper makes an original contribution in providing evidence of the importance of three contextual factors, and of buffering effects for perceived organizational support and organizational initiatives against bullying.

It is generally believed that workaholics tend to deny the existence of fatigue and push themselves beyond reason before physical complaints stop them working and lead them to seek help. However, while self‐neglect is believed to be a hallmark of workaholism, empirical data are both scant and contradictory. This study explores whether workaholics experience poorer health status than other (non‐workaholic) employees. Two groups of respondents (46 workaholics, 42 non‐workaholics) completed the workaholism battery‐revised and the rand SF‐36 at two measurement points across six months. While workaholics reported slightly poorer social functioning, role functioning and more frequent pain, they reported similar vitality, general health and psychological health to non‐workaholics. Importantly, differences between groups were small and failed to reach statistical significance. Given the substantial body of data supporting the SF‐36 and the present six‐month replication, it appears that workaholism may be less toxic to personal health and well‐being than at first thought. Implications for organisational and human resource management, including equal employment opportunities for workaholics, are discussed.